Dungeon Life

Chapter Two-Hundred Eighty-Two

Tula

Here she is: Fourdock. The trip here was thankfully quiet and peaceful, possibly because of Mr Olander. He looks a lot like what the Crown Inspector is supposed to look like, but she finds it difficult to imagine someone as prestigious as that taking a job as a simple caravan guard to such a distant town. While fun to imagine she spent her evenings chatting around a fire with someone who personally knows the King, such a thing definitely belongs in the imagination rather than reality.

And the reality is that he’s just a nice and handsome elf and the trip was better for having met him, if a bit chilly. She’ll need to get used to chilly, if this is where the Great Mother thinks she should be for a while, possibly even her entire life. And if this is where she can find an Ice Sage, she’ll definitely need to get used to being cold.

At least she’ll get to have a warming spring and all of summer to try to prepare for a cold fall and colder winter. But… how should she prepare? She didn’t really have much of a plan besides getting here. She has a bit of coin saved up from living with her parents, but she doesn’t know how long that will last her. It’s too bad there’s probably no library here for her to assist with.

Maybe there is? She doesn’t have any better plans right now than to try to ask a few of the locals. She starts following the flow of traffic toward the center of town, taking a few moments to ask the passersby if there’s a library that needs scribes. Most of the townsfolk shake their head at her, but a rather burly minotaur man seems to be better informed than most.

“No real public library, I’m afraid. There’s a scroll and book store a couple blocks that way; the Tattered Scroll. I think they do more enchanting and magic stuff and cater to adventurers. I’ve never looked inside, honestly. The Church of the Crystal Shield has their historical archives, but that’s probably not what you’re after either,” he says with a chuckle, glancing at her holy symbol.

She shakes her head politely. “No, probably not. While the Shield and the Great Mother get along well, I’d imagine their own acolytes are more than able to tend to their histories.”

He nods at that, reaching a hand up to pick at the tip of one of his horns as he thinks. “Well… the various guilds have their collections. The Dungeoneers probably won’t let you at their knowledge without joining, or paying them handsomely for the privilege. Hmm. You might try the local Adventurer’s Guild: Slim Chance. I hear their collection of monster knowledge could use a dedicated hand. Yvonne tends it as best she can, but she’s an active adventurer, too.”

Tula considers the options and smiles at the minotaur, giving him a small bow of respect. “Thank you, sir. You’ve been most helpful.”

“Any time, little lady. If you ever need flour, come find me at my mill. It’s the only one well inside town, since I can mill by hand!” He smiles jovially before taking his leave, letting Tula chew over the options as she continues to follow the traffic.

The shop could be a good place to try, but she is very likely to be unqualified. Even as a follower of the Mother of Magic, her enchanting ability is… lacking, to say the least. Such a shop would want her to enchant scrolls, not copy ancient tomes. Should she try the adventurer’s guild, then?

The idea of her joining such a guild makes her smirk at the absurdity. She’s no adventurer. Although, if the kind miller minotaur is correct, they might specifically not want an adventurer to tend their library. She should probably stop by there eventually anyway, to see about the price of creating a quest to find an Ice Sage.

Her musings are interrupted by the realization that the traffic is growing thicker as she approaches the center of town, with much of it seeming to flow toward a large, creepy looking manor. Is that the dungeon everyone is so excited about? She can’t imagine any other reason for so many people to be headed that way, though the type of people are not what she would usually expect from adventurers.

While she can pick out a few individuals and small groups that look like seasoned veterans, most of the people look like ordinary townsfolk or maybe crafters of varying professions. She slips out of the flow and into the calm of an outdoor eating area, just outside of a bakery of some kind. The wondrous scents coming from inside call her to enter, but she resists for now, choosing instead to try to listen for any details.

She’s heard of active dungeons in the center of towns before, but this is the first she’s ever seen. Most are at the outskirts or maybe in the sewers, but this one seems almost in the dead center of town! That implies it used to belong to a local lord, possibly a founder. They must have been deposed in disgrace at some point, if the new lord decided to not move in.

The questions as to the origin of the manor urge her to try to find the Adventurer’s Guild. Surely they would have information on a location that became a dungeon! The temptation of knowledge makes her drool a little, or maybe it’s the bakery she’s standing outside of. A rumble from her stomach confirms the cause, so she gets in line to purchase something.

Inside, she finds a very rotund troll woman tending the ovens, while a tall and thin troll man works the counter. Most people are getting what’s apparently called cobble bread, with the option of cheese or no. It looks like a bunch of small rolls baked in too small a pan and fused together, which seems like an odd choice to Tula, until she sees someone enjoying it. The little rolls can be easily pulled from the whole, giving a nice bite-sized morsel to enjoy.

She is so getting some with cheese.

When she reaches the counter, the troll smiles at her with a twinkle in his eyes. “Ah, you’re new! Gonna have some lunch then delve Thedeim?”

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“Um… Thedeim?” she asks, knocked from her thoughts by the question.

His smile simply gets bigger. “Ah, very new then! Welcome to Fourdock, miss. If you’re delving, we recommend the fortified cobblebread. Guaranteed to help you tough out a hard fight! If not, the normal cobblebread is just as tasty, minus the buff and markup, heh.”

“Oh, uh, no delving for me, no. I wouldn’t know what to do in a fight. Normal cobblebread please. Uh, with cheese!” she quickly adds.

The troll nods and offers her a clump, as well as a small sweetroll. “No charge for the roll, miss. It always pays to give a new customer a little something extra. Anyway, if you’re going to be in the area for a while, you should try delving Thedeim at least once. He’s a dungeon unlike any other!”

Tula smiles awkwardly and nods as she pays. “I’ll uh… keep that in mind. Oh… do you know where the adventurer’s guild is? I’ve heard their book collection is in need of a practiced hand,” she explains, not wanting to give the impression that she’s interested in delving after all.

The troll simply laughs away her awkward explanation before responding. “The Slim Chance is about five blocks away. Just turn left and fight the flow, you’ll eventually find the guild at the headwaters of the people coming to delve, heh.”

“Thank you sir, for the directions and dessert!” She grabs a simple wooden plate and takes a seat outside to enjoy her bread and roll as she tries to get over her social awkwardness. At least the people of the town are friendly. Usually, if a town is having a boom, there are some who resent outsiders, not wanting their own slice of the pie to be thinned to make room. From the attitudes she’s seen so far, the prevailing opinion is there’s plenty for everyone.

From how many people she watches enter the dungeon as she eats, it’s probably because of the dungeon. Plenty of people enter, and most of the people leaving seem to be in high spirits, even the ones nursing injuries. She shakes her head as she watches an elf with a broken arm laugh with his companions. Only adventurers could be so blase with their lives. How many enter those gates and never get the chance to walk back out? She can only guess.

Her melancholic mood only lasts as long as it takes her to reach her sweetroll. The honeyed treat knocks such dour thoughts clean out of her head and lets her simply enjoy the treat. The adventurers know how dangerous their line of work is, she supposes. They would probably balk at the idea of organizing a messy shelf of books just as she would balk at the idea of facing some slavering monstrosity. To each their own.

She feels much better with a full stomach as she returns the wooden plate, then follows the directions to the Adventurer’s Guild. It looks like the stream is fading, making her imagine she witnessed a change of shifts in the dungeon, as ridiculous as the notion sounds to her. Inside, the guild looks much like a tavern, though with one wall occupied with quest notices, and the space behind the bar full of trophies as well as bottles of liquor. Also behind the bar is a thin orc, clearing away a few dishes.

His eyes land on her and he nods before turning to his sink, silently acknowledging her presence and letting her know there’s no rush. He’ll be washing dishes until she needs him. She gladly takes the time to try to gather her thoughts and look over some of the posted quests. Over half of them are for something in Thedeim. It looks like there’s a lot more to that dungeon than just the abandoned manor. Most of the other quests are for other dungeons, with a few not specifying which dungeon to delve at all. There are also bounties for criminals, requests for scouts, requests for more mundane help like getting firewood, and more.

Seeing the variety helps her feel more confident in the odd request she’ll be making. While most of the quests are in dungeons, it’s not a requirement. Her Ice Sage may be a special encounter in a dungeon, or it may be something else. Either way, she makes her way to the bar, where the orc is already drying his hands, waiting for her.

“Hello miss. Are you here to sign up, or are you looking to post a quest?” he asks with a smooth confidence.

“...a bit of both, I think? I’ve heard you have a library in need of a scribe or even librarian?”

He chuckles at that and nods. “It wouldn’t be a terrible thing to have someone else working on it. Yvonne does a good job when she’s here, but she can’t always be here. I can probably afford to hire an actual librarian. You also had a quest to give, yeah?”

Her confidence at tending books wavers in the face of needing to explain her quest, but it needs to be done. She takes a moment before explaining. “The Great Mother sent me north to seek the Ice Sage, but I don’t know what that is. I’d like to set a quest for help, but I don’t know how much I can pay.”

“Hmm… an Ice Sage? Haven’t heard of that one. If it’s a monster, I don’t think it’s in my books. If you’re gonna be the librarian, you’ll soon know better than I will, though. If it’s not in there, I’ll take your quest, personally. I know a few people who know things. We can discuss payment if they turn anything up.”

Tula gives him a confused look. “The bartender will take my quest?”

He mirrors her look of confusion before laughing. “I’m not just the bartender! I’m Karn the Slight, master of the Slim Chance guild!”

She pales at the revelation, worried she insulted who she was hoping would be her boss. “I… guess that’s my odds of getting the librarian job, then?”

He laughs again and shakes his head. “Our motto is to defy the odds, young miss…” he trails off, and she belatedly realizes she never told him her name.

“Tula! Tula, Mr. Karn.”

“Well miss Tula, I think you’ll be a fine fit for a librarian. It won’t pay as much as adventuring, but there’s a small office off the library you can use as a room, if you need one. Do you have anything you’d need to move in?”

She fights a blush of embarrassment and shakes her head. “Oh… no. I have some coin to purchase what I need, but nothing else. I thought it best to travel light.”

“Probably a good idea, yeah. Well, let’s get you settled.” He steps out from behind the bar and motions for her to follow him up the stairs and to the library. Honestly, she’s seen worse. Although…

“Are those bees?”

He smirks and nods. “Yeah, I’ll explain later. Just shoo them out of the way if you need to. They’re friendly enough. Anyway, you can get a look at the library, and I’ll see if my contacts know about this Ice Sage of yours.”

She nods absently as she traces the source of bees to a corner that looks like a mouse or maybe a rat chewed a small hole near the ceiling. She can’t imagine why bees would be in here, but if the guildmaster isn’t concerned, she should try to listen and not bother them too much. Instead, she heads to the catalogue, hoping to get a better idea of how the collection is organized, and what improvements she can make.

It doesn’t take her long to hope she gets to meet this Yvonne in person soon. The methodology of organization is fascinating, one she hasn’t seen before. She’d love to talk with whoever came up with it.

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