Azure: Gunner

The basics of dungeon management are dead simple. Pretty much anything you do in a dungeon – killing monsters, completing Quests, grabbing loot – all of it drains the dungeon’s mana and its Level. Completing the main dungeon Quest will drain a shitload of both, scientifically speaking.

When a dungeon’s Level falls too far below the ambient Level, it destabilizes non-destructively, which is the fancy way of saying it doesn’t screw anything up when it disappears back to wherever it came from. So, if you need to get rid of a dungeon, you get in there and you fuck it up. Kill everything you can, pillage until your Inventories are bursting, and knock off some Quests. Have a good fucking time, basically, but don’t get killed in the process. That’s the part that really trips people up.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 10.3 – “Basics of dungeon management”

Mason turned and looked at me. <You could easily die in there,> he said. <You should have months of intense training before attempting your first dungeon, even a known dungeon. And we have no idea what’s inside this one.>

<Block just said Sunland is in danger. I don’t want my sisters and brother getting hurt! And it sounds like if this dungeon merges, the whole area could be messed up forever. What would happen to the towns around here if the road is cut? Besides, isn’t this what we signed up for?>

<You signed up to get training, then clear dungeons. In that order,> Mason clarified.

<I’m with Az,> Raylan said smoothly. <We can do this!>

<I say it’s their choice,> Vale put in unexpectedly.

Mason turned to Zaire and Elin. <What about you two?>

<I stand with my teammates, Swordmaster,> Zaire’s voice was firm. Elin just nodded, still smiling.

<Nothing for nothing,> I added.

I wanted to go on adventures, get stronger – here’s a fucking adventure right in front of me, one that matters. I almost died at least twice in the Tutorial, but I survived. I can do this. We can do this.

Mason nodded slowly. <We don’t need you to clear it,> he told us seriously. <The wedge will keep a portal open inside the dungeon. I can’t tell you where it will be, just that it will be there somewhere – an exit that you can use anytime, no matter how much progress you’ve made on the dungeon’s Quest.

<Without it, you’d have to complete the dungeon to open the exit portal. When people enter a dungeon, its Level stabilizes, so it will stay locked at Level 2 until you come out. Inside, you’ll need to use your judgement. Take your time, look for the exit, and only engage the minimum number of monsters.

<Once you find the exit, find a safe spot to wait it out until you’ve been in the dungeon for four hours – if you can. Some dungeons have ways of… hurrying you along. If it’s not safe to wait, you get out. Understood?>

We all nodded soberly.

<Good,> he said. <I appreciate the risk you’re taking here, so we’re going to do everything we can to see you get out alive.> A bag appeared in his hand, clinking softly as he handed it to Hassan.

<I’m going to head for East Bank now. Hassan, distribute these mods and get them organized. Vale, full medical kits for them – everything you can give them. Buff them too, even if they’ll probably lose them in the portal. Block, anything you’ve got that can help, hand it over.>

Mason took a moment to shake each of our hands firmly. <Good luck,> he said, and then he was gone in a blur, racing silently off into the night.

Everyone started moving at once. Vale and Block started pulling things out of their Inventories, speaking softly to each other. Hassan pulled us into a group around him and started talking.

<Stay together in there,> he ordered us, <and keep any plans you make as simple as possible. If you can, avoid any fight that looks even a bit risky. Az, you’ll be leading the group with Raylan as your second. No, don’t argue. Raylan’s had more training, but it’s dangerous for a melee fighter to try and maintain the battlefield awareness needed for command at low Levels. You’re the highest Leveled and have been in more life-or-death fights than the others.

<Raylan, you’re in charge of using Identify, since you don’t need mana for any of your Skills the way the others do. The rest of you, conserve your mana where you can, but don’t hold back when things get rough. You have to survive the current fight before you can worry about the next one. Most dungeons have a soft time limit, so evade monsters when you can and rest wherever it seems safe.

<The monsters in there will be a mix of Levels. There’s no simple rules, but try to avoid going one-on-one with anything above your Level. If you can, go two-on-one with anything a Level above you, and if you run into a lone Level 4 take it as a group. If you see multiple Level 4s together, stay the fuck away unless there’s no other choice. Clear?>

I nodded along with the others, feeling even more tense now that I’d been put in charge. I assumed it would be Raylan or even Zaire… though Zaire seems like he might be too quiet to make a good leader. Still, I didn’t think about what it would feel like to make decisions for the group, not just myself…

<Now, all of you take your packs out of your Inventory and leave them with us, you shouldn’t need them inside. Just take the rations. You’ll want the extra space if you find anything good. Store one of your canteens, but keep one on your belt for emergencies.>

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<What about the waterskins?> Raylan asked. <Those take up almost as much room as our packs.>

<Keep them for now,> Hassan instructed, <they’re cheap and easy to replace. You can leave them behind if needed. You shouldn’t be in there long, but you never know. Always take more water and rations than you think you can use.>

We made a pile of our packs on the ground nearby, then Vale interrupted briefly.

<Mana potions?> she asked.

Hassan appeared surprised. <You have Tier 0 ones?> he asked.

<Have t’ dilute em’ like the others, and of course they won’t be calibrated, so I’ll try t’ be conservative. It’s a risk, but better than running out of mana in a fight,> Vale responded.

Hassan considered for a long moment before nodding, then turned back to us.

<Vale is preparing some potions and injectors for you. I doubt any of you have ever used one, so I’ll explain quickly. First, they’re not nearly as safe or effective as a trained Healer, but they can still save your life. At your Levels, a health potion will restore only a few points of health immediately, then maybe five to ten more over time.

<It’s hard to say since Vale is basically watering down higher Tier potions so they don’t poison you. Never use a second one before the effects of the first wear off, and try not to use more than one in an hour. Too many potions taken too quickly can poison your body and make things worse instead of better.

<The mana potions in particular are dangerous, so avoid using them at all if possible. They forcefully shove mana into your body. Normally you’d only carry ones calibrated to your mana sensitivity – and they’re still risky even then. They can significantly increase the chances of corruption, so be careful. Now, while she’s working on those, let's see what Mason has in here.>

He opened the bag and pulled out several smaller bags, looking inside each one briefly. From the first, he pulled out five unattuned mods, three of them having a silvery sheen I hadn’t seen before. He handed two of the silvery ones to me along with one of the white ones, the other silvery one to Raylan, and the last to Zaire. Elin started to object but he talked over her.

<These are Level 4 mods. Store them in your Inventory for now. No, Elin, you just reached Level 2, while Az is well into Level 3 and the others should be close. The silver ones are omnimods you can use on either weapons or armor. There are some lower Level ones here too.>

There were a half-dozen Level 2 mods, so Elin, Zaire, and Raylan each took two. The single Level 1 mod went to Elin. Then from the last bag he pulled out four Level 3 mods. To my surprise, he handed them all to me.

<Az, you can use these right now, or you can distribute them to your teammates. First big decision as team leader. The ones with the tape on them are armor mods, the other two are weapon mods.>

With that, he turned and walked over to where Vale and Block were still working on the potions, pouring things from small vials into a canteen and so on. I looked at the bounty of mods in my hands.

I have an open slot on both my armor and my weapon. Actually, my armor mods aren’t very exciting, I’m sure these would be better! But I can’t use them all… That doesn’t seem right. If I fill my empty spots, I can give, let’s see, the armor mod to Raylan since he’s our only melee fighter. The weapon mod can go to Zaire.

But then Elin will be even more pissed at me than she already is… These mods are worth four eagles each according to Mr. Billings’ prices. Four eagles… hm. I already owe Block ten, what’s a few more?

Coming to a decision, I handed one of the marked mods to Raylan and one of the unmarked ones to Zaire, then took a deep breath and turned to Elin.

“Elin, one of these should be yours, but as Hassan pointed out, you can’t use it yet, and we have no idea what’s going to happen in the dungeon.” I could see her starting to get angrier as I talked. I held up a hand.

“Let me finish! My proposal is that you loan me your mod for this dungeon, and when we make it out, I’ll remove it and give it to you. Or, if the effect is really good for me – I’ll owe you four eagles so you can buy your own. What do you think?”

She crossed her arms and stared at me, considering for a moment.

“I want first pick of whatever we find in the dungeon,” she said finally.

“Not going to happen,” I replied immediately. “Whatever we find goes to whoever needs it the most and who can use it right away. Everything else, we deal with after we get out and we get Mason to help make it fair.”

“Fine, then give me my mod.” She held out a hand.

Raylan looked like he was about to say something, but surprisingly Zaire beat him to it. The tall Mage put a hand gently on her shoulder.

“Healer Elin, please, I ask that you agree to Gunner Az’s proposal. Her duty is to see the team succeed, and if I were in charge, I would have her use all of the Level 3 mods now. No mod will help us sitting in anyone’s Inventory. Besides, Gunner Az didn’t receive any of the Level 2 mods.”

With that, he tried to return the Level 3 mod I’d given him to me, but I pushed his hand away.

“No, Mage Zaire,” – I almost forgot to use his Class – “I appreciate the thought but we shouldn’t concentrate all of our equipment on one person. I feel bad using even two of the Level 3s – I’m only considering both because I have an open slot on both my weapon and armor.”

“You just got handed three Level 4 mods and you still want my Level 3 on top of it?!” Elin wasn’t ready to let it go, despite Zaire’s plea.

“We don’t even know if I’ll be able to use those! Hell, we don’t even know if we’re going to be able to keep these afterwards, Mason might ask us to return them. If he lets us keep them, I’ll ask him to give you one too, OK? Honestly, we should consider them all to be on loan for this dungeon.”

“How about we also give her a bonus out of whatever we end up selling?” Raylan chimed in.

I wanted to object that I was already being very generous to her, but I stopped myself. If she refuses to go into the dungeon, Hassan would probably call this whole thing off. I can’t let that happen! I forced myself to take a deep breath, and nodded.

“OK, but Mason decides what the bonus is. And Elin needs to agree to follow orders while we’re in the dungeon.”

She finally relented. “Fine,” she said, holding out her hand, and we shook on it.

Mason, preparing for the run to East Bank