NOVEL NEXT Chapter 72 - Simon: The new normal
Sitting here, I cannot help but reminisce a little.
Quite a few things had changed since that encounter with necromantic cultists in the middle of nowhere near an unnamed tier one dungeon several months ago. For starters, the dungeon had advanced, more rapidly than anyone had anticipated, to tier two.
Furthermore, it was no longer in the middle of nowhere. With the establishment of an outpost by the cave entrance, a small fort sprang up rapidly and a fortified and enchanted street now connects it to Aresmouth. There is also a teleport pad, but using those is incredibly expensive. When its advancement to tier two was confirmed, the dungeon started officially being treated as a strategic resource for the Kingdom of Areios, its proximity to the training facilities in Aresmouth making it possibly one of a few new premier leveling spots for the kingdom's adventurers, military forces and city guards.
After the military and guards realized what exactly they were dealing with in this dungeon, however, most of them decided to send their trainees to some of the other recently discovered dungeons in the region, even if those were further away. The… unique nature of this particular dungeon does not lend itself well to military education.
That does not mean that no one was interested in the dungeon at all, and adventurers still flocked here despite the dungeon's… uniqueness. Much worse than the regular flocks of adventurer teams however, were those that were attracted to the dungeon exactly because of its oddities. By the droves, the bardic colleges ferried their attendees down here to delve into a dungeon where they could develop their artistic skills alongside their levels.
A deal was struck between the Adventurer’s Guild that oversees delving schedules and the Areiousan College of Arcane Artistry, in which groups of aspiring tier one bards were to be escorted through the first floor of the Dungeon by groups of tier two Adventurers, both for security reasons and for sake of efficiency in their delves, as the adventurer’s would still gain experience and loot for challenging the Boss of the first floor.
The final change to the dungeon was that it is no longer unnamed. Having been put on the worldmap, it fell to the discoverers to come up with a name for it. In other words, us. After much deliberation, we settled on “Stage of Forgotten Fables” in reference to the ancient feel evoked by the ruins around the dungeon proper.
Having been involved with the whole ordeal around the dungeons discovery, however, did award us some advantages that we were swift to take advantage of. For one, Larissa, the rogue with the survey team, has been put in charge of the outpost at large and ensured that we have a place to stay when we are around, as well as preferential treatment for time slots as much as she can allow that. Secondly, and that is the reason for our current return to this particular neck of the woods, we are treated like a tier two adventurer team and paired up with a group of bardic delvers for a joint stint into the depths. It’s a great opportunity to get an extra dungeon delve for an independent team, and since we are in the upper levels of tier one by now, we need all the opportunities to grow we can.
We arrived at the fort yesterday to meet this group of bards and delve today. But, as is so often the case, the bards partied too hard yesterday evening and are only gradually making their arrival to the fort's common room where my team awaits them. Even Kallion, notorious for his late awakening, is here before the first of the other group arrives, though he is still in a half-daze. At least he hides it well, pretending to peruse his spellbook.
Astrid and Allea are up and about, having a subdued conversation about our last quest. Other than the four of us, five other adventurers are in the common room, huddled together in a corner clearly planning a foray into the greenbelt from here.
As we wait, I ensure the mask sits properly. I barely even recognize I'm wearing it anymore while it is invisible, but it’s a habit I started picking up recently. It calms me, reminding myself it's still there.
As the first of the three young bards stumbles down the stairs, groaning in pain and holding her head as if it was going to burst, I can’t help but grin in anticipation of this delve. I wonder what new things that dungeon has in store for us.