Chapter 86: The Why

Chapter 86: The Why

[The concept of virtue–a dubious quality, if it exists at all–is invalidated by its wanton pursuit! You’ve sacrificed might in exchange for nothing but empty self-platitudes!]

[Uh, hey Grotto.]

[Perhaps we should call upon the gods to examine your karmic worth. I would wager that it has risen three entire points from this blunder. It is unfortunate that morality is weighed upon an infinite scale with no beginning or end.]

[Did you... need something? We’re busy talking about our skills and shit.]

My party members watched me, picking up on the signs of my silent communication with the bonded Delve Core.

[Yes, I have also chosen an evolution. I wished to share it with you, such that you might be apprised of the value I bring.]

[Oh, so you wanted to be part of the group?]

[That is not what I said.]

[It’s ok to come out of your room from time to time, Grotto. You don’t have to ask permission.]

[I am busy with important matters. It is a Dungeoneering evolution. You may view it on your character screen.]

He was gone as quick as he came.

“What was that?” asked Xim.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

“Grotto wanted to say that he’s disappointed in me, but that I should be proud of him.”

“Sounds about right.”

“He got some evolution to Dungeoneering. I guess he finally cracked level twenty with it.”

“I wish my frogs could advance my alchemy skill,” said Nuralie. She pulled one of the amphibians from her inventory, which is something I still didn’t know how she did. My inventory wouldn’t let me put anything living inside of it.

“His work advances my Dungeoneering skill,” I said, “but he chooses all the evolutions, and he’s the one who uses all the benefits.”

“I would be fine with that,” said Nuralie, leaning down to touch noses with the housecat-sized frog. “You’d pick good evolutions, wouldn’t you, Bertegog?”

The frog replied with a mighty croak

“It’s like having an intrinsic slot occupied by an annoying roommate,” I continued, “instead of a skill.”

“What’s the evo?” asked Xim. I brought up my list of skills, read it over, then shared it.

Engineered Terror

Fear and intimidation checks performed by allied entities within a Delve, dungeon, or labyrinth you control are 1% more effective per level of Dungeoneering.

“I’m sure the hounds will like that one,” I said.

[They will remain ineffective so long as you continue to bring them steaks to consume. A starving beast is much more dangerous than a well-fed one.]

“Welcome back, Grotto. Done with your ‘important matters’? That was fast.”

[I have dedicated a subprocess to managing my ongoing projects.] The others at the table made varying expressions, telling me that Grotto was now broadcasting to everyone.[I feel that it is important I monitor the party’s build planning, now that you’ve committed such a blunder with your evolution choice.]

“I can literally have my heart ripped from my chest and grow it back now. I thought you’d be happy about that.”

[It matters little if the damage dealt by the blow reduces your health pool below zero.]

“Then I’ll get more health. Look, I’m not going to turn into one of your monsters and-” I hesitated, realizing that there were some topics that shouldn’t be discussed openly in a crowded tavern. I’d been a bit liberal with my ‘free the knowledge’ philosophy so far, but intimate party secrets were a different matter from mana shaping or restrictions, which I believed every Delver should be equipped with. I swapped to telepathy.

[I’m not gonna’ stalk the Pocket Delve, eating the corpses of people who enter.]

[You also had the opportunity to attain eternal youth, yet eschewed that option with little regard. It is one of the few items that I have added to your ‘List’. Item number three! Attain immortality!]

[Yeah, right after ‘Accrue Power!’ and ‘Dominate our enemies!’ I feel like I’m kicking ass at those first two.]

[Two of three is barely a passing grade, Arlo.]

[D’s get degrees, baby!] I shot finger guns into the air. [I made all A’s in school, though. Except for ethics. Made a B in ethics.]

“This is still very strange,” said Nuralie, holding a hand to one ear like she was starring in a spy-thriller, listening to her commlink. “You aren’t talking, but it is like you’re all around me.”

“Eh,” said Xim. “I’m used to this sort of thing.”

“It’s what some of my memories are like,” added Etja. Varrin grunted.

“Now that our sixth party member has joined,” I said, “any other important evolutions we should all know about? Etja?”

“I got my Fortitude to twenty!” she said, her demeanor moving back into its normal exuberance. She rarely sulked, and when she did it wasn’t for long. “I was offered Mana Barrier. Since it’s one we discussed, I went ahead and picked it.”

Mana Barrier

You may choose to have 50% of the damage you take be dealt to your mana pool instead of your health. Damage dealt to your mana in this way is doubled.

“Nice,” I said. “Now you can really lean into WIS and CHA for a while. Nuralie?”

“My Archery intrinsic went to twenty,” the loson said. “Now I do extra damage when I take a few seconds to aim.”

“Amass power to defend ourselves,” I said. “That’s a legitimate reason to Delve.” Etja nodded.

“Protect Eschendur,” said Nuralie. “I need the strength to return, and the strength to push back the Littans.”

“Defend others. I think that’s also good.”

“I just wanna know what’s up with the Delves,” said Xim, shrugging. “I don’t think too hard about it. There’s clearly something going on with platinum difficulty that’s different from the others. We get all sorts of hints that you never hear about from gold or lower.”

The table agreed with the sentiment, and we turned to Varrin. The warrior had gone back to staring into his horn of ale, though he didn’t take a drink. His expression was dark, and there was a lot more weight behind the anger that smoldered in his eyes than a guy his age should have to bear. His eyes flicked up to meet mine, and he passed his gaze between the rest of us.

“In the Creation Delve,” he said, voice low, “I was overconfident in my abilities. If that Delve had been a normal platinum Delve, I believe we would have conquered it without any losses. What I learned that day, and what I’ve learned since, is that there are no normal platinum Delves. It was arrogance to expect the Delve to cater to my assumptions, and people died under my watch.”

He sat back, looking over the crowd of people in the tavern and I followed his gaze. The room was full of mundane humans, but there were a dozen other Delvers mixed in, some in groups, others with what looked like friends or family. Most of them were below our level.

“I took that lesson to heart when I went back to Ravvenblaq. I decided that I would make sure I had the skill to carry my party through, if another... difficult... situation arose. I discussed with my parents, my grandparents,” he gestured at Xim, “Drel and Xorna, as well. Their wisdom matched much of what I’d learned firsthand. They were lessons I’d already been taught while training for Creation, but lessons that required a hard kick to settle into my mind, it seems.

“And then, I made another mistake.” His eyes narrowed. “I assumed that my parents were almighty. Thundralkes of the most powerful nation in the world, blood of one of the most powerful Delvers. Platinum, and nearly as fearsome as the highest echelons that can be reached by gold. They, too, were swatted like insects by an enemy with power outside the bounds of what is to be ‘expected’. My father was murdered, my mother...” He trailed off.

I wasn’t certain about the state that Nola Ravvenblaq had been in since The Cage and the death of her husband, but Varrin’s careful avoidance of the topic had told me it was nothing good.

“I Delve because I must,” he said, fist clenched hard enough that the horn of ale groaned in protest. “To protect Hiward from Orexis, and whatever other unknown powers-that-may-be. To protect Ravvenblaq, to protect my family.” He relaxed his grip on the horn, and placed his elbows on the table. “But I will not lie to you, either. That is what should drive me, and it does. But the thing that sends me through those portals, what presses me forward every moment, is the thought of slaying the beast that has done this thing.”

He finally took another drink from his horn, draining it. The waitress began to approach, but he held up a hand and shook his head. He sat the horn on its rest with care, then stood.

“I would take my leave,” he said. “I- I would better serve this conversation after some time has passed.” Then, he turned and left.

We sat in silence, stunned. It was more insight than any of us had gotten into Varrin’s thoughts in months. What he said hadn’t surprised me, I’d suspected as much, but the fact that he laid it all out there so plainly was unusual. Especially the last part.

[He could have merely said ‘protection’ as well.]

[Is your goal to be as insensitive as conceivable, Grotto?]

[That would be impossible, as the thought of sensitivity does not enter my mind.]

[You say that, but I don’t believe you. Did you want to add your own goals to the discussion?]

[You are not already aware of what I seek?]

[No! You don’t tell us shit, other than some abstract commandments about strength and conquest. If you want to drop the smokescreen, feel free. Until then, I’ll put you down as undecided.]

Grotto didn’t reply, and Xim broke the silence.

“What about you, Arlo?” she asked. “I think that you’re the real mystery. Everything that happened last year made sense; you were dropped into the Creation Delve, and then got caught up in Orexis’ scheming. But, ever since, you’ve been just as enthusiastic about this as the rest of us. You’ve got enough money to spend the rest of your life hopping from one capital city to the next, staying in pricey inns and sleeping with top-shelf courtesans. Why don’t you?”

“I like travel, but I prefer my intimacy to be less transactional.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Hey, not avoiding the question, just adding some clarity. First, I’m a busy-body. Even if I retired, I’d find some other work to do. Leisure is something I enjoy in small doses, but not a lifestyle I think I’d enjoy.

“Second, the rewards from Delving are insane. It may not be anyone here’s primary motivator, but wealth and superpowers? Sign me up. I think we all feel that way to some degree.” Nuralie and Xim nodded. “I mean, we’ve got a lot more than walkin’ around money. That mimic Delve was absolute trash for rewards, and we still each got two emerald chips. You could buy a small estate for that.”

“Or a big boat,” said Nuralie. “And hire a crew for a year.”

“Where I came from, I’d have to take out a loan and then work for twenty years to pay the bank back in order to buy a decent house. I just made that kind of money in a couple of days, and it was a shit-tier reward!”

“I still can’t believe we got diamond chips for the specter,” said Xim.

“I know,” I said. “I could retire modestly on the interest those generate, alone.”

“You’re making interest?” asked Nuralie.

“Yeah. I know a gal. Can introduce you later if you like.”

“I thought you spent it all on that orphanage,” said Xim.

“No way. An orphanage that fancy would be called a prep school.”

“You literally named it a school.”

“Point is, chips and stats are reward enough in and of themselves,” I continued. “I also think I’m an adrenaline junky and never realized it. We’re dancing on a knife’s edge with our lives, but I’m usually enjoying myself inside of Delves.”

“It’s fun!” Etja said again.

“And there’s Orexis,” I said, mirroring her earlier sentiment. “Put my worry about him on the pile as well. I like the idea of protecting people, too, although you guys are the main people I’d want to protect, and each of you is hardly a vulnerable target.”

“Tanking mindset,” said Xim with a grin.

“But the core of it, the main thrust of why I’m so on board with the pace Varrin wants to set, is that I’m worried.”

“What are you worried about?” asked Nuralie.

“You have seemed anxious lately,” said Xim.

I tapped my finger against the table, organizing my thoughts.

“The state of the world... troubles me.”