Peek: Delver's Digest

As winter descends, most delvers take a break.  While very few fully abstain from delving entirely, most will slow their pace.   They take the time to spend what they gained over the year, repair or replace what gear needs it, and maybe hone some crafting skill or another, or train their combat skills somewhere much closer to a warm drink and warm hearth.

And, of course, they trade tales of delves, rumors of happenings, tips, tricks, and otherwise socialize.  With so much information and gossip flying, of course some enterprising individuals will write it down and try to sell it.  While the Dungeoneers give hard facts, they tend to leave interpreting and applying those facts to others, and the writers of Delver's Digest are only too happy to interpret.

While they write and publish all year, the colder months are when they make much of their coin.  Not only are the adventurers looking to spend their time doing something besides delve, various farmers and crafters often take up delving as a hobby or as a way to help earn a bit of coin, and so they look for sources like the Digest to help keep them safe.

Seven Unusual Health Potion Recipes, One Weird Trick For Finding Secret Passages, The Benefits of Taming Without Being a Tamer, and more articles help to entertain as well as protect, and can even point delvers at new opportunities, and away from dangers.

In the Red Rose Adventurer's Guild, parties relax in the tavern area, some more loudly than others.  The latest edition of Delver's Digest just came out, and most groups are flipping through the articles to see if there's anything interesting.  Some tables laugh at ridiculous tales of delves that are almost-certainly fiction, some discus the merits of the latest enchanting tips and tricks presented, and most of one group sighs at the large orc as he finds "proof" for another of his insane conspiracies.

"I'm telling you, that dungeon will be the death of us all!"

The lithe foxkin across from him sighs, knowing she's not going to be hearing anything intelligent for a while, but deep down she enjoys the discussions and debates.  "Which dungeon, Noynur?  Are you still convinced the Royal Cemetary is going to flood the capital with lichified archfey?"

The androginous elf beside her chuckles around his glass of wine.  "I hope so.  I think that was his best doomsday prophecy yet."

"Har har," deadpans the orc as he pulls out a tome heavier than the axe strapped to his back, a book that one would usually expect to find in some wizard's study.  It's obviously too heavy for a bookish caster to haul around.  Noynur pulls out some reading glasses and flips through it for a few moments, ignoring the smirks of his companions as he looks for his spot.  He glances from the tome to the news pamphlet, and nods to himself before turning the tome for the other two to gaze upon.

"Should I start from the beginning so you two simpletons don't get lost?"  he asks with a low growl.  To outsides, it may seem overly hostile, but that's simply how Noynur talks.  And any who have listened to him talk quickly understands there's a lot more going on between his ears than his outside appearance would suggest.

"Fine," says the foxkin.  "If only so we can poke holes in the foundation, instead of only the latest addition."

The orc rolls his eyes and points at the top of his page of notes.  "Neverrest Subsumed by New Dungeon," he states plainly.  The elf nods while the foxkin fights to not roll her eyes.

"Are you actually going to say that's a bad thing?"

"Of course not, Jana... at least not on its own.  You can't even claim this is poor information, unless you want to say the Dungeoneer's official record is faulty?"

Jana smirks.  "I'm pretty sure that's your kind of conspiracy, not mine."

Noynur gives her a flat look before moving his finger down the page to the next point: Undead Resident in Fourdock Dungeon?

"You can't be serious with that one, Noynur," speaks up the elf.

"I'm very serious about this one, Driough.  Guilds aren't allowed to hide any deaths of their members, and new members can't hide that they've joined.  I looked into the official records, and a longtime member of the guild in Fourdock died, and then rejoined within the week."

Driough waves it off.  "A coincidence, or a simple mistake.  Or maybe an attempt at laundering funds.  A poor attempt, if you were able to find it so easily."

Jana looks conflicted for a few moments before sighing.  "No, I don't think so.  Karn the Slight is supposed to be running that one.  From what I hear about him, if it was some laundering attempt, it'd be a lot more subtle.  He probably wouldn't be above trying to bait an audit just to waste someone's time, but I don't think he's bored enough to want to do something like that.  Not if half of the stuff Noynur's gathered has any basis in reality."

Driough doesn't look too convinced, but he's outnumbered on this one, so he motions for the orc to continue, and the green finger moves to the next line:  Violet.  Toybox.  Protege.  That just earns him some confused looks, which he answers with a shrug.

"It'll be relevant soon, trust me."  He moves on, pointing out the next important note.  Hullbreak Harbor Vassalized.

Jana, frowns at that.  "Did you tell us about that one before?"

The orc shakes his head, but Driough soon grins.  "He did!  Just not in connection with this dungeon.  Something about destabilizing sea trade along the entire ocean, but I don't recall the details."  Noynur frowns this time, and marks the place as he flips back through the book.  He glances through the page he wanted, before nodding and flipping back.

"The East Blue Waters Trade League was in a prime position to monopolize trade along the coast after Hullbreak banished adventurers.  But they didn't capitalize and are probably going to get bought out, so I don't think they deliberately harmed Hullbreak anymore."

"What's this about it getting vassalized, though?" asks Jana, bringing the discussion back to the point.

"The Fourdock Dungeon vassalized it, according to the public record.  It also named itself: Thedeim.  It's also the mentor to that toybox.  And now, there's this."  He points to his newest note: Fourdock and Thedeim Allies?

That earns more confused looks from the orc's companions.  "Dungeons can do that?" asks Driough.

"Apparently," replies Noynur.

"Probably nothing actually official..." Jana says more to herself as she looks over the notes, starting to wonder if Noynur is actually onto something.  "So, what do you think is actually happening?  Neverrest wasn't subsumed at all and it's playing dead, using a new name to trick people?"

The orc shakes his head.  "I doubt it.  I've gone over archived reports from that dungeon, and it's just not smart enough to change this much."

"Well don't keep us waiting.  You said this dungeon would be the death of us all, and I'm not seeing a lot of death," points out the elf.

Noynur meets his friends eyes and inhales, drawing out the moment just a little longer, before slumping a bit and sighing.  "I don't know exactly what's going on.  But no dungeon less than a year old should be responsible for all these things.  It's not adding up, and I don't like it.  I mean, look at all these scions!  It shouldn't be able to afford all of those!"  He flips a few pages, showing reports on approximately a dozen different scions.

"It must be an older dungeon, expanded up from the Depths, or even deeper!  You both know how nasty those deeper dungeons can get!"  The orcs companions both nod at that with grim faces, and Driough speaks.

"Should we investigate in the spring, then?"

"I'd like to investigate earlier... but I think we'll need winter to try to prepare.  Vnarl's group was defeated there, maybe killed and revived, if the undead resident is true.  We'll need to be ready for a serious fight if this dungeon is just playing the long game."

The three all nod at that, and Jana smirks.  "And, if it's not some terror from the Depths, at least we can have some fun delving a new dungeon.  The ones around here are getting a bit stale."

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Partially inspired by Herakilla, who wanted to see some more outside reactions to Thedeim.