There was, Bob reflected, something to be said for a hot bath. His childhood had been spent in cold showers if the water was turned on at all. His adult life had been almost exclusively blessed with hot showers, but between the dorms and inexpensive apartments, he'd never had a bathtub before.

He was currently contemplating the logistics of shaving. Bob was lucky in that he didn't grow a heavy beard, and his light blonde hair meant that what he did grow could be ignored for a bit before it became noticeable. The question was, did he care?

Bob looked in the mirror above the sink. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and if you looked very closely, you could see a few freckles. The freckles would become more noticeable if he spent any time in the sun, but the trajectory of his life thus far had conspired to keep him indoors. He shaved two days before the explosion, which meant he was quickly approaching two weeks worth growth. He sighed. It wasn't stubble anymore, it was a legitimate beard, albeit a short one. The lab's policy had permitted beards, but when you only need to shave twice a week, you just shaved twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays. Bob turned on the water and started to work up a lather. Homeless people wore unkempt beards. And Bob was not, nor would he ever be, Hobob.

He was technically homeless. He had the room here in the Adventurers Guild, but it wasn't his home. Hell, he wasn't even paying for it.

It was time to stop relying on the charity of others, and stand on his own two feet.

If that meant risking life and limb to kill monsters for currency, then so be it.

"Time to put in the work," he muttered, as he pulled on his boots and headed for the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob found Harv and Elli relaxing at a table, each with a mug in front of them, and their suspiciously bag-of-holding like backpacks at their sides. They looked up at his approach.

"Bob," said Harv with an easy wave, "grab a chair."

Bob sat down and steeled himself. "Harv, Elli," he said, nodding to each in turn, "I want to say thank you, for pulling me out of the cave, and bringing me to Holmstead."

"Yes, well," Elli shrugged uncomfortably, "it wasn't as if we weren't being paid to retrieve you."

Harv elbowed Elli and looked to Bob as he replied, "What Elli means to say, is that it was something any Adventurer would have done," Harv took a drink from his mug, "After all, we're the Heroes."

Bob nodded, relieved that they didn't perceive any debt. He knew that he owed them. And Bob paid his debts.

"I've heard that from Thidwell and Kelli both," he said, nodding to Bailli as she dropped off a mug of water for him.

Elli smiled and said, "It's sort of the unofficial motto of the Adventurers Guild."

Harv nodded in agreement and added, "When the Wave raises or the Tide comes in, Adventurers are the wall on which they break!"

Harv, Elli and half a dozen others who had been at an adjacent table slammed their mugs together and half-shouted, "Breakers!"

The shout was repeated throughout the tavern, as splashes of beer flew into the air where full mugs clashed.

Harv grinned at Bob. "We get a little rowdy when a wave comes due," he explained.

Elli nodded and continued "Based on the past few decades, we're due for a wave in the next couple of weeks," he gestured around the tavern, which Bob noticed held quite a few more people than what he'd seen on previous evenings.

"It'll be standing room only in here and out in the plaza soon," predicted Harv as he scooted his chair back and pulled his backpack onto his lap.

Elli grabbed his bag and stood up, slinging it over a shoulder, beckoning Bob to follow him.

"Harv isn't wrong," Elli called over his shoulder as Harv stood up as well, up to his shoulder in his backpack, "last two or three waves, we stood nearly three hundred strong."

As they exited the Adventurers Guild, Harv caught up to them and shoved a staff into Bob's hands.

"Thidwell said you were taking the smart path and tossing some spells," Harv said, ignoring Elli's indignant snort. "That's the staff I started my path with. It has served me well, and now that I've reached level ten and upgraded, it passes to you," Harv pointed at what Bob had taken as a line of runes marching down the wood. "You don't have to, but I carved my initials into it, as did the man who passed it to me."

Bob took a closer look at the staff as Elli and Harv led him across the plaza.

It was made from a light, honey-brown colored wood, capped in bronze. It was worn smooth, with only a few nicks along its length, excepting for what Bob now knew were a row of initials training down from the top. It appeared Bob would be the eighteenth owner of this staff. He took it in a two-handed grip to get a feel for it and was surprised when a box appeared.

Adventurer's Staff

Bronze Infused Hickory Staff

- Hardness : Thirty

- Professional Bonus to Spell Casting Value : Five

- Magical Enchantment Bonus to Spell Casting Value : Five

- Crafted by Edwin Rull

- Enchanted by Lillia Rull

Bob blinked the box out of the way.

'Sorry to surprise you like that, I thought you'd like to see exactly what you've been given,' Trebors voice sounded to his left.

'Thanks,' he mentally projected.

Harv and Elli had led Bob up to the guarded gate in the center of the Plaza. The two men on duty gave them a practiced nod, and let them through the gate.

The inside of the walled off circle in the middle of the plaza contained what appeared to Bob to be a mausoleum. Elli and Harv had stopped a dozen feet past the gates and were pulling various objects from their bags. They both apparently had suits of armor stuffed in there, although Harv's looked more like thick robes.

"So," Harv's voice was muffled from inside the robe he was pulling over his head, "Normally we'd gate to our level, but we figure with you being a newly pathed, we'll start at the top and work our way down, give you some time to get a feel for how your spells work in combat."

Bob nodded.

Elli finished buckling the straps of his armor and said, "We'll watch over you and make sure things don't go completely sideways on you. The first level is populated by beetles."

"So, let's get to it!" Harv enthused as he spun a dark wooden staff in his hands.

Elli clapped Bob on the shoulder and headed into the mausoleum.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was not a mausoleum. The stone structure was a single room, dominated by a set of stairs leading down. The far wall held a huge circle, worked in metal, that Bob immediately labeled as a Stargate. The pool wasn't the same as on the show, being darker and less reflective, but it held the same watery surface. Just inside the door, a middle-aged man in unadorned yellow robes sat in a chair, his head lolling back as he snored. Elli coughed loudly.

The robed man jerked, shaking his head and blinking his eyes. He squinted up, and said in an exhausted voice "Oh, hey Elli, Harv. You going back in?" he asked.

"Yep," said Harv cheerfully, "we're shepherding a fresh path for Thidwell, mark us down for starting at one, hopefully ending at six."

"Fresh path eh?" Said the robed man as he stood up and stretched. "Best get to it then," he muttered, before turning to Bob and pasting on a smile.

"Welcome, Adventurer, to the Dungeon of Holmstead, curated by Thidwell Orstang. My name is Austan, and I'm the healer on duty. If you or your companions suffer injuries beyond your abilities to recover, return to me and I'll put you to rights," Austan took a breath and continued, "Please remember that while this Dungeon has been curated, it can still surprise you. It is recommended that you have a group of at least three, and it is further recommended that you do not descend to a level where the monsters are higher level than your lowest level party member. Be safe."

Austan sat back down and pulled out a notebook. "Any chance I could get you two to check the eighth level of the Dungeon for me?" He asked as he started patting his pockets. "Trio of out of towners headed down there just after I came on duty," Austan was looking around his chair.

Bob snapped his fingers to get his attention and tapped his ear, indicating the charpin stuck behind Austan's ear. "Ah, thanks," Austan said as he flipped open his book and started writing. "What's your name?" Austan asked.

"Bob."

Austan nodded and wrote in his book.

"Would you mind terribly if Elli and Harv took an hour or so to check for those three? They weren't freshers, but they hadn't been in the Dungeon before, and I'm afraid they might have bitten off more than they can chew." Austan asked.

Bob nodded and directed his reply to Elli and Harv, "Go ahead and check it out, I'll keep Austan company."

"We'll just be a bit, we know eighth level pretty well," Elli responded as he and Harv walked over to the Stargate.

Austan joined them, placing his hands on the inscribed band of metal. A few seconds later it glowed a light yellow, and the dark pool roiled. Harv and Elli gave Bob a cheery wave and stepped into the event horizon.

Austan let out a breath and retreated to his chair.

Bob couldn't help himself. "So," he said, "could you tell me what exactly that is?" He pointed to the Stargate.

Austan raised an eyebrow. "It's a Gate. Thidwell builds one on each floor as he works his way down," he tucked his charpin away behind an ear, "it's one of the only things that brings people to Holmstead. Most provincial Dungeons are dug haphazardly."

Bob tilted his head quizzically.

"Here," Austan pulled a folded piece of paper from this notebook, and unfolded it, revealing what looked like a badly drawn map. "Most Dungeons are like this," he gestured to the paper, "the curator is reactive, and just digs down and starts a new level wherever the mana starts to swell up."

Bob looked closely at the paper. It looked like a set of tunnels, with an arrow down indicating descent, then another set of tunnels.

"Now," Austan was warming to his topic as he pulled out another map, unfolded it, and placed them both on the stone floor side by side. "A well-curated Dungeon in an actual city will often look like this," he gestured. Bob could immediately see the difference. The second map showed a central shaft descending, with tunnels leading off of it at various levels.

"This sort of design, with the shaft always below the lowest level, allows a curator to identify any increase in mana, and excavate a new level for it to pool in," Austan traced his fingers over the second map.

"But Holmstead," Austan said with pride evident in his voice, "is a cut above. We used to follow the second model, but then Thidwell became our curator. His father was the curator of the Dungeon in Harbordeep."

Bob looked at him blankly. "Harbordeep?" he asked.

"The capital," Austan said slowly, looking for a reaction from Bob.

Bob shrugged and answered the unasked question, "I'm not local."

Austan looked like he desperately wanted to pursue that topic, so Bob asked "What is so special about the Dungeon in Harbordeep?"

"Well," said Austan, "first, it's in the capital, which means it is the most heavily trafficked, and secondly, it is by far the deepest, over eighty levels the last I had heard, and finally, it was redesigned about two hundred and thirty years ago to incorporate a system of Gates to speed travel between levels and allow injured Adventurers to return to a healer for aid."

Austan gathered up his maps, folding them carefully as he continued, "It was Gadwell Orstang that designed and implemented the idea of putting Gates in the Dungeon," Austan shook his head slowly and sat back. "The number of lives that have been saved by being able to pull back and through a gate is incalculable," he tucked his book away, "especially the deeper levels. For that alone Gadwell Orstang is a legend."

Bob nodded. It made sense. If someone was hurt, you wouldn't want to have to climb a thirty-story mine shaft to get to help.

"Of course, Thidwell planned to follow in his footsteps as sons often do," Austan shook his head, "I think he'd still be the capital, apprenticing to his father if he hadn't died. After that though..." Austan trailed off. He shrugged. "We're all grateful that he landed here."

Austan shook himself briefly. "Anyways, Thidwell brought his father's methods and his drive with him. In thirty years we went from being a tiny village with a slightly deeper than normal dungeon of the central shaft variety, to a fully-fledged town, with a Gate connected funnel style dungeon, over thirty levels deep."

"So is thirty levels deep unusual?" Bob asked.

"Oh yes," said Austan, "before Thidwell came we were making do with a Dungeon that was eleven levels deep." He shook his head. "We got by of course, and it kept the land for a mile in all directions free of any Dungeons."

"But with this," Austan gestured around the building, "the entire valley is Dungeon free. You have to go into the foothills to find a Dungeon, and even then, they are very low level. We have mines, Bob." He shook his head, "Most cities have to mine in their Dungeon, which is of course dangerous because digging down deep enough to find any ore will inevitably lead to mana pooling." He smiled and went on, "As you know the first man-made Dungeons were mines."

"With Holmstead being in the lowest point of the valley, and the Dungeon being so deep, mana rushes into it like a funnel. We have fewer monster waves than any town our size, and the waves we have are weaker," Austan finished.

"So," Bob said, "what sort of Magic are the Gates?"

"Divine, Invocation," Austan replied. "Gadwell was a genius - He developed an Invocation Ritual which allows anyone with a token to activate one of the lower Gates to link to the main Gate," he pointed to the Stargate. "When you consider that the Orstang's aren't spellcasters, it's truly extraordinary."

"Now with that staff," Austan nodded towards Bob's new acquisition, "I'm guessing that you're a caster. Planning on roasting some monsters down there?" He asked.

Bob smiled. "Not exactly."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"By Vi'Radia's holy light, what is that abomination!" Austan yelled as he crouched behind his chair, a rod in one hand and a shield in the other, his entire figure surrounded by a transparent bubble of yellow light.

Bob threw an arm over the UtahRaptor's shoulder. "This is Jake," he said pleasantly, "Jake, meet Austan."

Jake tilted his head and let out a quick, sharp chirping sound.

Bob walked forward, reaching up a bit to ruffle the plumage on the Utahraptor's head. "Austan is a friend, not food," Bob stated to Jake.

The Utahraptor let out a trill of what sounded suspiciously like disappointment. It began to pace around Bob in swift, sharp steps, its head turning from side to side as it evaluated the area for threats.

"Jake is an Arcane Summoned Monster," Bob directed towards Austan. He was keeping an eye on his mana, and it looked like he could maintain the spell while moving around slowly.

The feeling of maintaining the spell was odd. He had to keep the UtahRaptor at the front of his mind. It was like riding a bicycle while talking on the phone. You could do both, but if you wanted to remain upright, you weren't going to be a stimulating conversationalist.

"I've seen summoned monsters before," Austan hissed from inside his yellow shield, "They stand there blankly, they don't... they don't look at you like they want to eat you!"

Bob looked at Jake. The UtahRaptor did seem to be paying a bit more attention to Austan than was strictly necessary.

"To be fair, he probably does," Bob said blandly.

He dismissed the spell, and Jake popped out of existence.

Austan dropped his shield and stood warily behind the chair. "That," he grumbled as his rod and shield disappeared, "was unnerving. I thought summoned monsters had to be real creatures?"

"Oh, he's real alright," said Bob with a smile. "His kind were the most dangerous predators in a world full of monsters until a cataclysmic event wiped out nearly all life."

Austan blinked at him. "I don't know how to respond to that," he finally said. "So, you're clearly going down a summoning path then."

Bob nodded.

Austan blew out a breath, "Well, if you pick up some utility you shouldn't have a problem finding a team," he said.

"Utility?" Bob asked.

Austan nodded, "Repair spell, healing spell, something like that," he answered.

Settling back into his chair, he went on, "It's tempting to focus exclusively on what your path gives bonuses to," he said, "but having a bit of utility makes a world of difference. Take Harv, for example. He throws around fire for damage but he also has transmutation to make walls to keep the monsters in line, and repair to keep things going. He might not dish out as much heat as someone who only throws fire, but he brings a lot to the table."

Austan sighed. "Harv and Elli are a really good example of a solid adventuring team. Elli fights up front with his sword, while Harv keeps the monsters facing him one at a time with walls, and helps bring them down with fire. Elli also has a healing spell to help keep them going strong. And I'm sure there is more, but that's all I've seen them do. They work well together, and they take things slow," he emphasized.

"Thidwell did well by shepherding them to ten and then having them shepherd you. If you pay attention, you'll pick up their good habits," Austan finished.

Bob considered that.

At the moment, he was committed. He had what he needed to summon Monroe, save for the experience. He needed to drop another skill point on Summon (x) to get his matrix fixed. Then another on Portal, although that might wait a bit once he had Monroe back. A repair spell sounded damn useful, but a healing spell? That was going right up to the top of the list.

Bob was about to ask Austan about healing spells when the Gate flared to life, and Harv and Elli marched through, followed by two women who were helping a man as he limped through.

Austan sprang out of his chair and hurried over to the injured man, his hand already glowing a brilliant yellow. At Austan's touch, the man straightened up and let out a sigh.

"Thanks," he said.

"They were almost back to the Gate," Elli reported, "another twenty minutes and they'd have shown up."

One of the women, the taller of the two, dressed in leather armor and with a sword sheathed at her hip spoke up, "Still, thanks for looking out," she said, "The Dungeon in Eldwood, you get lost in there, no one comes looking, you get written off."

She shook Harv's hand, and the shorter woman said to Austan, "We're going to head to the Guild and call it a day. We talked it over," she motioned to the other two, "and we are going to look for a fourth with some healing or monster control."

With that, the three of them headed out of the mausoleum.

"So," Harv said, "You ready to kill some beetles?"