The City and the Dungeon Read online

  We had a tiny bit of luck in mining raw crystals. Any professional crystal miner would not spend a second more than they could avoid on the 1st Floor. Any crystal close to the surface or larger than normal had been taken by someone else. But we had nothing to lose in spending time prying them out of the floor tiles and the walls. Or, rather, we spent Andy's time, as we watched her break the walls with her pick as if she knew the perfect spots to strike. The ceiling crystals, large as they are, help light the corridors. Deliberately taking them is illegal. Yet Xavier found a legally implausible number of crystal-shaped scars in the ceiling. Why anyone would violate the Law over a few crystals was beyond me.

  It was after Andy's pickaxe broke prying out a crystal that Elise groaned in barely leashed frustration. "This isn't working," she said. "We can't possibly survive off a haul like this. I don't know if a single one of us could."

  "Nope," Xavier said. "You don't need me to do that math. Particularly if our equipment is going to break every delve." Andy suddenly started to cry, and Elise glared at Xavier.

  "As I said, crystal farming has a thin margin," Mical said. "The Dungeon is hard on picks."

  "Listen," I said. "It's desperate times, right? Desperate measures."

  "What are you suggesting?" Mical asked.

  "Let's fight something," Luke said before I could.

  "Yeah, that," I said, a little miffed. "We don't have a choice. Unless any of you want to leave...?"

  No one did. Mical said. "Fine. It's do or die, anyway."

  "Let's not die!" Sampson said brightly.

  * * *

  The Goblin is one of the shallowest, least dangerous monsters in the entire Dungeon. There was but one in the room we chose. Yet as we stood on the tiles outside, its malignant, unmoving stare felt as if the creature was the green, gnarly-skinned herald of some incomprehensible evil. The blood covering its rags was only starting to dry.

  Behind it was a red chest, unadorned, but glinting as if made of ruby. It looked far more valuable than its contents could be, on an absolute scale. Yet, all of us knew that unless we tried for it, we would starve.

  "I don't know," I said anyway. "Do we really want to risk a chest trap?"

  "We do," Luke said.

  "Like I said, I have literally practiced disabling red chest traps for hours in a given day," Elise said with a grin. "Don't you worry. As long it's not magically locked, we can loot it."

  "We just have to kill the Goblin first," Xavier said. "And hope that chest is not the one in every seven that is magilocked."

  "Goblin first," I said.

  "I'll rush it, the rest of you get behind and try to hit it, or grab an arm, or something," Sampson said.

  "Dude, look at that knife," Xavier said. The knife in question was black, jagged, and stained with recent blood. The goblin held it in what I assumed was the proper stance—I hadn't a clue. "You'll get cut up."

  "Someone is going to get cut up. It might as well be me," Sampson said. "I've got higher Health than all of you."

  "Can't we just kite it?" Elise asked.

  "No, because we can't outrun it in a closed environment," Sampson confidently explained. "The moment one of us gets far enough, the thought-rules will make it go after the closest one of us instead. And there's no point in kiting unless we've got something ranged. Unless Elise is planning to throw her dagger at it?"

  "Sampson's right," I said. "We're going his way." When they looked at me for further instructions, I said. "Everyone with low Health, stand behind someone with high Health. Try to stay away unless you can see an opening."

  As tactical decisions went, it was hardly optimal. Looking back, I see that it was stupid to have anyone off the front line when they could do nothing behind it. At best, Mical should have been in the back line as our healer-equivalent, but with higher Health she was in front. Nonetheless, it was a decision, which is sometimes the best you can hope for.

  Everyone was looking at me. "On the count of three," I said with my steadiest breath. "One, two, three!" We charged.

  In two seconds it was over.

  Such a momentous event, I cannot remember it clearly, except how quick it was. In fact, all battles in the Dungeon are, but in my first I was shocked. There were no tactics, not even the ones we had outlined. The Goblin died so fast under our blows that there was no time for any further decisions. Only a mass of fists and blades, war cries, blood, its knife, and it was dead.

  The experience of first Experience is simply unrepeatable. I could see how it could be an addiction, driving delvers to deeper levels, or even to slaying, for more and more again. Water rushed through me, and the water was power.

  All of us were stunned except for Andy, who seemed perplexed. "Wow," Sampson said. "Ow!"

  Mical grabbed him by the arm, which bled a frightening amount. "Hold still," she said calmly and took out a herb-soaked bandage to wrap it around. Sampson winced, but then appeared relieved. "Alex, you've got a nasty cut on your face. You hold still, too." I tried, but she ended up grabbing my face as I squirmed.

  "Black gear," Elise said, and took out the Identifier. The black knife, cap and boots she waved it over were now free of blood. In fact, the blood around was seeping into the floor—the Goblin's body was gone altogether. "It's not cursed. Anyone want to try it?"

  "Me!" Sampson said, and took the knife in his good arm. He made a few cuts in the air. "Eh, not my style. Anyone?"

  Elise took it. "I can throw this and use my other."

  "How about we open the chest before something else attacks us?" I asked.

  "Let's," Luke said.

  By silent agreement, we gathered around the chest. "Back, all of you!" Elise said. "It could explode."

  It's nerve-racking to watch someone untrap a chest—especially someone who had no skillstone for it. But I dared not say a word and break her concentration. I couldn't even tell how she was doing it—much less if it was going well.

  She scowled, then frowned, then smiled.

  "Done," she said, and lifted the lid. "Wasn't trapped after all."

  I have seen far greater chests, and now I would not even take the time to loot a red chest. I still remember what we saw within as wealth incomprehensible. It was full to the brim with red crystals. As Elise carefully looted it, she passed out gear: a rapier, a pickaxe, a mirror, a helmet, a pair of boots, a teardrop-shaped flask with some viscous green fluid within. "The potion's the big one," she said. "It could be a stat increase. My Identifier can't tell."

  Andy took the pickaxe. I saw her whole body relax, as if everything in the world would be perfect now that she could dig again.

  "We could live off this for... a while." Xavier said.

  "Hey!" From behind, a distinctly human shout of anger.

  To the uninitiated, it would seem that we had discovered the Dungeon was far less dangerous than it appeared—if a poorly equipped party of seven could rush a Goblin with little harm, and great reward. The truth was that it was simply the rear guard, the most injured, weakest monster selected by the group's thought-rules to stay behind to sentry the chest. We had killed it so easily because it was already weakened—the blood covering it had been its own, I believe.

  Those who had fought the whole group of Goblins, doubtlessly including a Goblin Chief and maybe a Goblin Shaman, had retreated in the battle. When that party returned...

  They found us.

  "That's OUR chest!"

  Chapter Five:

  The Division

  There were eight of them, armed and angry. Their auras were red tinted with orange—between Red and Red+, I know in retrospect. I knew even then that all of them were higher levels than us.

  I didn't know what to say, so they spoke first. "What the Dungeon are you doing?" a Warrior asked. "That's our chest!"

  "What do you mean?" I asked, attempting most futilely to remain calm.

  "We killed the Goblins from here," their Sorcerer said. "What are you doing? Go away!"

  "It's our treasure, by the La
w," Elise said. "It doesn't matter if you took on the monsters. You left the area."

  "You didn't earn it," their Rogue, one of their more tinted delvers, said. "We fought those monsters."

  "So?" Elise said. "The Law doesn't have to be fair. It's still the Law."

  "We could take you all," the Warrior said. By the looks the others gave him, he had to be their leader. "Without even trying."

  "I'm sure you could," I said. "I'm also sure the Law would recognize it as an unprovoked attack on a Lawful party."

  "Unprovoked?" the Rogue snarled, but their leader waved him silent.

  I continued, "Will the Court think so? Even if you would win, I think you'll find the cost of reviving all of us just to have the trial would be a lot more than one red chest."

  "By several orders of magnitude," Xavier said. "By the way, you'll be pulled directly into Chaotic by killing us. Good luck getting back to the City to surrender without being crushed by some other party—or being instakilled by the Elevatarch."

  "Shut up," their leader said. "You've made your point. We'll split it half."

  I considered the matter—much easier looking back to think what I ought to have done. We really did have a right to the whole treasure and could have just walked away with it. Maybe they would have blocked our way, licitly complaining we had no right to pass through. Or we could have just sat there and waited them out—they would have to move first. Or Andy could have tunneled through the wall with the pickaxe—the best decision, probably. But I write now in peace. Yet there in the Dungeon I had been close to death, still in danger of it. I couldn't answer, couldn't move think, couldn't—

  "Seventy-five for us, twenty-five for you," Elise said.

  "Seventy for you, but we pick from the equipment," their leader said.

  "Eighty, but you pick from the equipment," Elise said.

  "No," their leader said. "Seventy."

  "We'll take the seventy," I said hastily. Elise shot me an angry look, but I ignored her. "Deal?"

  "Deal. You know how to do a multi-party split?"

  "Um..."

  "We form a temporary superparty and then divide. Straight?"

  "Sure," I said.

  I felt a kind of tap on my heart and realized it was their leader's request. I accepted, and then there were two of us us-es, as if my whole self now extended to them. I could sense that they had lost much health in their last fight—no wonder they were more than irritated.

  Straight division is the simplest way to divide loot. Everyone gets an equal share of the crystal (or in our case, unequal) then take turns picking from the gear.

  "Go first," their leader said.

  "Sure," I said. "We'll take the potion."

  "We'll take the rapier—No, the sandals."

  "Rapier," I said.

  "Helmet."

  "Pickaxe."

  "Mirror."

  "So, um, the knife—"

  "Take the black gear," the leader said. "Just take it. It's nothing to us."

  "Thanks," I said.

  "No problem." He stretched his arms behind his back. If he was still angry at us, it was so well hidden that no one could have known. "We're done." A snap and the superparty dissolved. They took their share and walked out.

  "Let's go for another chest," Luke said.

  "Are you crazy?" I asked. "Sampson is already injured."

  "We already have more Experience and equipment," Luke said.

  "And Sampson is still injured," Mical said. "I don't want him moving it if at all possible."

  "How about we have this argument after we get outside?" Elise asked. "Y'know, before another group of monsters comes by and blocks the door?"

  * * *

  We ran for the Elevator, pausing only to check our map. Yet the Dungeon already seemed a little safer, even though I was deathly afraid of another monster or party. But we already had had wild success, no use endangering our lives over grasping for a single crystal more.

  "I still think—" Luke began as we came to the Elevator.

  "Shut up," Elise said. She pressed the door button, and we all watched the corridor for anyone or anything after us.

  After what I felt was an excessively long time, with Elise and Luke glaring at each other, the door opened. We hurried inside.

  "You're back?" the Elevatarch asked us. "I thought you were dead by now."

  "Of course not," I said. "Thanks for the tip about the blue things."

  "I'm telling you, it's an untrustworthy color. I don't even eat blue crystal if I can help it." Whether or not the Elevatarch was joking, he asked, "Back up?"

  "Yep," I said.

  A light shone from his staff, and with a yank I knew we were back in the City.

  "Hey!" Xavier said. "It didn't take that long to go down!"

  "Well, you know, sometimes it's better to take things easy," the Elevatarch said. "Stop and smell the roses, because roses are not BLUE. Go on, enjoy your day!"

  The moment we were outside, Xavier asked, "Crazy old guy, or quietly helping new delvers out?"

  "Or both?" I suggested.

  * * *

  The Public Entrance has many division rooms, simply empty but wide rooms where a party can lock themselves inside until they agree. Wards on the walls call the City Guard if their disagreement becomes violent. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon.

  "I think he found a way to get us," Elise said, and her face had an unsurprised scowl, as if this suffering was the normal.

  "Who, the leader dude?" I asked. I realized we had never asked each other's name.

  "Let me show you," Elise said and tried to pick up the rapier. It fell right out of her hands. "We don't have the stats to equip any of this. Or we do, but not the class. 'Cept the pickaxe, at least."

  "Come to think of it, their mage was eying us weirdly," Xavier said. "They might have been using some kind of Identify Delver on us."

  "Or we're just low-level anyway," I said. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. We got out alive with loot which is a lot better than many parties can say. We'll prepare for next time. Anyway, none of it's soulbound, so we can just sell it."

  "What of it?" Luke asked.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "We have to do our own division."

  "Oh, yeah," I said. "Let's do that. I suggest a simple, straight split."

  "Simple or straight?" Mical asked. "They're technically different."

  "He means straight," Elise said. "That's what's in the contract."

  "Straight it is," I said. I set out the crystal. We had exactly six hundred red, enough to evenly divide among us and the party's own account without rounding. A sign of luck among delvers, I knew. I also knew that, by tradition, the item draft started to the leader's left. But we had never organized the party that well. "Um, Sampson? How about you start?"

  "The boots," he said. "I'm sure I'll have the class eventually."

  "The rapier," Elise said.

  "I wanted that," Luke said.

  "So?" Elise said. "It's not your turn. That's how it works."

  "I wanted that," Luke repeated.

  "For all of your information," Mical said, "we don't have to follow what's written in the contract as long as all of us agree. Octavius vs. Jackson."

  "I disagree," Elise said. "If you didn't want this kind of division, you shouldn't have signed the contract."

  "You shouldn't have accepted me if you were going to do this," Luke said.

  "That doesn't even make sense," I said.

  "I can use the rapier just as well as you can, which is not at all yet," Elise said. "Seriously—"

  "Enough," Luke said. "I'm done." He took his crystal and without another glance at us left through the door. A moment later, I felt the metaphysical snap of him leaving the party.

  "That was unpleasant," Xavier said.

  "Unfortunately," I said. The rejection was not just personal, but... Ugh. It was, like I said, metaphysical. "Listen, let's just get back on track."

  "How
about this," Mical said. "Sell everything on principle, except the pickaxe which Andy can use. No more disagreement."