Again – dungeon ethics are what you make of them. Just remember, whatever you think about dungeons, the memories are real and you’ve got to live with them.
-
I eventually found a seat on a rock near the other recruits, mulling over what Mason had said. Azure. I rolled the name around on my tongue silently and decided I liked it. I shuddered at the idea that I might have gotten a stupid nickname like that. No, I was happy with Azure, especially since I could still just be Az for short.
We were all pretty quiet, contemplating what had just happened in the dungeon. I would have expected us to be elated, but we’d all been injured and come close to dying in there. My body felt fine after Vale’s healing, but mentally I felt strange, expecting to feel the aches and pains of every minor wound I’d taken in there every time I moved. My leg in particular, the one that had been injured by the orc… I kept moving it gingerly like it was going to hurt, only to be surprised when it didn’t.
Around us, the older Delvers and a number of soldiers kept up patrols around a hundred-yard perimeter, easily dealing with any monsters that dared approach. There was at least one Lightning Mage out there, as I saw several bolts strike down from the sky with thunderous booms. It was nice to know my gun wasn’t the only loud thing around for once.
The second biggest source of noise, other than the occasional scream of a wounded monster, was the constant bickering between Block and Hassan. Of course, we pretty much only heard Block’s side of it, since if Hassan was replying he was keeping his voice low. After Mason walked out in that direction they seemed to quiet down.
I finally recalled that I’d skipped some notifications after escaping the dungeon and asked PAST to show them to me.
Quest Update: Complete the dungeonStolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
Quest Status: Failed
Optional Objective – Kill the Elder Treant: Failed
Optional Objective – Defeat the Metal Golem: Succeeded
Optional Objective – Eliminate all monsters: Failed
I had felt a small rush of Essence, but it still didn’t put me over the edge to Level 5. PAST did tell me, however, that I’d earned an item. It turned out to be an armor mod, which I happily tucked away into my Inventory. Technically, I still owed Elin a Level 3 mod – assuming Mason let us keep them. After the shit she pulled, part of me wanted to break the deal, but the self-repair mod was pretty unexciting. It had fixed up the crack in my chestplate, eventually. Still, I would be happy to replace it with whatever my new mod was.
It wasn’t too long after that when the sun started to brighten the horizon. I estimated we’d been in the dungeon for just under five hours, since we’d gone in a little after midnight. Mason and the other Delvers gathered around us and Mason invited us back to his Squad. The Army kept a polite distance, but Mason used the Comms anyway so we could have a private conversation. After making sure we were all in good shape and encouraging us to eat some rations, he got down to business.
Everyone was now looking at me, which was a bit uncomfortable. I reassured myself that we’d not only kept the dungeon stable long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, we’d all made it back pretty much in one piece.
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The first retelling went by quicker than I expected – it really helped that everyone listened to Mason’s instructions and didn’t interrupt me. There were a few points that drew obvious interest from the senior Delvers – the elder treant, the metal golem, the Spell gem, and Elin’s Level 3 Skill choice. The encounter with the dwarven children got us sympathetic looks from Vale, Block, and surprisingly Mason.
Then we started the second round, and it did go so quickly. The good news was that no one seemed too upset by any of the decisions I’d made in the dungeon. The bad news was that they expected me to be able to explain why I’d made each and every one of them, even the ones that seemed obvious to me. We were only at the fight with the orc Chieftain when the portal flared a bright white for a moment.
The Squad of Tier 1s that had gone in appeared in unison and the portal vanished into nothing behind them. They came out apparently uninjured, which wasn't surprising because they were so many Levels above the dungeon. Still, Vale and the Army Healer checked them over quickly. Then the entire group moved to the area nearby where we’d been camping when Hassan first spotted the dungeon.
“We’ll be setting up camp here until tomorrow morning,” Mason announced once we’d arrived. Looking at us, he explained, “the Tier 1s here busted their asses just to get here last night. The emergency has been dealt with, so we’ll make sure everyone gets some rest tonight, then make the march to East Bank tomorrow.”
Captain Rivers took charge of her troops as well as a group of five Tier 1s wearing different uniforms – Guards from East Bank that had joined the expedition. Mason gathered up the rest of us and gave us one of his toothy smiles.
We finally made it through the debrief an hour later. I received the most praise for my plan to defeat the metal golem, and the most criticism for not sending anyone, namely Raylan, to explore the narrow tunnel further before turning around. Apparently, since the golem was named a Bonus Objective, we likely could have avoided fighting it.
Hassan’s criticism was very dry and objective, which I appreciated. Block, on the other hand, didn’t say much, but when he did it was usually a joke at someone’s expense. He’d found the entire exploding chest incident quite funny, the jerk. The part about Elin’s Skill choice was put off for a private discussion with her, Mason, and Vale. Finally, Mason took charge to wrap things up.
That got some happy, if tired, smiles from the group. He continued,
Everyone grinned at that and thanked Mason for his generosity. The big man seemed genuinely touched by our gratitude – for at least thirty seconds or so, anyway. The next thing he had us do was remove all of the loot from our Inventories and give it to him so we’d have room for our packs again. I finally got my first Level in Inventory after pulling everything out.
She immediately jumped up in protest, but one look at Mason’s face had her sitting back down again.
He returned his serious – and seriously menacing – look to Elin and she swallowed and nodded.
We all exchanged resigned looks. Raylan finally gave the obvious reply.
I don’t know why he bothered even saying it as a question. Mason just nodded with a slight grin.
< training,> he emphasized.