This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

Alfric looked around the room, trying to reevaluate. He’d been to a few League houses over the years, as one of those things done as part of a field trip in the Junior League, and this one had its own eccentricities, but didn’t seem like it was all that much out of the ordinary.

“I don’t live here,” said Priya, sighing. “Though I do spend quite a bit of time here, and I’ve built up a nook.” She gestured to one of the chairs by the fireplace, where there were books on a shelf and a table with snacks. “I handle some of the administration across all of Greater Plenarch, but this is my favorite haunt. For my home, I own a demiplane.”

Alfric nodded. “A heavy investment.”

Priya laughed again. “You have a way of understating things.” The teakettle began to whistle, and Priya went over to pull it off the flaming axe, which she touched on the side and put out. The kettle was then brought over to the kitchenette area, and she brought four ceramic cups down from somewhere and set them on the counter, along with a small pot of honey. “I’ll make the tea and then, yes, to more serious matters.” She dropped a ready-made sachet from one of a dozen tins into the kettle, then swirled the water inside around for a bit. “So, Alfric, you have business to conduct.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Alfric.

“You want official recognition of your dungeons in preparation for asking me for a second-level key, is that right?” asked Priya.

“No,” said Alfric. “I’m not intending to take a key until we’ve exhausted all of the lower dungeons in the area. I’ve been told that it’s better to get things in when you have a chance, rather than attempting to get credit for ten or twenty at once. Further, we were in the area, and I wanted any information you had on the surrounding dungeons. I already have a key from Dondrian and special dispensation for party formation and expedition from my time in the Junior League. I don’t think there’s anything that we ‘need’ from you at the moment, and probably not for another few weeks or…” He looked at Verity. “Months.”

“Well, good to know,” said Priya. “Better not to rush things. You have a good party composition,” this she’d have known from a letter he’d sent, “and from the information I’ve gotten back from Dondrian, a good pedigree, if a bit of trouble in the management aspects.”

Alfric nodded. He didn’t like his ‘pedigree’ following him, but he could accept responsibility for how the parties he’d tried to form had fallen apart. “I’m hoping there won’t be any problems?”

“Nothing that I can see,” said Priya. “I’d like to talk to each of you before you get the second key, but I don’t expect there will be any issue. My role here is mostly to stop those who haven’t done the slightest preparation and to serve as a line of communication. I don’t think we’ll have any issues.”

“There’s another party operating here,” said Alfric. “Lola.” He watched her eyes for recognition and saw that the name was familiar. “There’s some bad blood between us, I should warn you.”

“Unless it happens in the dungeons, which is impossible, or it happens to the dungeons, which seems unlikely, it doesn’t concern me,” said Priya with a shrug. “I suppose you might have a fight in the League house, but I’m hoping you know better.”

“Has she asked about me?” asked Alfric.

“No,” said Priya. “But she did go looking through the dungeon reports and leafed through them like she was trying to find something. You are welcome to submit what reports you have.”

Alfric hesitated. If Lola was in Liberfell, there was nothing to prevent her from coming back here and looking through the dungeon reports again. He didn’t want her reading them, though in the long term, it couldn’t be helped.

“Perhaps I’ll hold on to them for the time being,” said Alfric. “If I could read what you have?”

“Certainly,” said Priya. “They’re public, open to anyone. They are kept in a magical tome, which needs to be kept on-site.”

“Are they staying here?” asked Verity. “Lola’s group?”

“They’ve taken a name, Vertex,” said Priya.

“Ugh,” said Verity, making a face.

Alfric stayed silent. He had liked the name when he’d picked it, but hearing it out loud, it did sound a bit… off.

“Well, they can’t all be winners,” said Priya. “I suppose if you had a name, you’d have declared it already?”

“We can come up with one now,” said Hannah.

“No,” said Alfric. “Mizuki would never forgive us if we did. And if we’re going to have a name, then we can take our time on it, especially since we’ll be having downtime later anyway.”

“Well, I’ll start thinkin’,” said Hannah. “Somethin’ to do with animals?” Alfric gave her a brief shake of the head before she could mention that Isra was a druid. It was better to play that close to the vest for as long as possible, which, given Lola, probably wasn’t all that long.

“We can save it for later,” said Alfric. “I’ll get on those reports. We were planning to spiral out from Pucklechurch, and I need to check whether that’s sensible.”

“But why a spiral?” asked Verity.