Jack was exhausted. He had spent three hours the night before trying to level Invisibility. It definitely takes longer to level the higher you get. Rubbing his crusty eyes, he yawned and stretched his arms.

Grabbing his two sets of armor from the large chest, he sat down to clothe himself. Ok Jack, this time don’t be so trusting, he berated himself as he slid the hauberk over his jerkin. He slipped his pack onto his back and palmed his halberd before leaving the room.

After storing his gold and spellbook in the locked chest, Jack searched the common room for his new group. They aren’t here. Oh well, I’ll just pick a table and start eating. Leaning his polearm against the chair, Jack sat down and dug into his morning eggs.

“Ah good, you’re here,” said Eckland, plate of food in hand. The twins and Hayes followed close behind him. Hayes wore his heavy plate armor which squeaked loudly with each step. I can see why he doesn’t want to wear that all the time.

They all sat and quietly ate their morning meal. The only sound Jack heard was forks scraping against plates and glasses dropping to the table. He broke the silence, “So, we never discussed loot distribution. How does that normally work with this group?”

Eckland finished chewing and answered, “As group leader, I loot all of the corpses. We appraise or sell any loot that’s brought out of the dungeon. After all loot is sold, the money is split evenly between everyone. If you decide to keep any gear, the appraisal price is deducted from your cut.”

“Huh, that seems pretty smart.” Jack said.

Ayla snorted, “Don’t let him fool you, that’s just standard practice.”

“Yes well, it’s a good practice,” said Eckland. “Why wouldn’t we use it?”

It also ensures the new guy doesn’t take the loot and run, he thought.

After breakfast was finished, the group said their goodbyes to Bertrod and set off to the dungeon.

After handing over 5 silver to the clerk at the dungeon registration desk, Jack entered the portal room. Eckland was already there, carrying a massive pack on his small frame. Just what all is he holding? Jack wondered for the third time.

The group had stopped by Eckland’s house on the way to pick up the bulky pack. Eckland hunched under the heavy load, muscles trembling. Jack looked to the others, now entering the room. Ayla and Aiden had light packs on their back while Hayes had none. I wonder why they don’t split the load evenly? Shaking his head Jack reminded himself, It’s none of my business.

Eckland turned and said, “Ok, we’re all here, let's go in.”

I’m not going in with anyone behind me. Jack turned and said, “I’ll go first.”

He grabbed Eckland’s hand, and when all were linked, walked backwards toward the portal. Jack saw looks of confusion upon their faces. This way, no one’s behind me, and I’m the first through. After the group stepped through, he dropped Eckland’s hand and tensed, ready to cast Paralyze.

“Oh lighten up Jack, you look like you're about to die,” Ayla quipped.

“Am I?” asked Jack.

“You idiot, of course he’s wary. His last group tried killing him when he entered the dungeon,” said Aiden, rolling his eyes.

Eckland ignored the discussion as he dug through his pack. “Ah, here we are,” his hands came out of the pack with small vials of red tinted liquid. “One for each of you. Remember, these are lesser health potions, only use them if you’re about to die. They’re too expensive to waste. We’ll use the minor potions between fights, we have lots of those.”

“How much do they heal for?” asked Jack as he stuffed the stoppered potion halfway into his coin purse. He left the top inch sticking out of the bag, so it would be easy to grab.

Eckland puffed up his chest and smiled, “Fifty health.”

“Very nice,” Jack fed his pride. “How much would you normally sell these for?”

“Once I get my guild journeyman status, I can sell ‘em for two gold a piece.”

“How close are you to getting that?”

“Hopefully I’ll get it this year. Journeyman status requires you to be able to make major potions. They use rare ingredients and require more intelligence than I have at the moment. That’s the two reasons I’m here. Ingredients and experience,” stated Eckland as he sat on the ground. “Ok, everyone get ready, the patrol is about to arrive.”

Hayes approached Jack and seemed hesitant. “Uh Jack, do you wanna go first? You’ve got heavy armor and you’re higher level…”

“Drop it Hayes, you agreed to take the heat when we all chipped in to buy you that god-awful expensive plate armor,” scolded Eckland to the sound of snickers from Aiden and Ayla.

Wait, is he scared to go first? Hasn’t he been doing this for months?

Hayes looked crushed.

“How about we both go first?” Jack asked. Why am I doing this? Stupid Jack, stupid.

“Thanks!” Hayes exclaimed, eyes alight.

“Whatever. Here they come,” Eckland added.

Three level 7 goblin warriors entered the room. When they turned the corner, they raised their weapons and charged. Hayes and I stood even on the front line, Aiden and Ayla somewhere behind. Eckland continued to sit and shout encouragements.

“You can do it Hayes! Believe in yourself!” he shouted as he juggled small pebbles between his hands.

What is he, a cheerleader? Jack shook his head and turned back toward the coming fight. He put more distance between himself and Hayes. I need room to swing the halberd.

The three goblins were now 30 feet away. Ok, I can’t use Paralyze, Jack reminded himself and cast Quicken, raising his agility by 5.

He felt tremendously faster with 17 agility. Let’s do this, he thought as the left and center goblins veered toward Hayes. The right goblin charged Jack alone.

Raising his halberd two handed like a baseball bat, he prepared his attack. When the dead-eyed goblin came in range, Jack swung his polearm hard. Batter’s up! The flat of the axe hit the goblin in the face and swept it off its feet. Crap, the pole turned. Jack had meant to hit it head on with the axe-head.

The goblin landed on its back. Jack sped to the side with his quickened movements and lifted the halberd above his head. The warrior now lifted its head, starting to rise. A pebble flew through the air and hit the rising goblin in its chest.

Ignoring the ineffectual pebble, Jack chopped his polearm down into the Goblin’s head, careful to keep the axehead from turning.

Blood spurted as the axe lodged itself into the skull, ramming the head back into the ground. Now that’s a lot of damage! Jack smiled, happy with his new toy.

He placed his foot on the dead goblin and pried out the halberd from its skull. The polearm caught for a moment and then pulled free with a scraping sound.

Jack released Quicken and turned to observe the other’s battle.

Hayes was backpedaling, his shield raised desperately in front of him. “Keep it off me, keep it off me!” he pleaded. His eyes bulged wide and he took quick panicked breaths as sweat dripped down his red face.

Ayla was behind the left goblin, while Aiden was behind the center. They were both slicing into their respective warriors from behind.

Meanwhile, Eckland was laughing and tossing pebbles at the goblins. “That’s right Hayes, just like that.”

“Mine’s dead first,” announced Aiden as he turned to Ayla.

Shortly after, she finished off the center goblin and faced Aiden. “That’s only because I had to run the long way around. All you had to do was step out from the wall. If we started at the same time, I would have won!”

They continued their argument as Hayes sat down on the ground, breathing deeply. Eckland rose to his feet and slapped Hayes on the back. “Atta boy, keep it up.” Walking past the downed plate wearer, he leaned over to loot the corpses.

Now I know what Bertrod meant, this is ridiculous. They have a scared tank, two damage dealers who spend the whole time fighting each other, and a “healer” who sits on his ass doing nothing.

Maybe I should find another group, Jack thought. There’s a reason they can’t keep a fifth member.

“We’re in luck, this one has a gold coin!” Eckland called out after looting the last dead goblin.

Although it is good money, he amended. “The last time I was here, they only had three to four silver,” Jack stated.

“Yes well, that’s the normal amount. Occasionally, you get a goblin that has over ten times that like this one. I think it's the dungeon keeping things interesting myself.” Eckland added.

“So uhm, how long has Hayes been tanking?” Jack asked.

“Hmm? Tanking? I’ve never heard that word before.” Eckland said.

Crap, that’s a gaming term. “Uhh...” Jack covered, “Where I’m from, the person who wears the heaviest armor and holds the attention of the most enemies is called a tank. They ‘tank’ the goblins.”

“Odd, why is it called a tank?”

How do I explain what a tank is to them? They don’t even have guns, let alone vehicles. Screw it, I’ll just avoid it. “I don’t know why, that's just what they’ve always called it,” said Jack.

“Well, Hayes has been the ‘tank’ as you call it for four months now. He took over the job of ‘tanking’ when we all pooled our money together and bought him his plate armor. Fights have been much easier since then,” added Eckland.

“Whatever!” Ayla told her brother and threw up her hands, stalking away. “Are we ready for the next group?” she asked Eckland. “I’m gonna win next time.”

Eckland lifted his heavy pack, “Sure, lets go. Great work Jack.”

As the group moved on, Jack asked Eckland, “So what’s with the pebble throwing?”

“Ah, if I want experience, I have to take part in combat. If I throw pebbles at the goblins, I get a cut of the experience.”

“Why not just wear some armor and grab a sword or spear?”

Laughing at Jack's question, Ayla held up Eckland’s arm, wiggling it back and forth. “Have you seen these skinny things? Can you imagine him actually fighting?” Aiden joined her in laughter.

Eckland tugged his arm free, face and ears red. “You won’t laugh when my potion saves your life will you?”

Hayes explained the situation to Jack. “Eckland said we all needed to specialize if we wanted to be a great delving team. I put all of my attribute points from leveling into vitality and strength. I have nineteen vitality, and sixteen strength,” he said proudly. “Ayla and Aiden put theirs into strength and agility, and Eckland put his into intelligence. He has twenty-four intelligence, can you believe it!”

“Wow,” Jack responded to Hayes. Inwardly he thought, I’m beating him by three.

Jack checked his notifications.

Quicken is now level 2.

You have learned the skill: Polearms.

Excellent, I got my new weapon skill, and leveled up my new spell. Let’s see how much level 2 costs and how much agility I’ll get. Jack cast Quicken for ten seconds and observed his status.

Thirty-eight mana every ten seconds, and it raises my agility by six now instead of five.

To Jack however, the halberd was even more impressive. The first swing had turned and only dazed the goblin for twenty-five damage. The second swing did a whopping one-hundred and fifteen damage. I love this thing.

Eckland interrupted Jack’s thoughts. “Ok everyone stop here. The next room should hold five goblins.”

“Are the rooms always the same?” he asked.

Eckland shook his head. “No, sometimes there’s a scout here, and sometimes the next room has four. I’ve never seen six this early in.”

“What’s the farthest y’all reached? Jack asked.

Aiden answered for him with pride, “We’ve reached the floor boss.”

“How did y’all do?” Jack asked.

Eckland shook his head, “We aren’t ready for the goblin boss yet. We need a few more levels and a fifth that will meld well with the group.”

“If you kill the boss, are you finished with the dungeon?” asked Jack.

Ayla and Aiden laughed, Hayes just looked depressed. Eckland answered, “No, this is just the goblin floor, next is the raptor floor, and then trolls. I’m not sure what’s after that, no one I know has gotten past the troll floor.”

“Is there an end to the dungeon?”

“Wouldn’t you love to find out?” asked Ecklan with a smile.

“Ok the usual plan, but this time Jack and Hayes head into the room first. That worked well last time. Just keep the goblins at bay with your big stick while the twins take care of them.” Eckland asked, “You guys ready?”

“I guess,” said Hayes.

He clearly hates his role, Jack thought and then answered, “Yeah, let’s do this”