Dungeon Runner
The Tiger Writes
sciencefiction
sciencefiction
31K5
Tibs survived by picking pockets; until he's caught.
Instead of losing a hand, he's sent away and told he must now survive a dungeon.
How is a kid who knew nothing more than his ...Bottom Rung, Chapter 37
With the five of them in the room, it felt smaller, but not too much. Jackal grumbled wordlessly the entire way from the tavern but wouldn't explain why. The fighter dropped in one of the two chairs at the table while Carina pointed Khumdar to the remaining bed, between her and Mez.
"Alright," Jackal said, letting out a breath. "Mez, last chance if you want to be in charge of this team."
Carina glared at Jackal, while Tibs rolled his eyes from his bed.
"I believe Carina when she said you'd just take over again, so I'm going avoid the hassle and let you lead us."
Jackal looked at the ceiling. "If they ever find out, they will never let me live this down."
Tibs wondered who the they Jackal meant could be, but didn't bother asking.
"Alright, the first thing we need to deal with is the entry fee for the dungeon."
"Shouldn't we just put everything we have in it?" Carina asked. "To ensure we get in early."
"If we're not going to make anything in return for the coins we put in," Tibs said, "it's not worth doing it."
"Street rules," Jackal said with a nod. "Best way to live. Although this once, I'd be willing to act at a loss to get in as early as we can. The only clue I got about what it means for a dungeon to graduate is that it gets a new floor and that it should have double the number of rooms. Saphina's dad couldn't find much about that side of dungeons," he explained. "I would like an early look to know what we can expect to make out of it."
"Can you rely on that?" Mez asked. "The dungeon is going to change everything in time."
"But only to make things harder," Carina said, "right? That means what we'll get out of it will only go up with how tough it is to win."
"And that's why she's the smart one," Jackal said. "If we have a base, we can work out what's worth investing for the expected returns."
"How very Street of you," Carina said dryly.
"The dungeon will also increase our returns," Jackal said, ignoring her comment, "by removing teams from the roster. Less of them and we go more often, and probably also have to pay less to keep a higher spot."
"We're not doing this to get people killed," Mez said, standing and pacing.
"Maybe you forgot where we are," Jackal said, and the archer glared at him.
"The dungeon eats Runners," Tibs said, "it's what it does." He pulled his knees to himself. "If you think about it, all that loot is to bring more people in and eat them. Did you see how many people came? The guild didn't force them, like with us. They came because they want the loot. If the guild didn't limit the number of teams, we'd probably be overrun by people looking to be rich, and the dungeon would get fat off them."
"A dungeon with a weight problem," Khumdar said, chuckling. "That would be an interesting sight."
"Not everyone is here out of greed, Tibs," Carina said. "Some are looking to prove themselves. Become stronger. Training in a dungeon is the only way to gain an element, and then the best way to go up in ranks."
"That's still a form of greed," Jackal said, "so Tibs's point remains. But just to clarify things with you Mez; I might have appeared eager for them to die, but it isn't like I can do anything to help speed up the process. It's all going to be the dungeon's work. Even if we wanted to leave some traps of our own to trip the next team, the dungeon doesn't only eat us, it eats anything left in it. The one way we can help it is by beating it, so the next team will have a harder time, and I am okay with that."