The members of newly chartered Golden Edge stood before the stone gate as Mattimeus passed out and keyed a set of fresh Myriad stones. One of many privileges afforded to Academy graduates: free use of the Myriad Descent for parties of alumni in good standing. Unaffiliated parties had to either forfeit a portion of their earnings as payment for use of the Descent, or deal with the tremendous inconvenience of physical travel.
After decades of debate and magical research, the consensus was clear: the Perrigenese National Dungeon was a real place, mostly. It had a semi-physical existence honeycombing the earth beneath Perrigen with tunnels, although the space above- and below-ground did not entirely correspond—one hundred feet north on the surface might end up being two hundred feet northwest or fifty directly east, in the dungeon. The PND had natural entrances, and artificial entrances had been carved in the past, at great expense and with great danger. The areas near those entrances tended to be static, mapped, and scoured clean of both dangers and treasures. There'd once been decent money in keeping those corridors clear, but it was a tiring and tiresome trek to get far enough away from a registered entrance for a party to find anything new, exciting, or valuable.
The Myriad Descent, an artifact brought to the surface only a few years ago by one Septimus Septimaris, had revolutionized delving in Perrigen. It opened up a gate to a random location on the first level of the PND, almost always a recently shifted area. This allowed a keyed party access to a fresh, un-plundered stretch of dungeon. The area around a party's gate usually stayed static until the party either unkeyed their stones or died, which came to the same thing, so maps could even be sold in the rare event that a party's explorations happened to link up with a known area of the PND.
Mattimeus had planned for only a short delve. If they found anything interesting during their jaunt, they'd keep their Myriad stones set to this gate for their next delve. If not, they'd re-key and try for a luckier spot next time. It didn't particularly matter either way: the real goal was for him, Pipper, and Madge to get used to fighting with their two new members. They'd all discussed tactics, but Mattimeus had learned from his family that live combat was always a better teacher than drills, and that mere conversation was the next thing to worthless.
"Everyone set?" he asked, raising his Myriad stone. His party nodded, so Mattimeus held the stone disc up to the stone-filled arch of the Myriad Descent. The rocks filling the gateway shimmered and pulsed, then seemed to wobble. Slowly they oozed apart, like jelly being pushed aside by invisible hands.
It was odd—every other time Mattimeus had used the Myriad Descent, the stones had folded back into the archway in a swift, orderly clatter. This sluggish, liquid movement made him feel a little queasy. Still, the Myriad Descent was a new and relatively untested artifact, and the archway was clear. Perhaps it was just a quirk. He turned and favored his party with a grin. They didn't seem to note anything amiss.
"Golden Edge," Mattimeus said, "let us descend." With solemnity suitable for the occasion, and with Madge rolling her eyes only a little, Mattimeus and his party walked through the empty gateway of the Myriad Descent and into the halls of the Perrigenese National Dungeon.
Mattimeus looked around as soon as he was through. The hallways were made of the same clean, unremarkable stone he'd seen from the surface side of the Descent. That was usually the case. Once or twice he'd walked through the Descent to find himself in one of the stranger regions of the PND, and those could be unpredictable in dangerous ways. Mattimeus was level 21, and both Madge and Pipper were just short of reaching level 20 and evolving. They should be safe from anything on the first floor. Still, it never paid to underestimate the Dungeon.
Their graduating class had learned that lesson too well.
The Myriad Descent's archway jutted incongruously out of one wall. Mattimeus made a note of their location—the middle of a long hallway, ending at a wooden door about thirty feet to the left, branching out about twenty feet to the right.
"Pipper, you're still on cartography?" he said.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
"Good. Let's check behind the door first."
The rest of the group nodded and moved into position—Mattimeus and Madge side-by side, Dawlian behind them, and Pipper and Gradible bringing up the rear. At Mattimeus's gesture, Gradible stepped forward and leaned in close to inspect the door. He put his ear to it, listened, and signaled—nothing. He held one hand over the lock, twitched the fingers of the other, and the shadows jerked suddenly.
The lock clicked and the door opened inward a scant inch. Gradible scurried back into position.
Mattimeus nodded. Madge took a deep breath and kicked the door in. Nothing. Mattimeus exhaled and led the way through to a large, empty room. First him, then Madge. Dawlian was third through the door, axe raised, and an Attercope Hatchling dropped from the ceiling on top of him.
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Mattimeus shouted a hasty command over Dawlian's screams and [Shining Example] activated, coating the party's weapons with golden light. He glanced up at the ceiling—two more attercopes waiting, also hatchlings. Dawlian flailed, his empowered axe neatly slicing off one of the attercope's legs but almost taking out Madge as well.
Shining Example (Gold)
Leadership
You are the point of the spear. As long as you are armed, creatures under the influence of your Leadership deal more damage with every strike!
"Careful!" Madge yelled. "Hey, beasties! I'm not nearly so spiky!" She shone with the power of her [Tempting Target], a glow highlighting the vulnerabilities in her heavy armor—in particular, the wide circle of bare skin right over her collarbone. Pipper chanted softly, hastily covering over those spots with a blue aura, and all three attercopes turned toward Madge.
Dawlian flung his distracted grappler off and swung his axe in an arc, biting into the creature's abdomen but missing the kill. Mattimeus took a moment to ram his sword through through the creature's head.
Slain: Attercope Hatchling! Due to your advanced Class, your experience gain has been reduced!
Dawlian's breath was ragged and Mattimeus reached out with [Steadfast Example], trying to calm him.
Steadfast Example (Gold)
Leadership
You are the rock upon which your party stands. As long as you are not affected by stress, fear, charm, rage, or other emotional effects, creatures under the influence of your Leadership recover faster from those same effects!
Warning! Steadfast Example does not currently protect from: Stress!
"You're okay," Mattimeus said. "Do it like you showed us in the drills."
Dawlian nodded as he caught his breath. He squared his shoulders and swung his axe, severing two legs from one of the remaining attercopes as Madge fended off the other with her shield and hammer. The shadows under Dawlian's target thickened and tangled, holding it in place for him to execute, and Mattimeus turned to check on Madge.
She was doing well, showing off her long experience working with Pipper. A less experienced duo wouldn't have known each others' capabilities, but Madge knew exactly how far Pipper's barriers could be pushed—when to block, when to parry, and when to take the attercope's fangs full-on. She grinned at Mattimeus over the spiny body, her distaste for him forgotten as it always was in the heat of battle, and caught the attercope's next bite on the edge of her shield. With a grunt she shoved the creature back toward him, and though its many legs meant it wouldn't be off-balance for long, it was long enough for Mattimeus to first disable, then dispatch the creature with a pair of well-placed swings of his glowing sword.
Slain: Attercope Hatchling! Due to your advanced Class, your experience gain has been reduced! Tip: Some members of your party have a less advanced class than you do! Consider letting a teammate land the Finishing Blow!
The group glanced around—and above, this time—then relaxed. "Nice work, team," Mattimeus said. "I was sloppy, not checking the ceiling, and Dawlian nearly paid for it. My apology isn't enough, but it is all I can offer, except—" He knelt down to inspect the three mangled corpses. "Ah, here we are. Our first two cores as the Golden Edge. The charter specifies of course an even split, but as a gesture of goodwill, I hope that our two newest members will accept our first loot." He handed one core to Dawlian and one to Gradible. "Now, I don't see any other doors—but we all know how the Dungeon likes to play its tricks. Grady, a search, please?"
Gradible nodded and began his inspection, the shadows around him squirming in cracks in the masonry. He frowned and closed his eyes as the movement intensified, and Mattimeus could hear a faint grinding noise as some of the looser stones shifted. Finally Gradible shook his head. "Nothing. No traps, no secret chambers, not even a hidden compartment under the floor. Really, the dungeon gives us an empty room? Empty except the 'copes, I mean."
Mattimeus frowned. "That is unusual. Perhaps the Descent spat us out close to someone else's hunting grounds. I don't see any party marks, and it's odd that the attercopes would be here... perhaps it's an old hunting ground, and the monsters have started to move back into a previously cleared area?" He shrugged. "No matter. Everyone catch your breath, and then we'll try the other direction. Pipper, would you please leave our mark? If we're overlapping with someone, we should try to let them know. And if we confirm an overlap, we'll have to re-key for the Myriad Descent."
"Sure thing, Mattie," she said, and pulled out a piece of chalk. With a few quick strokes she marked the back wall of the room—the blade and star registered for the Golden Edge, plus marks indicating that they'd killed minor monsters. Party markings were usually viewed as an unnecessary courtesy, but Mattimeus would prefer to avoid clashing with other delvers if at all possible.
No treasure beyond the cores was irritating for the rest of the Golden Edge, but Mattimeus didn't mind. He'd secured the kill on two Hatchlings, meaning Octavian's name would have dropped safely off of his recent kill list. That was one loose end cleaned up. Now it was just the achievements left—rarer and more complicated by far than kills, but even more necessary.