Chapter Eighteen

“What do you mean she wants to clear a dungeon with us? That’s insane!”

Xorvos recoiled slightly at Shuka’s response, perhaps not quite expecting her to be that against the idea. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet, so he pressed on.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, it’s only a tier one dungeon and Videon is a veteran adventurer. I am sure she will be able to protect us no matter what happens.”

Shuka didn’t know much about dungeons, but she at least knew that tier one dungeons were the least dangerous. And having a veteran helping them was a plus, but it still felt too dangerous to her.

“We may not die, but what if we get injured? These potions are expensive, and we can’t afford to get another one.”

“We can just buy more with the gold we get from the dungeon. I don’t know how much we will get but surely it will be enough for some replacement potions.”

Why does Xorvos want to go so much anyway? Is it the money? No, that can’t be it, he’s not the type to risk his life for coins.

“Say we do go, what do we get out of it that’s worth risking our lives?”

“Combat experience.”

And then it all made sense. Xorvos wasn’t the only one who saw flaming blades and shining shields in their minds eye. The only difference was Shuka didn’t see the beauty in it. All she saw was death, and all she felt was fear.

“Neither of us know how to fight.” Xorvos continued. “Not really at least. We know the basics, but we lack experience. If we do this dungeon, we will be getting into real fights without the life-or-death stakes that we have been dealing with this last week. And besides, with whatever equipment we get from the dungeon we will be better equipped to deal with whatever we have to face next.”

The benefits are undeniable, but… I’m in enough danger as it is.

“Let me ask Videon for more details and then I will decide.”

That was good enough for Xorvos, so he called Videon back.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” The former adventurer asked.

“Yeah, I want to know more about this offer of yours.”

“Well ask away.”

Hmmm… What should I ask first? Well, I guess I will just start with the obvious one.

“Why do you want to clear this dungeon with us? We’re not even adventurers, I’m sure you could find someone more capable. And why do you even want to do the dungeon in the first place? Aren’t you retired?”

“Well, that’s a bit complicated. For the first part of your question, most adventurers are already in a team, and they wouldn’t want to split the loot another way if they think they can take the dungeon on their own. And if they don’t think they can take a tier one dungeon without my help then they probably aren’t interested in dungeons at all. They are the type that solve local, small scale stuff like monster attacks or mercenary work.”

Monster attacks are considered small scale? What kind of stuff are we going to be facing in the dungeon then?

“There also aren’t that many adventurers in town right now but I have to answer your second question to explain why. Speaking of which, how much do you know about dungeons?”

Xorvos answered first, with all the confidence of an expert, but the knowledge of a single book he read in passing.

“The dungeons were created by the god Humanus so his followers could prove their ambition by risking their lives for great rewards. The dungeons are separated into four tiers with higher tiers becoming more difficult and offering better rewards.”

Spoken like he was answering a question on a test. He must really want to impress them. Well, he’s not the one that actually got tests with questions like this in the orphanage.

“If you reach the end of the only tier four dungeon in the world then you will also be granted a wish, which is how Vondoom and his companions became demi-gods.”

Videon wasn’t that impressed with their rather basic knowledge of dungeons, but she politely kept that to herself.

“You are both right, but what I was looking to see if you knew was the fact that dungeons change every month.”

“Change?” Shuka asked. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that while the locations of each dungeon remain the same, the contents of each one changes at the start of each month. That way a party can’t just repeat the same dungeon over and over again until they know it inside and out.”

I can see why the god of ambition would want to prevent that. But wait, isn’t today the last day of the month? If we go tomorrow won’t that mean not even Videon will know what we will be facing.

“The reason this is important is that I happen to sell dungeon maps along with the rest of my wares. Those maps are about to become expired, and I will need to make more. Of course, veteran or not, dungeons are designed for groups and going in one alone is usually a pretty bad move.”

“But wait, I thought the reason dungeons reset every month was so adventurers wouldn’t know what they were facing when they enter a dungeon? Wouldn’t your maps be, I don’t know, cheating or something?”

Videon had expected Shuka’s question and was quick to give an answer.

“Humanus wants us to be ambitious, not stupid.” Videon chuckled. “A little preparation when we are about to risk our lives is to be expected. And besides, there are small changes between each instance, so my maps are hardly perfect. Things like the number of enemies in a room or the exact placement of a trap could be different for someone else, so I try not to be too specific. Just what monsters there are, the presence or absence of traps, and the structural layout of the dungeon.”

That still seems like a lot to me, but then I’m not Humanus so who am I to say what’s too much. And if its saving lives then its not like it’s a problem. I just wish we would be going into a dungeon with one of these maps ourselves.

“Anyway, since repeating the same dungeon too much tends to give you diminishing rewards, most adventurers don’t stick around for the entire month. They will be coming back soon though, and they will be expecting me to have maps for them when they do, so I would like to get this done as early as possible. Which means, if you accept then we will be attempting the dungeon tomorrow morning.”

“Well you haven’t exactly drawn a very encouraging picture for me so far. What kind of rewards do you think the dungeon will give us?”

Videon didn’t seem too pleased that Shuka wasn’t all that encouraged but they answered her question anyway.

“Tier one dungeons tend to give around one hundred to one hundred and fifty gold coins as a reward along with several minor magical items. Since this is your first dungeon there will be at least one magical item that is suited for each of you. I will be claiming one third of the rewards, but I promise to not claim any items that were obviously meant for you two.”

“Wait, hold up, did you say there will be items specifically suited to us?”

“Yes. First time adventurers always get something they can use. A swordsman might get a sword or a mage a wand, but there will always be something for them the first time. After that though it’s random.”

“But how does that work? Is Humanus watching over every dungeon in the world?”

“No, no, no. It’s not Humanus giving the rewards, it’s the dungeon itself. Most adventurers agree that it is a sentient being, although there is some debate on just how sentient. In fact, the wish you are granted for completing the tier four dungeon isn’t granted by Humanus or any of the other gods, but by the dungeon.”

Well they certainly didn’t teach THAT in Vondooms orphanage. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention when they did.

This came as a surprise to Xorvos too and he had questions of his own now.

“What about for Quanso adventurers like you? Does the dungeon give you enchanted Quanso weaponry or are you stuck using human weapons?”

“If you are worried about receiving a lethal weapon in the dungeon, then don’t. The dungeon knows we don’t kill and gives us weapons we can use. In mixed race parties Quanso weapons only have chance of appearing, but they do still appear. And I hear fully Quanso parties never receive non Quanso weapons.”

So it looks like if we complete this dungeon we will be guaranteed to get something useful. And even splitting the gold three ways, me and Xorvos will still be getting over sixty gold at a minimum. I still don’t like the danger involved, but if all we do is keep running then our next encounter with Validus might be our last. We need to get stronger, and this seems to be the fastest way to do that.

“Do you have any other questions, or are you ready to make your decision?”

“Yeah, uhh, just one more.”

“Well, what is it?”

Videon looked at Shuka expectantly, and maybe a little annoyed. Just a bit though, they did ask after all. Shuka on the other hand wanted nothing more than to not ask her question, even if she knew it was better to ask now than mess up later. After a few seconds of going ‘Umm’ and ‘Uhh’ she finally mustered up the courage to speak.

“What pronouns do you use?”

There were a few seconds of silence before Videon broke it with a short sigh.

“That was your question? Just use whatever pronouns you want; I don’t care either way.”

That doesn’t help me at all! If I knew what pronouns I wanted to use I wouldn’t have asked. What am I supposed to do now? I can’t just ask again, that would be rude, wouldn’t it? Or maybe it would just be annoying. Either way I’m stuck.

It was clear that their answer wasn’t quite what Shuka wanted so Videon continued.

“Ugh, if you must have an answer than just use female pronouns. I won’t really care if you mess up or choose otherwise though. Now can we get back to the dungeon? Are you joining or not?”

“Oh, right. The dungeon. Well, if Xorvos still wants to then I guess we will do it.”

“Excellent. I will see you two tomorrow then.”

*

Shuka collapsed onto her bedroll exhausted. She had never had an illusion up for so long before, but she had to make sure no one would recognise her, even when she was just talking to Videon. It was not a large illusion, but it slowly drained her mana for the hour it was up.

Crap, I’m going to have to do this tomorrow too. How long does a dungeon take? Will I be able to keep the illusion up the whole time? Maybe it would be best to just tell Videon about it beforehand and go in the dungeon without it. But then the curse will just make her assume the worst. If she reports me to the guards after learning I’ve been hiding my identity, then it will be a disaster. Maybe this whole dungeon thing was a bad idea, and I should cancel it.

Shuka didn’t know what to do and it was worrying her. But she was also too exhausted from running low on mana to think of a solution. All she felt like doing was laying on the ground and stare at the ceiling. Xorvos however, didn’t notice Shuka’s exhaustion and decided this was a good time to talk to her.

“Hey, so I know it was my idea to do the dungeon in the first place, but I’m worried about missing Ralisdor while we are out.”

Shuka tried to hide her displeasure as she sat up to talk to her friend. It didn’t work.

“Oh, uhh… sorry am I interrupting something? We can talk about this later if you want.”

“Ugh, no lets just do it now. Sorry I’m just a little grumpy from using too much mana.”

“Really? You weren’t using that big of a spell, shouldn’t your natural mana regeneration have been enough to maintain the spell? Or close enough at least.”

He’s not wrong. I thought the biggest limit to the spell’s length would be my concentration, but for some reason I am running out of mana much faster than I thought I would. Maybe I just overestimated myself.

“It may not be that big of a spell, but I am still using it inefficiently. If it was Ralisdor it would use up half the mana it does for me. And besides, I’ve only been using magic for around a year, it will take longer than that to get my mana reserves to a decent level.”

“I suppose you’re right. Anyway, about the dungeon. I was thinking of making some sort of sign that only Ralisdor would recognize and putting it outside our hideout. That way, if he passes by while we are in the dungeon, he would still know to wait for us here. The only problem is I can’t think of a good sign to use.”

“Huh, that’s actually a pretty good idea.”

“Why is that surprising?”

Shit, that came out wrong. I need to start thinking about what I say more with this curse on me.

“What I meant was it’s a much better idea than anything I would have come up with. I didn’t mean anything bad with it.”

Xorvos gave a look that implied he didn’t quite believe her, but he let it go.

“That aside, do you have any good ideas for the sign?”

Hmm. If it’s just something that he would know came from me it wouldn’t be that hard, but it needs to be subtle enough that the guards won’t know it came from us. Ah, I think I know the perfect thing.

“Ralisdor told me that back when he was still working in Lancrin he had this symbol he used to represent himself. Sort of like a logo I guess. He would use it whenever he would do a show or help enchant an item. Maybe that’s what we could use. Most people would just see an abstract symbol and not pay any particular attention to it, but he would instantly know what it means.”

Xorvos considered this for a moment then nodded his head in agreement.

“That sounds good. I’ll count on you to get that done then.”

I hope Ralisdor sees it. We need all the help we can get against Validus, and I don’t think a single dungeon is going to change that. Still, I’ll take every advantage I can get. I just hope it’s enough.