"Don't suppose you can carry Shrike in there?" Ollie laughed, peeking their head back through the doorway a short while later, "that would make this whole thing a lot easier."

Jump-touch froze for a second, trying to think of a response.

"Don't tease the kid," Yaris rolled her eyes, helping Shrike to his feet. "Eim can run his hands over the knee and it'll stop hurting for a time, and I can carry him most of the way there."

"I'm not a child," Shrike said, gesturing as if to hit her with the cane, "I don't need to be carried.."

"I'm sorry mate," Eim butted in. He was crouched down, one hand on Shrike's knee, "but you are absolutely in need of help. If we let you hobble all the way there on your own we're not gonna get there 'til midnight."

"We could borrow a donkey," Ollie suggested as Eim stood up, and they set off down the corridor together as a group.

"Borrow," said Eim. "I can get behind that."

"I won't be that slow," Shrike protested.

Yaris was silent, walking next to Jump-touch. She was so tall. How could somebody grow to be that tall and not suffer from a lack of air!

A few minutes later they were outside the guild and heading along the street. The four of them seemed to know where they were going, so Jump-touch followed quietly behind.

Would they be upset, if they found out later that she could carry Shrike? She was withholding an important resource from the group. She was hoarding, even if the thing she was hoarding was knowledge.

Greed, whispered the little voice in the back of her mind.

It was one thing to keep something for yourself that nobody else needed. Leaves, jewellery, things you needed to live; but to hoard something that was needed? Or to focus so much on acquiring stuff that it was to the detriment of the rest of your life?

That was the worst. That was what Bad kobolds did, that was the first step on the path to madness.

She had never seen it happen, it hadn't been an issue with anyone during her time in the village, but she was very young for a kobold. She knew the process though.

Whatever the mad kobold had would be taken from them, as the others tried to talk them through it. If they hadn't calmed down by the time the March rolled around, then they would be the first down in the valley, hopefully far enough from the Peak and their hoarded objects that they would snap out of it.

She didn't know what would happen if they didn't, but she suspected that the final cure was a journey to the Peak, from which they would either come back fixed, or not at all.

Yet, she'd only been in human lands for a day, and she was already starting to fall into that trap.

But it was hard, as the culture here seemed to encourage it. Traders everywhere offering stuff and things in return for easy resources or time. Space for each person to store their stuff, and no judgement no matter how much you accrued, not that she'd seen.

Jump-touch bit her lip, drawing up beside Shrike. I can't fall into that trap, I can't. Even if the Stone has given me the perfect hoarding skill. He was walking easier now, without having to lean on the cane, but he was still slower than the others.

"Hey, uh, Shrike," she said quietly, and he looked over at her, "how much do you have to tell people, about your skills?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He kept his gaze on her for a moment, before turning it back to the road.

"You don't have to tell anyone anything you don't want to," he responded, "if you have another skill, or your skill can do something you don't want others to know, that's your prerogative. You're allowed to keep it secret."

"But what if it was something that would help the group?"

He glanced at her again, "is it a healing skill which would fix my knee?"

She shook her head.

"Okay. Then will it endanger the group, by drawing monsters to us or… Or by using our life-force to power a cultist ritual or something?"

She shook her head more violently. "No!" What on earth!

"Then you can keep it secret, if you want," he shrugged, "you only got your class and skill yesterday, right? That's unusual. Most people go to the Stone for the first time at age seven or eight, to help decide what Class they want later and to solidify their first stat gains. If you can afford it, then you go back again every year until you hit fifteen, at which point it allows you to pick a class. You didn't get any visits in before?"

The wind was blowing her hair into her eyes, and as she batted it away, she realised again that she still hadn't found a hair-tamer. She needed to find a comb, at least. Should she mention that she wasn't fifteen?

"I lived somewhere far away, where we didn't have a Stone, so I don't really know how it works."

"That's unusual," Shrike said casually, still watching the road, "but good on you for coming here and making the most of it. Now that you have it, you should also think about the class you took, and how you can level it."

Jump-touch nodded.

"It's a Scholar class, so I guess I could write books?" There was a writing kit in her Heart now, she could see it there, sitting on the third shelf up of her new shelves.

A book of her very own, about… Well, she could write a book, that was a goal!

Shrike nodded, "that sounds sensible to me. When we get back from this trip, I can help you find something that fits whatever your class is, alright?"

Around them, there was a sudden change, as the buildings seemed to fall away, and all at once there was nothing but open grassland ahead of them.

"Oh!"

Shrike smiled at her exclamation, "they cut everything back here, around the Spur- that's the Dungeon entrance. So that if anything escapes, there's room to fight it. I suspect, but I've never had it confirmed, that it's also to do with magic leakage, but-"

Eim looked back from up ahead, where he was walking with Ollie and Yaris. "Stop lecturing the kid. Besides, there's other entrances closer to the guild, but they're supposed to be a secret. Harmony says the guild seals them shut whenever they're discovered, but people keep digging more. If you go into the poorer neighbourhoods, then I've heard that practically every house has an entrance underneath."

"And that-" said Yaris, the first thing she'd said on the whole journey, "is why a dungeon break is eventually going to take out this whole city. Idiots like that."

"It seems unlikely," Shrike said as the two bickered.

Next to Yaris, Ollie rolled their shoulders, looking back over the plains. "The Spur is in the middle. It used to move about, but it's settled over the last couple of years, for whatever reason. You'll need your ring to get in, so if you stored it in your [Pocket Zone] then you'll have to retrieve it."

"Do I need the book, too?"

"Book?" Eim asked.

"The one with my class and stuff in."

"Oh, is it a book for you?" he ran a hand through his red hair, the wind here picking it up and blowing it into his face. "Nah, that information's all stored in the ring, whatever you told the guild, anyway. The guards used to need it, but this was an easier solution."

Jump-touch considered the ring on her finger. I wonder how it works. Is there a Heart inside with little bits of paper and pieces of monster floating around in?

"We need to pick you up a hair-tie," Ollie said to him, their own brown hair down to their shoulders, but somehow staying put, "the kid, too."

"She said she's not a kid," Yaris strained upwards on her toes, looking for something. "Ok, the Spur is over there, hasn't moved. It should be about a ten minute walk. Everyone ready?"

Nods all round, even from Jump-touch who wasn't going to say no to whatever they were about to do.

"It's good to be prepared, although the chance of monsters in the grass is almost none." She started walking, fishing about in her pockets. "We have a quest for killing twenty pink slimes, five green, and if we see a blue, trying not to get killed. We might have to leave it if we do. The slimes are harmless unless you get mobbed, so once we're in you all follow me, we stick together and you all make sure you have your weapons ready."

Jump-touch hesitated, and Yaris glanced back. "You're fine, just stay in the middle of the group. We'll look after you, and for the Stone's sake, don't run if something goes wrong. Shrike…"

Shrike rolled his shoulders, "I've done this more times than any of you, don't worry about me."

"It's not you I'm worried about, it's your fucked up leg."

He narrowed his eyes at her, and she raised her hands in supplication. "Alright, alright. If everyone knows their roles, then let's go."