Azure: Gunner

I write this section under protest. Thank your Guildmistress for crushing many of your little fantasies, not me.

Specifically, let’s talk about loot. If you asked a random person on the streets of Lost Angels what’s inside a dungeon, every fucking time they’re going to answer with two words – monsters and loot. If you listen to the stories Bards tell, you’d think that the ratio of the two is fifty-fifty.

As usual, Bards are full of shit. On average, a dungeon is overwhelmingly full of monsters, with a tiny bit of loot thrown in. Not to mention, most of what you do find won’t be suited for your team.

The same thing is true of stable dungeons. Consider this list of the four stable dungeons in Lost Angels and their primary ‘exports’:

1. Hammersmith Arms: Tier 0 and 1 pistols and ammunition.
2. Gleason Industries: ‘exotic food’, aka, tasty monster corpses.
3. Kalmár Konsortium #1: coal.
4. Kalmár Konsortium #2: metals, notably Tier 2 steel and small amounts of gold.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 10.10 – “Dungeon Loot”

I did not like the idea of blindly descending below ground, but it was the best option we had. The titan we’d attempted to fight was still roaring and slowly tearing its way through the building, and as we’d neared the far side of the structure I’d spotted the legs of another one on the street outside. We might be able to take out one of them, if we were able to recover and prepare, but facing two of the huge creatures spelled suicide for the team.

We were running low on options when Zaire spotted the staircase leading down, and there was little argument about taking it. Raylan was still unsteady on his feet, though at least Tara seemed to have recovered, her heavy armor doing a better job of protecting her. H’ruk, Jayce, Zaire, and I had all cast Light, and the soft, warm illumination followed us down the stairs, uncomfortably out of place in the dusty surroundings.

I followed closely behind Tara, shotgun raised but my finger safely off the trigger. I was fully loaded with double-aught, and my bandolier was full. My mana was down to about half, health was a half-dozen points shy of full, and my stamina was holding at about three-quarters.

Another issue was that I’d thrown my last explosive shells at the titan, without much to show for it. The only trump card I had to play was my blunderbuss, and that required having enough time to retrieve and charge it. Jayce had expended the charges in their wand, though G’hala still had her glass-tipped spear tucked away in her Inventory.

I wasn’t counting the steps, but I was sure we’d descended several stories underground before we found a door. It gaped partially open, and unlike the stairwell there was a faint light source somewhere beyond it. We’d been doing our best to move quietly, but the door made a horrible ssccreetetch as H’ruk forced it open. Tara led the way through, with me right behind, the corridor too tight a fit to move abreast.

The stone was damp down here, the air thick with humidity and the stench of mold. Strange tubes of light flickered off and on high on the walls, and then something came around a corner in front of us.

<Contact!> Tara called out, as I used Identify.