B2 Chapter 13: Another Dungeon

B2 Chapter 13: Another Dungeon

"I trust you can continue managing Dramos without us while we secure the area's mana wellspring." Carlos was sitting comfortably in one of Mayor Stelras's visitor chairs, with Amber in the other. This was still the mayor's office, after all, and Carlos had no intention of taking it over as his own office. People would expect something far grander for a high lord's office, and Carlos planned to set it up in a completely different location, besides. He also wanted it to have a suitable place for Amber as co-leader of their house alongside him, unlike the mayor's single desk.

Stelras nodded confidently from his desk. "Of course, Lord Carlos. The recent kidnapping incident aside, you haven't shaken things up much around here yet. I've managed this city for decades; a little longer should make no difference. How long do you expect it to take?"

"I don't actually know. Lorvan?"

The royal guard at Carlos's side inclined his head. "For you to absorb enough ambient mana-"

"'Aether', please. The distinct academic terms were made for good reason." Carlos accompanied his interruption with a stern glance at Lorvan.

"Yes, my lord." Lorvan cleared his throat lightly and began again. "For you to absorb enough aether to gain the raw power necessary to defeat the wellspring's guardian, and subsequently to gain sufficient proficiency in wielding that power, will take at least a full month, and possibly multiple months. That is accounting for your ability to absorb actively while sleeping, and also having a cooperative dungeon to multiply your absorption rate. For most nobles, it would definitely be multiple months."

Carlos cocked his head and did some quick mental calculations. Our efforts to mimic dungeon pre-processing of aether just about tripled our safe absorption rate, and Purple as an actual dungeon can probably do it better. That merged superstructure takes 10 times as much to level it up, though, and it doesn't absorb any faster, and if we pack even more structures into it, it will need even more aether to advance. At a rough estimate, those factors combined work out to a net result of one-third the level advancement rate we had before. It took about 10 hours of active absorption before for each density compression, or levelup as I've started calling it, so 30 hours per level. Wellsprings are above even Lorvan's level, so we have at least 30 or so levels to go... He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

He focused back on Stelras again. "Let's say two months for planning purposes, and we'll see how it goes. We've already made arrangements with our adventurer employees and the rest to depart tomorrow morning. Keep us updated on any news about the Crown's investigations into our kidnapping. And that leaves just one other matter we want you to handle. Amber?"

Amber shifted uncomfortably in her chair and cleared her throat. "Right. So, we've already told you about Lord Merchant Darmelkon's request. We want you to negotiate with him for us. We believe you have a better understanding of the value of all the things we could ask him for than we do." She hesitated, then finally slumped a little and shyly looked down at her fidgeting hands.

Carlos gave her a sympathetic look, then leaned forward and continued for her. "We owe him a favor, and he's calling it in. The favor is that we're even willing to consider his request at all. Be firm about that. If he tries to insist on getting more for his favor, wish him luck with trying to find any other noble willing to cut a deal like this with him."

Stelras smirked. "I doubt he'll take issue with that. He knows damn well how touchy nobles are about sharing their secrets."

Carlos nodded. "Right. Secondly, before you even get started on negotiating payment for helping his son, we want restitution for the years of bullying Amber suffered from Kindar. Restitution appropriate for our new station as high nobles. If Darmelkon balks at that, or if he tries to excuse Kindar's behavior as reasonable or acceptable in any way, the deal is off. Don't warn him. If he doesn't respect us, or at least our rank, enough to accept immediately and without argument the need to make up for Kindar's past bullying, then we will not engage with him. And again: no warning. Don't tell him in advance how important this is. Just cut him off and tell him he wasted his favor by refusing to rectify his son's reprehensible behavior." Carlos paused and looked at Amber, then reached over and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Amber sniffled and nodded. Her voice trembled weakly when she spoke. "Yeah." She took a deep breath and sniffled again. "I'm okay. I just... never thought I'd get vindication like this." She got out a handkerchief, wiped off a couple tears, and blew her nose, then folded and tucked it away. She sat up and squared her shoulders. "Right. So, the favor got us to the negotiation table. To keep us there, Darmelkon must concede instantly about restitution, and that he will give it unconditionally. If he does, then negotiate an appropriate price for helping Kindar become a noble. You can tell him that we're confident enough about our ability to successfully do it that we're willing to stake the restitution on it, in addition to any advance payment you negotiate. From there, get the best terms you can for us. Whether he pays in money, items, other things, or a combination, we'll want to gain something important from the deal that we can't easily get for ourselves without him. You probably have better context for assessing that than we do."

Stelras nodded gravely. "Understood. If he so much as utters a single comment about how... let's say 'ordinary' Kindar's behavior toward you was, he's out. Any other terms or guidelines for this?"

Trinlen gave a jaunty salute. "You got it, sub-boss!"

Carlos gave him a quelling glare. "I have potentially important plans for this that depend on the dungeon not being too pissed off, Trinlen."

Trinlen sighed. "I'll behave, don't worry." He rolled his eyes. "Is my reputation really that bad?"

"You were literally introduced to me as 'a troublemaker.' So yeah, kind of yes."

Trinlen paused a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, fair point."

Lorvan gazed sternly at him for another second, then glanced at Ressara and turned to walk into the underground dirt tunnel. Carlos and Amber followed right behind, surrounded by transparent bubbles of force, with Trinlen and Ressara next. Haftel and Esmorana brought up the rear.

Carlos looked around constantly as they walked, wanting to not miss anything. The air felt damp, and the walls of the passageway were filled with innumerable roots, ranging from knotty wooden bundles thicker than Carlos's arm down to hair-fine tendrils thoroughly enmeshed in the hard-packed dirt. Wait, how am I seeing all of this? Lorvan hasn't made his armor glow, no one else has a light source either, and the entrance is too far back. He narrowed his eyes and searched for where the dim light was coming from. Finding it took only a few seconds. Oh, there's glowing moss everywhere. Why is there glowing moss?

He considered that question and decided that some details were beyond what he could reasonably deduce. "This glowing moss is harmless, right? It seems like an intentional light source. Does this dungeon want delvers, or something?"

"It does." Lorvan continued facing forward as he spoke over his shoulder. "If managed well, delvers can benefit a dungeon."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Huh. How does that work? Of the other dungeons I've seen, one was constantly drained to its last dregs by more delvers demanding things than it could handle, and the other was a terrifying killing machine known for slaughtering everyone who dared challenge it at an appropriate level."

"Killing everyone who dares enter is one way for a dungeon to gain more than it loses, but few dungeons can pull that off. I do not know the mechanics of how it works, but for a dungeon the key is to be sufficiently challenging." Lorvan glanced back at Carlos. "Dungeons that are too easy to defeat will, as you saw, be perpetually drained. They get weaker and even easier to beat, and that continues in a vicious cycle until the dungeon fails. Dungeons where delvers still win, but must put forth great effort to earn their rewards, however, tend to grow."

Lorvan stepped up to a thick curtain of moss-covered roots hanging down directly across the tunnel, blocking vision of what lay ahead beyond it. "Now, be alert. We have passed through the entrance. Beyond this veil is the dungeon proper, where its challenges and dangers begin."

He lifted the curtain, and Carlos stared in amazement at the vista beyond it.