Cat Core, Chapter 28, along with a picture of Zeus, Spud, Gabsug, and Florence.

Chapter 28.

Roland’s discovery of the Tater doily was causing quite a buzz inside the inn. Shara watched with amusement as the other adventurers pelted him with questions over the item’s ability, any ideas over what the upgrades would be like, and which defender dropped it. He told them it was from the champion; the party didn’t want to tell them that Florence had created a good-sized reward chest for them. From their experience, the dungeon, while interesting, was a bit stingy with her rewards. They weren’t complaining, all of them were earning more in a single run in the cat dungeon than they would have made from months of work back at home. The downside, other than the risk of death, was the increasing cost of replacing or repairing their gear.

Vanderman’s armor was a total loss. Patches of the chainmail shirt had been slashed open by cat claws and melted by the slime. His boots and leather armor pieces were in even worse shape. When Roland finished with all the attention he was enjoying, the group was going to see about purchasing replacements and upgrades from Ben. Between the reward chest and the normal loot from the defenders, they each had a modest amount of coin to spend.

While the Tater doily was the highlight of the reward chest, it had also held a good-sized bag of low-value coins and a shortsword. The sword was of good quality, but not magical in any way. Shara needed to see about improving her armor, the class of Light Mage allowed her to wear armor and imparted the knowledge of how to move, fight, and cast her spells while wearing anything other than the heaviest. It would be a while before she upgraded her weapon, the armor was more of a priority and she liked the mace she had purchased, it proved quite effective against the cat defenders.

“Roland, I’m heading to the shop, join us when you’re done,” Vanderman said, finally tired of waiting. Roland waved them on, obviously enjoying the attention that the new adventuring parties were giving him. Ben had done a good job in expanding his shop, the building was attached to the tavern and was nearly as large. Shara had noticed that the supply caravans to the growing dungeon town were becoming more regular and though most of the wagons arriving carried basic supplies, construction materials, or new adventurers, several were stuffed with goods for him to sell.

“Ah, my business partners have arrived, we need to have a quick chat and you need to get Roland in here now,” Ben said firmly. Vanderman looked confused at the shopkeeper’s reaction but did go back into the tavern to drag a complaining Roland into the small back room of the shop where Ben glared angrily at him. While the man was normally jovial and pleasant to be around, a feature that Shara figured was almost necessary for the line of work he was in, he was not giving off a friendly vibe right now.

“Here I was, thinking your party was going to keep their word. I thought we had a good venture going, tell me, what happened? Do you wish to sever our partnership?” Ben growled.

“Woah, I don’t think we know what the heck you’re talking about?” Vanderman asked, a bit annoyed over the accusation.

“Oh, really? Tell me, Vanderman, what was our agreement?” Ben asked.

“Well, we sell everything to you and in return, you give us a discount on your goods. We’ve been doing that, none of us have been going to the dive across the street or to any of the smaller merchants,” Vanderman said defensively. The shop and tavern across the street had grown along with Ben’s place, but it retained it's decidedly less than savory appeal. Other merchants had arrived, most working out of their wagons or small tents until they could build a permanent shop. Shara suspected that Ben was going make as much doing construction work for other merchants as he was from his store.

“That’s true, but what was the other part of our agreement, our joint venture?” Ben asked.

“Well, uh, we give you information for the dungeon guides you’re printing up,” Vanderman said, finally realizing what Ben was upset over. The entire party looked over to Roland.

“What did I do? Why are you all looking at me?” Roland whined.

“You idiot, you’ve been in the tavern blabbing all about your new find,” Vanderman told him.

“Exactly, of course, your whole party is at fault for not stopping the fool. Do you know how much coin you cost us each time you explained how you acquired the final piece of the doily set? I suppose you don’t, but consider it for a moment. Every, and I mean every, group of adventurers would have paid a pretty silver coin for the latest edition of the guide, the one that was going to feature your experience in acquiring the most valuable piece of loot the dungeon has produced so far. Now, we’ll be lucky to get a few coppers from each copy,” Ben growled.

“Oh,” was all Roland could say, realizing his mistake.

“We’re sorry Ben,” Vanderman started. “We didn’t think about the consequences and were just too excited over our latest run. What can we do to make this up to you?” Vanderman asked.

“Fine, you’re just inexperienced and I realize you didn’t mean anything by it, but it still cost us both dearly. I don’t have to tell you that more and more adventurers shown up every day. This place is going to grow quickly and we need to keep our eye on the prize if we want to maximize our returns. Your party will get more runs than any other group, given the priority the queue system gives for you being the first group to explore the cat dungeon. Use that experience, sell that experience for some good coin, and don’t ever give anything away for free,” Ben advised.

“Sir, I might have an idea on how to help,” Ox offered. Ben looked at him, curious. Shara knew that Ox was a shrewd negotiator, a skill he had learned from his father and that Ben had a grudging respect for the quiet giant.

“I’m listening,” Ben replied.

“Well, we’re getting a lot of new parties showing up as you said. The first thing they’re all going to want to know is what unique loot the dungeon offers. That’s what every adventurer dreams of, something powerful to give them an edge. In this dungeon’s case, that item is the cat doily collections,” Ox said.

“Yes, we all realize that, it’s common knowledge, get to your point big guy,” Ben said.

“Sure, you see, these new groups will hear all about the collections and want to get a jump on starting theirs. I say you offer to buy up the common doilies for a pittance, most people don’t want extra copies of the common ones. We package those into sets that are only missing the rare drop, Tater. You can sell them cheaply, but for much more than you purchased them for,” Ox offered. Ben rubbed the stubble on his chin, thinking for a long moment before replying.

“You know, that just might work. While the set won’t bring much, maybe I can combine it with the latest edition of our dungeon guide to add some value. Yes, I think that those would move quickly. Good call, Ox, I’ll get started on that,” Ben said.

“So, we’re good?” Vanderman asked.

“Oh no, it’s not quite that easy. I know you have stacks of the common doilies; you’ll hand those over and agree to pass any additional ones over to me after each run. Do that, and I’ll let you have a slice, a small slice of what I make on the sets. Also, I’ll keep your discount in place. We should do pretty good on these sets, at least until the market becomes saturated and others try to jump in on the action,” Ben said.

“Deal, we each keep a set of commons for ourselves and pass the others over to you,” Vanderman said, shaking Ben’s hand, the merchant’s demeanor changing back to the jovial man he normally portrayed.

“Good, now the only other requirement is that Roland and the rest of you keep quiet over what you find on your runs. No more giving away freebies to the other parties,” Ben demanded.

“Hey,” Roland started to protest, but Vanderman quieted down with a glare.

“That’s fine, Ben, the only exception is that we can warn folks of any exceptional threats inside the dungeon. I won’t have folks die to something unusual that they won’t think to expect,” Vanderman asked.

“I can live with that, in fact, you tell me of any new threats, and I’ll keep a warning board updated in the shop here, so folks can keep tabs on big changes,” Ben agreed.

“Fine, one thing that gave us trouble on the last run was a pit trap in the new washroom, it held a slime in the bottom that did this,” Vanderman said, pointing out the melted portions of his armor and boots.

“Good, give me the rest of the new dungeon details, and then I can get the warning sign up while you folks shop for replacements and upgrades. Junior has done a good job in reorganizing the shop to make it easy to find things,” Ben said. They gave him a rundown of all the changes in the dungeon before beginning their shopping.

“Who’s this Junior guy? I don’t remember him in here before,” Roland asked.

“It’s me, I’m Benjamin Bingman Junior, most folks just call me Junior,” A younger version of Ben said as he stepped behind the counter after emerging from the storage area at the back of the shop.

“Oh, there’s another one of them?” Roland asked.

“Yep, we’ve got a big family, now, did you folks need to make a purchase or are you just perusing the wares. Dad doesn’t charge to look, at least not yet,” Junior said.

“Pleased to meet you, Junior, can you point me in the direction of some armor?” Shara asked. Junior was pleasant enough, showing her the selection of leather armor and the few chainmail pieces that might be in her price range. The others browsed around while she made her selections. While the chainmail or a steel breastplate would be preferred, she had to settle for a suit of sturdy leather with metal rings sewn into it, which would greatly help the armor block the slashing attacks of the cats inside the dungeon.

Heavy gloves and hardened leather greaves rounded out her purchases. She was also able to get a new steel shield. The shield was small, only a bit larger than her old buckler, but the steel construction would hold up better to hard use. Shara rather liked the extra mobility the smaller shield allowed, and it was easier to drop if she needed both hands to cast an emergency heal. While her healing powers worked on anyone she could see, having direct physical contact improved the rate of healing and could make a big difference with a critical wound.

Vanderman upgraded his chain shirt into a full set of heavier chainmail. It looked like it would be painful to walk around in, especially with the thick padding he wore underneath it. Her friend didn’t seem slowed down at all, likely his class ability to wear any armor was assisting him. His sword and shield were already good quality pieces, but he did choose to add some steel greaves to reinforce his leg armor since that was a weak point the cats had tried to take advantage of. A simple leather helmet rounded out his gear, choosing to have better visibility over the greater protection offered by an enclosed steel helmet.

Roland now sported a set of armor like the set that Shara had selected. It would offer better protection while not hampering his freedom of movement when using his bow. He didn’t have the funds for a better bow just yet, choosing to upgrade his armor before saving up for a longbow in the shop that he had his eye on. Nala bought a bandoleer of small throwing daggers but opted to just repair her current armor. She had mentioned that she wanted to save up for something special as far as armor went.

Ox finally splurged on a simple set of leather armor. He didn’t talk much about his class but had mentioned that he could wear light armor without risking any spell casting failure. His huge two-headed axe was supplemented by a smaller hatchet tucked into his belt. Nala was going to work with him to learn how to throw the small hatchet properly.

“You know, for the first time, I think we look like a real adventuring band,” Vanderman said as they left the shop and made their way back to their tents.

“I agree, and not only do we look the part, but we’re also getting pretty good at this,” Roland added.

“True, we just need to keep cautious and know our limits. This could be a good thing for us, and I intend to adventure for a long time,” Shara added. She had always wanted this life, and despite the hardships, she couldn’t think of doing anything else. There was a thrill when you pitted yourself against a dungeon defender, the party all pulling together to defeat the foe and reap the rewards of their work.

“I like this,” was all Ox said.

“We like you as well,” Nala replied to the big guy, giving him a wink, which caused the normally stoic battlemage to blush.

“We’re on the list for the first run tomorrow, but after that, it looks like we’ll have to wait another day or so to allow some of the newcomers to take their turn,” Vanderman advised. them. He had finished buying his gear first and used the free time to peek into Ben’s dungeon queue log. More adventurers made the place look alive, but it would also cut down on the total number of delves they could fit in, despite the advantage that the first party bonus gave them.

“Just how many parties are on the list now?” Shara asked.

“I don’t know if the most recent arrivals were logged in yet, but I counted nine and it looks like one or two more show up every few days,” Vanderman advised. At least they had salvaged their deal with Ben, which would help by providing a trickle of income on the days they weren’t on the list.

“Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long between runs,” Shara said.

“Oh, there was something new in the queue log. Ben has a new section for adventurers looking for a party. If we ever want to add someone else to the group we can take one of them on a test run. I saw there were four names on the list along with their combat style or any special skills they had,” Vanderman said.

“That will be good if a party needed an extra hand and give everyone a chance to see if someone fits with their group,” Nala added as they headed back to their camp.

Their camping spot had moved a few times as the town grew up around them. For now, they had their tents staked out between the town and the dungeon, making it a quick trip for their daily runs. One of the first things they had spent their loot on was better tents for the entire group, and everyone now had a private tent. There had been discussion over buying or building their own house, and Shara figured that would be their next step, especially once winter rolled around. While the weather wasn’t too harsh in this part of the world, a tent would be completely inadequate for the cold seasons.

Some of the wealthier adventurers had purchased rooms at Ben’s place and the less reputable inn, but most were like them, pitching tents on any open ground they could find. A few of the newer merchants were similarly housed, they would build shops with an attached residence at some point, at least the ones that were able to survive the growing competition among the various merchants offering similar wares. Ben looked to have a leg up on the others given his early arrival and competent planning. It helped that he had a reputation for dealing fairly with everyone. While there was always some grumbling over the prices of various things, nobody accused him of gouging or taking unfair advantage of anyone.

“I’m going to see if I can track anything for dinner before we lose the light,” Roland said. They had already eaten at the inn, but Roland seemed to enjoy hunting and he had really helped them stretch their food supply by heading out to stalk game for the group each evening. Sadly, with many others having the same idea, Roland mentioned that most of the game had been pushed back further and further from town, making his hunts take longer and longer. Nala joined him tonight on the hunt, she liked to test her stalking skills alongside their ranger. Roland had finally embraced the ranger class completely; the whole rogue thing just wasn’t a good fit for him.