The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within

by Matthew Schmidt

  This scenario may seem absurd, but it happens regularly with varying degrees of insanity. And guess what? My example wasn't an example. It just happened with a violet delver.

  "Not a single one?" I asked.

  "Arachne came by personally and literally bought our entire stock," the shopkeeper said with a shrug. "Only shirts. I have no idea."

  There was no point commenting on the wishes of an Eidolon. Insanity was the charitable explanation.

  "We've heard that from the last ten—" Xavier began.

  "Yes, yes, I've heard from the last twenty customers you can't find any anywhere. Well, here is a where, and we don't have any. Would you like a scarf instead? It's on sale."

  * * *

  "Now what?" Sampson asked outside the fifteenth tailor shop. We didn't even go in, the sign on the door was sufficient. "I don't mind going shirtless, nor, I suppose, would others if I did, but—"

  "Please," Elise said. "We don't need a J.R. Jackson with us."

  "Wait," Mical said. "What we're going to do is find Robes that drop in the lower Floors."

  I didn't like that she spoke for us, but I didn't want to upset her, either. "Why the lower Floors?" I asked.

  "Because everyone is going to be scavenging the shallower Floors for clothing." Mical launched into an explanation, essentially the one I just provided above, except better. "If we're going to have any luck at finding something, we'll need to go deeper than the 2nd."

  "I think we're barely able to manage the 2nd," Xavier said. "The 3rd? As long as nothing out-of-depths spawns—"

  "We can't guarantee that," Elise said. "It's how the Dungeon is."

  "I have a thought," I said. "Remember our first delve? We went to a well-traveled section to reduce the risk."

  "There are not going to be that many sections like that deeper," Elise said. "Aside from the fact that it doesn't matter."

  "I beg to differ," Xavier said. "If we hadn't run into that room that the other party almost cleared—"

  "Quest," Andy interrupted. We all turned to look at her—I believe that was the first time she ever interrupted us.

  "What quest?" I asked.

  "Do you mean we'd go somewhere where's there's a popular quest?" Mical asked her. After a nod, Mical continued, "I suggest we go to the Public Entrance now. At least see if it's plausible."

  LOST HEARTSTONE

  3rd floor, section unknown, poss. with moving monster.

  Latest information available to questers. Seekerstone provided.

  Requires: Revive. Permission granted for 90%+

  30 green

  "That's a lot of crystal," I said. One green was a thousand yellow, a million orange, a billion red... "A lot of crystal."

  "Maybe even enough to buy a shirt," Elise said.

  "I hope it's not that bad yet," Xavier said. "But why don't they just give the latest information? More people could find it that way."

  "Slayers prey on things like this," Elise said. "It's a huge magnet, all those parties looking around, and a bunch underlevel. Bet you crystal the organizers'll have you sign an NDA."

  "We don't have Revive," Mical said, flipping through her copy of our quest book. "Better find something else."

  "No, really," I said. "Let's look into getting Revive for me. It'd be great to have, just in case one of us dies. Well, one of you. I can't help if I die, obviously."

  "There's a Healer subclass that can Revive themselves," Xavier said. “It's Tier Two, sure, but..."

  "If we ever have a Tier Two with us," I said. "I don't think we'll be worrying about trying to survive the 3rd floor."

  "Or finding a shirt," Sampson said.

  * * *

  There was a large sign at the Healer's Guild, reading WE ARE CURRENTLY NOT GIVING AWAY FREE BANDAGES. Had someone been sewing them into shirts?

  "Which of you?" the receptionist asked us when we asked. "You with the brown hair?"

  "That's me," I said. "What's it like?"

  I saw him draw a tiny shape with a finger and point it at me. Sm-Type Identify Delver, I rightly guessed. "Oh, boy. You'll need three stat increases, unless you can find some stat bonus equipment. Then find a spellstone—you'll have to have a slot for a 3rd rank spell. Then you're going to practice for hours, and I do mean hours. Once you've got a decent success rate, you're going to the Morgue and have a training session with a professional revivalist. Then you get the license." He raised an eyebrow in thought. "Are you going to be the party revivalist? You can technically get away with everyone in your party signing a waiver. But Dungeon will you have it if you mess up. Take the training, believe me."

  "What's the training cost?" Mical asked.

  "It doesn't cost you. You revive some low-level decedents, and you're actually paid for it—if you don't mess up. Which is why I highly recommend you take advantage of our practicestones to learn the spell well. Once you do..." He spread his arms. "Welcome to the gravy train. As long as you avoid a malpractice lawsuit, you'll be making orange. Or yellow, if you're good enough."

  * * *

  "That's that," I said outside the guildhall. "It doesn't sound that bad altogether."

  "We'll be emptying our savings account," Mical said. "For the stat increase potions."

  "Don't buy them all at once, then," Xavier said.

  "Heard of someone who found a Wisdom bonus cape on the 2nd floor," Elise said. "Actually heard him, he wouldn't shut up about it at the Rogue's Guild."

  "I'm not talking about buying it all at once," Mical said hostilely. I flinched at the ire. "We can't afford anything else if we go for this. We're still losing crystal ratio every delve."

  "How come we're buying more stuff, then?" Sampson asked.

  "Not crystal. Crystal ratio. We're buying more stuff, but we're gaining crystal consumption faster than we're gaining crystal. That orange chest won't last forever."

  "But the more Experience we have—"

  "Dude, Sampson, chill," I said. "Everybody, chill. Mical has a point. How much do we have?"

  "Thirty orange," she said. "If we're lucky, and forgo everything else, we might make it."

  "But what else can we do?" I asked. "If we're losing crystal ratio..."

  "We could technically sell equity in the party," Mical said. "I doubt it would be worth the paperwork, or the fact we would be paying a share of all our earnings to some investor."

  "If we do go for this," Xavier said. "We're going to spend months, maybe. That quest won't last forever."

  "Don't think of months," I said. "Think of delves. We've been taking our time, but if we're careful and keep going day after day, we can delve much more. I mean, we've got two Healers. There's nothing stopping us from delving every day."

  "Correct," Mical said. "We won't know what we can do until we try. That said, we should still take Violetdays off. We do need rest."

  "Seems reasonable," I said. "But will that quest still be there?"

  "Don't worry," Elise said. "That thirty green one wasn't the only retrieval quest. There will be more asking for Revive as a requirement. It's not uncommon. It's how they filter out random delvers from those who actually try. Plus, we can use Revive in and of itself."

  "If we pay for your learning Revive," Mical said. "I hope you understand you would be paying it back as a loan."

  "I understand," I said. "It's the only moral thing to do."

  * * *

  Delving with a goal is much different than just hunting for treasure. We were still hunting for treasure, but now we maximized our delving. No need to explore, just find the most crystal. We gained experience rapidly, roaming the 2nd Floor regularly. We did nothing that would require expensive consumables. The moment I spent my last Cure Poison, it was time for Xavier to Return.

  And return we did, with crystal.

  * * *

  "This potion is over ten orange," I said. I would have closed my eyes while drinking it, but I didn't dare spill a drop. It tasted sweet, then slightly bitter.

  Whoa.

&n
bsp; I could actually feel myself changing, growing... wiser. Things made more sense. Not as in understanding them, but understanding... why. Why people did things.

  "Two more," Elise said. I could sense just a little more of the tone of her voice, a tiny amount of excitement.

  "Unless we find a Wisdom bonus," I said.

  * * *

  We stood around the chest as Mical tied bandages to our wounds. She was now a true Herbalist from all the Experience we had gotten.

  "Please tell me this is another stat increase," I said, holding up the glowing vial.

  "Dunno," Elise said, and waved the Identifier over it. "It's too high-level for my Identifier. But we can just sell it and buy a potion from the proceeds."

  "Why can't we just drink it, then, if it's good?" Sampson asked.

  "Because," Elise rolled her eyes. "It might not be. Might be a stat loss potion, too."

  "And we don't know," I said with a sigh.

  "A potential buyer doesn't know, either," Mical said. "But they can afford to take the risk, unlike us. Now, Andy, please hold still. This will only hurt a bit..."

  * * *

  "Let's check the Skill Shop for the spellstone," Xavier said.

  "What's the Skill Shop?" I asked.

  "A store that attempts to have one of every skill- and spell- stone. I'm sure they'll have plenty of Revive in stock."

  "I have a better idea," Elise said. "How about we find out exactly how much we can afford, then bid with that at the Auction House?"

  "We don't have much left," Mical said. "But at this point... Twenty five orange is what we can spare. And we may as well spare all of it."

  * * *

  "Not again!" I said, crumpling the paper and throwing it into the recycling can, which already overflowed with similar papers. I didn't even read the whole thing. We are sorry to inform you that you have been overbid... How often did the Auction House change that poor can? Every time someone won, many others lost...

  "Don't worry," Elise said. Another party tossed a bunch of papers into that same trash with equal disgust. "We'll get lucky eventually."

  "Eventually," Xavier said. "Or we could just head to the Skill Shop. I am absolutely certain they will have Revive."

  "And I'm certain we can't afford it," Elise said.

  A member of the other party stopped and walked back to us. "Are you looking for Revive?" asked a White Mage with an orange aura. "You're awfully low level."

  "Let's say it's a long story," I said. "But yeah."

  "We were actually going to sell a Revive stone here, but we need the money now, not in a day."

  I gave Elise a look. Mical wasn't with us, but she didn't like negotiating, oddly enough. "We can offer you twenty orange."

  "Can't go for lower than thirty, sorry."

  "One moment," Elise turned to us, and we huddled. "We're not going to find a better deal," she whispered.

  "I know," I said. "But Mical will kill us if we go for thirty. Do we even have thirty?"

  "But I don't know if we're ever going to find anyone selling it for less than thirty. I mean, we could spend some of our personal—"

  I watched the White Mage's face change in wordless emotions. Though I had never used telepathy, I knew what a telepathic conversation looked like. "Wouldn't you go for twenty-five?" he asked. "We'll take it."

  "We'll take it," Elise agreed.

  * * *

  Ten days after we had started, I stood in front of the Morgue.

  The Morgue was the most dreaded building in all of the City, short the Courthouse. It had the same general architecture as the other public buildings, but only it had many delvers outside weeping, shocked or angry. I felt bad that I personally was excited.

  The receptionist looked as cynical as a worn statue. "Name of decedent?" he asked.

  "I'm here for training, actually," I said.

  "That way." He pointed a finger then returned to his book.

  * * *

  The heartstone lay in the center of the long gurney, where, if she still had a body, her heart would be. Even if I had one inside me, I could not help but be fascinated at my first sight. The stone was more stylized than organic, like a jeweler had cut a heart-shaped jewel out of ruby tinted with orange.

  "First," the staff revivalist, a White Skull Lord, said. "We check the policy. Always check the policy. You have to make sure you can revive the decedent legally, or you'll be big trouble. Trap doors of trouble. Liability for stat loss and all that." He held up the paper to me. "See that big 0%? Anyone can revive her, no matter the success rate. That's what you get for cheap insurance."

  "What would happen if the success was zero?"

  "She wouldn't come back. Zero percent chance of success. 'Cept you might succeed anyway, just with tons of complications. Never seen a Revive that bad, though. But it doesn't matter if there are complications, anyway. The insurance says you can try, so you can. Just do your best all right? No point overthinking it. Any other questions?"

  "So," I said. "what will actually happen when I cast?"

  "She'll come back, you'll get paid, everyone's happy," the revivalist said. "What, do you mean what she'll be wearing?"

  I blushed instead of replying.

  "No worries. She'll be wearing the best soulbound equipment she has—soulbound clothing at the very least. Come to think of it, that's a good thing to soulbind anyway, these days. Heard the latest prices?"

  "I couldn't even find a shirt last I checked," I said.

  "You'll find people selling them at the Auction House, soon enough."

  "That's for sure."

  "Anyway, she will still be injured, so you'll need to heal her as soon as she's back. Or she'll die again, and you're paying. Got that?"

  "I got it," I said. Even with my new Wisdom bonuses I couldn't figure why I would be penalized for a second death but not for complications, which were far worse.

  But the guy was watching me with an irritated eye through the sockets of his skull-like helmet. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

  I took a deep breath, and began.

  It's extremely rude to interrupt someone as they are casting, particularly if they're V-Type. He offered no advice as I drew the bright plus-shape. I had practiced with the practicestone until I could draw it without mistake or flinching, and so I did it. The plus shimmered in white and then flew into the heartstone.

  "50%," said the revivalist. "Not bad for a first real try. And you'll hardly see a better success rate on someone who's died this often. Poor girl."

  I was too busy watching to reply. The heartstone morphed, extruding crystal limbs that steadily grew to full size. The heartstone itself was soon covered by a torso of crystal. As the body became more detailed and gained texture and color, a rusty red stained shift appeared over it. Last, the head above changed from a sphere to an ovaloid shape. Then the face took form. One final flash, and it was an older woman who opened her eyes and then closed them again in pain.

  I cast a few more spells, far more confident now, and her wounds stopped bleeding. "Hello, I'm—" I began, but with a scowl the woman pushed herself off and limped outside. "Um, you're welcome?" I called back.

  "Guess what?" the revivalist said. "You've picked the most necessary and most thankless job in the City. Now, for the next—"

  "I'm sorry," I interrupted. "That was my only cast."

  The revivalist gave me a look, only magnified by the skull. "Your only cast? Whatever," He signed a pad quickly and ripped off the note to hand to me. "50% is good enough, I'd say. Take this to the desk over there. Come back tomorrow if you're still interested in training."

  * * *

  A bit of paperwork later, I pulled out my shiny new card back in our dirty old room. "I've got the license. By the way, we're all soulbinding our clothes."

  "Already ahead of you," Sampson said, and fidgeted with his cloak. "Wasn't cheap for this."

  Elise gave Sampson a rolled eye, "Really? Is that what you spent your crystal on?"

&n
bsp; "Steal in morgue?" Andy asked with concern.

  "No, but if you don't have them, you're not getting them when revived," I said. "And these days? Someone probably would steal the shirt off your back if it wasn't soulbound."