Dungeon Noble - Squire

Jake emerged from the Dungeon alongside the others, taking a moment to drop off his loot with Ivaldi before reclaiming his Wyrdgeld from Ari.

“I know that it’s only natural as we get more experience and become a higher rank, but that was really satisfying,” Rhew said as she absorbed her Wyrdgeld.

“I know what you mean. It was tough still, but it felt within our capabilities,” Alan said, his expression turning thoughtful as he continued. “I’m still improving with my accuracy, but I feel like I should be doing more now. My Skill is useful, but if we’re going to start pushing into the tier-two Dungeons, I’ll need to do more.”

“Skills are earned, right?” Jake gave Alan a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “You’ve put a lot of work in, and that’ll pay off eventually.”

“He’s not wrong,” Ari said, chipping in from where he was leading the way over to the seating area Jake had used the day before. “I’d expect you to be offered some Common Skills for your bow soon. You can either take them then and work your way through ranking them up, or you can wait in case you earn something more substantial.”

“Is one way better than the other?” Alan asked a little uncertainly. “I don’t want to keep waiting and fall behind everyone else.”

“It is a risk,” Ari said, nodding slightly before shrugging. “It’s just one that you have to think is worth it. At my tier, it’s less problematic to wait and earn something from your Deeds, but that’s because we spend less time constantly delving.”

“I’ve wondered about that,” Rhew said, fixing Ari with a thoughtful look. “Why aren’t you off delving in one of the other Realms? Not that I don’t appreciate you being here with us.”

“I’m sure,” Ari said, his lips twitching into a smile that was swiftly replaced by a darker expression. “My party ran into some issues, and we lost some people. The Guild always needs teachers and mentors, so I took them up on the offer and came back here. Really, I’d have already moved on by this point if Felix hadn’t taken a shine to all of you.”

“About that,” Rhew said as they claimed an empty table and took a seat. “Why is Felix helping us? I know about the Worthy student thing, but why come back to this Realm to do it?”

Jake frowned, thinking back on his previous conversations with Felix and realising that he didn’t know either. They’d talked about Jake’s motivations and what he intended to do, but only briefly about Felix.

Ari was silent for a few moments as he considered Rhew’s question, eventually nodding to himself and rubbing his jaw before speaking. “It takes a lot to reach tier two, with Classers often stalling at the Deed requirements for a time. Felix likes to take his students earlier in their careers to train them the right way from the very start. For someone like him, having two new students he considers Worthy is more important than spending this time delving.”

Jake relaxed slightly as Ari’s explanation matched up with his own understanding of their instructor’s motives. He was sure there was more to it, even beyond what he knew about the political issues that Felix had mentioned, but it wasn’t really his business.

“I see, thank you,” Rhew said with a slow nod and a thoughtful expression.

“So, what now?” Alan asked, glancing around between them.

“Well, that’s down to you four,” Ari said with a shrug. “You can call it there, or you can delve again. Either way, you’ve made good progress today.”

Jake did his best to hide his grin as he considered his new Boon. His grin faltered a little, though, as he realised he wouldn’t be able to use either of his Boons if they went on another delve.

More Boons were good, but expanding the amount of Manifestations he had would be vital.

“I’m feeling a bit worn out, but some food and a bit of a rest will be enough for me to go again. What about you three?” Rhew asked.

“I can’t use my dagger again, but I can still infuse my sword, so I’m good to go,” Jake said, relaxing a little as no one questioned him on the statement about the dagger.

After a bit more discussion, they agreed on another delve, but with a couple of hours for them to rest first.

-**-

The second delve went smoother than the first for most of the Dungeon, the previous experience with its oddities minimising a few of the threats involved.

The Guardian floor was a bit more of a problem, though, as Jake couldn’t just jam his Hidden Fang dagger into the malignant tender and let the poison kill it. Instead, they stuck together as a group and kept moving, circling the room as they dealt with the other monsters before focusing on the giant plant at the centre.

The attrition strategy was successful, but they finished the fight with far more burns and minor injuries spread out among them. The tender had been all too happy to spit its sap at them no matter where they had been in the room, and it was hard to dodge when fighting something else.

Thankfully, they hadn’t used their potions before the Guardian floor, so they had enough on them to make sure that everyone was fully healed before they took the reward and left.

Without his Boon, Jake had been infusing his blade to give him some extra impact against the monsters, and that left him almost completely out of Wyrd as they tiredly made their way out to where Ari was waiting.

“Good job, but let’s get you moving,” Ari said, walking over to them as soon as they were outside and tossing them back their pouches of Wyrdgeld.

“Thanks.” Jake caught his pouch and absorbed the Wyrdgeld inside it, smiling slightly as he felt how much he now had. He’d be ranking up tonight.

Jake went to share the good news with the others but paused as he saw the tension on Ari’s face. Looking back toward the Dungeon, Jake saw a couple of triarchean guards on patrol.

Ari and Felix seemed uncomfortable around the patrolling guards, but the way Ari was acting now took it a little further than that.

Thankfully, whatever had worried Ari didn’t cause them any issues, and they had an uneventful trip back to the Rusty Duck Inn.

Karl and Felix were already back, and though Karl looked utterly exhausted, there was also a hint of pride to how he sat, which Jake hoped meant that he’d done well.

Ari muttered something about them doing a good job before heading straight for Felix and having a brief whispered conversation that ended with both of them heading off into the back of the inn.

“What do you think that’s all about?” Rhew asked as they joined Karl at their usual table.

“Not sure, but I’m sure it’s nothing to do with us,” Alan said blithely as he dropped his pack off to one side and sat down with a sigh. “Ah, that’s nice.”

Jake’s smile was brittle as he followed suit, his mind racing as he thought of all the things that might be wrong.

“Hey, Jake, do you have any advice on infusing Wyrd into your weapons?” Alan asked, bringing Jake out of his thoughts. “Rhew uses her wand, and Karl uses his Skill, so it’s really just you who does it out of the four of us.”

“I suppose so; I hadn’t really thought about it. Why, what are you thinking?” Jake asked curiously.

“Well, I tried infusing into my bow, but that didn’t do anything, and then I tried with my arrows, but it faded once they were shot. It feels like I should be able to, but I just can’t quite figure it out.”

“Oh, well, I’ve not tried it myself, so I’m not sure,” Jake said slowly, shaking his head as he tried to imagine how it would work. “Maybe ask Ari or Felix. They might know more?”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Thanks, Jake,” Alan said with a slight sigh.

Jake was about to say more when Felix and Ari returned, their carefully neutral expressions reinforcing Jake’s worries.

“Tomorrow will be driven by the five of you,” Felix said as he walked up to the table. “Ari will be heading out for a time, but I’ll be here if you wish to discuss any aspect of your training. I’d suggest delving the two Dungeons you’ve completed a few more times and gathering your strength before we move on, but your decisions are your own.”

Jake nodded thoughtfully, wondering what would be best for him to do next. More delving was likely the best use of his time, but some more time working on his fighting with Felix would also be good.

“We’ll actually be heading out to a meeting now,” Ari said, grabbing their attention once more. “I’ll be leaving afterwards, but I’ll be back in a few days, so don’t get into any trouble until then, alright?” Ari’s usual grin was back in full force as he gave them a wink before heading outside with Felix.