The sound of whistling outside the office announced Walnut’s arrival, and as the door opened, Vee saw that the man seemed to be in a better mood than he’d been the week before. His black eye was still there, but it’d faded and was now little more than a few darkish splotches on the gangster’s otherwise pale face.

He grinned at Vee and pointed to the stack of forty-five gold fleurs on the desk to Vee’s left.

“They’re usually on the other side of the table,” Walnut said. “Something on your mind, Short Stack?”

Vee felt his hackles rise at the insult, but mastered his temper and returned a smile of his own that was more than a little wolfish.

“Actually, there is,” he said. Though he’d briefly contemplated dancing around his ultimate point, he decided to just get right down to it. “I want to know what your boss is after in Westown.”

If his question surprised Walnut, the man gave no sign of it, for neither his eyes nor his smile changed in the slightest as he leaned down to pluck the top fleur off the stack. “Where’d you hear that from?”

Vee shrugged. “Here and there, you know how it is.”

He was wary of accidentally saying too much and giving Holly away as his source. Though the [Snowmancer] could definitely take care of herself, Vee didn’t want to be responsible for causing her trouble.

Walnut’s eyes narrowed and his voice became hard. “Listen close. There ain’t nothin’ out here that the boss would be worried about or after, dig? It’s just a lot of dilapidated old buildings and fiends out there, and we’ve got other fish to fry.”

A smooth lie so well told that it was nearly believable, but Vee knew it for what it was and shook his head as he put his hand over the remainder of the fleurs.

“If that’s the case, then why is the don after it too? There’ve been some kitrekins and some of your guys sniffing around out there, and somehow I don’t think they’re working for the guild to clear out buildings. You’re both after something. What is it?”

Walnut’s fingers tightened into fists and his lips curled into a snarl.

“You got crap for brains, Short Stack? Like I said, there ain’t nothin’ out here that the boss would be worried about or after. I’m only going to say this once. If you like that face of yours, you’ll remember what I said.”

“Or what?” came another voice, and both Vee and Walnut turned to look at it.

Alforde was standing in the door, gauntlets wrapped around Slammy’s handle. The armorsoul seemed relaxed, but his eyes glittered dangerously, and his frosty cape swished back and forth to a breeze that only it seemed to be affected by.

“He’ll remember it or what?” Alforde asked again as he took a step forward into the office and lifted Slammy up to his pauldrons. He still looked relaxed, but how much longer would that last?

The tension in the room grew thick as Vee’s [Right Hand Man] and Sacre’s [Left Hand Man] sized each other up, but it escalated no further. Cold, iron purpose – a familiar sense of duty – flickered through Vee’s bond with Alforde, and the [Dungeon Master] found himself relieved. There was a tinge of desire for battle there, but it was definitely tempered and less all-consuming than it’d been before.

Walnut scooped up the rest of the coins and tucked them into his pocket. He straightened up and glared at Vee before leaving, prompting the [Dungeon Master] to call after him.

“Good to see you as always, Walnut. I look forward to our chat next week!”

The gangster didn’t reply as he crossed the room to leave, his attention was firmly on Alforde. The armorsoul didn’t immediately move out of the way to let him through, instead bending down so that his eyes were level with the gangster’s. Alforde said something that Vee couldn’t hear, and the man responded in kind as he pushed past to head back down to the street.

As the sound of the man’s boots faded into silence, Vee stood up and looked at Alforde.

“Thanks,” he said. “That might have gotten a little nasty otherwise.”

Alforde inclined his helmet. “Yeah. You’re welcome. I’m going to head down to the arena, alright? I’ll see you after the day’s runs are finished.”

Vee pursed his lips and nodded awkwardly. Things weren’t back to normal between him and Alforde by any means, but they were definitely improving.

The door closed and Reginald’s spirit arms popped out to take hold of his magnifying crystal.

“You ready to get things started, Boss?”

Vee turned his attention to the console. For the first time in days, he felt an itch in his fingers as he contemplated the knobs and dials before him. He was eager to see the lancer room in action and was excited to test his skills against the adventurers that challenged Crestheart.

It was nice.

***

Unfortunately, a few hours passed before Vee got to see the dungeon’s new room in action. Most of the adventurers who managed to make it to the third floor were so focused on reaching Alforde that they weren’t interested in trying to clear an optional path, heading straight to the obstacle course instead.

Though it was frustrating, Vee couldn’t exactly blame them for their decision. He hadn’t procured rewards for the lancer room yet – he made a mental note to really get serious about finding Thien once the dungeon closed for the day – but all the same, he was disappointed that it got skipped so easily.

Vee rubbed his chin. He’d have to find a way to sweeten the pot a little bit until the room was properly enticing. Maybe he could let the adventurers who cleared it have a few free potions to help their chances against Alforde? The lost income wouldn’t be terribly noticeable, and the challenge should be high enough that a decent chunk of people who took the challenge would fail and be forced to give up their attempts. Something to think about, at the very least.

Or, he had another thought too. Maybe he should steer away from making it optional in the first place? He couldn’t rule out that Crestheart was just too small to really get much value from offering optional challenges at this point, and that trying to shoehorn the extra fight into the current run simply didn’t fit for now. It was a cool room idea, and he wanted to keep it, but he couldn’t shake the fact that the dungeon would be better off if it was mandatory instead? However, would doing that encroach on the design space occupied by the Mr. Chills fight?

Design space? Vee found himself pondering the concept. It wasn’t a term he could remember hearing before, and it sounded like something bearded charlatans would talk about preserving in the midst of an unpopular decision, but he considered it all the same. What was the best mix of challenges for the dungeon? How should he sprinkle them throughout Crestheart’s floors? In his mind’s eye, he considered Crestheart, looking at the ebbs and flows of difficulty between rooms and the halls that connected them. Like a splinter in the bottom of his shoe, the lancer room stuck out. It was a glaring break in an otherwise streamlined experience, and Vee grimaced as he bounced around other ideas and possibilities for how to best incorporate it into the future of the dungeon.

How did other [Dungeon Masters] handle things like this? What were the metrics they looked at? Were there concrete things he could consult to make better decisions, or was it all just some sort of instinctive feel? Trial and error had done alright by him so far, but Vee couldn’t help but feel that his approach to designing the dungeon was missing something important and he wished that he could talk to someone about it.

He'd reach out to the union, see what other resources they had available, and maybe also write some letters to other [Dungeon Masters]. Zeiken had said there were some not too far away, right? They could be like, pen pals or something.

Vee’s musing were cut short by Reginald, who pointed out that the current runner was actually choosing to tackle the lancer room. Vee looked through his crystal at the sight.

Rawlin Feverpoint, level 13 [Swordsman]. So far, his performance in the dungeon hadn’t been particularly impressive. Despite his class, he was surprisingly bad at melee combat, and he struggled to dodge any of the traps that Vee sent his way. Still, he was plucky and determined, which were both marks in his favor.

It also helped that he seemed to have some sort of restorative skill, which let him shrug off the worst injuries he obtained during his run.

Vee activated [Walking Walls] as soon as Rawlin entered the lancer’s room. Like horses on a carosel, the walls began moving up and down as they slowly rotated in a circle. To get things started, Vee pressed the button that would activate the first skeleton, and leaned back to watch the battle play out.

Rawlin braced himself as the walls groaned and came to life. Drawing a deep breath, he looked around at the decorations on the walls – poorly crafted attempts at paintings, if he had to guess – and waited for something to happen. He had no way of knowing what the challenge would be, but he was sure that the images were sure to be involved somehow. The rest of the room was too bare for it to be anything else. Honestly, Rawlin was a little disappointed at the barebones decorations and wondered if he might have been better off skipping the room as most of his peers did. He’d thought to extract some extra value from his run by taking the optional path, given that [Refresh Body] allowed him to shrug off wounds most of his peers could not, but he was starting to think that his time would have been better spent sparring outside.

He heard something hiss behind him, and turned around just in time to see a mounted skeleton riding toward him. It raised a thin, red lance as it approached, and Rawlin wasn’t quite fast enough to get out of the way as it zoomed by. A flash of pain; his right side had been hit. Bellowing, the adventurer fell to his knees.

Closing his eyes, Rawlin activated [Refresh Body] and felt the warm, healing light of the skill bathe his injury. Its potency was almost depleted, he’d used it too many times in rapid succession and it would be diminished until after the next time he slept, but it was enough to take the edge off as he got back to his feet.

The skeleton had vanished into the image of a small, red flower, and Rawlin braced his body toward it, readying a [Counterattack] for when it came back out.

However, to his surprise it was the “painting” on his right that opened next, and a different skeleton came out. Unlike the first minion, which had been only bones, this one was armored with black plates and it swung a blunted weapon.

Rawlin batted the blow aimed at his head to the side, and launched a [Sure Stab] at the creature’s mount. His blade bounced off the armor, and Rawlin watched as it disappeared into the far side of the room.

They fell into a rhythm, with the pair of skeletons alternating as they charged from the sides of the room and after the fourth cycle, Rawlin caught the trick of it. There was a slight shimmering around the corners of the paintings as the skeletons rode out, and by paying attention for it, the [Swordsman] could accurately predict where the foes would next come from.

But still, that alone wasn’t enough for him to successfully clear the room. He had to stop the skeletons somehow, find some way to negate their threat so that he could continue on.

Crouching, the [Swordsman] waited until the next pass, then leapt up and swung at the approaching lancer as hard as he could. Blade struck bone and the minion was unseated by the blow. Separated from its mount, the skeleton was like a worse version of the knights earlier in the dungeon, and Rawlin dispatched it with ease. He waited for its partner to appear, and defeated it with the same tactic.

[Might +1]

[Congratulations, you can now use Leap Strike!]

As the second skeleton fell apart, Rawlin caught his breath and used [Refresh Body] once more. Its heat was like a lukewarm tap, and his ribs and shoulder still ached from where he’d been struck during the bout.

Steeling himself, Rawlin crossed the room and headed deeper into the dungeon. He didn’t think that he’d be able to do much against Alforde, but he was going to try.

Main Character Sheets(Unchanged from last chapter)

Vee Vales

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 28

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 18

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 5

Might: 12

Wit: 31

Faith: 21

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 14

Plotting: 18

Charisma: 12

Devious Mind: 22

Leadership: 16

Guts: 13

Intimidating Presence: 9

Citizenship: 20

Public Relations: 6

Determination: 1

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 21

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 11

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 14

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 4

Might: 39

Wit: 12

Faith: 26

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Endurance: 19

Intimidating Presence: 12

Heart of a Champion: 5

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Vigilance: 6

Vanity: 3

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

--~%@(%[email protected] &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#[email protected]!)~--, #[email protected]& ????

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 38

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 15

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 8

Might: 1

Wit: 32

Faith: 12

Ambition: 27

Greed: 22

Deceptiveness: 27

Manipulativeness: 36

$#&*[email protected]!!

Loyalty: 46

Patience: 9

[#&%%%@%!#@__--#%]

%^(@#!! @#[email protected][email protected]#

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 7