Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Twenty applications became eight interviews.

Rod, Lana, and Dirk held them in a classroom at the Titters Training Compound instead of an office. The room contained a blackboard, six narrow tables, and enough scratched wood to prevent anyone from mistaking the meeting for a noble audience.

The first applicant arrived wearing polished armor and spent most of the interview describing the parties he had left.

Every story ended with someone else failing to recognize his value.

The second applicant wanted access to the compound’s instructors and admitted he planned to form his own party as soon as he gained two advanced skills. His honesty saved everyone time.

The third was a capable healer who expected to remain in the Sanctuary one week out of every six. That schedule might serve a group planning occasional dungeon attempts. Rod, Lana, and Dirk needed someone present often enough to train as part of the same formation.

They thanked each applicant, made notes after the door closed, and resisted the temptation to fill either place merely because an individual possessed the right class.

The fourth interview began with a spear placed carefully against the wall.

Dain Mercer was a broad human man in his early thirties. His equipment had been maintained too well to look neglected and repaired too often to look new. A long shield rested beside the spear. The top edge carried three shallow grooves where blades had struck almost the same place.

His class record listed Spear Master with a Guardian foundation.

”Most of your completion history is escort work.” Rod said.

”Caravans, survey teams, and two border evacuations.” Dain replied. ”I have cleared dungeons, but I made my living keeping people moving through places that wanted them to stop.”

”Why leave the company?” Lana asked.

”The owner retired. His sons sold the wagons and divided the routes. I tried taking short contracts afterward. I prefer knowing how the people beside me react before something charges us.”

Dirk selected one of Dain’s references. It came from a healer who served on the same caravan route for four years.

”This says you refused a promotion to route captain.”

”It would have put me behind a desk in the lead wagon. I am better near the part of a problem that has teeth.”

The answer made Rod smile.

They discussed responsibilities instead of accomplishments. Dain described how he chose between guarding a person and holding terrain. He wanted the healer protected, but not trapped so tightly that they could not see the rest of the party. He considered a retreat successful if everyone reached the next safe position, even when it meant abandoning equipment.

When Rod described his own combat role, Dain studied the axe.

”You can hold a line.” Dain said. ”You should not have to remain there after you create an opening. I can take the place you leave.”

That was precisely what they wanted from a second frontliner. Dain reached the same conclusion from a written record and ten minutes of conversation.

They invited him to the practical session that afternoon.

The next two candidates did not receive invitations. One refused to provide references from the party named in his completion record. The other had excellent records and no interest in adapting her preferred formation around a familiar.

The seventh applicant arrived five minutes early and used the time to read the emergency instructions posted beside the door.

Nessa Korr wore a healer’s gray-and-white field coat over ordinary clothes. She was human, close to Rod’s age, and carried a short staff built to survive being dropped rather than impress anyone. Four potion loops crossed the front of her belt. Two were empty.

Midnight walked beneath her chair before the interview began.

Nessa lowered one hand and allowed the cat to decide whether it wanted contact. Midnight smelled her fingers, placed one paw on her boot, and then jumped into the empty chair beside her.

Lana marked the most important private requirement complete.

Nessa’s class record simply named her a Healer. The details beneath it were less simple. She had trained battlefield stabilization, poison removal, mana-burn treatment, and enough defensive casting to remain useful when direct healing was unnecessary.

”You have worked with nine parties this year.” Dirk said.

”Temporary placements,” Nessa replied. ”The Sanctuary receives groups that lose a healer to travel, injury, family obligations, or a better offer. I filled empty places.”

”Why apply for a permanent one now?”

Nessa looked around the classroom before answering.

”Temporary work teaches breadth. It does not build trust. I am tired of discovering during the first fight whether a stranger means retreat when he says retreat. Your notice offered provisional membership instead of pretending one interview could settle that.”

Rod turned to the ability list. ”What is Held Remedy?”

”A healing spell I place before the injury. It remains inactive until the person loses enough health to trigger the conditions I set. The reserve is smaller than a direct Greater Mend, but it begins working even if I cannot see the target at that moment.”

”How many can you maintain?” Lana asked.

”Three strong marks or five weak ones. Maintaining them reserves mana, so I do not place one on everyone by habit.”

Nessa also possessed Clear Pulse, which removed one poison or hostile bodily effect after she identified it, and Shelter Thread, a short connection that warned her when a selected ally suffered a sudden health loss. None allowed her to ignore positioning or mana. Every ability made information more useful.

She received the second practical invitation.

The final interview belonged to another frontline fighter. His record was nearly equal to Dain’s. His preferred style depended on pushing enemies away from himself, which could scatter targets beyond Rod’s reach and through Lana’s prepared fields. He acknowledged the conflict and asked them to contact him if their needs changed.

At midday, the three compared notes.

”Dain,” Dirk said.

”Yes,” Rod replied.

Lana wrote the name in the first position. ”Nessa.”

Neither man objected.

They still held the practical session.

The Sanctuary Arena allowed registered sparring and protected combat within marked boundaries. Rod reserved one side chamber, then asked two compound instructors to operate training constructs. Five people were trying to learn whether they could solve the same problem without making one another miserable.

Their objective was a wooden frame mounted on four small wheels. It represented an injured civilian who could not move without help. The group had to bring it across the arena while six constructs attempted to touch a painted circle at its center.

Any touch counted as a failed attempt.

”If we carry it, we lose hands.” Dain said while they examined the frame.

Dirk checked the wheels. ”The left rear catches when it turns.”

Nessa placed a weak Held Remedy on Rod and Dain. ”Those will trigger at twenty percent health loss. I can move one after we learn where the pressure is.”

Lana knelt beside the faulty wheel. Ice formed around its axle, creating a smooth sleeve without freezing it in place.

”That should last.” She said.

They began.

Rod and Dain took opposite sides of the front. Lana pushed from the rear while maintaining the ice. Nessa stayed close enough to reach either line, and Dirk moved ahead to identify which gates opened.

The first two constructs entered together.

Dain did not wait beside the frame. Intercepting Step carried him into the nearer machine’s path the moment it committed to a charge. His shield caught the impact. His spear slid across its shoulder rather than striking for damage, turning the construct far enough that it passed beside the objective.

Rod stopped the other with the haft of his axe.

The frame kept moving.

Two ranged constructs appeared on the upper walkway. Dirk marked one. Lana raised a wall of ice between the second and the painted circle. The first bolt struck the frame’s wooden edge because Dirk’s arrow did not disable its launcher quickly enough.

The instructors reset the exercise.

Nobody argued about whose failure ended the attempt.

Dirk needed one more second to identify the firing mechanism. Lana could give it to him if she knew which side required cover. Dain suggested placing himself behind the frame during the opening section so he could see both walkways and move forward when the ground gates activated.

On the second attempt, Dirk called the upper threat before the construct finished rising.

Lana’s ice covered the correct angle. Dirk disabled the other launcher. Dain crossed from the rear into the first ground charge, while Rod stayed with the frame and kept it rolling.

The third pair of constructs did not attack the objective.

They attacked Nessa.

One dropped from the walkway behind her. The other entered through a side gate and forced Rod to choose between turning back or guarding the frame.

Dain was too far away.

Nessa struck the floor with her short staff. A pale barrier climbed around her in a half-circle. It would not hold long against either machine. It did not need to.

”Keep going.” She called.

Rod did.

Lana sent Midnight across Nessa’s path. The familiar did not attack. Shared Senses gave Lana the angle she needed to freeze the dropping construct’s right leg without catching Nessa inside the spell.

Dirk’s arrow turned the second.

Dain returned after the charge he had intercepted, placed his shield between Nessa and both machines, and used Brace Line. A narrow band of force extended from the lower edge of the shield to the ground. The constructs struck it together and stopped.

Nessa’s Held Remedy activated on him.

Rod reached the final line with the frame.

The instructors ended the exercise.

Five people stood inside the boundary. None had been removed. The objective carried one shallow bolt mark outside the painted circle.

Dain looked at Nessa. ”You told Rod to continue.”

”The frame was the objective. My barrier gave me time.”

”How much?”

”Four seconds against those constructs. Less against something stronger.”

Dain nodded as though storing the number for later.

They ran the course twice more.

The third attempt failed because Rod and Dain both moved to intercept the same heavy construct and left the opposite lane open. Their fourth succeeded faster than the second. Dain called his own movement before leaving position. Rod used the warning to shift without looking. Nessa moved the stronger Held Remedy to Lana after seeing how much mana the Elemental Mage committed to controlling both walkways.

Afterward, all five returned to the classroom.

Rod placed two provisional agreements on the table. The terms lasted through one expedition and the training leading to it. Either side could end the arrangement afterward without penalty. Rewards would be divided equally after shared expenses. Personal items remained personal. Materials useful to more than one member would be discussed before anyone claimed them.

”We plan to attempt Deepvein.” Rod said. ”It is a five-person Level Five instance reached through Corathen. We will train together for a week before traveling.”

Dain read every term before signing.

Nessa asked how the group handled resurrection costs, emergency retreat decisions, and equipment lost while protecting another member. The discussion changed two paragraphs in the agreement. Then she signed as well.

Lana added both names to the party registration.

[Rod Titters: Axe Master.]

[Lana Winters: Elemental Mage.]

[Dirk: Archer.]

[Dain Mercer: Spear Master.]

[Nessa Korr: Healer.]

[Party members: 5/5.]

The list did not make them a permanent party.

It gave them a chance to become one.

Dirk opened the Corathian transit schedules. The next large airship with space for five passengers left in nine days. It would carry them from the starting villages nearest connection to Highforge, the largest city within a day’s ride of Deepvein.

Rod reserved the seats.

Nessa remained to review medical histories. Dain followed Dirk toward the equipment yard to see how the archer signaled threats from beyond speaking distance. Lana returned to the casting yard with Midnight and an unfamiliar awareness that her next Storm Lattice would need paths safe for two people standing in front of her instead of one.