Unexpected Healer Book 2 -- Chapter 33

Chapter 33

If there were such a thing as a penthouse suite in the world of Tarth, the Gold-Ranked room he was led to would be it.  It had all of the amenities of the Silver-Ranked room back in Forgestone, only more.  Bigger bed, bigger bathroom, fancier-looking everything – it had it all.  He knew that it was more expensive because of the fact that none of it was constructed of local stone or driftwood, meaning that it had to be shipped in especially for the room, and the accents of real gold worked into the architecture was nice touch.

He was warned not to try and chisel any of the precious metal out, as that would be something he would be charged for; Thaden didn’t have any intention of doing so, as he had no need for it right now. 

“Amazing,” the Lifewarden remarked as soon as he took it all in.  The room even had a sunroof!  “There are a few more things I wanted to ask.  First, I don’t suppose you have any information regarding the Anchoring dungeons and where I could find them?”

The Vice-Leader shook his head, his expression blank.  “No, sir.  I can get you all the information we have available on all the dungeons and maps of the Region, but I have no knowledge of specific Anchoring locations, I’m sorry to say.”  Thaden couldn’t tell if he was lying or genuinely didn’t know, but he knew it was a longshot, anyway.

“That would be wonderful; I’ve looked at all the information once, but I want to see if there was anything I missed.  I appreciate whatever help you can provide.”

“Again, we’re here to help with anything you need… within the rules, of course.  We don’t have any Concierges available yet, but I will make sure we have one transferred immediately.  What was your other question?” Hartin asked politely. 

“Yes, is there a way to make a Contract Bond for a service in the Contender Market that would ensure the silence of whoever excepts my service?  Meaning, essentially, that they can’t talk about what they see or hear while I’m undergoing the service.”

The Vice-Leader nodded, though it wasn’t in confirmation.  “I can understand why you would want such a thing, but unfortunately that isn’t something that can be included into a Contract Bond.”

“Really?  Why?”

“It is not a specific service related to Class abilities, party management, or finished products that need to be delivered.  These types of things are measurable and therefore enforceable if not provided as part of the service; the Assimilation System cannot monitor thoughts or words, written or vocalized, only specific actions that directly impact another Contender.”

Wouldn’t telling someone my secrets directly impact me?  Regardless of the finer details, it seemed as though whatever he did wasn’t going to covered by some sort of magical Non-Disclosure Agreement in the Contract Bond.

“Unless there is anything else you need, I will leave you now and ensure your information arrives as soon as possible.”

“Thank you so much, Vice-Leader, you’ve been a big help.”

Hartin affixed a smile to his face and bowed slightly, before turning on his heel and leaving Thaden alone.  He wasn’t looking forward to digging through all the dungeon information again, but now that he had a purpose to it, he was hoping that something would pop out at him.

Before he did anything else, he took the time to take a lengthy shower, the first he’d really had a chance to enjoy since he left Forgestone.  Afterwards he felt thoroughly refreshed and put on clean, comfortable clothes from his Inventory, before making his way to the table where he could find access to the Contender Market.  As he sat down in an extremely plush chair, he couldn’t help but marvel at how much nicer the feel of it was compared to the one in the Silver-Ranked room he’d had before, something that he didn’t think was possible.  As he sunk into the comfortable furniture, he felt slightly guilty at enjoying such luxury when it largely came from the destruction of an entire city, but he pushed away those feelings as much as he could because it wasn’t productive.

But he sat up a little straighter and tried not to enjoy it too much.

Accessing the Market was just as easy as it was before, and he took a few minutes to peruse the listings of items since it had been nearly a week since he’d checked it out last.  Unfortunately, while there were items there that weren’t available before, none of them were better than what he already had; he was left thoroughly disappointed, seeing as he had a lot of money to spend, but he was beginning to learn that finding appropriate gear for himself was almost always going to be a challenge – especially at his Level.  He was better off trying to find it from loot in dungeons, which was where most of them had come from.

He resolved to check out the local shops for anything he could use if he found the time, but for now he had something more important to do.

Selecting the Services menu, he looked at the postings there and was rewarded with the sight of dozens of people looking for a new party to join – just like he remembered.  What he hadn’t remembered, or there hadn’t been any at the time, were postings where both Guilds and entire parties were recruiting new members.  It seemed as though they had found a way around the whole Contract Bond thing to essentially advertise on the Market, with the former extolling their benefits and reasons to join a Guild, and the latter having a general outline of their existing Classes, their accomplishments such as what dungeons they’d already completed, and anything else that might catch the eye of prospective party members.

As for what party members they were looking for, 90% of them were looking for a Support Class – as he could’ve guessed before even looking at them.  The rest were a mixture of other Classes, though the majority of them were for a Control Class, which was the next least-popular type of Class from what he’d learned.

Idly looking through them, thinking about his own service posting he was going to be putting up, one of them caught his eye.  Not because of some boast or anything positive like that, but because of the desperate tone that was conveyed despite it being a simple text posting.

Service Category: Party Management

Service Contract Duration: A single delve through Crestline Gorge of up to 12 hours, temporary or permanent party positions negotiable after service contract is complete

Service Description: Look, we’ve been stuck at Level 20 for days now because we’re too scared to Level-up.  All the damn Guilds demand a fee if we want to join them, and obtaining our next Class is too dangerous without a Guild to back you up in case you get jumped.  The Boss from the Crestline Gorge should give us the funds we need, but we can’t beat it without a Support Class; believe me, we’ve tried.  It’s why we’re broke, because we spent all our money on Health potions, which are a rip-off, as you probably know.  Anyway, I hope someone is willing to help us out here, because otherwise… we’re screwed.    

Service Location: Rageharbor

Service Provider: Gregory, Scout Class, Level 20

Service Price: 1 Copper

“Hmm… perhaps this is better than doing my own post?” he mumbled out loud as he reread the service posting.  Thinking about it a little more, if he posted on his own that he was willing to shell out gold and loot for a few delves through a dungeon, he might end up attracting the wrong sort of people.  The kind of people who would want to try and extort him for more money.

But desperate people who just needed some gold so that they didn’t die when they Leveled-up?  That sounded like something he could work with.  Sure, that didn’t mean they were trustworthy or wouldn’t turn on him at some point, but this way he wasn’t going into it advertising his wealth to anyone who had access to the Contender Market – which was pretty much all of them. 

So, he figured that he could at least try it with this party and see what happened.  From what he understood, the Contract Bond would simply incorporate him into the party instead of staying separate like the Bond he had created before with Meghan.  As far as he could tell, it would count as being in a party for his Evolution Assignment, which was all that mattered.

“Desperate times and desperate people – what could go wrong?” he said to himself, even as he accepted the Service Contract with Gregory, paying the single Copper service price.  He was fairly certain that what he paid would go straight to the Market as an automatic fee, and that Gregory and his party would’ve had to pay another fee for posting, so it wasn’t like they were making anything from the transaction.

He also made sure to change his name back to Angelo and his Level to 20, as he didn’t want to associate his Level 21 Christopher persona with what he was doing; he would’ve rather left it blank, but that wasn’t allowed.  He also considered making another fake name and a higher Level, which might explain why he was doing what he was, but decided against it; he would simply retire Angelo after all this was over and done with, discarding the name like a shirt that didn’t fit anymore.

Thankfully, there was a messaging system in the Market that only worked between Contract Bond holders, though it took about 15 minutes for the impatient Lifewarden to get anything.

“Wait, seriously?  You want to join us for a delve through Crestline Gorge?”

Thaden responded with, “Absolutely.  When do we leave?”

There was a short delay before another message came through.  “Give us two hours.  I just need to get the party together.  Meet us at the north gate.”

The delay chafed at him, but he supposed it was too much to ask to leave immediately.  “I’ll be there.”

That gave him enough time to clean his “Angelo” clothes, which were still dirty and bloody from his experiences climbing over rubble in Forgestone.  Thankfully, magically enchanted clothing seemed to repair itself automatically over time, so it wasn’t torn or actually damaged, but it didn’t do anything to clean it.  Using the extravagant bathtub as a makeshift laundry was probably a sacrilege, but it got the job done to the point where most of the stains were gone, and a hot air dryer that was normally used to dry the body after getting out of the bath or shower helped to expel all of the water, leaving it almost as white as it should be. 

Of course, he wasn’t going to be leaving the Coalition building in those clothes, as his previous experience with Camille left him paranoid, but as soon as he got somewhere private wearing his Hood of Obscurity and Shadow Silk Robe, he would change and meet the party at the north gate.

He was thankful for his boosted Celerity, because it took him so much longer to run through the entire city of Rageharbor than he expected, especially since he was nearest the southern gate where he entered.  By the time he got there he only had a few minutes left before the two hours were up, and he quickly hid and changed into his all-white outfit again, complete with the obnoxious, wide-brimmed hat. 

Walking quickly to the gate, he stopped just inside the entrance where a bunch of other people seemed to be waiting for their party – or for some other reason he didn’t bother to look into – and he looked around for a Level 20 Scout Class named Gregory.  Not seeing anyone, he figured it would be just another few minutes before they arrived, so he stood there and waited.

And waited.

A little over 30 minutes later, while was tapping his foot impatiently and boredly perusing his Character Report, he finally saw a group of four Contenders hurrying toward the gate, with a leather armor-wearing Scout named Gregory at the front.  With a full black beard that appeared a bit scraggly covering his face, he looked as if he had just been woken up from a nap, if his slightly disheveled appearance was anything to go by. 

His party members, two other guys and a dark-haired woman who was either the Mage or the Control Class because she was wearing a robe, appeared even worse as they were still arranging their clothes and combing their hair with their fingers. 

“I’m so sorry, it took forever to get their lazy asses out of bed,” Gregory said as soon as he was close enough. 

“Bed?  But the sun is just barely setting.”  It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to be going out at night, but nothing really scared him outside the walls of the city anymore. 

“Yeah, we’re usually out and about at night, as the lines are shorter for the dungeons around here.  It’s a rare sight for us to see sunlight,” the Scout explained.

Thaden just nodded, starting to understand why they looked the way they did.  “Are you sure you’re up for this?  Or do you need a few minutes to prepare?”

The woman, Melindra, was getting a particularly stubborn knot out of her hair as she spoke.  “Nah, we’re good.  It’s only an hour or so before we’d normally be up, so it’s no problem.  We’ll be fine by the time we get there, anyway.”

Thaden was skeptical, but they apparently knew what they were doing.

“If you’re sure, then let’s get going,” the Lifewarden said with a shrug.  “I’ll have to follow you, though, because I’m new to the city and haven’t been to any of the dungeons around here.”  He knew, in general, where it was, but that wasn’t exactly the same as having been there; he also knew a little more information about it, but he wanted to see what the others would tell him since it sounded like they’d been in there more than a few times.

Gregory raised his eyebrows at that admission, then shook his head.  “That’s fine.  We’ve been there plenty of times, though I swear the loot drops get worse and worse every time we go.”

“Why don’t you go to another one, then?”

All four of them chuckled sadly at that.  “Guilds, of course.  I’m assuming that wherever you came from, the Guilds haven’t essentially taken over yet?”  Even as he spoke, the Scout started moving toward the gate with everyone else following behind.

“No, I haven’t had too much experience with them.”

“Make sense, I guess.  They’re only really in the big cities, but I’m sure they’ll be everywhere in a month or two,” Gregory explained.  “Anyway, Crestline Gorge is the only dungeon nearby that isn’t controlled by the Guilds.  Theoretically, they can’t actually stop anyone from delving through them, but they’ll make your life a living hell by harassing you non-stop afterwards, and you’ll be blacklisted from joining any Guild from that point on.  It’s essentially a death sentence once you hit Level 21.”

Things were starting to come together.  “And I’m guessing that the loot drops in the Gorge are poor to begin with, which is why none of the Guilds are controlling it?”

“Exactly.  It’s basically only the Boss that has a chance to drop anything good, which is the problem because we can’t kill it before we’re forced to retreat.”

“I see.  How much is whatever drops from the Boss worth?  Additional question: How much do the Guilds charge in order to join them?”

Gregory hesitated to answer, but the Fighter of the party, Carlos, answered for him.  “It sells for about 30 gold, if we can find the right buyer.  The Guilds take 5 gold from us to join them.”  There was a hint of a Hispanic accent to Carlos’ words, which didn’t exactly match his appearance as a pale white guy.  Or maybe I’m just being racist.  He sighed, admonishing himself for getting sidetracked.

“That’s insane.  Extortion, even.”

“But not against the rules,” Gregory said.  “As long as they don’t start anything in the city, none of the locals care one bit about it.  And as soon as you’re past those walls, if you’re not in a Guild past Level 21, you’re in trouble.”

It was yet another way that the stupid Contender-versus-Contender system could be exploited. 

“So I’ve heard.  And therefore you’re trying to make enough to join a Guild, but the only place to make that kind of money is in the Crestline Gorge because all the others are controlled by different Guilds.  But you can’t kill the Boss that drops the loot because you don’t have a Support Class in your party… which is why you were posting on the Contender Market.  Is that about right?”

“Exactly.  And we really appreciate you helping us out here, and I promise to make it worth your while.  We even privately agreed to give all our loot over the next two dungeon delves after we join a Guild, after the Guild taxes, of course, because we’re going to need as much of the money we can manage to get from the Boss’s drop to pay for the Guild entrance fees.  If it drops, of course, which may mean trying again – if you’re able to help us further than that?”

“We’ll see if that is necessary.”

“Why did you agree to party with us?” the abrupt question came from the last party member who had so far been quiet.  The young man appeared to be in his upper teens and had short brown hair in a bowl cut, which didn’t look great with his blue robe.  He held a gnarled wooden staff in his hand, but his limbs were scrawny enough that Thaden doubted he had ever used it as an actual weapon – or if he had, it hadn’t done much damage.

“David, that’s not important,” Melindra said quickly, giving the kid an irritated glance.  “What matters is that he’s here, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

Despite admonishing the young man, Thaden could tell that everyone was still interested to know why he had joined them – so he answered as best he could without giving anything away quite yet.  There were still dozens of other Contenders around the outside of the walls, and he didn’t want to be overheard.  “It’s fine, I’ll answer.  I’m new here, as you know, and don’t have an established party of my own.”

“Yes, but why us,” Carlos asked, only to be shushed by Melindra.

“Why you?  Why not?”

“Because we’re not that great—” David said, only to be smacked on the head by the woman.  While Gregory seemed to be the leader of the party, Melindra appeared to be more than willing to keep the others in line.

“What he’s trying to say is that—” Gregory began to explain, but Thaden held up his hand to stop him.

“I understand.  You don’t have a Guild backing, and many of the others around here are passing you in Level, so you’re feeling a bit down.  Well, let’s just see if we can fix that, shall we?” he said, strangely looking forward to delving through the dungeon with them.  They weren’t exactly the best Contenders he’d every seen, but they would serve their purpose; better yet, he was beginning to like them.  “On the way, why don’t you tell me more about this dungeon we’re going to?”

Gregory was silent for a moment before he started to explain what they would be facing inside the dungeon.  It generally matched the information he already had on the place, but they had a lot more detail to add on specific areas and traps that they expected to find.

While it wasn’t groundbreaking information, it got them all talking a bit, and by the time they arrived, about an hour and a half later, Thaden thought he heard a little bit more hope in their voices.

Of course, they still had yet to invite him to the party, and once they did, the Level 63 Lifewarden had some serious explaining to do.