“Get off me you son of a whore!” Stanley yelled as Bastian kicked him awake. The man stank of last night’s tobacco and rum, and muddy spots were visible on his coat. As he rolled over to get away from the mistreatment, he hastily summoned a mangy and malformed dog. The dog appeared by Stanley’s side and charged viciously at Bastian who dispatched the badly summoned creature with one kick, not even bothering to draw his flamberge.
“I hope you’ll do better than this in the dungeon,” he remarked with contempt.
“You heard the boss, you dumbass,” Hillah called from where she was busy on the south side of the camping site. Her muscled physique moved gracefully in the early morning sun, the light refracting off the sharpened edges of the double-headed battle axe on her back.
“Sorry boss, moving right now boss,” Stanley bowed obsequiously at Bastian, while shooting a murderous glare at Hillah. Hillah just sneered at his expression. Perez, their rogue, ignored the ruckus while he silently covered up the remains of their campfire.
The flare of dungeon energy had washed over them a little after sunrise. This only happens the first time a new dungeon breaks out into the open, and it presented a limited window of opportunity to both adventurers and core hunters alike. The rewards for the first adventurers to complete a new dungeon could be quite unique. In the case of Bastian’s band of core hunters, it represented an easy target.
During these crucial first few hours most new dungeons hadn’t yet completed their initial defences, making it much less dangerous than taking on an established dungeon. Cores, even those who hadn’t levelled yet, were a much sought after commodity in certain circles.
“Come on, come on!” Bastian roared at his band in frustration. Every adventurer on the island would have felt that brief burst of energy. In order to steal the core, they had to get there first.
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Lily watched closely as Agnetha, the herbalist, crushed herbs by her father’s bedside. It’s been a little over a week since a dire rat bit him, as he was stalking a deer for the Canewhold family. At first it was just a painful raised wound on his calf, but now he has taken to bed with a fever and his whole lower leg has become red and swollen.
Done, Agnetha scooped out the poultice and applied it to the wound. Then she beckoned Lily over to come help her bandage it securely. The water in their kitchen cauldron boiled just as they finished up, and Lily fetched a cup for her father’s tea.
“Now look here, Lily,” Agnetha remarked, “you have to slice off this much of the healer’s root and then add one spoon of the dried green leaf. Your father should have a cup of this tea mixture four times a day.”
“Yes, Agnetha,” Lily affirmed and moved over to hand the cup to her father. A notification flashed across her vision, but she ignored it for now.
“I’ll come back at sunset to refresh the poultice,” Agnetha said, as she left the hut, leaning heavily on her cane. Agnetha was old already and struggled with walking, but she was also the only healer most of the villagers could afford. They all worried about what would happen when she passed away. Right now, however, Lily was a lot more worried about her father.
He saw her gazing at him, and gave her a tired smile. “I’ll be okay here Lily. You go on up to the main house and continue your work.”
Lily nodded and replied, “Yes father.” It was her day to dust the baron’s house, which included shaking out all of the rugs and sweeping the floors. She needed to get going if she wanted to finish before sundown, which was also why she went in extra early on dusting days. “I’ll come back at lunch to make you some more tea, father,” she added as she left. She wasn’t sure if her father heard her, since his eyes had fallen shut again.
As she left their hut she looked at her new notification.
New skill unlocked: Basic herbalism 1/20
Lily just sighed. A basic herbalism skill wasn’t going to cure her father. With the infection spreading like this, Agnetha may not be enough either. They may have to call the village butcher in the next day or two to amputate her father’s leg if the herbs prove powerless. She wished there was more she could do. She wished she could gain a true healing skill, or even a healer class. But you need a dungeon for that and she had no adventuring skills. Angrily she kicked a rock. It skidded across the ground before thumping to a stop against a tree. Damn healers. Why do they charge so much money anyway? You’d think someone with a healing ability would want to help any way they can.
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The hallway was bathed in the early morning light as Layne rushed to his father’s study, having dressed and washed rather hastily. No person in civilised society should get up this early, he wryly thought to himself, but his father has never cared overly much about society’s conventions. This was why breakfast was also going to have to wait, even though Layne was starving already.
Entering his father’s office, he saw Baron Canewhold restlessly drumming his fingers as he studied a map of the island that was spread across his desk. Beside him was a white-bearded seer, patiently dangling a tiger-eye dowsing pendulum over the same map.
“Has something happened, father?” Layne asked curiously.
“A surge of new dungeon energy flared early this morning. If you hadn’t spent last night wasting time gambling with your ‘friends’, you might have been awake to experience it.”
Excitement rose in Layne’s chest, as he hurriedly stepped over to also study the map.
“A new dungeon,” he breathed, ignoring his father’s barbed words. Layne was still rounding out his fighter class and a new dungeon might just be able to give him the push he needed. He had already cut his adventuring teeth on the one other dungeon on the island (as had almost all of the island’s adventurers), and he was ready to go to the next level.
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“Yes, a new dungeon, if we can find it. Go get your armour on and fetch Tamrin – you need to be the first ones there once we locate it.”
“Oh creator, do I have to take Tamrin?” As a daughter of one of the wealthier fellow nobles on the island, their families had been pushing Layne and Tamrin together since Layne could remember. He had endured it when he was younger. Sometimes it was even fun. But lately Tamrin had been grating on his nerves more and more. He couldn’t quite put his finger on the issue, it wasn’t like anything she did was unreasonable, but the feeling persisted nonetheless.
“Yes, you have to take Tamrin. The buffs she provides are an integral part of your fighting strategy. Plus the higher-levelled both of you are when you get married, the more prestige our family gains.”
A part of Layne rebelled at his father’s words. Why can’t he go be an adventurer by himself? Why does he always have to drag Tamrin with him. However, the logical part of his brain quickly squashed that thought. Fighting in a team was much safer than trying to do everything solo, and usually also much more beneficial to all members of the party. Regardless of how Tamrin’s presence currently grated on his nerves.
“Yes father,” Layne acquiesced.
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Out in the hallway Lily pointedly stared at a porcelain shepherdess as she vigorously dusted the art ledge. Moments ago young master Layne had passed her on his way to his rooms. The snatches of conversation she heard out in the hallway had stirred hope in her heart. A new dungeon… If she could get to it before the real adventurers turned up, would she have a chance to gain a healing skill? The image of her father’s swollen leg had been haunting her ever since she left their hut. What if she could do something to fix it? She listened intently to the muted conversation between the baron and the seer – she needed all the information she could get.
Eavesdropping has reached maximum level of 20/20.
New skill unlocked: Spying 0/50
Lily impatiently brushed away the new notification. It wasn’t even that special. Everyone she knew had some level of eavesdropping. It certainly wasn’t her fault her own eavesdropping skill kept levelling up.
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One of Tamrin’s ladies in waiting was already helping her lace up her leather cuirass when Hariette Highreach entered the room early that morning. The cuirass was one of the best money could buy, magically enhanced for increased toughness and suppleness. An essential for a support-based adventurer like Tamrin, and as she was the daughter of the Highreach family, no expense was spared.
Her mother gave her an appraising look, then picked up the matching gorget and handed it to Tamrin.
“I am glad to see you up and readying yourself, after that new dungeon flare this morning,” Hariette said to her daughter.
“Yes indeed mother,” Tamrin replied as she started fastening the gorget around her throat. “Layne is probably on his way to come fetch me already. Well, after his father rouses him.” Layne’s habit of staying up late into the night were well-known in the Highreach household.
“If only you could manage to be indecently discovered with him late at night. Or even better, early in the morning” Hariette added discontently.
“Why are you so impatient, mother, everyone knows that Layne and I are a match. He’s my knight, and I’m his shield maiden. We will become betrothed soon enough – why, it is coming closer every day.”
“And yet there has been no proposal to date. One cannot make a home in the promise of a house.”
Tamrin just shook her head and smiled, her long blond hair brushing across her back. There really was no need for her mother to worry so. She was after all the daughter of Highreach and thus the most eligible girl on the island. Nothing was going to get in the way of her marriage to Layne Canewhold.
Hariette silently observed her daughter as Tamrin picked up the bandolier in which her throwing knives were holstered and fastened it across her upper body. So sure of herself and her future with Layne. If Tamrin remained this complacent Layne would slip right through her fingers and she wouldn’t know it until it was too late. Did she even realise how much their family’s fate was contingent upon this union?
The family’s fortune was made generations ago when they were the largest landowner on the island. Now, after decades of gradually selling off pieces of land to support their lifestyle, they were down to their last few income-generating holdings. If they weren’t part of the island’s aristocracy it might have been enough. But they were, and as such they couldn’t afford to lower their standard of living a single millimetre. Doing so would be blood in the water and would lead to the swift downfall of their family.
Silently Hariette railed against the injustice. Her husband, Benjamin, spent his nights (and their dwindling fortune) drinking and gambling his fears away. Her daughter was content to blithely accept the promise of an engagement, oblivious to the increasingly precarious state of the family wealth. Additionally the Canewhold family was making no concrete moves to secure the engagement.
Time was ticking, and if nothing happened soon another, more ambitious, eligible bachelorette could very well snatch up Layne. The increasing familiarity with which some of those girls ingratiated themselves into Layne’s company hadn’t escaped Hariette’s watchful eye. Once again it all comes down to me, she thought bitterly to herself.
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Meanwhile, in Baron Canewhold’s office, Lily listened intently for any sounds from the corridor as she too studied the map. It had been surprisingly easy to sneak in once the seer and the baron left, having determined the origin point of the new dungeon energy flare. She had ignored the notification informing her that her skill in sneaking had increased to 5/20. It was such a basic skill – why shouldn’t she have some levels in it as well?
What was important was that she now knew the location of the new dungeon. Well, she had a general idea of which part of the island it was on. So she had to get out there now, before Layne brought Tamrin back and they headed out. Before anyone else gets there. If she was first, maybe, just maybe, she could get that healing skill for her father.
As she moved carefully to leave, she noticed the tiger-eye pendulum lying on a stand by the door. It was the same pendulum the seer used to scry for the dungeon location earlier. She snatched it up as she slipped out, her heart hammering even louder in her chest.
New skill unlocked: Petty theft 1/20
Lily ignored that notification as well. If you paid attention to every random notification, you’d never get anything done. Besides, this particular notification wasn’t even correct. She wasn’t stealing – she just needed the pendulum for a little while so she could find the dungeon and get a healing skill to help her father. She would return it as soon as she got back.
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Character sheet summary at the end of the interlude
Claire
Type: Life-Mind
Level: 1
Integrity: 100%
Processing speed: 100%
Functional capacity: 99%
Core defence enabled
Cutting thorn barrier
5 LF to initiate
Continuous drain of 10 LF per day
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Lily Hunter
New: Basic herbalism 1/20
Level up: Eavesdropping 20/20 → Spying 0/50
New: Petty theft 1/20
Sneaking +? → 5/20