Saga of the Soul Dungeon

“How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public.”

-Harry Houdini

==Tarrae – Earlier That Day==

Delving through the dungeon had not proven a terribly difficult experience, so far, though there had been a few moments where the newness of our team had proven a hindrance. They were minor issues while dealing with the low level monsters, but they could easily get us killed in more challenging situations.

Honestly, the progressive difficulty of this dungeon was amazing. It was perfect for integrating a new team. We had only just finished up the sewers, and things were feeling much more cohesive. We hadn’t yet had a chance to get into the rolling meadow we had seen outside the town. And we weren’t sure when we would actually get a chance to do so.

The Adar occupation of the Starlight Grotto had proven an inconvenient development. Not due to any issue with their developing encampment, but rather due to them denying entrance to the dungeon.

Still, that was their right.

I was hoping to get back in soon, however.

For the moment, my team was hanging out with the remains of the other. Zidaun was off overseeing the other Adar, as well as visiting with his old friend.

According to Inda, Zidaun was likely to hate dealing with all the administrative details, so I couldn’t even really blame him for the delay, either.

Discussions had progressed in a meandering fashion across different topics, and Soara had enthusiastically listened to Inda discussing the details of different countries and the different dungeons she had delved. Anaath had wandered off at some point. We were delving better as a team, but Anaath hadn’t lost his sour disposition, and he didn’t socialize with us much.

In the meantime, in one of the comfortable side rooms, Gurek and I had fallen into a common adventurer pastime when meeting new people; telling how we became adventurers in the first place.

“Yeah, my parents worry all the time, too,” he said, sharing a wry grin that I returned, before he continued. “Cooking just wasn’t my thing. And after I burned enough food they finally agreed that I should try something else. They wanted me to become a Spice Merchant.”

Gurek shook his head.

“They still have contacts back in Ungea. It was a perfect idea in their heads. They use a lot of non-local spices in the restaurant, and I could go back to Ungea and buy spices.”

I absently noted Gurek’s parents as a potential contact, years of living in a merchant household having made it an automatic skill. My family does some trading up in Ungea...

Gurek shrugged, his hands raising up into the air in front of him, while I just nodded as I listened.

“I mean, they are probably right. I could have made a lot of money, but I wanted more than that. They tried anyway, and then I told them I wasn’t interested enough times that they finally listened. Now, I’ve always loved nature. I love the small parks in the city. So, my parents had the bright idea that maybe I could get a class specialized in growing plants and grow the spices myself. We wouldn’t be growing more than a small greenhouse full, so it wouldn’t run afoul of any Farmers.”

I nodded sagely.

Always bad to annoy anyone with power.

“So I agreed. I mean, I do love plants after all. My teacher refunded my parents after only a week. I killed any plant I tried to raise. My teacher seriously thought I might have some sort of affinity with death magic.”

I started to chuckle, and Gurek joined me.

“Ha, you laugh now, but I was devastated at the time. I loved plants though, still do, as a matter of fact. So, I had loved learning about them. The categorizing, and learning the various traits, it all appealed to me. So did discovering all these new varieties.

“At one point some adventurers were talking about a dungeon in my family’s restaurant. They were talking about a new plant that had suddenly appeared there. How they had to be careful, since it could be poisonous, or acidic, and so on, and how all the samples they brought back were in bad condition. The adventurers guild apparently didn’t want to pay them much for them.

“So, I had a thought. I couldn’t keep a plant alive, but my cuttings of plants had been pretty good. Someone, besides me, could potentially even use my cuttings to grow a plant. Anyway, I really wanted to see new types of plants. So, I was young and stupid, and decided that this was going to be my new career. I had obviously listened far too much to some of the stories and songs the Performers did at our restaurant for big nights.

“My parents were horrified. Understandably. After it became obvious that I was going to do it, regardless of what they wanted, they arranged for me to get training. I would have died far too many times without that training. That was their caveat. I said I wanted to go and do this, so they hired a trainer. If I quit, I had to give up on becoming an adventurer.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but my trainer specialized in this. His whole shtick was training would be adventurers and making them quit because his training was so sadistic. Turns out, my family got a refund, because I never quit.

“I whined, and moaned, and complained so much, but I kept going. Eventually, I got a class that allows me to endure things. At that point, my trainer conceded defeat, and told my parents that no one was going to be able to make me stop. And, by that point, I was well enough trained to deal with a dungeon, too. With the system giving me a new class and validating my work, my parents gave in.

“They got their money refunded, so they used some of it to get me some specialized training in dealing with dungeon plants. Then they bought me the best gear they could afford.”

Gurek sighed, shaking his head.

“I was still really lucky. I survived a few things that probably should have killed me. My class… it saved my life for sure. After I got past the usual survival time, I was able to team up with some more experienced delvers.”

Gurek closed his eyes, and tears squeezed out in slow tracks. His voice was soft and shaky as he finally spoke again.

“They didn’t make it... but I did. Dungeon had a new monster with poison. Wasn’t on any of the reports. I was able to delay the effects long enough to get to a healer.”

“Sorry,” I said, my voice soft. “It’s never easy, especially if they are on your team.”

Seen too many die, too.

Gurek shook his head, and his voice grew heated.

“Not your fault, wasn’t even my fault. That was always something I thought was awful. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Dungeon grew a bit and something changed. No one knew until I came back to tell them. Then a proper team went out to scout it out.

“It’s what made me join a scout team, in the end. If I was going to deal with random danger anyway, I might as well get properly paid for it. And, well, the scout teams see more new stuff than anyone else.

“Haven’t lost anyone in this party. Been more grateful for that than I can say.”

He looked at me and his gaze was piercing, his words fervent.

“I’ve lost more people than I ever wanted to. I tried helping newbies, but so many of them died. I’m sure I helped some of them live longer, but… Getting proper training is expensive. They died learning the lessons they needed to know. Not many still alive.”

Gurek looked around and waved his arms vaguely.

“Every dungeon should be like this. Teach people how to delve properly. Then, maybe I wouldn’t have… One of the ones who had survived a long time… right before we came here… he didn’t come back. I didn’t tell my team, we needed to be focused...”

He cut himself off, his voice choked.

“I’ve, lost people too.” I said, falteringly. “Tried to help some newbies. I think most of the decent adventurers try to help out, at first. I stopped after a while too. It gets too hard when they don’t come back. I don’t know if my heart got harder, or I just had to stop letting myself care so I didn’t… break.”

Gurek nodded at me, tears streaming down his face, and my own vision grew hazy. I did my best to blink them away, but a few escaped to stream across my cheeks anyway.

“What would you do if you could make things better? Make it so less people died.” Gurek finally asked, his voice serious.

He looked at me again, his eyes like hard stone beneath the sheen of tears.

“Would you spread a secret, even if you knew if might get you killed?”

I paused for a moment.

I thought of my family and wanted to say “No,” but some of my nieces and nephews had been asking about what I do. Some of them had been expressing interest. My family helped me, got me the training that helped me survive, but like Gurek, I still had my fair share of close calls. And, I remembered faces, voices, that had been absent for years.

“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I would.”

Gurek slumped in his seat for a moment, before speaking a short phrase.

“I give to you that which was given to me.”

A notification bloomed in my senses, and I felt the System put pressure on me.

I opened it.

The rightful owner of the Artifact, The Eternal Blossom, has transferred ownership to you:

The Eternal Blossom

Artifact – Unique

Immune to Theft – Dungeon Bound – Indestructible – Transferable

A manifestation of the dungeon’s desire for beauty and perfection, and its desire to share it.

Benefits:

+Owner instinctively knows the benefits of Artifact

+Owner has a telepathic link with the dungeon, even when Artifact is elsewhere

+Owner can allow another individual telepathic contact with the dungeon while they touch Artifact

+Owner can establish a temporary telepathic link when another is touching the Artifact

+Owner can have the dungeon store Artifact, or recall it from anywhere inside the dungeon, at will

+Owner may transfer ownership of Artifact to another, however, this fails under any form of persuasion, threat, etc… even indirect forms, like social pressure or preexisting contracts

+Dungeon may assign another owner upon death

With the notification, knowledge unfolded like a blooming flower.

I knew more about the Artifact than just what the system said.

I was connected to it. I could pull it to me with just a thought, but I didn’t dare to do that while I was here. I was sure Soara had been damping down his ability to listen to us, out of respect, but he would probably notice the Artifact appearing. I didn’t even need to see it to know what it looked like. I could turn and twist its image in my head at my leisure.

I could feel the deep appreciation for beauty that was the reason for its creation. I could feel a connection to the dungeon, a channel waiting to be used. I knew how to make a temporary channel for another with the Artifact, either to me or… the dungeon.

I intrinsically knew that this was made by a person. A person, who was also a dungeon.

What the hell does this even mean?

It… made the dungeon. It set it up as a training ground.

“What,” I started, before my voice faded away and I tried again. “Are all of them like this?”

“I wish I could help you,” Gurek said, his eyes gazing at me with fixed intensity.

I could see the tension of his body. He was quivering with the strain of it.

The last piece fell into place.

There was only one good reason to do it like this, to just give it to me. It would have been far better to tell me and then use the Artifact as proof. My old Potential Value II skill was pinging like crazy at me. Though, I hardly needed it to know that an Artifact would be valuable.

The only reason to tell me like this, was because Gurek couldn’t tell me any other way. He was bound in some fashion. A skill, a ritual, an object… I couldn’t say, and neither could he.

However, I knew how he was able to give it away.

The description of The Eternal Blossom said that there was no way to force someone to give it away. What it didn’t say, was that there was also no way to force someone to keep it. No matter the method, nothing could prevent the owner from giving it away. A spell of silence would fail, just for the words needed to give it away. A dying man with a punctured lung, who couldn’t physically speak, could form the words. Nothing could prevent that, even if it meant bypassing a binding meant to prevent that exact thing, or using it to share information.

The only reason to share this, is if this dungeon isn’t unique. Which… means that the others could be safer, too. I need to get this information out as soon as possible.

“I’ll get the secret out,” I whispered hoarsely. “I’ll make sure people know that at least some of them are more.”

Gurek sighed, his body collapsing in on itself.

“Thank you,” he said. “Thank You.”

He looked like an enormous weight had lifted off his shoulders.

I looked the delicate blooming flower over again in my head. It would be valuable just for the intricate workmanship. I wanted to keep it, but it wouldn’t be right.

“I give to…” I started, when Gurek interrupted me and I stopped.

“Don’t! It’s yours. Keep it. Consider it payment for the risk.”

I nodded slowly.

Well… if I can leverage the earning power of this… I can encourage my family to spend a bit more getting the word out. I’ll let them use my savings too.

If I was going to get this done… it was best done now. I was already going to do a report after I got back into the dungeon, but I supposed a proper report on the Adar is a good enough reason to send one early.

The adventurer’s guild wouldn’t mind if I added a small ciphered message for my family. Technically it was against the rules, but it had long been considered one of the perks of being on a scout team. As long as it didn’t get overused, no one cared.

I stood up and Gurek smiled at me, while I smiled back.

“I have a report that needs to get done,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

I went up to my room.

It was time to take a secret, and unmake it.