Dungeons Are Bad Business

Vee was excited to put his new skill to use in the dungeon, but before he could, he needed to figure out how it actually worked. Descriptions in his soul’s mirror tended to be too vague by half, obscuring the actual methods and costs of the things they described. For example, how much refined ectoplasm did [Ectoplasmic Surge] need? Where exactly did it come from? Would he have to set up a repository near the ghosts he wanted to use it on, or could he arrange things to draw from one centralized depot?

These questions were all woefully unanswered by the base skill description, so Vee had no choice but to test it himself. He drummed his fingers on the desk while the day’s runners made their way through Crestheart, flipping switches and pressing buttons as necessary, his heart not really in his work.

However, the very instant that business was finished for the day, Vee slammed his hand into one of the buttons on Dheart’s side and watched as several cubes of ectoplasm tumbled out. There was plenty of refined ectoplasm to experiment with; the orchestra’s upkeep costs had stabilized over the past few months while his ability to refine ectoplasm kept getting better and better. His massive stockpile was actually on the verge of overwhelming Dheart’s capacity to hold it, so his new skill couldn’t have come at a better time.

Alforde was waiting for Holly to arrive, and Reginald said he wasn’t interested in watching a skill test, so Vee would be on his own as he worked to figure out his new skill.

Still mindful of the fact that he was on the verge of getting another point of Might, Vee scooped up as many cubes of ectoplasm as he could reasonably manage and then added a few more. His forearms started aching almost immediately as he walked down to his lab and unceremoniously dropped the ectoplasm onto his worktable, but Vee found that the burn didn’t bother him as much as it normally did.

He grabbed one of the basic ghosts that could be found anywhere in Crestheart -- at least, until his new variants became common – and focused on it. Then he held up his hands, spread his fingers, and uncertainly tried to activate the skill.

One of the cubes on the table melted away almost immediately, and a red sheen covered the ghost’s entire body. Vee didn’t sense that anything was different at first, but when he commanded it to move across the lab it darted forward, nearly twice as fast as it normally was. Short as it was, the trip melted two more cubes of Vee’s ectoplasm though, so he ended the skill and rubbed his chin while he thought about how to continue experimenting.

A few more tests were illuminating. Each time he activated [Ectoplasmic Surge], one of his cubes was immediately used up for every ghost that was affected. Another was consumed every three to five seconds per ghost after that.

Vee frowned as he did some light mental math. Maybe he wouldn’t be using it in Crestheart as much as he’d originally thought; the skill was significantly more expensive than he’d imagined. However, the skill description had mentioned that ectoplasmic quality was a factor in how fast it was used up, so maybe he could make it more efficient if he improved the quality of his ectoplasm.

Grabbing one of the cubes, Vee tried to use [Refine Ectoplasm] on it, but found that the skill had no effect. He’d have to do something to the ghostly energy first before he could improve it any further.

While ectoplasm was neither liquid nor metal, some of the principles that went into refining those materials could be applied to ectoplasm as well. Namely washing and heating. Vee hadn’t ever really bothered with it before because it’d seemed like a waste of time, but he figured that now was as good a time as any to approach the fundamentals of his craft with an open mind. After some thought, the [Ghost Maestro] decided to try heating the ectoplasm first, as he had easy access to some of Hanako’s fire trap crystals and didn’t feel like getting his hands wet.

Forging a rough pair of ectoplasmic tongs to help hold the ectoplasm cubes over the flame, Vee activated the [Wall of Fire] trap and grabbed one of his cubes. Like he was toasting a marshmallow, he held the tongs away from his body and waited for the ectoplasm to start melting. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, and his first experiment went up in a crackling plume of smoke. His second attempt went better though, and once it was runny, he tried his skill on it again. This time, he found that he could compress it into a slightly smaller cube than it’d been before, though not by much. Once it cooled, Vee studied the cube carefully; it was a darker red, like a ripe cherry, but otherwise seemed the same.

Vee repeated the process a few times more, and ended up with a small tower of twice-refined cubes. There was probably a way that he could measure the differences in refinement between cubes properly, but just to prove to himself that his efforts had actually done something, Vee closed his eyes and summoned Do.

The [Dungeon Maintainer] appeared a few minutes later, and Vee tossed over one of his creations. “Tell me how this compares to what you usually get.”

Never one to question a direct order, Do consumed the ectoplasm slowly, sighing with contentment when finished.

“It’s much better than normal, master. Sweeter. More complex flavor.”

That still didn’t answer the ‘how much’ question, but Vee would take that as a starting point for now, and moved to discuss the dungeon renovation progress with his minion instead. He might as well; he’d already summoned the fiend and would have felt bad just dismissing him.

The new rooms and traps were being roughed out and prototyped in an empty warehouse instead of the dungeon proper, so that business could continue without pause until it came time to get everything installed and ready for the circuit. Do said they were coming along well.

In fact, the plans to get the area around the dungeon ready for business were all progressing smoothly. Hopefully that wasn’t an ill omen.

Thien had moved into her new workshop and was steadily working on dungeon rewards. The pendants were bigger and more ornate than the original versions had been, and Vee hoped that they were good enough for the adventurers who’d be coming to Oar’s Crest for the circuit.

After their brief conversation, Vee let Do return to work, giving his fiend the rest of his twice-refineds as a gift for the other [Dungeon Maintainers].

Once he was alone again, he returned to the office and grabbed more refined ectoplasm cubes to refine once again. Now that he knew improvement was possible, he had to keep making batches like this by hand until his internalized knowledge of the process bled over into his [Refine Ectoplasm] skill. At some point, the skill alone would bring cubes to this level of refinement naturally. How long that process would take though, was an absolute mystery. Could be another batch, could be a thousand more. Skill growth was something of a crapshoot.

Setting the cubes down, Vee stretched out his arms. That batch hadn’t been as challenging as the one before it for some reason. After a few shakes, he actually felt like he could go get more ectoplasm without any issue. Even the stairs weren’t too much of a pain today!

[Might +1!]

Well, that probably explained it.

With all the work Vee’d been doing on what he thought of as the backend of Crestheart, the [Dungeon Master] was excited for his weekly day off. Alforde had woken up extra early so that he could read some of his books before his day’s training marathon with Holly, claiming that the dedicated reading time helped him balance his urge to fight. The armorsoul had become increasingly mindful of things like that, and Vee sensed nothing concerning through their bond, which was a relief.

In contrast to his friend, Vee took it much easier that Saintsday morning, sleeping in until his aching stomach forced him up and out of bed. He dimly remembered as he brushed his teeth and dressed that he was due to meet Cornelius – the old man who knew things about dungeon sports – before noon, so he picked up his pace quite a bit and hurried down the boarding house steps with barely more than a wave to Sculla.

He didn’t want to be late.

As he scurried down the street, Vee thought it nice to be going somewhere other than the dungeon. He couldn’t remember if he’d felt the same way during his last day off, but his sense of the idea was familiar, so he probably had.

It was chilly, but not unbearably so, and the streets were gray and wet with slush. Water ran down from gutters and rooftop eaves, splattering against the ground. In the biggest empty patches, Vee once again saw filth and garbage everywhere, and he grimaced. The thick layer of snow that’d covered nearly everything for the past few months – though in truth the winter had felt as if it’d lasted more than a year – had made it easy to forget the way the city usually looked.

The Expectation tightened around his shoulders, and Vee felt a pang of guilt that he hadn’t really given his bigger quest much thought lately. Part of that was due to the fact that he truly believed the best way to make progress on it was to improve and develop Crestheart, but the other part of it was that the task of fixing a city like Oar’s Crest was extremely daunting. There was so many things that needed to be done, and plenty of them were well beyond his knowledge or abilities. He was no [City Manager]!

Still, he recognized a prime opportunity for killing two birds with one stone when he saw one. He didn’t want the adventurers coming for the circuit to think badly of Crestheart because the city was ugly, and cleaning up the streets would undoubtedly help him progress with his quest. Reaching up to Reginald’s brim, Vee asked his [Majordomo] a question.

“How long do you think it would take to get these streets cleaned up?”

“Are you one of those weirdos who thinks ‘never’ is a number, boss? If so, that’s my answer.”

“I’m serious, Reginald. Like, say we got the light section of my orchestra in here and let them loose. How long do you think it’d take them to clean things up around here?”

“Hard to say,” the hat answered after a moment. “They’re good at what they do, but unlike the street leading to Crestheart, the city proper never sleeps. No matter what time they tried to do things, they’d be getting in somebody’s way. That’d slow them down plenty, not to mention all the agonizing and screaming about fiends in the city! They’d be attacked or threatened constantly.”

“Assume all that stuff gets taken care of and mitigated,” Vee said, kicking a bit of slush aside. It was purely theoretical, as he had no real idea how to prevent any of the problems Reginald was mentioning, but all he was looking for just then was another starting point. “How long?”

“Six to nine months minimum.”

“And if we bolstered their efforts with the slimes?”

“Wouldn’t change much, I don’t think. Maybe four or five months under literally perfect conditions. Not to mention, this is all assuming that your fiends aren’t doing anything else while they clean. Including keeping the street in front of the dungeon clean. Any sort of real implementation is going to take a lot longer than we think.”

Vee frowned. That was a good point. “What if we got adventurers to pitch in too by offering bounties for cleaned blocks at the guild?”

Reginald tightened his brim. “I don’t think we have money for that, boss. Most adventurers get into the business because they don’t want to get their hands dirty with anything but monster guts. Since you’re really hung up on this right now, I suppose we could maybe swing a few payments here and there, but Crestheart isn’t big or lucrative enough for you to go blowing fleurs on philanthropy.”

True, though Vee scowled at the thought. If he didn’t have to worry about paying Sacre back, the dungeon would have more than enough free fleur flow to divert some to city improvements, but sadly that wasn’t the case just then, with the looming specter of ever-larger repayments hanging over his head.

“Gawain’s Balls I hate being in debt!” Vee muttered.

Regardless, the [Dungeon Master] was convinced that he needed to do something. Nobody else in the city – including the council, whose job it was to handle things like this – seemed interested in taking care of the streets, which meant that for better or worse it fell to him.

Something warm filled his spirit. This is my city.

Besides, it was in his best interest to make sure that Oar’s Crest made a good impression when the circuit came. Impressed customers were repeat customers, after all.

The Expectation purred, and reached up to nuzzle his cheek. Vee scratched his chin.

[Citizenship +1]

“Well, maybe we can start by cleaning a portion of the city. You know, show people what’s possible. Then we could use that success to get extra help from the council and citizenry and start working on the rest.”

“That’s not a bad thought boss. We going to blow this old guy off and go try and get on the agenda for the next council meeting?”

The thought was tempting, but Vee shook his head and turned toward the café where he was supposed to meet Cornelius. He needed the old man’s advice too, and it wouldn’t do to be rude by skipping out on something he’d agreed to. Do as you say you’re going to do and all that. It’d been one of his father’s favorite sayings, and Vee couldn’t help but smile as it floated through his thoughts.

“No. We’ll have plenty of time to go to the council office afterwards,” the [Dungeon Master] said. “It’s not like we’re doing anything else today.”

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 30

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 21

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 5

Might: 14 (+1)

Wit: 35

Faith: 21

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 14

Plotting: 20

Charisma: 15

Devious Mind: 23

Leadership: 17

Guts: 14

Intimidating Presence: 10

Citizenship: 21 (+1)

Public Relations: 7

Determination: 2

Persuasiveness: 3

Bargaining: 1

<3***Infatuation***<3

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 26 (+1)

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 14

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 16

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 8 (+1)

Might: 47 (+2)

Wit: 13

Faith: 28

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Endurance: 24 (+1)

Intimidating Presence: 12

Heart of a Champion: 11

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Vigilance: 6

Vanity: 1

Reginald :

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

--~%@(%$@ &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#$@!)~--, #$v@& ????

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 40

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 16

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 8

Might: 1

Wit: 33

Faith: 14

Ambition: 27

Greed: 23

Deceptiveness: 27

Manipulativeness: 38

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

Loyalty: 47

Patience: 9

Irritability: 21 (+1)

[#&%%%@%!#@__--#%]

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

@#$@%%^

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

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8 (+1)