"Astrid, bring your party to my office."
After the burning of Bogdan and Antoni's corpses, Klara approached Astrid. The Warrior nodded her agreement and quickly gathered her two party members. Skandr'd shed a couple tears during the funeral, but Muti's face was seemingly angry instead of mournful. Once they were all together in the office, Klara began to explain.
"I'm going to give you all some more information than the rest because it has been made obvious that you are also potentially targets of whoever did this. Frankly, I never expected them to be this desperate, and when it's brought to light who's responsible for this, they may very well lose their peerage, Class notwithstanding."
"I was expecting some sneaky things after what you said, but nothing like this!" Astrid couldn't hold herself back as she shouted. "Kidnapping and murder in broad daylight? Am I the only one who thinks this is insane? How could it be that higher level delvers are letting this stand if the nobles are doing this all over the country? Are you telling me that all Adamantium and Mithril tiered delvers just know that this is happening and let it continue? Because if that's the case, I'll tell you right now that things are gonna change if I even get to Steel, much less to Adamantium and Arcanite."
"Yes, higher tiered delvers know that the nobles are constantly looking to expand their influence and control over others. However, whenever a noble gets prideful enough to think that they can do things like murder and kidnapping, when they are eventually found out, because they always are, they find themselves on the sharp end of a spear. Indentured servitude is common and legal, and most delvers see it mostly as what happens to the delvers who are too impulsive and weak-willed to succeed on their own. In that case, having a noble who's reached Mithril or even Adamantium tier themselves to guide the weak and untested isn't seen as a bad thing. Yes, the delvers lose much of their freedom, but they are treated well and they delve and are allowed to have families and so on."
"So having the barest minimum of freedom is considered a good thing? That they're only mostly enslaved is supposed to be reassuring? And I'm sure the people who own them have Skills that keep the delvers under their thumbs and unable to revolt or retaliate at all!" Astrid scoffed.
"These indebted delvers are also given more opportunities than they would have had otherwise. For example, they're provided equipment that's as powerful as they can equip without suffering from mana toxicity, they're meshed together into effective parties that have people for every role, and they treat delving more as a business than as a lifestyle. They can give themselves a more sedentary lifestyle, only delving every once in a while to do what they're commanded to do, and as subordinates of a noble, they get no small amount of additional benefits in the way of political clout. And yes, their loyalty is guaranteed through contracts and other Skill-enforced methods."
"So you're telling me that we just need to accept that Markus and Kaya were kidnapped, that Antoni and Bogdan are dead, and 'it's OK because the two survivors will end up in a not-so-terrible situation'?"
"No, I'm just explaining that that's just usually what happens with indentured servitude and delvers. I'm not saying that this is at all what's happened here, because this isn't people who willingly entered themselves into the situation, because there's debtors' prisons, and they're a lot worse than working for a noble. Kidnapping's way different. That's why I'm saying that once the Guild finds out who did this, there will be hell to pay for this noble.
"There's a tenuous balance of what the nobles are allowed to do to build their personal power, and this is a blatant and flagrant violation of both the written and unwritten rules. At the very least, every delver who can be implicated in this will be sentenced to death. Because they've wronged the Guild specifically, that may be death by hard labor, by being forced to harvest materials from the dungeon, or any other number of things. If we can gather enough evidence to show that this is something that the noble themselves requested, they will lose their title, all of their holdings, and may even be stripped of their Class."
Astrid blinked slowly a couple times. Then, she slowly asked, "But didn't you tell us to be careful so that we don't get taken away like this?"
"I never thought that there would actually be any real reason to suspect this would happen. Like I said, this is blatantly against the law and once we find Markus and Kaya, the guilty party will be found. You need to know that this isn't something that ever really happens. I'm sorry that your friends are dead, and I hold myself responsible for not having explored the Dungeon proper sufficiently in my off time. If I'd been less focused on other administrative tasks, I could have found wherever it is that these people ran off to and brought Markus and Kaya back already…
Klara's eyes sagged, and she forced herself up into a more upright position. Only then did Astrid realize that she saw evidence of mana exhaustion. "Are you out of mana?"
"Of course I am! I have scouting Skills but they're mana intensive, and from the second I went into the Dungeon, I was looking at every single possibility and route. I watched every monster and creature for almost two dozen kilometers in every direction! I don't know how they did it. There were no access points to other Dungeon offshoots anywhere nearby, there's no breaching point for the Dungeon proper to the surface world, and I don't have a damn idea how they did what they did. I don't even know where this section of the Dungeon proper is in the world because the damned spatial disturbances are so prevalent and strong! The second somebody else gets here, though, I'm getting a couple other Steel tiers together to at least find out where they might have exited the Dungeon."
Astrid sighed, putting her shield to the side.
"So what are we supposed to do? It doesn't seem like anybody short of the Duchess herself could bail us out of this, and she might be in on the stupid plan! This is not what I signed up for when I decided to be a delver!" Skandr's outburst was surprising and merited.
"I will also ask what to do. There is little that seems to be possible for us at this time.""
"The silver lining in this is exclusive to all you people still here." Klara almost groaned the words out more than spoke to them. "This is absolutely going to be considered a botched operation for them. I'm sure they hoped to cover their tracks by having gnolls eat the bodies, but the monsters took too long and the bodies were found. With that Dungeon overlap being their only real extraction point, they'll have to change their approach entirely to be able to even get close to Kznietch again, much less to attack someone like this. So, for now, the Dungeon will be a lot safer than it was until now. Other than the monsters there, of course."
"And our other option is basically just to try to run away and hope they don't follow us?"
"Well," Klara answered Astrid, "that's not too far off of the truth, though it's lacking nuance. You can quit delving entirely and hope that whoever was desperate enough to do this won't come after you once you declare you've retired. You can also just mostly sit tight in the inn while we chase down every lead we get, or, final option, you can just keep doing what you've already been doing. If you can think of any other plans, of course, you're more than welcome to try them.
Astrid hung her head and grunted. There wasn't any real word intended there, but the emotional vacuum after hearing Klara's repetition of the prayer for the fallen delvers continued to haunt her, making her think of the price that her friends had paid because of some monstrous noble's need to gain more control.
May your souls be brought into the next life, where the strength of your bodies is only limited by the valor of your hearts. As such, may you remain ever undefeated. Find peace, find strength, and find victory. Rest well, and remember that we carry your souls with us to battle against all enemies, monstrous and otherwise.
The substance of what Klara had said was much the same as what Stark had, but Astrid felt that there were some things that had changed, and that last line stayed with her. "To battle against all enemies, monstrous and otherwise." Maybe what the guild's representative had said was adversarial to the representatives of the nobility, wherever they were, but it was obvious that she did not care. In fact, Astrid suspected that it was deliberately inflammatory, if it was.
"We'll have to talk about it as a party before we tell you what we will be doing moving forward." Astrid said as much, but as she looked at her two party members, she could see in their eyes what their answers were going to be. She shrugged, and before she could ask, Muti slammed her fist on the desk.
"I will not be made to hide in the dark like some sort of coward! I will face my enemies in the light of day, and if they come for me, they or I will die!"
"I'm not taking any extra time to maybe let them catch me. If I can get levels and keep delving the way that we have, I'm gonna do it."
"Well, I think that's that." Astrid shrugged as she echoed what her two companions had said. Then, she told Klara, "We'll be delving. Trying to put all this behind us, do you know who we can hire on a daily basis to delve with us as a healer? We spoke with Markus… well, we had a couple options presented to us, and one of those isn't possible now and the other will only be occasionally possible, if ever at all. We aren't looking to expand the party, unless there is a new healer that's in the area, but if we do have someone who wants to join the party, we'd love to have them."
"Actually, there is a party coming that might be losing their finisher. If they do, the two of them would slot perfectly into your party. Frontliner and supporter, though they aren't the usual type of support. A Bard, if you know much about them."
"More buffing and healing over time than instant instantaneous healing, right?" Astrid asked to clarify.
"That's generally the gist of them, yes. If they do end up losing their finisher, then I will direct them to you. They're new to this part of the Dungeon, but I think they will be level 7 by the time they're here, so they won't be too far behind you in strength."
Astrid hadn't thought of the level disparity. "Well, this is something we'll have to talk about among ourselves, but I suppose we appreciate the information you gave us. Let us know if you end up finding the people responsible so that we can watch their punishment."
"I will. Unfortunately, this turn of events is directly contradictory to what I was suspecting before, so I'm not sure if we have two different parties who are looking to attack and take our people or if we have been thrown off the scent all along." Klara waved her hand through the air dismissively. "I suppose it doesn't matter to you, though. Let me know if you end up not wanting to take these other two into your party."
Klara rubbed at her head as she reached into a drawer of her desk and pulled out a blue potion that glowed. As she threw it back, she shivered, and her presence filled the room as light involuntarily flashed out of her. A mana potion, then. And why hadn't she used it while she was delving?
"I figure I can guess what you're thinking. I used them. More than I should've, in reality. It's been long enough now and I need the mana badly enough that I'm willing to deal with the lesser consequences here. I couldn't have dealt with the backlash in the Dungeon, as that might have gotten me killed with the occasional Steel tier that wanders through."
Astrid nodded her thanks at receiving the answer, despite not having asked a question, and led her party out of the office. Before long, they were gathered in her room, and Skandr and Muti both pulled the two chairs that they'd requisitioned for the room out of the corner. As all three sat, Astrid on her bed, Skandr was the first to speak.
"If we're going to bring these other people in, then we are going to need to get our debts paid off before we start delving with them. It'll be too hard for us to even stay on top of the 4 silver daily, much less to pay it off if we're making half of what we're making now. Even if we could, I can't imagine that it would be a particularly ringing mark of endorsement if we brought people in and said 'yeah actually we're going to take all the money you would be paid so we can pay off our debts. Sorry!'"
That was a point that Astrid hadn't thought about. Aarta's rate for this new 1 gold loan was three silver a day, not 2, as he smelled their desperation and he wasn't wanting to get on their good side right then. The party had been forced to take the offer that he'd given, unaware of any other lender possibilities they could find. With the 50 silver loan that they still needed to pay back for Skandr, they needed to make money and make it fast.
"Then we need to learn how long it'll actually be before they show up, because we are gonna be up to our ears in debt before too long if we're not careful. Just the interest alone is like 30 gnolls' worth of income every day."
"It's a bit more than 44 gnolls' worth of income, actually." Skandr corrected her.
"That Kin is frightening. He is good at separating a person from their money."
"Every businessman is, Skandr replied to the Rogue with a shrug as she bared her teeth, "and it just so happens that this one is the one we're working with."
Muti growled back and Skandr just shrugged. "It's just the truth, don't be mad at me. That's their job, and very frequently is also their Class as well. It's just the way that the world works around here, Muti, and you can't allow yourself to get too hung up on it. If you do, you'll find you end up losing your mind."
She didn't respond, and Astrid instead pulled Muti's attention to her. "How soon will you be able to do a full delve? Do you need any more days of rest, or is there any problem with getting at least a part day's delve in today?"
Muti raised her eyebrow, and as the light from the small window glinted off the golden hair, Astrid raised her hands in surrender. "You're right, I shouldn't have even asked, as I know you're always willing to go back in. Maybe we get back into the Dungeon for a little bit today, and then see what we can do about getting these debts paid off in a truly timely manner?"
Muti, grinned in her animalistic way, and Astrid looked to Skandr to verify what his thought on the matter was.
"I've had enough of being in debt, personally. Whatever we can do to make sure that we don't have to deal with this any longer, I'm happy to do it. Sick of losing the money, too."
"Then everybody, gear up. Let's get into the Dungeon and see what we can do today."