Chapter 126

They met back up in the waiting area of the main entrance building. It had a name but Jay didn't know it and was not about to ask. Jay and M'redith were the first to arrive as all they needed was to pick up Jay's backpack at his room.

Or so Jay thought. M'redith had also insisted that Jay bring his helmet. He agreed under the condition he didn't have to wear it until they arrived at wherever the Church was sending them. In the meantime Jay stored the helmet in his backpack.

The waiting area looked just like a hotel lobby, complete with front desk and desk attendant. Jay and M'redith took a seat on one of the many couches dotted about the space. M'redith sat next to him and leaned on him.

Norri arrived soon after and was wearing her armor, robe, and pack. They waited.

It was taking a bit long for Aiden to arrive.

Finally he entered the lobby area carrying a bag that smelled distinctly like meat on a stick.

“Are you kidding me? We just ate!” Norri asked as Aiden sat down in a soft plush chair across from Jay and M'redith.

Aiden smiled and shook his head, “I'm not getting roped in to some dungeon run where all there is to eat are travel wafers. If we are going we're going with at least one bag of good food.”

M'redith raised an eyebrow, “That meat you bought hardly qualifies as good food. Do you even know what animal it comes from?” she asked incredulously.

Aiden shook his head, his smile not fading one bit. “No I do not but it doesn't matter. It's delicious, that's the important thing.”

Norri looked a little hesitant, “I mean... where it comes from definitely matters a little. It all depends on where it came from.”

Aiden shook his head, “As long as it wasn't sapient I don't worry about where the meat came from.”

M'redith gave Jay a look that said 'don't you think this is ridiculous too?'

Jay waited a moment then spoke up. “Don't you have a sandwich pouch that can make amazing grilled cheese sandwiches?” Jay asked while Aiden tried to rearrange the sticks of meat so that they didn't poke out of his bag.

Aiden nodded seriously. “It was the first thing I packed this time, but it can only make one sandwich at a time. I need more food than that.”

Jay pursed his lips but finally shrugged. “Whatever you need to make things work. If anyone asks though I'm going to let you do the explaining.”

M'redith and Norri chuckled at that as Aiden smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Deal,” Aiden said and dropped the subject entirely.

A young man wearing a suit approached them but spoke quietly to M'redith.

“If you and your party would follow me, Walter will see you now.” the young man offered as he waited for them all to stand. He turned and led them off to a side room. The door was unremarkable and as he opened it Jay saw that the room itself was just as he had expected. A long table, seven chairs, three on each side and one at the head. Indirect lighting gave the room a bright and cheery appearance.

Walter was seated at the head of the table with a stack of papers he was going over. “Come in, have a seat. Thank you for coming.” He didn't look up but continued shuffling papers about.

Jay and M'redith took one side of the table while Aiden and Norri took the other.

“So,” he began, “still no fifth member for your group?”

M'redith and Jay shook their heads, “No one has felt right so far.” Jay admitted.

Walter nodded before shrugging, “Well, you'll find one when you're ready. Or you won't. There are some four member groups out there that specialize in selling that fifth slot on occasion. I'm sure you'll work something out. Sooner rather than later – you'll need a fifth group member for what you're being sent to do.”

Aiden went to ask a question but Walter cut him off, “I know. I haven't told you that yet. I'll be blunt. It's another dungeon run. Not many people run it as the loot that drops is strange and unusable.”

Norri couldn't help it. There were so many questions to ask but her curiosity got the better of her. “Strange and unusable?”

Walter nodded. “Whole armor sets drops from the boss monsters there, one piece at a time. The pieces are all really low level and are useless compared to even the cheapest armor for sale in K'tharkle. People have been trying to figure out why the loot is like that for years. No one wants to run a dungeon for useless items so the dungeon isn't visited very often. Which introduces a second problem.”

“More than just one problem? I'm shocked.” Aiden said with a grin.

“Yes. Well. The dungeon isn't a destination dungeon. Some of it is mapped, some of it is not. If anyone has cleared the entire dungeon I've not yet heard of it. So you won't have any idea what is coming ahead of time. It'll be surprises, all day long. Sound like fun?” Walter replied to Aiden more than the rest of the group.

“After Ashagi? I think we can handle it,” M'redith said with a grin.

Aiden groaned at the mention of Ashagi.

“Quiet, you.” Norri said and kicked Aiden under the table. He stopped groaning and grinned.

“I'm not paying you this time – the Church is. They're paying one gold, per person, for the entire run. They're not big spenders. Which leads me to another point I'd like to make. I pay a lot of gold for my runs. Five each. I overpay so that I do not have to worry about people accepting my invitation. When someone offers you five gold to do something you tend to just do it. The Church though, not so much.” Walter paused and scratched one of his ears before continuing.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Assuming that one gold each is still acceptable you'll be shuttled to Portal House and proceed to your destination from there. I've no idea how long it will take but from what I've read you should be able to run the dungeon in less than a day.” Walter volunteered as he looked up briefly before returning his focus to his paperwork.

“Any questions?” Walter asked.

Jay nodded. “Why?”

Walter stopped scanning paperwork and sighed as he rested his head in his hands.

“Right. So tired, sorry. I should have led with that, right? Right. So the Church of Gaia has a problem. You activated an old rewards system in their Church dungeon, Kagan's Dome. Now everyone wants to visit it, for those rewards. Too many people. This is not a problem the Church has had for as long as I can remember. It used to be a problem though back in the old days. Think hundreds to thousands of years ago.”

Jay and his friends were silent, they were finally getting to the point of why they were there and no one wanted to interrupt Walter, who seemed a bit scatter brained that day.

“The Church has kept records of everything for thousands and thousands of years. Some of those records even survived to our current day. Records tell of a time when the Church would need to allow more than one group at a time in to a Church dungeon. They would send a group to run a particular dungeon and return with an item that would do exactly that.” Walter said as he leaned back in his chair and sighed. “You're going to try and bring one of whatever that is back.”

“Wait. Whatever that is? You don't even know what you want us to get?” Aiden asked incredulously.

Walter shrugged. “I can only tell you what the Church told me. We don't have any more records on the matter than they do, trust me. You're going to have to just keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. Pay particular attention to anything that seems Traveler related. More than likely that is what will help you find what you are looking for.”

The group sat quietly for a moment, thinking, before Walter interrupted them. “If you have no more questions might I suggest you head outside to your awaiting cart and head for Portal House?”

M'redith looked back at him calmly and with more than a little curiosity. Walter was acting a little off, maybe he was just tired, she thought to herself. “We need to find a fifth first.”

Walter nodded and sighed. “Well, I had an idea about that if you're open to it.”

M'redith and Jay shared a look. Walter's 'ideas' when it came to fifth party members didn't always pan out so well. Historically speaking, from Jay's point of view that is. He'd still not quite gotten over his dungeon run with P'trick.

Walter caught the byplay and nodded, “This isn't like P'trick, so don't worry about that. I'd like you to take one of your classmates with you. Watch how they do and report back to me. I'm not asking you to spy on them, merely give me an opinion on how they handled themselves in a dungeon. I'd want to hear about any issues that arose with them. Any at all.”

M'redith shrugged. “As long as they can follow directions. I'm not as patient as Jay is – if we run in to another P'trick like situation we're turning right back around and coming home. We're not risking our lives for a person who won't even listen to us.”

Walter nodded seriously, “That won't be a problem. She will follow your directions. I've told her to do so. So your directions are MY directions for the remainder of your run. It has been made clear to her what is at stake, both for your group and her personally. Is that acceptable?”

Jay and the others all nodded. That was more than enough. Disobeying M'redith was one thing – disobeying Walter... not a great idea.

M'redith nodded. “It is.”

Aiden leaned forward, “So who is the lucky girl?”

Norri laughed as Walter replied, “Carly.”

M'redith sighed.

“Will that be a problem?” Walter asked.

Aiden laughed as M'redith said, “We have some history but I'm pretty sure we have an understanding.”

Even Norri laughed at that. The understanding was that Carly understood that M'redith would kill her if she kept flirting with Jay. Once Carly had backed off from toying with Jay she had become a bit easier to be around.

Walter showed off a tiny grin. “Well. See that your understanding continues. Anything else?”

M'redith looked around at her group before she shook her head. “No. We've already gotten our things, we'll head out to the cart. Thanks, Walter.”

Walter seemed a little surprised at being thanked but after a brief moment recovered and nodded in reply.

Jay got up and left with his group close behind him. The sun was blindingly bright when they finally left the building and Jay raised one arm to shade his eyes so that they had time to adjust.

“This is so exciting! Another dungeon run! And we're getting paid!” Norri said as she skipped, not walked, across the courtyard to their waiting cart.

As they all piled inside Aiden took out his sandwich maker.

Jurg's Fromage Pouch – Rare – This pouch always contains one piping hot grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese is random and will be either American, muenster, or sharp cheddar. It will be precut and will be either cut diagonally in half, cut across in half, or not cut in half but with the crust cut off. Upon withdrawing the sandwich the pouch will seal itself for one hour. After the hour has elapsed the pouch may be used again. The pouch may not be used to store any other item. While the pouch must be bound before use the actual grilled cheese may be eaten by anyone.

Carefully, Aiden opened the pouch and slid out a crispy golden sandwich. The crust had been neatly cut off and one could see the gooey cheese squeezing out of the sides. Aiden took a big bite then made a screaming noise in the back of his throat.

“HOT!” he huffed out in a muffled voice as Norri passed him her water bottle and he took deep gulps of water until his mouth stopped hurting.

Then he took another bite.

Norri finally took her water bottle back. “Use your own if you're going to torture yourself like that!” she said with a laugh.

M'redith was leaning on Jay as usual and although they were holding hands they were at least not acting 'all lovey-dovey' as Aiden would put it.

Aiden paused and touched his tongue with one finger. “I think I burnt my tongue.” he finally admitted before switching to blowing on his grilled cheese to cool it before taking careful bites.

The cart took longer than they had expected thanks to a carriage that had broken down in the middle of an intersection and backed up traffic for city blocks. Eventually the owners managed to fit a new wheel to it and they were on their way.

Finally they pulled in to a familiar looking courtyard and were met by a man wearing a strange blue hat.

“If you would all like to follow me this way please?” the man in the funny hat asked them.