Chapter 9

Jay stirred at Dag poking him awake. “I'm up, I'm up,” Jay said, trying to get the poking to stop. It did not stop until Jay actually left his bedroll.

“You're persistent. Brutal.” Jay said groggily, stretching his arms over his head.

“Have to be with layabouts like you.” Dag said lightly. He busied himself with rummaging around his bag as Jay shook his head and wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

Finally feeling awake Jay turned to find Dag there with a hot cup of coffee. “I'm glad this world at least has coffee,” Jay sighed as he took a sip, feeling his body wake up a little more.

“Me too,” said Dag, sipping his. After taking time for a silent cup of coffee Dag started up talking again. He seemed like he had two modes, talkative, and almost silent. It was time for talkative mode apparently.

Dag put down his coffee cup and handed Jay a long tool. It looked a lot like a screwdriver. Dag noticed Jay's questioning look and explained. “Trap tool. You use it to dig under and around a trap to find the trigger. Then you use the tool to disarm the trigger. To disarm a trap you just have to break the trigger. You can break things right?”

Jay nodded. He broke things all the time. Maybe not all the time but if he could figure out how something worked he could break it. Jay made playful digging motions with the tool as Dag rolled his eyes and continued.

“Today is trap day. You get to learn how traps work and how to take a few apart. You do not want to let your mind wander during this exercise.” Dag pointed at Jay as if there may have been some confusion over who he was talking to otherwise. “Stay out of your notifications, out of your interface, out of your head. Focus on the triggers, ok?”

Jay nodded, that seemed simple enough.

Two hours later Jay wasn't so sure. He was currently on his stomach in the middle of a room with various colored tiles and Dag had him poking at the ground at a 45 degree angle around each tile. Most times he wouldn't find anything. The first time he had however, and taken a nasty shock for his attempt, searing the tip of one finger. That had taken a lot less time to heal than he would have thought. It seemed like healing up between battles wasn't too tough as long as you didn't get hurt too badly.

Dag noticed Jay looking at his wounds. “Minor wounds. They heal quickly on their own. Usually a few hours. Worse wounds would require care before healing would set in.” Jay sighed. His finger still hurt a little.

The second trap had coated him with jelly that would have caught fire too if he hadn't had Dag toss him out of the way after hearing a 'click,' that Jay had not noticed.

It was easy otherwise. Just poking holes in the ground. Jay had gotten better with his angles after the first two traps had gone off.

Still somewhat covered in the flammable jelly Jay groaned as he found another trap. Doing as Dag had earlier showed him he dug around the tile, slowly excavating until he was able to lift it clear and set it behind him. You don't set it next to you in case you hit another trap. You always assume everything is trapped. “You could have pushed me aside before the jelly hit me couldn't you.”

“Sure,” Dag said happily, standing over Jay's shoulder watching his every move. Very rarely giving Jay a hint. Dag really believed in learning by doing.

Jay was sure he was learning more about traps. He hadn't seen any notifications because Dag was right there and would have noticed him looking. All there was for him to focus on were the traps, it helped him pay attention. In fact the more he thought about it the more he thought he'd gotten pretty good at finding traps.

'Click.'

Dag grabbed Jay and pulled him back but nothing happened. The room was silent for a few moments. Jay was hesitant to break the stillness but couldn't help himself. Finally he looked over at Dag, who looked worried. “What's wrong? Maybe the trap was broken.”

“Did it sound broken to you?” Dag asked, looking around the room frantically.

“Well, no, but” Jay began as a large snake dropped from above. It plopped down right where Jay had just been laying down and shot out its tail wrapping it around Jay's leg and yanking hard.

Jay stumbled over in a heap, with only one leg available he couldn't keep his balance. His hands shot out to break his fall but he refused to let go of that trap tool and it ended jammed right in to the snake's head at a crazy angle. The snake immediately let go of Jay and tried to flee.

Dag grabbed the tail and yanked the snake back towards him, finally taking a large knife, almost a machete, out of his bag and with one hard strike lopped the head off of the six foot beastie.

Jay breathed heavily. “What kind of monster was that?” he asked while taking big gulps of air.

“What? That thing? That wasn't a monster. That was just a snake. Dungeons are lousy with them. Good thing for you this one was a baby.”

Jay sat there shaking his head. “Hey I forgot to ask you earlier, we didn't have a fire, how'd you make hot coffee?”

Dag looked at Jay like he was crazy. “Scared to die one moment and curious about coffee the next? You're a mess Jay.”

Jay didn't stop looking at Dag expectantly. Dag sighed. “Magic. The cups are magic, ok?” Jay seemed happy and disappointed at the same time. Magic cups were very amazing, but when someone just said 'magic' instead of explaining it kind of killed the... magic.. a bit.

“You're alive. The snake is dead. There are still traps.” Dag said with a grunt. “But before you do that.”

Dag knelt down and showed Jay how to skin the snake properly before handing the knife to Jay so he could do the skinning himself. It took Jay close to a half hour of hesitant strokes. It wasn't the easy way of skinning an animal but it gave Jay vital practice and helped him learn a skill. After he was done Dag showed him how to properly stow it on his pack.

“Back to work,” Dag said, pointing to the tile he had triggered.

“But I already set that one off.” Jay protested.

“Yes. I'd noticed. Figure out why it went off so you won't do it again.” Dag insisted, pointing again at the tile.

“Ooph,” he grunted, slowly lowering himself to the ground, “Ok, but I have difficulties getting up off the floor once I'm down here,” Jay complained as he lay back on to his belly. It was going to be a long day.

They cleared ten more rooms stopping only briefly around lunch to have a meal of dried meat jerky. Jay loved meat jerky and dug right in. Dag looked at Jay like he was a psycho. “No one likes travel jerky. Its tough to eat, tough to chew, and, well I guess the flavor isn't entirely awful.”

Jay had ignored him as he happily chewed away, each happy chew disgusting Dag a little more. Dag was rapidly forming an opinion of Jay who acted oddly constantly. His attitude and mannerisms made it obvious he came from a different place with different people and customs. He just didn't fit in. He stuck out. Its a good thing he was so damned earnest and likable.

After lunch they continued for a few more rooms until they came to a large closed wooden door. Dag motioned to do the door. Jay moved to open it before Dag slapped him on the chest, stopping him. “Good gods. Traps. Check for traps!” he almost shouted in frustration. “What have I been teaching you all day?” he cried theatrically.

Jay sighed. Things had been going so well. He'd only set off a few more traps that day, five or six total. Maybe more like ten. Jay was sore, but a trap didn't care, it'd kill you anyway, or at least really hurt you. Dag showed Jay how to LIGHTLY move the tool in front of him to check for trip wires. The focus in this case was on moving the tool very slowly and very lightly, looking for it to snag on an invisible line without using too much force and triggering the line.

Jay finally found what appeared to be a mono-filament line barely wide enough for the naked eye to see if you looked at it from the right angle. Jay followed the line to where it was tied off. He tested the line for tension and decided that it wasn't under any, then slowly cut the line with a knife Dag handed to him as he worked.

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Finally the trap was made safe. Jay traded the knife for his trap tool and went back to work. Prodding at the floor around the front of the door he eventually found a spot that felt different. Jay slowly and methodically dug out the area around the spot until he could get the tool under it. He recognized this trap. It had two holes that lined up when the pressure plate was depressed. All you had to do was fit a small pin in to the holes and the trap is safe. If you let up the pressure before the pin was in the whole thing would blow in an explosion of shrapnel. Jay discovered that all on his own earlier that day.

“Safe,” Jay said as he stood back up, dusting the dirt off of his stomach.

Dag inspected the door with a critical eye before grunting. “Back to the entrance now,” he said shortly as he turned on his heel and walked away from the now safe door heading back to the room they had first entered through. He didn't wait for Jay who had to hurry to catch up.

Jay hadn't even realized it up until that point but it suddenly felt late, like he was up past his bedtime. “What time is it do you think?”

Dag shrugged. After a moment he dug in to his pockets and pulled out what looked like a pocketwatch. “Late.” he said simply.

They arrived at 'camp' just in time. Jay was ready for a break. They had another meal of jerky, this time Jay didn't even taste it he was so tired. His arms hurt. “Sleep.” Dag said simply as he stood up and walked over to a log, sitting down for watch. Jay didn't need to be told twice and moments later he was dead asleep.

He awoke to Dag poking him awake for his watch after which Dag didn't waste any time going to bed and sleep. The night passed without incident and Jay woke up Dag right as the hourglass emptied.

The two had their coffee, this time Dag showed Jay how the cups worked, spooning in the ground coffee in to the water filled cup that then stirred and heated itself. Dag couldn't explain where the coffee grounds went and Jay had to be satisfied with the explanation of 'magic,' but Dag could see the look on his face and grunted.

“Today,” he said after they finished their coffee, “is map day.”

Jay liked the sound of that. You usually didn't lie on your belly when mapping.

“You need skills Jay. Things that will make you valuable to a group. Trap finding is a good start and will keep your team alive but Cartography is another story. Cartography, when used correctly, will make you money. It will allow you to find things other people insist are forever lost. With it you will be able to take a dungeon no one has heard of and turn it in to a destination dungeon.” Dag said without taking a breath.

“Destination dungeon?” Jay asked.

“Ya,” Dag agreed. “A dungeon people go to just for the experience. Dungeons are dangerous, unless you already know what is there. If you know where the traps are, the room layouts, what enemies frequent there, their habits and weaknesses, expected loot, those are all things that turn a scary dungeon in to a loot filled cake walk. Cartographers are worth their weight in gold.”

“So why don't more groups use them?” Jay asked.

“Cartographers usually as a rule only map out dungeons once they are beaten. In ages past Adventurers, the class I mean, were known for walking in to danger to map a dungeon as well as their skill at cartography. As the class was lost over the ages though Cartography became a simple skill. The skill isn't as powerful as the class ability the Adventurer class can get.” Dag stopped while retying one of his boots.

Dag paused a moment to take a breath. “So, if a group could find an Adventurer class they would also have to find one that had picked Cartography as one of their class features.”

“Class features?” Jay asked.

“Gods.” Dag complained. “We'll be here all day if I keep letting you ask questions. I'll tell you about Class features tonight. Today, you learn how to map.”

Dag pulled out a number of items handing them to Jay. A cheap set of ink pens that smudged easily, a roll of parchment that attached to a tray which gave Jay a surface to write on, and a container of very fine sand which caused Jay to look at Dag questioningly.

“Simple fine sand used to fast dry the ink. There are magical versions that do various things, make the ink invisible, or show only under moonlight, all sorts of various sand effects. You don't need those though, you need to learn how to do the basics,” Dag explained.

The two men spent the day wandering from room to room, Dag forcing Jay to check for traps as well the entire time. “Never assume the traps are still safe. If you didn't just safe it yourself then treat it as if it were armed.” Dag grunted at one point.

Dag swapped items with Jay as they went. When a snake got the drop on them Dag calmly handed Jay the large knife and let him take care of it.

“I thought you didn't want me to fight?” Jay asked while he killed off the snake.

Dag laughed harshly. “Fight? That wasn't a fight. That was a simple snake. Erinn could have handled it.”

Jay blushed, a little embarrassed. He had been a bit proud of his knife slashing and stabbing heroics and Dag's reaction had thoroughly deflated that pride. “That bad huh?” Jay asked.

Dag nodded. “A simple pest.”

After that Jay had kept quiet while throwing himself in to map making. It was magic, obviously, as his skills improved faster than they would have on Earth and the map filled in with details he had seen but not entirely drawn. By the end of the day he had a blotchy somewhat messy map made of the entire dungeon. Twenty eight rooms, not counting the final room which they hadn't yet entered, each complete with call outs showing room contents, traps, how to disarm the traps, along with a basic summary and background based on what Dag had told him of it. It still didn't feel quite right.

“The map won't 'complete' until you finish it with the last room, which we aren't going in to today. Do you feel like you would be able to map a dungeon on your own?” Dag asked.

Jay shook his head, “No way. Too much to focus on, I'd need others to watch my back. It took me an entire day just to draw a map of an empty dungeon and we still found snakes. I can't be wandering in to a snake because I'm too busy drawing.”

“And that is why most with the Cartography skill stay home. No other abilities to make it worth a group's while to take them.” Dag stated, sitting down on his favorite log back at camp.

Jay plopped down on his log and took his boots off, massaging his feet. “Story time?” Jay asked.

“What the hell did you just say to me?” Dag grunted.

“You said you'd tell me about Class Features.” Jay gently reminded him.

Dag sighed. “I did, didn't I?”

Jay nodded trying not to grin and failing.

“Fine. One story then its time for bed. We've a big day tomorrow. Don't ask why because you only get one story,” he quickly added as Jay opened his mouth only to pause without speaking as Dag hurried to the end of his sentence. Jay closed his mouth and stared at Dag expectantly.

Dag nodded finally satisfied with Jay's silence. “I have been telling you over and over not to look at your notifications. There's a reason for that. Every time you level in your class you are given a choice. Some people only have two options to choose from, others many more, regardless of how many you will always have a choice to make each level. The options you will be given will all be things to do with your class and is the main way you gain power and abilities through your class.”

Dag paused, taking a drink from his cup that certainly wasn't coffee, “Because of the way this works there are no two people alike. No Fighter is a copy of another. Each has their own skills, abilities, items, stat points, etc that they chose each level. So when you hear me speak of a Fighter just remember that Fighter is a catch all term for anyone who has that class – it doesn't mean they are all Fighters with the same abilities gained at the same level. Everyone's leveling journey is different.”

This was new to Jay. He couldn't remember playing an RPG where everyone's abilities were randomized. “So what you get is totally randomized?” Jay asked a little disappointingly.

“Some think so. Others, like me, believe that your choices are based off what you have to work with. Over the years I've found a pattern developing where the more I practice something the better chance I have of it being offered up as a Class Feature to me. I've kept you out of your notifications to see how true this may be. You've only been in this world a few days and I've had you spending most of those days doing Adventurer class related tasks. I'm guessing you haven't picked a level 1 Class Feature yet?” Dag asked.

“No,” Jay said simply. “There hasn't been any time. I have been flat out since I arrived here it feels like.”

“Good. Keep not picking one then. At least until tomorrow night, ok? Lets get you a little more experience before you make your Choice.” Dag gently ordered Jay.

“That sounds fine to me. I'm too tired to look at notifications anyway. All I want to do is sleep.” Jay groaned.

“You can sleep after I do.” Dag said, already having tucked himself in to his bedroll.

Jay didn't bother responding knowing that Dag would be asleep in moments.

Tomorrow they'd go through the door and finish the dungeon. Jay was excited but also nervous. What exactly was involved in that final room? Did Dag know? It didn't matter. He'd find out tomorrow.

Jay wandered the edges of their simple camp as the hours went by, occasionally making corrections to his first ever personally made map. The last hour was the worst and Jay was ready to drop from exhaustion by the time his turn to sleep had arrived. Waking Dag up Jay turned around and crawled in to his bedroll, sleep claiming him before he knew what was happening.