I awoke slowly to sunlight streaming through the window. As I blinked into consciousness, I remembered the strange thing about that; we were underground. Still, it was nice.
This morning was the first time I'd woken up in an actual bed since the House of Healing. Before that, I was either camping in the woods, trying to sleep over the jolting of the merchant cart I'd caught a ride with, or some farmer's hayloft.
If there was one thing I had learned about myself since then, it's that I really, really like pillows.
I rolled over in my bed, pulling my blanket up over my head to block out the light and yawning loudly. "What time is it?"
I heard shuffling and the groaning of a wooden bedframe. "Well, Hask hasn't come to bust down the door yet, so probably still pretty early."
"Does he make a habit of that?"
"I mean, he gives us a grace period to be up on time."
"How long is that?"
"About two minutes."
As if directly on cue, a thundering knock erupted from the other side of the door, accompanied by the booming voice of Foreman Hask. "Lithwell! Callister! Up and at 'em. You've got ten minutes to get to the mess hall for breakfast, or it's fifty pushups!"
I said nothing aloud, but I guessed fifty pushups wouldn't be so bad. But apparently Hask was a mind reader: "For every minute you're late!"
I snapped straight up in bed. "Yes sir, Foreman Hask!"
As his footsteps faded down the hallway outside, I climbed out of bed and stretched.
Kael yawned, stretching. "He isn't kidding. Your jumpsuit's in your closet."
I padded over to the wooden chifforobe and swung open the doors. As promised, on the hanging rod dangled a grey jumpsuit, identical to what I'd seen on others previously. On the shoe rack was a sturdy pair of black boots. In the drawers beneath were socks and various undergarments.
Everything was perfectly cleaned and pressed. Ducking behind the changing partition, I was pleased to discover the clothes were perfectly tailored for me. "Wow. Comfy."
As I reemerged into the room, Kael, now dressed identically to me, said matter-of-factly, "The Guild takes comfort more seriously than you might think. If you don't die on your first day, you'll get more jumpsuits. Some extra casual clothes after your first week."
We grabbed our gear packs and headed out of the room. I had to somewhat haphazardly stuff my gear into the bag, as I'd forgotten to do it the night before. I could fix it later.
"What about 'twig 'n' berries?'"
Kael's question caught me off guard. "Sorry?"
"To refer to our genitals."
I paused. "I thought you were kidding."
"I never kid about technical designations."
I had to stop again before responding. "Let me think on that one. Not sure it feels right."
"Fair enough."
It was less crowded in the mess hall than yesterday, with only a scattering of people seated in their little groups, but I could see that more people like us were shuffling in, bleary-eyed and sleepy.
We found Tessa and Alara sitting at the same table as yesterday with Hask. Tessa's hair was a mess and her jumpsuit a little rumpled, but the smile on her face was as bright and put-together as usual.
Alara was pristine and meticulously groomed, her blonde hair carefully braided and uniform, immaculately pressed. Her expression of utter disdain was also perfectly in place.
I smirked when I saw that Tessa already had three plates in front of her, all of them half full of pastries, eggs, sausage, and other morning fare.
Alara's meal was placed in a sectioned tray, and it was clear she was working on one food at a time.
Once again, I caught myself wondering why I was bothering to notice such things.
Hask's greeting to us bore a tone of severity. "Lithwell. Callister. You're forty-five seconds late. Lucky for you, that's not a minute, so you escape pushups…this time."
I had no response. Surely he didn't keep such a meticulous track of time?
"Grab yourself some coffee and breakfast from Ojola. You have twenty minutes."
I hadn't heard that name before. "Ojola?"
Hask gestured to the food counter: the big orc lady from yesterday gave a big toothy grin — or maybe just a grin, given the tusks — and waved.
I gave a quick salute to Hask before shuffling off.
Ojola greeted me brightly. "Mornin', green horn. What'll it be? We got bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, beans and pastries out the wazoo."
I forced myself to maintain a deadpan expression. "Do pastries normally come out of the wazoo?"
Ojola's grin was infectious. "The best ones do."
"In that case, I believe I would like exactly one mountain of breakfast food, please."
She winked. "Good boy. You need your energy. One mountain coming up."
My face felt warm as she loaded up my plate with everything, plus a second plate with a couple of flaky baked goods.
While the plate more closely resembled a hillock than a mountain, we both seemed to agree that I had enough food, and we were right.
I was directed to a counter off to the side, where there were carafes of coffee, pitchers of juice, and milk. They all seemed to be magically enchanted to keep an appropriate temperature. A nice touch, I thought.
Once my meal had been acquired, I returned to my group at our table and sat, tucking in immediately, knowing that my time spent with this glorious banquet was short.
Hask wasted no time. "So. Formal briefing time. Normally I'd drag you lot into my office, as usual, but today's job is gonna take a little longer with a rookie on the team, so I want to get a move on."
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
A mouthful of bacon and potatoes prevented me from responding verbally, but I gave a muffled sound of understanding.
"We're heading to the Ebon Maw dungeon today."
There was a heavy pause that I found odd. I didn't know what "Ebon Maw" meant, but the others seemed to. Tessa appeared downright frightened, Kael looked clammed up entirely, and even Alara seemed to drop her cantankerous persona for just a moment to seem concerned.
I finally broke the silence. "The Ebon Maw?"
Hask grunted in confirmation. "Class Two. Higher than what we're used to. You'll learn on the fly, Callister."
There was another silence before Tessa spoke up. "Isn't the Ebon Maw the last dungeon to have a spontaneous monster breach?"
Kael added on. "And hasn't it been closed off with a barrier ever since?"
Hask grunted assent. "Both true. Empire wants to reopen it. Only source of elginarium — military needs it for their flying ships. Last breach was ten years ago. Signatures have been stable."
This information did not seem to make any of them relax.
"So…if we're going to the Ebon Maw today…does that mean an Adventuring party has already cleared it out?"
Hask took a long sip of his black coffee, which I suddenly noticed was all he had in front of him; while all the others, myself included, were half hidden behind piles of sausage, potatoes and pastries, the Foreman sat with a lonely, steaming cup in his hand. I wondered why? Surely he needed energy for the day? I figured it wasn't worth questioning. I realized Hask was speaking already and I had completely zoned out.
"...cleared out by the time we arrive. Can't leave a cleared dungeon sitting."
I happened to glance in Alara's direction, and I noticed that her face was angry again, but differently: her eyes held a slow simmering fury that she seemed to be trying very hard to keep in check; her fists were clenched tight, and…were those tears welling in her eyes?
It looked like I was the only one who noticed. She caught my eye and immediately sneered at me, shoving her raw emotion underneath a mask of cool indifference with practiced ease.
"So, if it's a mid-rank dungeon, that means we've acquired the necessary permits and are now considered a Rank B custodial group?"
It took me a second to realize that those words had come from Alara. I was stunned: I hadn't heard her speak yet. Her voice was careful and precise, and considerably easier to listen to than the words she was actually saying. Slightly bassy. It suited her. I liked it, despite myself.
Hask affirmed her question. "Provisional Rank B license. Gets ratified once the job's verified."
All of that went over my head, but I was sure it would make sense eventually. I was more focused on Alara: her words, while curt and business-like, had drawn my attention in a way I couldn't quite explain.
Having seen an actual emotion from her, her now rigid demeanour seemed even more forced. A front built of repression. I felt a swell of sadness for her in my stomach.
Why?
My reverie was cut short as I heard Hask's voice. "Callister. You have something you need to tell the group?"
I shook my head. "Sorry, Foreman. No."
"Good, that means you were listening, right? Repeat what I just said."
I felt my face get hot. "I'm sorry, sir. I should've been paying more attention."
Hask grunted. "Correct. I was saying that we're gonna go slow. Lithwell's on trap duty, Tessa's got rogue mana clean up, Alara — restoration and healing. There's probably gonna be injuries."
He punctuated this last sentence with a meaningful look at Alara, who straightened her jumpsuit and stood straight. "Understood, sir."
The foreman looked back at me. "Callister. You're my shadow today. Front line — that's your position eventually. You and I handle the bulk of the physical work."
That was good to know. But he continued. "We're also first line of defense if something's still alive in there. Follow my instructions exactly. Got it?"
I gave a salute. "Yes, sir!"
He stood from the table. "Good. Foyer. Ten Minutes. Dismissed."
Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel in a disciplined manner and strode from the hall.
Kael exhaled loudly. "Boy, he's intense before a job."
Tessa toyed with her red hair, apparently feeling the same. "He gave us ten extra minutes to eat, though. He's clearly in a good mood."
"That's good."
I nodded but didn't have anything to add, so I opted to continue stuffing my face with renewed urgency. I had no idea what was coming next, but I knew I didn't want to face it without finishing the giant cheese danish before me.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
According to Hask, the Ebon Maw was about a two-hour walk outside of Moorhaven, in the Ebon Mountains, which were the dungeon's namesake.
With supply packs and our Janitorial gear in hand, we left the Guild Hall and ventured into Moorhaven proper. The city was just starting to awaken: despite the bright magical sunlight in the Hall, the sky itself was just beginning to lighten. The sun was peeking over the horizon and made the clouds in the sky look beautiful.
The city rose up below us as we descended the road leading down the cliffs on Moorhaven's southern side. The government had decided that because Janitors had the most important job in the Empire, they deserved a thirty-minute walk to get to a decent pub. I wondered where this disdain for janitors came from; it had to be more complicated than what I was told.
We were all pretty full from breakfast, and none of us felt like talking much. We were content to shuffle down the cliffs and into the city in silence. Our first destination was the Main Gate at the exact opposite side of the city.
We entered what I was told was the Business District, and it was starting to fill up with citizenry. I looked around, realizing I hadn't paid too much attention to the city on my first trek through.
It really became apparent that this city, and apparently the whole world, really did base its existence on dungeons: I saw everything from Loot Appraisal shops, to monster part dealers and alchemists, to small professional buildings advertising something called "Respawn Insurance." Sounded important.
Kael pointed over to one of the appraisal shops. "The Assay House used to be a great place to sell off treasure."
I cocked my head. "Used to be?"
Kael shrugged. "They got purchased by Cairn and Coffer and were just converted to another one of their shops. It's boring now. Bureaucratic. And they're so concerned with profit that they offer peanuts for great items." His voice carried a hint of distaste. "The only reason they do business at all is that they buy up all their competition."
Hask grumbled an assent. "Much better off going to What the Delve Dragged In. New shop. Owned by a real nice gnome family. Generous offers too."
The idea of this strange economy - was it strange? I didn't know anything else - had me intrigued. "Where does the Merchant's Guild fit into all of this?"
Hask snorted. "The Merchants would have you believe that they only want the strongest economy possible for the Empire, and encourage all fair trade, but the truth is that half the shops and businesses in the city are in their pocket. And that's just what's on the books."
Kael added on. "They also have their hands in half the Thieves Guild's affairs…"
Something in my brain seemed to clamor for attention suddenly. I glanced at Kael curiously. "There's a Thieves Guild?"
"Not officially, no. They're technically called the Silk Runners, but they're something of an open secret in Moorhaven, and they're considered an unofficial guild. Not that anyone with any power would acknowledge that."
All the serious talk seemed to either be boring or bothering Tessa, who bounced off toward a shop with a sign depicting a bubbling cauldron over the door. "Look! Boil and Bubble! They have such good alchemy supplies! Can we go? Real quick, I promise. I really need more Jinx-Away for my kit!"
Kael laughed and shook his head. "Last time you said that, we spent an hour looking at sparkly pink potions."
Tessa pouted. "They were pretty! And also we didn't just look at those! There were all kinds of cool things."
"All of them pink. All of them sparkling."
I could see Tessa's face getting red as she huffed.
"Maybe you could take me when we finish the dungeon?" I said.
Her expression immediately shifted from bratty to exuberant. "Really?!?!"
I gave her a thumbs up, and she responded with a squeal of excitement and rejoined us. Hask made a noise that sounded vaguely like approval but said nothing.
We continued walking past taverns with names like "The Stuck Gate" and the "Hollow Crown"; there were monster part shops called "Fang, Claw & Otherwise" and "The Curious Carcass."
I was particularly amused by a shady-looking moneylender called "Debtor's Comfort." It was delightfully sarcastic. I happened to glance at Hask as we passed it. Something in his posture changed almost imperceptibly — a slight straightening, eyes forward, pace not quite quickening but not slowing either. The practiced non-reaction of a man with nothing to hide and several reasons to hide it.
I said nothing. Neither did he.