The bell over the door tinkled when Lexie entered the diner. Iris was at the counter, rearranging the pies.

"Hey," she greeted Lexie. "What can I get for ya?" She slid the chilled glass case closed.

"It's what I've got for you," said Lexie, and sat the mushroom basket, full of the little cup mushrooms on the counter.

"I saw your post on the board, and what with all the rain I didn't have to water, so I went mushroom picking."

Lindon pulled over the basket and sorted through the mushrooms quickly. "These are great! Earl's gonna be thrilled! He does a creamy mushroom soup every spring, it's delightful, mushrooms this quality and fresh, I bet it even gives a buff!"

"I'll have to try it," said Lexie.

"You do," agreed Lindon. He opened the cash register and gave Lexie a pouch of 50 coins, which she dropped into her inventory. "It'll be the lunch special tomorrow, along with crusty garlic bread. I'll save you a bowl, you come in and have lunch on us!"

"I'll do that," said Lexie, and Lindon beamed at her.

Tomorrow morning she would have to water the crops, but maybe there was another quick job she could do in the afternoon. It was nice to have a little bit of coin while she waited on the crops. Lexie walked over to the quest board by the library.

Adventurer's Guild seeks part time help.

Now that the adventuring season is upon us, the guild needs to take on a temporary office assistant! Your job would be to register adventuring party itineraries, hand out dungeon permits, brief parties on local rules and dungeon regulations, and answer general questions about the area and dungeon.

Training will be provided.

If interested, see the Guildmaster at the Albatross Bay Adventurer's Guild

Well that might be an option, one that might even provide a steady income, though she didn't expect it would be much. Lexie pulled a copy of the notice. Next stop: adventuring guild.

/

The Adventuring Guild was located off of Water Street in a fieldstone and timber framed building. There was a smithy off the back and a tavern in the basement called the Bold Dragoon.

It was a point of discussion in town, and had been for years, whether the name was intended to be The Bold Dragoon, or whether the original sign had been painted by someone who with poor spelling.

Either way, the name had stuck.

Lexie climbed the wooden stairs that led to the wide timber porch that ran across the front of the building, above the basement entrance. The main doors were old fashioned, wooden framed with glass panels, and panted a dark and glossy green.

The doors were propped open, one with a heavy chunk of what looked like ore, and the other with a heavy war hammer.

Inside, the place smelled like sawdust and oiled metal. She didn't see anyone immediately, so she called out, "Hello?"

Obviously someone was here. The doors were open.

An older man with leathery, weather beaten skin and a mane of white hair came from the back. He was wearing a leather apron marred by oil spots, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

He was wiping his hands on a rag.

He looked Lexie over. "You here for an adventuring permit?" he said. There was doubt in his voice.

"No," she said. "I'm here about the job." She pulled out the copy of the notice from the quest board.

"Oh," said the man. "Great! I'm Waylon." His face broke into a smile, and he extended a hand toward Lexie, who took it. He shook her hand firmly, and said, "You got any experience with adventurers or adventuring guilds?"

"No," said Lexie. "But I've done office work. I can hand out permits and brief people on regulations."

"Aye, it's not complicated work. Adventurers are a... special sort of people to deal with though. Loud, boisterous. Used to getting their own way."

Lexie thought back to ben and his influencer friends. "I've dealt with that kind of people," said Lexie.

"What do you know about the dungeon?" said Waylon.

"Nothing, really," said Lexie. "I only just moved here."

"You must be Martha's relation. Granddaughter?"

"No, niece. Great niece. She was my great aunt."

"Lovely woman," said Waylon. "Sorry to hear about her passing. She was always popping in with questions about adventuring. Usually brought me a stiff cup of coffee from Iris's as a bribe."

"I'm living in her old cabin."

"Not too far from the dungeon," said Waylon. "You'll know when adventuring season starts. They don't take the seas trail usually, most of them stick to the road that runs past your place. But you'll see stragglers from time to time."

"Albatross Bay is pretty out of the way," said Lexie. "Do we get a lot of adventurers up here?"

"Oh a fair few. We'd get more but the town operates a strict adventuring season and limits the permits. Albatross Bay has a no kill dungeon, which means we don't have the best loot, but we're a good place for beginners to learn the ropes."

Lexie didn't know much about adventuring and dungeons. She knew the theory--dungeons existed, they were full of monsters and loot, and adventurers went in and fought the monsters in hope of coming out with the loot. Dungeon dive vids where adventurers recorded their travel through the dungeon, were insanely popular. Lexie had seen a few, but it was a lot of running in the dark, a few seconds of frantic sword swinging or bow shooting, and yelling, and then more running. Sometimes there was box opening.

None of the ones she'd seen explained the finer points of adventuring, like what a no kill dungeon was.

So she asked. "Do the adventurers... not kill the monsters?"

She couldn't really understand why adventurers would want that, since killing stuff seemed to be a major component in adventuring.

Waylon chickled. Not laughing at her, or if he was, not in a mean way. He said, "Other way around."

"The monsters... don't kill the adventurers?"

That left Lexie even more baffled. For all the reasons she could come up with for adventurers to not kill monsters, monsters not killing adventurers seemed even more inexplicable.

"Why would the monsters not kill the adventurers?" asked Lexie.

"Bad for business," said Waylon.

Lexie's face indicated that she did not understand.

"Okay, it's like this," said Waylon. "You've seen Albatross Bay. It's not a big town, it's not an easy place to get to. We're remote. A backwater. And our dungeon isn't a big dangerous one. It doesn't drop legendaries. It hardly ever drops an epic. Who would come here, way out to Albatross Bay, to dive a dungeon where they're likely to get some rares, at best?"

"Okay," said Lexie. "That makes sense. Plenty of places closer with better loot."

"Right," said Waylon. "But those are all kill dungeons. Go in there, and you risk losing... everything." He made a slicing motion across his neck. "It's a calculated risk for experienced adventurers. They know what they can handle, what they're likely to face. How to work as a group, or solo, if that's their thing. But getting experienced without getting dead is tricky."

"I can see how that would be," said Lexie. She'd never thought of it that way but it made sense. "So that's what adventurers get out of a no kill dungeon. XP without the..." she made a throat cutting motion.

Waylon grinned. "Exactly."

"But what does the dungeon get out of it? Why wouldn't the monsters kill the adventurers?"

"Up here, it guarantees a steady supply of adventurers. A no kill dungeon is an attractive prospect to newbs. And if they fall in the dungeon, the mobs don't kill them, but they'll any and everything they've got."

"So basically, we've got a dungeon full of muggers."

Waylon laughed. "That's a pretty good description."

"So what would this job entail?" Lexie asked.

Waylon tucked the rag into one of the pockets of his apron and took it off. "During adventurer season, we need someone to man the office in town. We're not a big guild so we don't have call for three full time staff, but during the seaqson Harlan and I man the station at the dungeon entrance. Gotta have round the clock coverage in case of emergencies. So we need someone to handle the office in town.

"It used to be Camille, but now she's got a full time job at the solicitor's."

"I've met Camille," said Lexie.

Waylon snorted. There must have been something in her expression or tone. "She's alright. Bit prickly. But she sure can manage paperwork."

"I have the farm," said Lexie. "I don't think I can do full time. The notice said part time."

"It's only during adventuring season, and we only need the town office open for three or four hours a day, two days a week. It doesn't matter if that's morning or afternoon, as long as it's consistent."

"So I could do my farm chores in the morning and work here in the afternoon?"

"Yep," said Waylon. "Or here in the morning and chores in the afternoon. It's up to you. Job only lasts the season, three months. Then the dungeon closes for three months."

"So adventuring season twice a year?"

"Yep," said Waylon. "You got much office experience?"

"Some," said Lexie. "I worked at /* CORPORATION */ for a while in the quality reports department."

"Good enough," said Waylon. "The way it works is there's a registration system. Most groups preregister for permits, we fill up fast. If there's a cancellation or the slot is open, you can take a registration in person. But most of it will happen through the system.

"When the group arrives, you check them in, have them read and sign the terms of the dungeon. You brief them on the rules and give them the guide. Most important rule is no killing dungeon personnel. They do that and no only will they not dive here again, they'll be banned from every other reputable dungeon, and face civil and criminal penalties. Really stress that."

"There's dungeon staff?"

"Yes," said Waylon. "There's two classes of monsters in the dungeon. One are the mobs. It's fine to kill them, they're mindless experience farms, and they respawn. Then there's the staff, they're more like us. They work in the dungeon, keep it ticking over. Design and set the traps, place the loot, manage the spawn points and frequency. Most of them are out of the zone during dives, but sometimes there might be a problem. They're always clearly marked, but sometimes new adventurers especially swing their sword first and check tags later."

"I didn't know there were monsters like that."

"Part of what the guild does is negotiate with the dungeon staff."

"So, you say staff, is there like, someone who runs the dungeon? Someone in charge?"

"Depends on the dungeon," said Waylon. "Some of them are run by a wizard, or a lich, or a dragon. Ours is run by a collective of kobolds. As far as I can tell no single individual is in charge."

"Okay, wow," said Lexie. "I had no idea."

"Oh, sure. You know there's different kinds of dungeons right?"

"Sort of. But I don't really know what they are. Like I know some are more dangerous or have better loot."

"That's part of it," said Waylon. "But dungeons usually have themes too. So say you have a dragon dungeon. It will probably be heavy on gold for loot, and there will probably be a lot of fire. Or if you have a wizard dungeon, there's going to be a lot of magic. Enchantments, magic traps, and so on. The loot is more likely to be spell books or scrolls, magic amulets and talismans. Lots of potions. A lich will combine magic and undead. Lots of necromancy. And the loot will be creepy."

"It makes sense," said Lexie.

"If you take the job, if you want the job, I'll take you up to the dungeon, introduce you, and show you around a little. Be good if you could answer some basic questions, like where are the bathrooms located."

"The dungeon has bathrooms?" said Lexie.

Waylon laughed. "Of course the dungeon has bathrooms. Adventurers go in there sometimes for days. Everyone would prefer there to be bathrooms."

"I've seen some dive videos, but I never noticed bathrooms."

"Usually they're designed to blend in to the surroundings. That's why it helps to know where they are. Bigh signs pointing the direction to the toilets would ruin the ambiance."

"That's true."

"And not all dungeons have bathrooms, some of them are old school, and believe in making adventurers wade through their own filth. They've got good enough loot drops they can get away with it. And there will always be dungeons and adventurers who see their jobs as purely antagonistic, their purpose to make the other suffer as much as possible."

"I mean, I always thought it was like that, kind of," said Lexie.

"Well sure, that's part of the show. But it's more of a symbiotic arrangement. The adventurers need the dungeons. There's no other way for them to level. There's no other way to get some of the loot that dungeons drop. And the dungeons need the adventurers. That's how the monsters who run them level. They get loot off the adventurers who fall, too."

"I'm learning a lot about dungeons today," said Lexie.

"It's not so complicated," said Waylon. "If you take the job, I'll give you a book, you'll be an expert in no time."

"I can have the job?" said Lexie.

"If you want. Tuesday and Thursday afternoon? Sixty coins a week?"

"Wow, yes!" said Lexie.

"I'll get some equipment together for you and take you up to the dungeon tomorrow afternoon," said Waylon. "Show you around and introduce you."

"I'll be here!" said Lexie.