Dungeons Are Bad Business

Back at the boarding house and getting ready to head for bed for the night, Vee glared into the mirror. He wasn’t angry at his own features, though, he was scowling at the Expectation curled around his shoulders. The snake dragon slept peacefully, completely oblivious to the world, which was in fact the problem.

Nothing Vee had tried – including poking, prodding, and a furious use of [Do As I Command] – prompted the spirit to stir or converse with him, and the [Ghost Maestro] was fed up.

He wanted to ask the Expectation for more details about the |Call|; he suspected it’d been triggered after he asked for something to go his way, but had it used the skill? If not, had he?

“Come on, say something,” Vee said, prodding the Expectation’s scales with his index finger. The spirit didn’t stir, but it felt ever so slightly more solid than it normally did, and Vee wondered if it was changing too. Expectations were like that. Since they were made out of a collective will or desire, their physical forms could shift over time, though Vee wasn’t sure if solidification alone counted. From the few snippets of things he’d managed to find in some of the books Rortenferry had left for him, Expectation transformations tended to be a lot more dramatic when they happened.

Naturally, the snake dragon didn’t so much as budge, and Vee decided to give up for the moment. He’d keep trying intermittently in the days to come, but getting to the bottom of the |Call| situation wasn’t Vee’s top priority by any means. He’d gotten confirmation that the skeleton issue wasn’t going to morph into a major problem, which was good enough for the moment. Certainly, the possibilities offered by a skeleton shaman were interesting, but Vee would have to investigate them later as well.

For now, there were other things that he needed to focus on. Vee ticked them off on his fingers: getting Reginald’s levels back, directing his [Dungeon Maintainers] to finish the dungeon’s spectator area, getting viewing crystals to allow spectators to actually watch runs in progress, making sure that the light section of his orchestra and the Kartine twins made progress on cleaning up the city proper, designing and producing new ghosts, and…probably a bunch of other things that he was forgetting about.

At least Reginald could help with the burden now, Vee thought as sat down on his bed. The hat was atop Dogginald, getting ready to head out for the night to supervise the fiends and the twins in their cleaning. That was one less thing Vee had to worry about directly.

“I’ll see you in the morning boss,” Reginald said, using one of the ghosthetic’s arms to wave as he left the room.

Alforde sat down on the floor next to Vee’s bed and looked up. His blue eyes shimmered with concern as he said, “You okay, Vee? You’re looking a little stressed.”

“There’s just so much to do,” Vee said. “I keep thinking that I’m forgetting something important, but can’t for the life of me remember what it might be.”

“That’s what it means to forget,” Alforde said with a small chuckle. “But I thought you made a bunch of lists to help remember everything. Aren’t those helping?”

“I haven’t been great about keeping them updated,” Vee admitted. He meant to, but more often than not the little details simply slipped away from him. That might have been due to [Big Picture], but Vee was hesitant to write off a personal failing that could be corrected with intent and effort as simply the quirk of a skill. That was a slippery slope that all too often led to Stagnation and a bevy of other irritating status effects.

Taking a deep breath, Vee closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his thoughts. Right now he needed to sleep. Tomorrow he’d resume tackling his to-do list.

Vee woke up the next morning with a sense of panicked purpose. There were only five days until the circuit started, and he was going to have to burn the candle at both ends to get as much done as he could before then.

Yawning, Vee pushed himself out of bed and looked over at Reginald. “How’d things go last night?” he asked as he got up and got dressed for the day.

“Pretty well,” the hat said. “Those extra slimes were a big help in eating through all the crud, and the fiends seem to get more efficient by the day. They’re through four streets now, and I expect they’ll be able to do another two or three tonight.”

“That’s good,” Vee said, consulting the map. Based on the number of streets remaining, it’d be a bit tight for the fiends to complete their full cleanup before the circuit started, but Vee should be alright to go ahead and start setting up decorations for the area.

Right, decorations! That was one of the things he’d forgotten about. He wanted to talk to Torres to see if the [Stationer] had anything that could be easily used or converted, but it’d have to wait until after the day’s dungeon runs.

Alternatively, he could try to cobble something together himself, but thinking back to his arts and crafts projects back in primary school nixed that idea pretty quickly; Vee hadn’t exactly been a [Scissors And Glue Afficionado].

In addition to the decorations, there was another task that Vee remembered he had to take care of: he had to go talk to the [Merchants] and [Shopkeepers] around the city and let them know to prepare for an influx in business. He’d meant to do that sooner, but things had gotten out of hand and he’d been preoccupied with other things. At least some of those shops were already open, so he could go in early and get the ball rolling for a few places before heading to the dungeon for the day. Vee looked at the clock. It was already six-fifteen, which meant that there was no time to waste. Throwing on his coat, Vee and his friends hurried out into the city.

The streets that Vee’s light section had cleared the night before looked like they belonged in a different city. They were free of debris, easy to navigate, and several shades brighter than the others nearby. While there weren’t many people out and about yet to appreciate the difference, the looks of wondrous amazement on the few faces Vee saw caused the [Dungeon Master] to smile.

“I’ve never seen it looking so nice out here,” one man said to another as the trio passed by. “I wonder if any other streets are going to get cleaned up too.”

Vee coughed politely and joined the conversation when the men looked his way. “That’s the eventual plan. Right now the priority is to clean up the streets around the Westown gate since they’ll be the most visible for the upcoming dungeon sports circuit coming to town, but eventually my crews will start expanding beyond this area and taking care of the rest of the city.”

One of the men raised an eyebrow. “Your crews? And who might you be?”

Reginald’s brim stiffened. “This is Vee Vales, [Dungeon Master] of Crestheart.”

A flicker of recognition passed over the faces of both men at the name of the dungeon, and they thanked Vee for his efforts.

“You might want to think about running for a council seat in the next election, young man,” one of the men said as he turned away to resume his normal business. “It seems like you’ve got a heart for civic matters, and we’ll all be better off if you get these streets taken care of.”

“That guy’s got a point,” Reginald said as Vee walked toward a small shop that had its door open. “You could probably do a lot of good if you managed to get a seat on the council.”

Vee shook his head. “Could probably get a lot of new headaches too. Never say never, but that’s definitely not something I’m interested in thinking about right now.”

“It would be best if we focused on getting through the circuit and all of its associated challenges first,” Alforde said. “By the way, Vee, it looks like that business over there is open.”

The armorsoul raised a gauntlet and pointed at the door of a shop called ‘The Fisherman’. Vee walked inside. It was, inexplicably, a [Cobbler]’s shop, with stacks of shoes rising up to the ceiling.

Vee didn’t see anyone around, so he went up to the counter and rang the small silver bell on the countertop. A spindly man with lots of silver earrings emerged from the gloom in the back of the store and walked over to them.

“Yes? May I help you?”

“Hi,” Vee said, feeling a little awkward. “I’m Vee Vales, the [Dungeon Master] of Crestheart, and I just wanted to tell you that there’s a dungeon sport circuit thing happening in the city next week. There’s going to be a bunch of adventurers coming to town, and a good number of spectators too.”

The man waited for a moment, then said, “Okay, and? How does that impact me?”

Vee wasn’t entirely sure how to answer, but he stammered something out about “being ready for an influx in customers and possibly offering some sort of special discount to celebrate the event.”

The [Cobbler] shrugged. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for the heads up, I guess. Now, is there anything else you wanted to talk about? I’ve got a bunch of things I need to get done before customers start coming in for the day.”

There wasn’t, so Vee and his companions left. He felt a little awkward about the whole conversation, and tried to do a better job of spying out what type of place each business was before going into it.

The next forty minutes were spent making pitches. Some [Shopkeepers] and [Merchants] were enthusiastic about the idea of participating in a sort of district-wide special event. They promised promotional deals for visitors and circuit participants, or temporary “holiday” offerings to celebrate the circuit. Others were grumpy about the short notice – which Vee apologized for profusely – but seemed willing to at least consider participating. A few flat-out rejected the idea, and one woman who was convinced Vee was trying to sell her something asked the [Dungeon Master] to leave and never return.

That particular experience stung a little bit, but Vee resolved not to let it bother him as he made his way to the Westown gate to get started for the day. He’d gotten another point of Persuasiveness and Bargaining for his efforts already, and planned to return to the freshly cleaned streets after closing the dungeon in order to visit some of the other shops that hadn’t been open.

He hoped that, in addition to a few more participants, he’d get some people to help spread the word too so that he didn’t have to go and visit every shop himself.

Feeling a renewed sense of purpose, Vee waved to the [Bellwethers] waiting near the gate, and hurried toward the dungeon alongside them so that they could do their quiet run before the day’s first proper challengers arrived.

He looked up at the sky.

“Five days. I can do this,” Vee muttered.

[Determination +1]

Reginald’s brim tightened around his head. “Yeah, don’t worry. We’ve got this, boss.”

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales:

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 32

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 23

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 6

Might: 15

Wit: 39

Faith: 26

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 16

Plotting: 19

Charisma: 16

Devious Mind: 27

Leadership: 22

Guts: 14

Intimidating Presence: 11

Citizenship: 23

Public Relations: 8

Determination: 6 (+1)

Persuasiveness: 6 (+1)

Bargaining: 4 (+1)

Patience: 2

Competitive Spirit: 1

Pragmatism: 1

<3<3 Infatuation <3<3

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 5

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 18

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 18

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 11

Might: 58

Wit: 15

Faith: 28

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Endurance: 31

Intimidating Presence: 15 (+1)

Heart of a Champion: 14

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Vigilance: 11

Vanity: 2

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

#$&Q#$)(@#$#@#$%!@#$##%#%()@#$**@@##

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 42

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 20

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 12

Additional Class: Hyperthymesiac (Self), Level 5

Might: 1

Wit: 37

Faith: 18 (+1)

Ambition: 28

Greed: 24

Deceptiveness: 27

Manipulativeness: 42

$#&*!@!!: !!!

Loyalty: 46

Patience: 11

Irritability: 24

Remorsefulness: 17

Expository Prowess: 23

#%$Pragmatism*#$: @#61$5

Hop@#!! @#$@!@#

@#$@%%^

#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9