Dungeons Are Bad Business

When Vee and Luna finished their lunch – which was good, if a bit too spicy for Vee's tastes – they headed to the bank. The city was properly bustling now, and Vee's heart fluttered in his chest every time Luna drew close to him to avoid somebody else passing on the street. There were even a few times, he thought, that she did so despite not strictly needing to.

"I'll go ahead and wait out here," the [Pumpkin Witch] said when they reached the massive stone building. "There's something tickling the back of my head and I want to see if it goes away on its own or if I'll need to go and take care of it."

Vee nodded and headed inside. The bank was ever so slightly chilly, and the marble floor looked like it had just been polished. For a moment, Vee felt as if he were back in Bardis, trailing along with his father or mother during one of their many errands. He shook his head and made his way over to an empty counter, where he requested three gold fleurs to be withdrawn from his account.

It took the [Receptionist] a few minutes to get the coins out and hand them over which was annoying, but Vee quite liked the small leather bag that she gave him. The coins were pleasantly heavy in his hand, and Vee was pleased to see that Luna was still waiting for him when he returned outside.

"I'll probably have to go soon but things are fine for right now," Luna said to Vee's questioning look. "It feels like the situation is getting worse, but they're not totally beyond saving yet."

"That sounds like a stressful thing to have to manage," Vee said.

Luna shrugged. "It was a little bit at first but I'm getting used to it."

She paused and the pumpkins in her eyes flashed. "Oh, crap. Okay, I've got to go now. Things just went pear-shaped."

"Darn. Well, take these before you go," Vee said, handing over the coins. "When will I see you again?"

Luna tucked them away into her bag with a nod. "Tomorrow or the day after. I'll bring Calico too, that way you can talk to her about setting up in Westown."

Then, leaning up faster than Vee expected her to, Luna gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And thank you for the fleurs. You really are the sweetest, Vee. I had a lot of fun today."

"I had fun too," Vee stammered, watching Luna jog off and returning her happy wave.

When she'd vanished, Reginald blew out a long sigh and flapped his brim into Vee's eyes. "Gawain's beard, you two are miserable to be around."

"I didn't realize you were such a [Curmudgeon]."

"I'm not. It's just that you both are so sickly sweet you could probably be turned into syrup."

Vee rolled his eyes and started walking. "Sure sounds like you are to me."

Someone bumped into him, which caused the [Dungeon Master] to miss the little click in the back of his mind that accompanied his last statement. Reginald made a little noise, but it too got lost in the roar of the crowd.

"What's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" Reginald asked once they were back in a place where they could actually hear each other talk.

"Let's head back to Westown for now and see how the interior cleaning is coming along," Vee said. "We'll figure something out after that."

Walking with a good deal of spring in his step, Vee headed back toward the dungeon.

Unfortunately, Vee's good mood was brought to an end by the sight of Walnut waiting for him just outside the Westown gate. Sacre's man looked surly, wild, and more than a bit disheveled. His bloodshot eyes snapped to Vee as the [Dungeon Master] approached, and he snarled like an animal when Vee drew close.

"There you are, shortstack. [City Guard] said you left earlier so I've been waiting here for you for almost two hours. Didja forget what day it is today?"

Vee blinked, taken aback by the venom in the man's voice. He hadn't forgotten what day it was; the fact that he was due to make his weekly payment to Sacre simply hadn't crossed his mind at all. There were simply too many other things competing for space in his brain just then.

"My apologies," Vee said, relaxing somewhat when Walnut's posture changed. The Expectation on his shoulders uncoiled, lifting its head up and baring its fangs. Apparently it didn't like being so close to Walnut.

"I'll go get the fleurs right now," Vee said, mentally willing the spirit to calm down. It settled back into its position but remained alert, sending Vee a constant mixture of unease and wariness through the bond they shared. "Do you want to come with me or wait here while I do so?"

"And risk you trying to run off on me? Whaddya think…that I was born yesterday? I'll be right beside you, of course."

With Walnut beside him, Vee walked through the open gate and headed toward Crestheart. He idly wondered how Alforde's training was going. Had he managed to figure out his new move, or was he still experimenting? Vee would go down and check on his friend once he finished dealing with Walnut.

The gangster looked from one side of the street to the other, taking in the sight of all the freshly cleared buildings. Leashed to one of the freshly installed trees, a few of the ghost slimes were bobbing up and down outside one's window. They looked happy, munching away on the mold that covered the upper corner.

"Wow, that's something you don't see every day. Place looks good, shortstack. You been working hard, eh?"

Vee shrugged, trying to quicken his pace without looking like that's what he was doing. The Expectation was increasingly agitated, and despite his best efforts to ignore it Vee was starting to feel the same way too. Briefly closing his eyes, Vee reached through his bond to Alforde and asked the armorsoul to come up to the dungeon's office as quickly as he could.

His friend sent an acknowledgement back, and Vee felt much better at the sight of the armorsoul's familiar bulk when he reached the office.

Walnut seemed significantly less happy. He glowered at Alforde and cracked the knuckles on his oversized hand menacingly.

Vee's [Right Hand Man] responded in kind, rolling his pauldrons and curling his hammer back and forth. The Expectation relished the unspoken confrontation between them, and its body started writhing back and forth across Vee's shoulders.

Navigating the mess of buttons on Dheart, Vee opened the dungeon's vault and turned to Walnut.

"I hope you don't take offense if I ask you to stand over there while I walk in and grab the fleurs," he said. "I'm a bit, uh, shy when it comes to letting outsiders see how much money we have in there."

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"Heh. Maybe you're learning after all."

Walnut made his way over to the far side of the room and lifted his oversized hand. He made a point of picking some dirt or other debris out of the spaces in the cracks along its shell, decidedly not looking at Alforde as he did so.

Taking the break for what it was, Vee went into the vault and started counting out fleurs. He summoned Cecil and checked to make sure that he was grabbing the right amount, then scooped them up with his coat and brought them out.

"Here you go," he said, walking over and giving the coins to Sacre's underling. "Sorry about the wait; it won't happen again. Is there anything else you need today?"

Walnut smirked. "Yeah, actually, there is. So, I heard through the grapevine that you've got a little deal with the boss. He thinks that you're going to take him up on his offer at the end of the month, but I ain't so sure. See, I look at those buildings you've got all cleaned up out there –" he pointed to the strip, "-- and something about them makes me think you've got a different idea."

Vee's heartbeat quickened, but he kept his face neutral. "Oh? And what do you think that would be?"

Walnut shrugged. "Dunno, but that's what's fun about this. A bit of truth for you, shortstack: I don't need to know your whole plan, I just need to know that you don't want the boss to know. That sound about right? Don't bother trying to look like you don't know what I'm talking about, either. I can tell I'm right on the mark. I've got a good eye for these things, ya know? So whaddya say?"

Vee blinked. "What do I say?"

"Yeah. I know something, and presumably you want me to keep my mouth shut about it. Who knows what the boss might do if he hears that you're hard at work clearing things out, eh? Now, the way I see it there's no reason you and I can't work out a little deal so that we're both happy. You give me…let's say two golds a week and I keep quiet. How's that sound? A nice win win, eh?"

Vee definitely didn't see it that way, but he also had enough Pragmatism to realize that spending a few gold fleurs to prevent what could all too easily become a massive headache. Sometimes you simply had to grit your teeth and take the bad deal offered to you, because it was the best you were going to get.

On the other hand though, he also knew that opening the door to making deals like this only invited more of them. If he went ahead and agreed to give Walnut the fleurs, the other man wouldn't hesitate to look for other opportunities to get more. That was how these types of people functioned, and Vee was in no rush to give Walnut or anybody else like him more leverage.

He shook his head. "I feel like we've had a conversation like this before, and my answer now is the same as it was then. I'm not giving you any fleurs. Although, now that you've brought up Mister Sacre, perhaps I really should bring this up with him. I can't imagine he'd be happy to hear that you're trying to squeeze a little extra out of me at his expense."

Something in Walnut seemed to snap. His eyes didn't flash or change color or anything so visibly obvious, but the set of his shoulders changed in a heartbeat and unfettered malice dominated his expression.

"Oh? Is that what you think, you little punk? How about this, then?"

Before Vee could so much as move, Walnut's oversized arm snapped toward his head. The [Dungeon Master] froze, suffering from a rapid onset of Panicked. Another click in the back of his skull echoed through Vee's thoughts and his eyes snapped toward Alforde – but alas, his best friend was too far away to react in time.

Even the armorsoul's speed had limits.

The Expectation though, had no such dilemma. With a snarl, it burst into motion like a snake and grabbed Walnut's hand in its teeth.

Walnut's eyes widened. "What the? What did you do to me, shortstack?"

He tried to push past the snake-dragon, but his efforts were all for naught. The Expectation didn't so much as budge, and when it bit down harder a tiny series of cracks spread up the shell that covered his forearm.

Vee was confused for a moment, then he realized that Walnut couldn't see the Expectation he could. To Walnut's eyes, his arm had simply hit some sort of invisible wall and gotten stuck there. That was…not necessarily a bad thing.

The [Ghost Maestro] shrugged. Cultivating a bit of mystery never hurt anybody, and clearly this type of thing might actually keep him from getting hurt.

Alforde was there a few seconds later. "I believe it's time for you to be leaving."

Walnut yanked his arm backwards and at Vee's silent command the Expectation released the [Brute] without any fuss.

Walnut glared at him, his eyes blazing and his mouth making furious shapes but no sounds. He looked from Vee to Alforde and back again, then shook his head and left.

"Be seeing you next week," he growled. Then, turning around, he left the office and stomped down the stairs.

Once it was quiet, Vee turned his attention to the Expectation. The snake dragon was looking up at him, the barest hint of a smile on its face.

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales:

Primary Class: Ghost Smith (Self), Level 10

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar's Crest), Level 25

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 8

Might: 18

Wit: 42

Faith: 25

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 16

Plotting: 22

Charisma: 18

Devious Mind: 30

Leadership: 21

Guts: 16

Intimidating Presence: 11

Citizenship: 25

Public Relations: 8

Determination: 7

Persuasiveness: 6

Bargaining: 6

Patience: 4

Competitive Spirit: 1

Pragmatism: 1

<3<3 Infatuation <3<3

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 6

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 20

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar's Crest), Level 18

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 13

Might: 62

Wit: 16

Faith: 27

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Endurance: 36

Intimidating Presence: 16

Heart of a Champion: 15

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 10

Vigilance: 11

Vanity: 2

Single-Mindedness: 1

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

#$&Q#$)(@#$#@#$%!@#$##%#%()@#$**@@##

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 43

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 21

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 14

Additional Class: Hyperthymesiac (Self), Level 5

Additional Class: Curmudgeon (Vee Vales), Level 1 (+1)

Might: 3

Wit: 38

Faith: 17

Ambition: 29

Greed: 24

Deceptiveness: 28

Manipulativeness: 42

$#&*!@!!: !!!

Loyalty: 48

Patience: 11

Irritability: 27

Remorsefulness: 17

Expository Prowess: 23

Pragmatism: #@$%@$

Hop@#!! @#$@!@#

@#$@%%^

#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 10