"On the right." Astrid grunted as she weathered another series of blows from the brawler on her left. Trusting in her Skill and equipment, she swung to the right, hoping to push the brawler there back and away from Skandr. Her shield, already abused, its face splintering after weeks of weathering arrows, fists, and jaws, held strong. She wanted to repair or even replace the thing, but there wasn't money for it. Instead, she'd continued patching it with pitch and tar, spreading more material on the face of the gift from her parents. It was effective if ugly work, but ugly was unimportant if it kept her alive.
"Five more seconds until second round." Skandr replied. Muti darted in from dealing with the two rangers and stabbed deep into the gnoll closest to Skandr. The beast fell, dead, and the Rogue dodged back as the remnants looked to engage with her. Astrid pushed off the three gnolls attacking her personally and got just as much space as she could muster. The four gnolls gathered together, seemingly thinking about if they wanted to continue to engage with the party. They didn't want to, but it was too late. Two rangers and one brawler were dead and Skandr's spell was ready.
He shouted and Skandr's curtain of lightning fell from above onto the four surviving gnolls. With the attack, they all slowed, their movements jerky. Over the past several weeks, Astrid and Muti had accustomed themselves to the way this area of effect spell worked, and as soon as lightning wasn't actively falling on the pack of gnolls, the two of them rushed forward to finish the fight. Instead of the nearly full paralysis that his Lightning Bolt Skill inflicted, this new spell he'd come up with focused more on a general slowing debut that also impacted the enemies' coordination.
Now that their enemies were slowed, Astrid and Muti both dealt killing blows with remarkable efficiency, and before the lightning's debilitating effects faded, the other four kill notifications appeared.
Gnoll Brawler slain. 19 Experience gained, split among party.
Gnoll Brawler slain. 17 Experience gained, split among party.
Gnoll Brawler slain. 19 Experience gained, split among party.
Gnoll Brawler slain. 19 Experience gained, split among party.
Nearly all of them were level 8s. Astrid rolled her shoulders as she checked her shield. Nothing too bad there, and she wouldn't need to dive deeper into the dwindling repair supplies she'd purchased before. With this experience, she couldn't help but check her Status.
Status
Name: Astrid
Class: Warrior (Bronze)
Total Level: 7 (6,147/11,000)
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
43 (+1)
+5
Alacrity
28 [+5]
+3
Fortitude
44 (+1)
+5
Magical Potency
12
+1
Self-Mastery
13
+1
Acumen
13
+1
Astrid rolled her shoulders as she leaned down to begin harvesting from the monsters. The past weeks had been successful, though she still burned with rage from the unknown poisoner and lurer for the gnolls. What was the goal, merely to kill them? But that didn't seem to make sense! If someone was strong enough to curse them or slip an aggro Skill in without Muti realizing it, they could have killed the party outright!
Her mind flashed back to the conversation with Klara after she'd administered the potion to Skandr.
"I'll be straightforward with you. Someone is trying to kill at least two of you. Maybe all three. And I'm not sure who or why. But here's what we're going to have to do."
"So he was poisoned, something deadly?"
Klara wobbled her head back and forth. "I'm not sure. However, my impression was more that it was an overdose of a less deadly potion instead of a direct attempt at murder. I might be wrong, but I trust my intuition. It could be because he hadn't eaten much that day? Maybe he was double dosed with what the original plan was, who knows. I'm not an Assassin, Apothecary, or anything like them. Short answer, he was in a bad state."
"But the gnolls, that was a murder attempt?"
"Absolutely. There aren't many ways to organize something like that, and when I checked it out, there was no sign of anything. No potions spread, no heavy footprints from a frontliner, no magical signature left behind from a spell or talisman or formation. It really just… doesn't make any sense that this was done by anything less than a Steel or even Mithril. I doubt they are even as high in Steel as I am, though, for reasons I'll explain in a moment"
"Then why did they not slaughter us where we stood?" Muti asked. "This is too complicated for killing. If one deserves death in your eyes, you need only kill them. Why do your people do this?"
"The laws about honor, hatred, and revenge are very different in the Bulwark." Klara waved off the question. "Where there would be no retribution among the Hordes, there would be immense consequences were an individual to do as you suggest and be found guilty of committing the crime. It doesn't matter in this case, but it does stand to reason that a Steel or Mithril tiered person could have killed all three of you and disposed of the corpses in a way that would evade scrutiny. After all, you're known to be competent but progressing quickly, so it could be reasoned that you overstretched yourselves and delved deeper, only to be killed. It's unlikely, but possible."
Astrid squinted. "But why did they not do that? Maybe they only want some of us dead? But this would just end up killing us all!"
"If you didn't escape, yes. If you tried to run, though, it's pretty possible that you two could have escaped. Then, there's the possibility they were lurking nearby and wanted to save you in your darkest moment. Any Class with an Iron tier Stealth-adjacent Skill could have done that. Make good friends with you? Indebt you to them? With no idea what the intended result and means were, there's no reason for us to try to determine what could have been their motive."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Astrid felt her voice break on the last word. "Just… take this?"
"Here's what I think. Disregarding motive, the most dangerous person who is doing this is maybe high tier Steel. They're cautious of me. They want at least one of you alive and don't want their target to have animosity towards them. They want you to be unable to delve the way that you are currently, and then, when you're desperate, to offer their help. If they could, they would coerce you through force. However, killing three delvers inside the Dungeon is vastly different from kidnapping one outside of it. I say this isn't Mithril because, if they were, they could circumvent me and my wards."
"But still, what do we do?" Astrid demanded again.
"Delve. Get stronger. Or quit."
Silence settled over the room as the words were spoken. Klara maintained eye contact with Astrid.
"Explain." Astrid asked through ground teeth.
"The higher level you are, the stronger, more dangerous, and less of an easy mark you make. If there's a Steel tier here, it won't be worth it for them to stick around for too long, because keeping themselves hidden from me is painful and expensive. It will become more so now that I know they're here. They cannot stay here forever, so they might become desperate or simply give up. Your choices are to delve, and get stronger, or to quit delving. I'm sure that their interest in you was spiked by your continuous outstanding performance, that someone reported it to Ginnastadt. If you refuse to bear fruit, then they won't want you."
"I'm not giving in because some prig thinks he can own me!" Astrid hissed.
"Then don't." Klara shrugged. "Delve, hunt, and grow."
Muti and Astrid's eyes met. They both nodded as they turned their attention to their companion. His face was no longer crumpled in suffering, though sweat still dotted his brow, and Astrid spoke.
"I don't think we can delve even half as well as we do now while missing any one of our party members. We need Skandr's approval before we make any decision, because delving is a personal decision."
"I… will delve." Skandr's voice cut through the quiet after Astrid's declaration.
She turned to ask him a question, but his eyes fluttered as he fought to keep them open.
"Rest, Skandr." Astrid said as she gently closed his eyes. "We can speak after you recover."
Klara looked at the two women and nodded. "You'll do well. Before you go back down, make sure you're all back to perfect form. If they try this same thing again, you need to be aware of potential ambushes, of poisoning rations and water, of everything."
Both nodded.
"One last thing." Klara's face twisted in a bit of embarrassment. "I need to be repaid for that potion. It's regulation, and if I'm found to be in violation of the Guild's rules, then I'll be censured and potentially removed from my position. Fortunately, it's a Bronze tier potion, so it's not too valuable. Unfortunately, that's only by my measurement."
Astrid's heart sank as she forced herself to ask, "How much will it be?"
"75 silver."
Her head sank lower, but she held up her thumb in response. "And the interest rate?"
"No, the Guild doesn't charge interest on saving the delvers. Instead, we deduct 30% of all payment until the debt has been paid in full. I am supposed to warn you that if you appear to be taking advantage of the Guild's system, you'll be warned and taken from the list for eligibility for a time that the Guild decides is requisite."
Astrid sighed in relief. That would help to make sure they could spend their money on what mattered most, getting Skandr out of debt faster. "Thank you, Klara. We're immensely grateful to you. You saved Skandr's life. If there's something that you need from us, say so, and we'll do whatever we can to deliver it."
Muti didn't agree outright, and Astrid took note of that but didn't say anything. Instead, she just let the gratitude hang in the air as Klara spoke.
"This is a failure on the Guild's part, but most especially, on me particularly. I'm sorry. I'm glad you survived."
Instead of exploding in light as she had before, Klara simply faded from view as she disappeared. The door didn't open, and then she was simply gone. Astrid shook her head as she looked at Muti.
"We'll all sleep here tonight."
"Agreed."
***
Astrid pulled her canteen out and drank just a couple swallows from it. In the weeks since the warning and decisions the party had made, they threw themselves into gaining experience, making more money, and getting more levels. Skandr gained his next level just a couple days after Muti, and Astrid a couple days after that. Now, as they delved through the second floor and could kill more gnolls without worrying about Anders getting angry with them, they delved from morning until evening.
Today, specifically, was a good day though. As they gathered their things and turned to leave from the second floor of the Dungeon, Skandr grinned. As the days passed, his face both matured and loosened, his smiles coming freely as he cleaned his hair and took care of his health.
"This will take us to 150?"
"A bit over, actually." Astrid smiled.
"I know it's just halfway to the goal, but it feels really good. I could go pay off my loan if I wanted to."
"Your debt to us grows by the day." Muti complained, though her smile wasn't bitter.
"Yup!" Skandr didn't continue talking about that and instead followed the Rogue's path back to the stairway to the first floor. The fields here were darker, redder, and thicker. The packs of gnolls were twice the size of the ones on the first floor, and higher level too. Even so, the three delvers had gained more from the single level they'd gained than the gnolls did, and they continued to be capable of ripping through their enemies without too much trouble.
Their new strategy was to allow Skandr to weaken the whole pack with his new spell, which had gotten Klara's reluctant seal of approval, before Muti and Astrid killed as many as possible. This last pack had been waking up as they were hit, so they weren't able to kill so many of the gnolls in the opening attack. Even so, the delvers hadn't been in too much trouble since Skandr's attack had been successful at slowing the monsters. A second use of his spell was enough to ensure their victory.
"This path has been trodden." Muti reported as they walked up to the stairway. Subtle warning about a possible trap. Astrid nodded and led the way up the stairs. Behind her shield, she continued to watch for anything, but what she didn't expect was a pair of gnoll brawlers halfway up the curling staircase that threw themselves at her as she approached. She kept her shield between them, though she wasn't quite sure how to react to the situation. Muti couldn't get around, she couldn't strike around her shield in these quarters, and Skandr's magic would probably hit her if he tried it…
"Sorry." Astrid apologized. "I'm going to stop guarding."
"Yes!" Muti shouted as Astrid shoved with her whole body weight and strength forward, just to get enough space to turn the shield and strike out with her hammer. Her Fortitude and armor worked together to keep her from sustaining any wounds that were of note, and before long, both gnolls were taken down to their knees, or at least, what remained of them. They snarled and snapped as she and Muti struck them down.
They cut the trophies free and strode out of the stairway, assuming that was all the source of the movement from around the entrance. The snarls were heard only too late for the party to react.