The Pinnacle Warrior

Somehow, Astrid had been expecting for everything about delving to have changed overnight. She wasn’t sure why, given that, to her limited knowledge, everything that happened in the Dungeon with regards to change happened gradually and over time, but she’d expected that the moment they stepped onto the third floor today, there would be a pair of irregulars waiting for them. Given that the Guild, through Klara, had specifically told the party that they could pile irregular corpses in the passages between the second and third floor, Astrid expected a day packed full of action, where every moment was focused on constant fighting and struggling.

That was, of course, not the case. Instead, for the first couple of hours, it was much the same as always. Having experienced the changes in the Schteldt branch of the Dungeon when there was a surge, Astrid had expected to fight larger packs of gnolls, to have packs of 15 or 20 come at them, or for the gnolls to be notably stronger, but nothing like that occurred. Instead, just as Klara had said, it was genuinely  the same as the day before. At least, until a couple hours into the day and the party had let down their guard somewhat. Fortunately, Muti was still able to smell the difference in the air whenever an irregular was nearby.

As soon as she signaled to the others that she’d caught the monster’s scent, all five delvers got into position, Skandr using Lightning Reflexes on Astrid and Felix while Benedict prepared to use Quickened Step. The party had long since decided that, when they had time to prepare for direct combat, the frontliner and finisher were the two who got prioritized in receiving buffs. As long as those two were at their peak, the rest of the party struggled less. They tried to get into position to ambush the monsters, but a howl of a gnoll, throatier and more intimidating than a regular monster’s, filled the air and let them know that there would be no surprise this time. Even so, Muti stepped a couple meters to the side as she slipped into stealth. It was just as well, as an irregular brawler flanked by four more brawlers, one irregular ranger, and a normal ranger, and finally a regular shaman, rushed into battle. Interestingly, the shaman didn’t close in, instead staying back and grabbing fist sized stones to hurl at the delvers.

“Muti, you choose the irregular or the shaman, I trust you.“ Astrid‘s command was all that she managed to get out as she rushed forward. She presented herself as the prime target for the brawlers, and she had to raise her shield to take three arrows from the two rangers as the irregular brawler threw itself at her. With her shield already raised, Astrid was prepared to protect herself in case Felix‘s taunt was ineffective. All the better, as while the other gnolls all shifted their attention to the Bodyguard, the irregular brawler continued smashing against her shield with its fist. One blow after the other smashed into the shield, but between her experience and her Skills, Astrid waited for three strikes to fall before it, with a roar, threw a blistering fist at her face. As she turned this blow, it opened its body to her counterattack.

The gnoll screamed in pain as Astrid ducked under its blow and smashed her hammer into its knee. The leg bent almost 90 degrees in the wrong direction, and despite the bloodlust aura from the shaman, the brawler could no longer stand. It lunged out with jaws towards Astrid‘s own leg in retaliation, but she smashed the edge of her shield down into the base of its neck. Bone crunched and a kill notification flashed in her vision.

Scaled Gnoll Irregular Brawler slain. 63 Experience gained, split among party.

The tripled experience was always welcome, and Astrid laughed as she threw two more quick strikes at the brawlers that continued failing to land any solid blows on Felix. Two arrows flew towards Felix as she did so, both of which he narrowly dodged. While the two of them engaged with the brawlers, Skandr threw his hands in the air and let out a curtain of lightning that struck the three gnolls in the enemy’s back line. Twice as many of the falling bolts of the spell were obviously directed to strike the irregular ranger, and it shivered and twitched, its bow falling several centimeters lower as it fought against its spasming muscles. Muti then made her appearance. Her messer sword with its curved blade singing through the air, chopped the gnoll’s right arm completely off with one strike. It shrieked in rage or agony as the Barbarian wrenched the blade free from its torso while its arm flopped to the ground.

Despite the bloodlust aura, the ranger irregular turned to flee with terror in its stance, but as soon as it got even two paces away from her, Muti hurled that same sword to bury itself in its back. It fell, not quite dead but mostly there, and Muti turned her attention to the other ranger. It shot at her as fast as it could, the arrow catching the Rogue in her side and letting out a thin trickle of blood. She didn’t care. Muti threw herself at the ranger and bore it to the ground. It snarled, jaws snapping for her face, but she interposed her left forearm into its jaws while her right arm plunged her straight sword into its chest again and again. With three quick movements, another kill notification appeared, and Muti, covered in her own and her enemy’s blood, threw herself with just as much reckless abandon at the shaman.

Astrid arrived next to the shaman at the same time, and as it shrugged off Skandr’s spell, two more individual Lightning Bolts blasted into its head, renewing its confused shuddering. Muti chopped one arm off at the elbow. Astrid smashed her hammer into its head. The kill notification appeared, and the aura faded. Only a few brawlers remained, and the party made quick work of them.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?“ Felix asked as he rolled his shoulders and set about cutting ears and fangs free.

“No, I don’t think so either.“ Astrid agreed. “The shamans and rangers are the more troublesome irregulars, but with Skandr and Muti focusing on the ranger, it wasn’t able to be anywhere near as dangerous as they have been in the past. Yet, if they’re given even a little bit of space, they’re really troublesome. That pair of shots that I took on my shield almost pushed me back.”

Felix nodded in agreement, remembering his own close call.

“I don’t really care if it all stays that easy.” Benedict said as he stepped closer to Muti and stopped channeling Quickened Step and instead used his Song of Healing. “There’s a good amount of experience to be found in killing these irregulars, huh?”

“And a lot of money.” Skandr agreed. There was a flash of greed in his eyes that Astrid noted. They were now officially out of debt, and this guy, the original source of so many of their troubles, was looking at hoarding more money again? For what?

The money is good, but add a shaman in there as well, and that would’ve been pretty bad.” Astrid disagreed. “Their auras are a lot stronger than the run of the mill ones, and when we ran into them before, we almost always end up having to use a potion.“

“Well, then I guess we’d prefer to make sure we have enough time to fight a shaman before we get onto the fourth floor.“ Felix grunted as he yanked a fang free from the brawler irregular.

“Yes, that would be for the best.“ Astrid agreed as she cut a long gash in the Ranger irregular’s neck and then, with just a little effort, she held it upside down to let the blood seep out. As the burnt orange colored ground became a crimson slurry, Astrid looked at the rest of her party. “We take these back to the passage, then we keep going?“

She didn’t have to have asked.

***

“This isn’t really what I expected when I explained the increase in irregulars yesterday…“ Klara chuckled as she watched Astrid guide Felix, Muti, Skandr and Benedict working together, and another of the unpartied delvers who waited outside of the Dungeon in bringing the bodies back. With five irregular corpses on the ground, as well as their equipment, getting the corpses out of the Dungeon had been nothing short of an agonizing chore. Astrid had carried two of the smallest, both of the rangers, over her shoulders as the rest of her party carried the others through kilometers of Dungeon, killing those that got in their way. They hadn’t managed to find an irregular shaman today, but with three brawlers and two rangers, they’d made good headway and Astrid watched her experience tracker grow closer and closer to that next level. 

7,428/14,000

“Not really what we expected either.“ Skandr struggled to get the words out as he and Benedict dropped the body they were dragging on the ground. Both the Lightningmage, and the Bard had complained, mostly jokingly, about having to do the brute work of dragging a corpse back to Kznietch. Astrid was just grateful that, for the last three or four kilometers back to town, they’d been able to hire a delver to take one of the bodies for them for 20 copper.

“These are in pretty good shape,” Klara said as she looked at the bodies, “though I can see a couple spots where Astrid let loose, huh?”

“Best way to kill the bastards.” Astrid agreed without any real inflection.

“True enough. Just make sure that you learn what’s most valuable on other monsters, those that are truly valuable, cause there’s nothing worse than accidentally destroying the only part of a monster that’s worth money.”

“Oh, our distinguished representative speaking from personal experience, is she? Please do tell!” Benedict put on his usual guise of carelessness, though he couldn’t hide the slight panting or the sweat that dripped down his face, despite the chill of the evening’s air. “Did you destroy a dragon’s heartstring or warp a treant’s heartwood? Destroy a shadow leopard’s aorta, or perhaps, even, pierce a lover’s heart?”

“Is everything a heart for you?“ Felix groaned, though they all looked at Klara with some fear in their eyes. Astrid internally cursed Benedict’s bantering.

“Any dragon weak enough to be killed by me wouldn’t have heartstrings worth harvesting.” Klara replied dryly. “I have, however, accidentally burned a treant’s heartwood, and that was a miserable day, I’ll tell you that.”

Despite Benedict’s attempts at levity, the entire party grimaced at the thought of destroying one of the commonly noted highly valuable materials from a Steel tiered monster. Supposedly, it was a material worth its weight in gold, or even more.

“Well, with all that we have over here, I think it’ll be about one gold for all of this?“ Astrid said as she hefted a bag of ears and fangs while nodding at the two irregular’s bows.

“It’ll be a little bit less than that, but if you promise to take a pack of food down to the Silver Wind tomorrow, I’ll give you a gold and pay for however much you five want to eat tonight.“

Before Astrid could say anything, Muti lunged forward and grabbed the Warrior by the shoulder. “Do not say no or I will stab you.“

“You’d murder me for food? Food we can afford?” Astrid figured that Muti was attempting some form of levity, though she couldn’t say just how joking the Barbarian was. Even so, she felt her hackles rise.

“Only in the arm, and during a spar. Not murder, Benedict could heal you.” Muti was distressingly casual about the clarification.

“I mean I wouldn’t stab you,“ Skandr shrugged, “but I might start buffing Muti instead of you if you turned this down.”

“Hey now, I expect Muti to stab people, but you’d turn against me? That’s a real betrayal!” Astrid laughed as she said as much before turning to Klara saying, “I guess that’s the decision made, isn’t it?”

“I guess I’ll urge you to make sure you eat enough to feel like it was worth it then.“ Klara smiled as she reached into a pocket and flicked a gold coin to Astrid. The Warrior chuckled and pulled her pouch of higher denominations from under her mail shirt and dropped the gold in among the dozen silver tenners she had in there.

“I’ll just guess that I can’t quite eat you out of house and home, but I’m gonna try.“ Astrid shook her head as she said as much, laughing as Felix gave her a large thumbs up. Klara, with distressing ease, grabbed three of the irregulars by their tails and held them up. Then, with a flick of two fingers, two glowing, 60 centimeter hands appeared and picked up the other two by the scruff of their necks. Then she strode into the inn and through the communal room. For the first time, Astrid realized that there was some door or storage space around the back where Anders would usually bring the irregular corpses through, and that Klara was deliberately not doing that right now. Knowing that woman, there was definitely some reason why she was doing that, but Astrid didn’t care enough to seek out the rationale that the representative used to make the decision. Instead, she strolled happily up to Tomas and said, “I’m going to have three servings of stew, each with a double helping of meat, and all of this is on Klara‘s tab.“

“Not my tab,” Klara clarified, “but the Guild’s! This is just an advanced payment for an errand they’ll be running tomorrow. Every one of the five in their party are able to eat as much as they want tonight.“

With her order placed, Astrid stepped out of the way as Felix and Muti both rushed forward with Muti’s order being identical to Astrid while Felix’s was only a single serving of stew with four servings of meat. Astrid laughed as the two more magically inclined party members were more reasonable with their orders, getting a mulled cider and single serving of stew with double meat. The rest of the party turned and made and order for drinks as soon as they were reminded of things beyond meat and stew.

“You know,“ Benedict mused, “I think we should go to the fourth floor tomorrow. You know, as long as we’re getting treatment like this.”

“We’re not going to be treated this well again tomorrow.” Astrid denied.

“Even though we didn’t fight a shaman irregular today?“ Skander added as he laughed and took a drink from his warmed alcohol. “You’re the one of us who was the most insistent on ensuring that we fought one before we moved along.”

Despite his usual, unserious attitude, Benedict sighed and spoke in a measured tone, “This is something that really helps my Skill growth, as well as giving weight to future Iron tier Class options. Frankly, I don’t know if I’ll ever have another opportunity like this, much less in Bronze, to show the Great One that I’m putting in genuine effort like this. To participate in hunting dozens of irregulars above my level? I’m sure that’s going to be something that gives me great options just a little ways down the line.”

Skandr in particular went quiet at that. He hadn’t ever spoken specifically about his Skills and their tiers, but Astrid knew that a magic class would struggle to get any Bronze tiered Skill options, even if they had opportunity to practice and train under a tutor before they were bestowed with their Class. After all, it was all just theory until they had a Class. For someone like Skandr, who almost certainly never exchanged more than a couple words with somebody magical, Astrid was sure that he hadn’t been offered any Bronze tiered Skills at his Bestowal. 

“That’s a good point.” Felix hedged, scratching at the stubble on his chin as he watched for his food to appear. “There’s a whole lot of reason to what you’re saying, I just don’t know if we’ll be able to survive through it.”

“At lower levels than what we have now,” Benedict argued, “we’ve been able to sustain only a single wound that’s at all notable. We have several potions as well as myself and my Skills to make sure that everything‘s OK, and I’m hungry to be more than I am now. Aren’t you?”

“There is wisdom.“ Muti nodded slowly. “My people say… The Dungeon gives us opportunities… That you must… Always take? It is not as clear when translated, but it is not every day that a person in the Dungeon gets the opportunity to prove themselves. Do not let it pass by.”

Astrid started to open her mouth, to say something, but Tomas called out for the table to come get their own meals, given how many they ordered. She stayed silent as she took a massive bite of the stewed meat and chewed it. Then, after maybe 30 seconds, she said, “I think you’re right. It’s an opportunity that we’ll never have again, at least not any time soon, and who can say what kind of benefits throwing ourselves into it will give us. The Great One provides, and it’s provided a great opportunity right now. It would be stupid of us to hobble ourselves when we have the opportunity to fly ahead of where we used to be. So, round of votes? I’m in for going to the fourth floor tomorrow morning.”

“I already said my piece.” Benedict was the first to jump in. “I think it would be stupid not to.”

“I agree with the soft one.” Muti spoke, and Benedict waved off the jab she sent his way.

“Frankly,” Skandr spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, “I could really use a boost to my Skills and Class.”

“Same here.” Felix said as he ripped into a long strip of his meat. “So tomorrow, we’re leaving at the same time as usual? Or even earlier, because we’ll have another 5 km to hike through on the third floor to get to the fourth?”

Astrid grunted to herself. “That’s a good question. Because, at that point, it’s a question of if we want to prioritize experience gain or financial gain. I mean, if we camp out down there and don’t take every irregular back up to sell, then we’ll be able to do a lot more, especially since we’ve been given the all clear to hunt as much as we want. So, do we want to prioritize getting levels or coming back and making money?”

The table sat in silence for a while, though not a single mouth was idle as each continued to devour the meals as they came. When Astrid was nearly finished with her second bowl and was asking for another double serving of the meat, she’d come to her conclusion. It didn’t take long for her to explain her opinion, and the rest of the party agreed to act in accordance the next day.