006 - ONE DOES NOT STRIKE DEALS IN THE DUNGEON DEPTHS

“Sword’s good, but it's not what you want right now,” Buck said, holding his hand out to take the short sword Conrad had brought with him.

After he had signed the contract, the iciness in Buck had thawed considerably and the man was now intent on “being sure Conrad was ready” to enter the dungeon as one of the Seekers.

“What do you mean?” Conrad asked, slowly holding out the sword for Buck to examine. The older man took it and immediately it vanished into his inventory. Before Conrad could protest, he manifested another weapon into his hand and held it out for Conrad to inspect.

“This,” Buck said, “Is the right weapon for a beginner.”

Conrad invoked his level five Identify spell as he reached for the weapon.

Iron Banded Club

Rarity: Common

Description: A simple club of hardened wood with an iron strip around the striking end for improved damage over simple wood.

Damage Potential: ☆

Defense Potential: ☆

Merchant Class Bonus:

Would you like additional information?

“You’re joking,” Conrad said.

“Joke?” Buck said, seriously.

Conrad looked nonplussed, “This has to be a newbie initiation thing right? I mean, the sword I just gave you has a three star damage potential. This club has one. I’m a Merchant, remember?”

Buck put his hands on his hips and looked sideways at Karina, who stepped up and began to explain, “We’re not idiots, and we’ve all got the Identify ability. What you don’t get because you’re so green with inexperience we’d lose you in a garden is that swords are weapons that take skill to use.”

“But it’s a better weapon,” Conrad said, trying to be understanding and, clearly, failing.

“Better for somebody like Buck who knows what to do with it. In your hands you’re more likely to lose a finger or hit ‘em with the wrong side. That’s why it's called damage potential. You can’t do a ton of damage with that club, but you have zero chance of messing up swinging it,” she said, adding, “And if you hit one of us by mistake, we should be just fine.”

Conrad didn’t completely agree but it did make a sort of sense. The club was heavy too, which might be good for his strength stat. The short sword was meant to be an agile weapon, it was light and easy to swing or thrust. But this club had to weigh close to two kilos. He checked the additional information available to him with his Merchant boosted Identify which gave more insight than the common variant and, sure enough, he was right on the money.

He sighed. There was no point in arguing with somebody who was training you in an unfamiliar skill. Sometimes, just the discomfort of learning something new or putting your hands on new tools, as was the case here, was enough to make everything feel wrong. But he had never been into a dungeon or worked with a team. He’d killed his first monster only a couple of days ago now, and it was done in what came down to a wrestling match against a weaker opponent. What did he really know anyway?

“If you say so,” he said, swallowing his objections.

He began pulling on the chain mail shirt but stopped when Buck, again, held out his hand, and in the other he already had a bundle of what looked like leather.

“Guys come on,” Conrad said, “Chain mail is heavy, sure, but it’s maneuverable and makes for better protection than leather to both piercing and slashing damage.”

“But not blunt damage,” Buck said, “And the amount of noise it makes, especially where we’re heading. Not ideal. You can have it back once you’ve shown you’re not going to go clinking around and revealing our position wherever you go. See anything that makes as much noise on us as you make scratching your ass wearing that stuff?”

Buck was wearing his supple leather, Karina her breastplate which was all of a piece, and even the plates on Joy’s armor were riveted in place with no movement or give no matter how he moved.

Conrad shrugged and, with less fight than he would have in any other circumstance, handed over his chain shirt.

But Buck still had his hands held out.

“Armor’s not the only thing that clinks and jangles when we’re trying to be quiet,” he said, and nodded his head at Conrad’s waist.

He wanted to say no. He really did. But he found that he just couldn’t. Each time an objection or option to do something different with the money popped into his mind, like take an extra hour to head to the bank and put it in temporary deposit, it was met with a counter-argument that somehow felt weightier.

If he tried to argue for a little more time, Buck would throw up his hands and kick him out, ending their contract. And the contract had already been signed and he had already argued the terms and failed to improve them beyond the great value he already expected to get.

The negotiations were over. Now was the time for obedience.

A small part of him chafed at that word as he handed over his coin purse. Obedience.

Conrad scowled as he thought it over and noticed Joy trying to catch his eye, “Buck’s good,” the big man said.

“Buck’s good?” Conrad repeated.

“Shows me what to do. I’m still here,” Joy said.

“Buck’s good!” Karina chimed in with a laugh, “Put on the leathers, newbie. Today we wash the NPC out of you.”

With nothing else left to argue, Conrad did as he was asked.

He used Identify on the leather armor but knew what was coming and wasn’t shocked to discover it only had a single star of defense potential. Still it was light and he could move easily in it. And Buck had provided some basic pads for his knees, thighs, elbows and forearms in addition to the body protection provided by the cuirasse itself.

Armed and armored, the group set off. And it was at this point that Conrad realized he didn’t know exactly where they were actually going. He started to raise the point but was hit with a quick command to “Trust” and the group continued onward.

They moved out of The Down and into one of the sidestreets that connected that neighborhood to the adjacent, residential area. Before the end of the alleyway a fork in the path opened up into a courtyard of a larger surrounding building. And in that courtyard a number of adventurers stood around in varying states of readiness.

At the center of the cleared space was a stone spiral staircase leading down.

“We’re going straight in?” Conrad said, nervous and excited at once.

Karina gave him a wicked smile, “Isn’t this the reason you joined a band?”

Conrad forced his voice into the neutral tone of one discussing the weather as he said, “Of course, but wouldn’t it make sense to drill a little together first? Maybe talk over the plan at least?”

In all of his sessions with his grandfather, the old man had explained at length that adventurer’s were best in bands, and that it was together that they shored up each others’ weaknesses. And above all, that they didn’t get that way by accident, but rather, through training.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Karina said, and seeing Conrad open his mouth added, “For now.”

The Seekers walked directly to the entrance, Karina in line first, followed by Joy, then with Buck steering Conrad into the third position from behind.

“Who’s that with you lot, Karina?” one of the men, fully armed and armored in clinking plate armor and visible chain mail at the joints. Conrad was surprised the group had already made friends but realized it must be that the adventuring community was tighter knit than he realized. With adventurers from many different places and cities all chasing various but similar opportunities, usually involving dungeons, it was no wonder they would run into each other from time to time.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

It could also be that Karina’s figure stuck in the man’s memory, but he didn’t dwell on it.

“New recruit on his first run,” Karina called back, continuing down the spiraling steps.

“Hold up…” the man said, then recognition lit up his face, “That’s Bridgitte’s kid, from the Border Zone Outfitter. What’s his name again?”

Kid? Conrad was practically twenty. He was about to call the man out and correct him on the error when Buck spoke up.

“Can’t chat! The King doesn’t wait around for laggards,” Buck called, waving.

“You’re going after the King? With a new recruit?” the armored man called back after them but his voice soon fell away as the group continued deeper into the staircase.

“Before you ask,” Buck said, slamming his hands down on Conrad’s shoulders a little too hard as they walked around the slow, gradual curve of the staircase, “The King is what brought you out to Edge to begin with. First thing we heard about when we got here. His name is on all lips. A new development in the dungeon and, well this is what folks are saying anyway, responsible for more than just the attack at your homestead.”

Karina called back over her shoulder to add to the conversation, “Attacks like that have been happening all over. Folks are in a real tizzy over it, worried Chaos’ll find a way to breach the Node or some nonsense. But not us.”

“Not us!” chimed in Joy, happily.

“We’re proper adventurers, Conrad, real seekers of opportunity out here putting deed to the very name of our band!” Karina said, proudly.

“We’re going to be the first to kill him,” Buck said, “And you’re going to be part of that!”

He patted Conrad’s shoulders again and he was about to find out how, and when he’d even be able to help contribute when a notification with large, ominous text faded into his vision.

The Warren Dungeon - Floor One

Off to the side there was an exit from the staircase, but Karina continued past it and down.

“How far down are we going?” Conrad asked.

In his head it made sense that they might skip the first floor. Floor dungeons, like the Warren, often gave very little in terms of resistance and reward on the first couple of floors, but also tended to get progressively more dangerous as they went deeper.

“Not to the bottom, no worries,” Buck said.

Conrad didn’t think he would be in any trouble for the first few floors, but didn’t want to sound like a coward trying to state his preference for an easy onboarding into the band. They continued past floor two.

When floor three faded into his vision he resolved to say something if they didn’t stop on floor four

But the next text that faded into his vision was not what he had expected.

The Warren Dungeon - Floor Five

“What happened to four?” Conrad said, the words sounding more nervous than he intended.

“Dungeon counts funny,” Joy said over his shoulder. He walked past the entrance to the fifth floor.

“Shouldn’t we stop here? You’ve been in Edge, what, a day? Have you even had a chance to explore the higher floors?,” Conrad said

“Relax,” Buck said, “Where we’re going you’re probably not even going to have to fight. There’s a mineral deposit down this way, or at least there usually is, and it's a good place for you to start paying your way.”

“But not earning anything myself?” Conrad said, annoyance breaking through.

“This aint the barter system, kid,” Buck said, cuffing him over the back of the head hard enough to jolt him down an extra step.

Conrad decided to shut his mouth and do as he was originally told, to just trust that these people knew what they were about. They definitely weren’t new to adventuring, other people recognized them despite them only having arrived in Edge the day before.

But as Floor Eight came and went, Conrad was beginning to realize how rash his decision to join this group had been. Maybe they were experienced, but were they experienced in mentoring new talent? Or in keeping them alive, for that matter?

When it came down to it, he didn’t really know anything about them. Karina was a woman who happened to buy some things at his shop, the others were friends of hers, and this had been enough for him to not only put off his actual duties but to sign a magically binding contract to work for them without promise of pay? He wished he had panicked a little more the night before but he had been drunk and Karina had looked so good… now though, the glimpses he caught of her ahead of them in the torchlight held no promise of sex or intrigue whatsoever.

This was her world, her friends, and like it or not, Conrad was along for the ride. He did his best to steel himself for what was coming, but the number of stairs following floor eight seemed to be longer than ever before.

It was almost with relief that he welcomed the new text for the floor where Karina finally turned and led the group out into the dungeon proper.

The Warren Dungeon - Floor Thirteen

“That’s the end of the line,” Karina said, “Eyes up. Mineral deposits should be this way if the tip we got is any good.”

What greeted Conrad was not what he had expected at all. It was well known that the first few floors of the Warren mimicked a sewer system - though non-functioning - in reference to the city above them, but deeper floors were more ephemeral in their composition.

Here on the thirteenth floor it felt like they had arrived at the ruins of some forgotten city. The ceiling above had to be there, they were underground afterall, but Conrad couldn’t see it and instead tiny twinkling sparks gave the impression that he was actually looking at a night sky.

Before them buildings stretched away into the distance, sometimes clustering up in a semblance of neighborhoods - overgrown with ivy, lichen, and moss - and sometimes with space around them for plantlife and even what looked like it might pass for farmland. Distant sounds of creatures, monsters and even sometimes what sounded like fighting - possibly of other bands on the same floor - drifted exactly like they might in an open plane above, with no echo or semblance of the fact that they had to be deep in an underground cave.

It was like an entire civilization, an entire world existed down here separate entirely from the world that existed above ground.

Conrad took it all in, so overawed by the sight of it that he forgot his fears of its depth and the danger it implied almost entirely.

Karina pointed to a rock formation a hundred meters outside the main portion of what Conrad would have called the city and the group set off. The Seekers left their torches in a pile by the entrance where they quickly flickered out, and it was clear why. The whole place had a sort of ethereal lightness to it that made seeing without additional light easy. It wasn’t a glow though, or really light. Not exactly. It was just as if everything was visible, like there was a sun despite there being no such thing at all and the overall appearance of the time of day being deep night.

They were halfway there when, all at once two lizardkin came hurtling at the group out of the pseudo-darkness.

“Two left,” Karina called back to Buck as she unlimbered her two handed broadsword.

Buck glowed briefly with an orange light as he said, “On it.”

His hands burst into flame, and almost at the same instant the two lizardkin did as well. They coughed and sputtered and collapsed to the ground, curling up on themselves in burned out death.

“See?” Buck said to Conrad, “Nothing to worry about, even down here.”

He manifested a pickaxe out of his inventory and handed it to Conrad, then a second one which he handed to a ready Joy, “Time to get to work.”

The group approached the rock formation and Conrad noted some colorful striations in the rock, some a sort of rust color and others a dim copper.

“This is how we boost that strength stat of yours,” Karina said as she took a seat near the mineral outcrop.

“I’m strong already,” Joy said, “But I like mining. S’fun for me.”

He stepped up and started chipping away with gusto. Conrad identified the chunks falling from the rock as iron and copper ore, and occasional bits of coal.

Suddenly it was all making more sense. The heavy club was one more way to train his strength while giving him a means to defend himself. The trek to the lower floor was to give him a space to both work on his strength and endurance while also earning some money from minerals to help pay the band and make even this menial training productive.

Value for value. That was what trading was all about, and sometimes you had to get your hands a little dirty to see the value being offered to you.

Buck took up another position opposite Karina and both of them kept watch while Conrad and Joy got to work.

Joy was tireless, happily swinging away at the rocks and producing far more ore than Conrad, but Conrad did what he could. They worked until his hands were blistered and raw, broke for lunch which Karina, some dried meat and bread, and then got back to it.

Some hours later Conrad could barely lift the pick to swing any longer and turned to find that Karina and Buck had made camp. He checked his stat increases for the day, all rolled into a single notification.

Status Modification

Strength: +2

Endurance: +4

Agility: +1

Not bad for his first day! He knew the large boost was more a result of his relatively sheltered upbringing than it was any indication of his potential, but Conrad had earned every point of it regardless. When Buck pointed to a bedroll Conrad was all too willing to collapse onto it. Then he remembered the potion set Karina had bought from his parents' shop. The Deep Dive set had potions for recovering from physical strain more quickly and were useful for cementing the stat gains of a hard day of work or fighting.

“Karina, any chance I could get a recovery potion before I bed down?” Conrad asked. He had more than earned it. The iron and copper he had pulled from the deposit alone were enough to earn a couple of gold at least, if his Appraise skill was anything to go by down here - it worked better in shops where prices were more available.

“Potion?” she laughed, “Too pampered by half, swindler’s son. Recover the old fashioned way. Get some sleep.”

Conrad wanted to take the insult as a joke but it was beginning to get on his nerves. This woman seemed to be harboring a serious grudge. And what made it so perplexing to him was that, overpriced or not, it had been a mutually beneficial trade that she was under no obligation to take. And that bothered Conrad. His whole existence up to that point had been built around trade and the ideas it embodied.

Trust, reciprocity, responsibility. Trust that the other party could be relied upon to follow through with a deal, reciprocity in giving value for value, and responsibility in being sure what you were getting out of the deal was what you wanted.

Seeing Karina be this raw about the deal so long after the fact - and especially as she stood there wearing the items she herself had purchased.. Well, it rankled him.

He was about to say something and then remembered where he was. Now was not the time to take a stand. Maybe once they were back on the surface.

He shrugged and lay down, instantly falling asleep.

He didn’t know how much later it was he awoke to Karina’s voice shouting, “UP! THEY’RE ON US!”