The blue screen in front of Zach disappeared from his view to show that the orderly line around the woman was now watching her as she stepped out of it. Slowly, a soft murmur started and unwashed hands reached out to Alexa. People asking for money or help in the dungeon surround them. Going from an outstretched hand to physically grabbing their clothes. Voices of desperate people asking for coins, food, weapons washed over Zach as he felt the press of people get tighter. Zach could just barely hear over the crowd the loud crying of a child. Then something changed, the crowd became angry as someone shouted to take their gear and in that instant the crowd changed. A fist came out of nowhere and slammed into the back of Zach’s head. Blows continued to rain down on his body, but the leather armor protected him from most of the force. Someone kicked the back of Zach’s knee and as he fell, he felt a sharp pain slice into his side. Screaming out in pain, Zach felt hot liquid pour from him.

BOOM! The sound of thunder shook Zach’s entire body as people clapped their hands over their ears. Looking towards the dungeon’s entrance portal, Zach saw a large man in a Bellmare’s guard uniform shouting and directing other guards into the surrounding crowd. The men that came down, used wooden clubs and lifting full-grown men with one hand. Back and forth they worked throwing people left and right until they finally made their way down to Zach. A rough hand lifted Zach upwards as a sharp slap across his face loosen some of his teeth in their sockets. Zach gazed at the man as stars lit up in his eyes. The guard was missing quite a few teeth as spit flew from his mouth onto Zach’s face. Closing his fist around Zach leather collar, the guard dragged him across the stone floor towards his leader. It wasn’t till Zach felt the dull edge of the rough stone steps that he even had enough wits to get his feet under him. Looking back, the guard saw Zach struggling and stopped, giving him a moment to get back on his feet.

“Come on, ain’t got all day!” The guard said as he pushed Zach towards the street. As Zach walked, the pain in his side flared up and he looked down realizing that someone had stabbed him.

“Oh Fuck! Oh Fuck! Someone stabbed me!” Zach shouted in a panic.

The guard gritted his teeth and pushed Zach forward. “Quit your yelling! We going to see the healer! Your lucky the crowd didn’t tear yeah to pieces! Stupid Git! I ain’t getting paid enough to protect farm boys from spilling out their guts!”

Zach put pressure on his wound hoping to stop the bleeding. As they walked across the street into a tiny shop, Zach realized that it wasn’t a shop at all. The room they entered had five small tables and around fifteen chairs sitting around a large desk. Alexa and Christina were huddled together as another guard brought the two of them cups of water. Behind the desk someone had nailed a small map showing streets and shops of the Adventurer’s district to the wall. Stacks of paper, bottles of oil and various tools laid on a table below the map. A white sheet covered a staircase in the back as an older man in a guard’s uniform with a white strip came out. As the older man came over, Zach felt a rough hand force him into a chair.

“He’s been stabbed, Martin, and acting like a dragon has come calling. The sarge says to heal him up and get them out. We going to be having a bunch of folk that need healing for their cracked heads.” The guard seemed to snicker as he left Zach to Martin’s care. Martin, for what little it was worth, shook his head and placed a hand over Zach’s wound closing his eyes. The man chanted a spell as the pain deaden and Zach could feel the flow of blood stop.

Opening his eyes, Martin looked at Zach, “How’s it feel?”

Zach nodded, “Better, I don’t feel anything right now.”

Martin snorted, “You shouldn’t. I temporary stopped the blood flow, but I will have to clean the wound before applying the heal spell, and that will hurt like someone stabbing you with a hot poker.”

Zach looked surprised at Martin for a moment, “Wait, why not just give me a healing potion and be done with it?”

Martin laughed as if Zach had said the funniest thing he had heard. After settling down, Martin took a large pitcher and washed out Zach’s wound making him feel a slight pulling sensation as the water ran red onto the floor. “Boy, you don’t know the first thing about healing, do you? Potions are great for the dungeon because of all the mana used in the healing process is in the air. It can pull flesh and blood out of it like no one’s business. Use it out here and a potion uses a person‘s mana pool to create new flesh. That can build corruption in your pool or create a nasty infection in the flesh. Besides damn things are expensive and too many people need healing as it is. But enough with the stupid questions. Let me heal you before the Stabilize spell wears off.”

Before Zach said anything else, Martin chanted another spell as his hand hovered over Zach’s wound, and then the pain started. Zach felt like two rough hands squeezed his flesh together and then burning the flesh close. Tears fell from his eyes by the time Martin was done casting the spell. “There, now off with you lot, the Guard has better things to do then break up beggar riots over a few silvers.”

Zach got up to look at his wound and notice nice clean pink skin. [Mend] could fix the clean-cut hole in his armor, but Zach had the feeling they all needed to get to the Adventurer’s Guild before the other guards decided they were being a nuisance. Checking the map, he headed out with Alexa, Christina, and her children in tow to the Guilds location.

As they left Dungeon Square, Christina’s children complained about how they were hungry or how their feet hurt. Christina tried keeping them quiet, but Zach finally had them stop for a moment. “All right, how about we go to the inn first and let everyone take a nap, while the adults go to the Guild?” Zach tried smiling as he looked at the children and Christina hugged them close.

“That would probably be for the best, sir. I can carry Maggie, but would it be possible for you or your Golem to carry young Billy here?” Christina had a surprisingly soft voice for someone about to face death in a dungeon. So Zach relented and picked up the boy as they headed to the Ugly Elemental.

They took perhaps half an hour to make it to the inn and rent Christina a room. During the walk young Billy had entered the phase of asking questions about everything, which had wore Zach’s patience paper thin. Thankfully, Grim helped him cheat by using his [Appraisal] skill and just pop blue screens for the boy to look at. Which brought on questions about what was this word or that one. After finally reaching the inn, Zach was able to purchase a room for a few nights without hurting his budget. Looking at his dimensional wallet, he wasn‘t sure how much a Standard Dungeon Pass would be or if he could just get her a basic one without affecting Alexa and himself.

When they finally got back outside, Christina looked like a weight had finally been lifted from her. Smiling, she looked up at the sky and sighed with relief. “Thank you both for what you have done. I was out of money and we had already slept outside last night…. I didn’t know what else to do.” Christina smiled with tears in her eyes.

Alexa gave her a small pat on the shoulder, “Christina, this is just the first step. Why don’t you tell us why you were going into the dungeon to begin with, instead of trying to find family or friends to help you?”

Christina looked at Alexa and nodded her head as few tears dropped from her eyes. “My husband used to be a level ten Scout before we got married. He always brought out money from the dungeon and used to tell me tales of how to fight the creatures in there. He said he was one of the best trap finders in the city until a mana beast bit off his arm. When he drank, he would say how easy it is and that he should have gone back in and taken care of all our debts. I always thought he would do it, and when debt collectors came by or he needed a drink he would head in and kill a few rats with a dagger. So I thought if he could do it blind drunk, I should be able to do it stone sober. As far as friends or family go, my parents died a while back and Charlie didn’t like me going out of the house too often.”

Awkward silence hung over the group for a moment before Zach quietly asked, “And what is your class and level?”

Christina looked Zach in the eyes with a seriousness that made him feel like death was a moment away, “Level three, Hearth Warden.” Perhaps it was his absolute ignorance of this world that save Zach from putting his foot firmly in his mouth, but he nodded at information.

“That is not a class I have heard of, I don’t suppose you could help me understand a little more about it?” Zach said watching Alexa, hoping for some help.

Christina sighed, “I really have no weapon skills and the only spells I have are Spark and Sharpen. My plan was to cast Sharpen on my blade and slit the throats of any rats I could find. I planned on killing only a few rats and leaving with whatever meat I could get to feed my family.”

Zach ears picked up as Christina mentioned a new spell, but he no idea if Christina had the needed fifty percent mastery of the spell to teach it. Truthfully, Zach thought, it might be easier to teach her Shape Stone or Flaming Arrow. Both spells have a little more combat utility and it wouldn’t involve her getting up close to a dog size rat. She should have the cultivation needed for Flaming Arrow as it’s a tier one spell like Spark. As for Shape Stone, I am hoping Sharpen is an earth spell and not something else.

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“How do you cultivate Christina? Usually your technique can help us understand what type of weapon skills you might have?” Alexa said.

That detail surprised Zach, after all, his cultivation technique was The Seed that Grows. How did that have anything to do with my spear skill? “It doesn’t,” Grim whispered to Zach, “The cultivation technique builds the foundation for more advance life techniques that might have weapon skills.”

Nodding at Grim’s words Zach nearly missed what Christina had to say next. “I really don’t have a cultivation technique, my class allows me to gain mana and experience from everyone that cultivates under my roof. Right now without a real house or property, I can’t cultivate at all. The only thing I can do to gain mana or experience is to kill monsters.”

Alexa seemed shock at the revelation, and it made Zach wonder specifically what type of class the Hearth Warden was. Alexa closed her mouth and patted Christina’s arm, “Well that’s ok, I can teach you mine or Zach’s and walk your through his. Either way, lets start off with the spear, it’s a simple weapon that gives you some distance.” Zach bristled up at Alexa’s words. He had practice long and hard to learn the spear and even learned his first weapon technique. 

Alexa saw the sour look on Zach‘s face and made shooing motions with her hand asking Christina to some shopping for weapons with her. Heading to the Adventure’s Guild, Zach had to admit that being free from Alexa while she went shopping for weapons was a blessing from the Gods and Goddesses. The walk through the small streets was interesting as Zach stumbled across bakeries, fletchers, cobblers, and quite a few tailors; but as he got closer to the Guild, the shops became fancier and offered rarer goods. Heck, Zach thought, even the general store across from the Guild is selling corruption removing potions for twenty gold. Pushing his way through several people haggling prices with store owners, Zach saw his first glimpse of the Guild.

The Guild was a four story building with large windows and a few balconies on the third and fourth floor. Purple drapes would flutter around open windows as the sounds of combat or yelling came from them. Signs pointed Zach to a large courtyard that had a small stable and pen area for animals and golems set into the wall of the guild. Someone set tables and chairs outside as serving men and women dress in purple uniforms brought food and drink to Adventurers. Looking around Zach saw groups of Adventurers staring as blue screens on the tables, gambling, or telling a dirty joke. Stopping a waiter Zach had to ask where he could buy a dungeon pass. Sneering at Zach, the waiter told him that the bartender could take care of any business he needed. Wondering why the waiter acted like he was an asshole, Zach walked through the courtyard into the Guild. Inside, Zach saw hundreds of tables and a perhaps a hundred foot bar where people were sitting and staring at blue screens. Walking over to the closest bar stool, one of a dozen bartenders came up and looked at Zach and his golem.

“Hello, can I get you something to drink or eat? Or do you just need access to the Guild Board?” The man said with an easy smile.

“Ummmm, I am not sure. I came here looking to buy a dungeon pass and turn in a quest.” Zach said looking around the huge bar.

The bartender smiled and pulled out a metal plate framed in wood. Placing the plate down on the table the Bartender asked Zach to place his hand on the plate. As Zach set his hand down a blue screen appeared.

Bellmare Adventurer Guild Crystal connecting…

Identifying Adventurer…

New Adventurer found…

Standard Dungeon Pass Detected…

Welcome Zachary of House Ridhurja! You have permission to perform the following tasks:

QuestsPersonal JournalGuild ServicesGroup Member PostingsWould you like to grant permission to your Grimoire Companion to use this screen?YesNo

Zach looked briefly up from the screen to see that he bartender had turned his back and was organizing something on the shelf. Pressing ‘Yes’ quickly, Zach saw the blue screen flicker as new screen after new screen opened and closed for several minutes. Finally, a new screen opened up and stayed open long enough for Zach to read it.

Complete main objective of ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’? By pressing ‘Yes’ your map of the dungeon will be given to the Bellmare Adventurers Guild.YesNo

Not seeing much choice Zach pressed ‘Yes’ and a new screen appeared.

Congratulations, on completing a hidden quest! The Bellmare Adventurers Guild has been updated on new quests available in the dungeon. Having received enhance rewards from the Rat King you have been awarded 32 Dungeon Points to your account. Assessment of your map shows that it is Apprentice Skill level, you may choose 20 silver or 50 Dungeon Points.20 Silver50 Dungeon Points

Grim snorted in disgust, “Cheap Bastards! We should have gotten experience and mana from turning in the quest! Instead, they are crediting us with dungeon points! On top of it, my maps are a heck of a lot more accurate than theirs! Just because we don’t have the advance mapping upgrade, you’re saying my work is shoddy!”

Thankfully Zach noticed that the bartender had moved on to another customer and Grim was making sure that only he could hear him. “I am sorry buddy. So… 20 silver or 50 Dungeon Points?”

Sighing Grim spoke, “Honestly, fifty points will make a decent impact on Alexa’s slime count, but that means we will have to pay around a gold for Christina’s dungeon pass.”

“A gold?” Zach said feeling like someone had just kicked him in the nuts. “That’s ridiculous, I wanted to spend some of the currency we found in the dwarven camp, but a gold? How long will the pass last, the whole month? Can’t we get her the cheapest one?”

“Apparently, the major expense is buying the pass and if we get her the cheap one all of our passes will be downgraded to basic passes in the dungeon. So, the standard pass is around eight hundred silver, and each day added is ten silver. However, I would like to point out that you already spent the dwarven silver on spells. We only have around thirty pieces of silver right now, and we will have to sell one bundle of wolf moss to the guild for a gold piece.”

Zach just nodded, “Could you please just take care of it? I feel like I am dealing with a cable TV company with hidden fees and poor service.”

Grim laughed, “Actually it’s a lot worse than that. As I was scanning the services and functions of the Guild Interface, I realized that their Personal Journal system is just a file directory without real permissions. I have access to the entire Journal System and saw that the top Guild Officials open it up periodically to review new journal entries. Talk about an invasion of privacy!”

Zach face palmed himself in total despair. The Guild is fucking over everyone! He thought. “Wait, does that mean…”

“No, I didn’t hack the Guild’s Core Crystal. I am not even sure another Grimoire Companion would see the same thing. The only reason I can see the permissions and who had accessed the files is because of your background in computer programming and my work on spell improvement. I can detect the filling system and the pathways to all journal entries.” Grim said as several screens popped open and closed again asking if he wanted to sell a bundle of wolf moss and purchase a standard dungeon pass.

Zach shook his head as another bartender came over with a small wooden box. “Sir, your dungeon pass.” The man said and laid the box down for Zach to open it up and inspect the contents. Instead of a wooden token the medallion was made of copper and had several runes etched around the rim. Once the bartender was away from the box, the medallion vanished in a flash of light.

“I don’t suppose you can please look up healers in the Group Members Posting tab?” Zach asked.

“Of course! Just give me a couple of minutes.” The blue screen vanished as Zach sat there thinking about how much money he had just spent on trying to complete Christina’s quest. He still wanted to help, and it was the right thing to do, but he could have bought Courtney’s bride price with that money, or even improved this own weapons and armor.

“Hmmmm…” Grim said as it broke Zach out of his money depression. “Well, almost all the healers available right now are asking insane looting rights and mana bonuses. The few other healers not asking for fifty percent of the loot and twenty percent of the experience or mana, only want to go to the second or third level. I am afraid that the pickings are rather slim, I can give you two candidates. Want to see their postings?”

Zach rubbed his temples at the thought of what can of price tag would be involved in getting a bargain healer. “Sure, lets see what we are working with?”

Adventurer Looking for PartyName:Dirue DaemarisLevel:6SkillsMana Manipulation Lv. 29, Mana Reinforcement Lv. 44, Physiology Lv. 34Spells Heal Tier 2Special NotesI am only interested in getting the Slime Kill counts necessary for becoming a mage. I have no ability to regenerate limbs, remove magical curses, or poisons. I will require 30 silver a day for expenses. Please contact me at the Jaspers Tonic located on Alchemists Street.

Adventurer Looking for PartyName:Jason SilverveinLevel:4SkillsAxes Lv 40, Mana Manipulation Lv. 35, Physiology Lv. 12SpellsStabilize Tier 2, Purification Tier 1Special NotesI only require 32 Mana Alkahest vials dropped from slimes and equal share in experience and mana. Contact me at the Ugly Elemental.