Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus

by Blaise Corvin

  Aodh was flustered and held out his hands. "No, I don't dislike you!" He suddenly realized that he'd barely spoken to the Mo'hali boy the entire time he'd been an adventurer. The whole thing was obviously a misunderstanding. "I just didn't think you'd want to talk to me! I mean, you're an heir and a Hero. I'm just a shepherd!"

  Bezzi-ibbi cocked his head to the side and nodded slowly. He said in English, "I find this odd. We both appear as things we do not have hearts for. You looked like a shepherd, but you have the heart of an adventurer. I looked like a Clan heir, but I have the heart of a warrior poet. The difference between us is you actually are an adventurer now while I only managed to change my arm and meet more people who see me as an heir.

  "This talk is not to complain." Bezzi-ibbi paused for a moment before continuing, "The purpose of my words is not for pity. It would be a great insult to people who would kill for my birthright and advantages. However, I would like one day to achieve what you have, for people to see me for my dream instead of my birth."

  Aodh swallowed. He'd never thought about it that way. He would have never imagined a Mo'hali merchant Clan heir could envy him for anything. He shook his head. "Why do Henry and Jason tell people about your Family connection, then?"

  Bezzi-ibbi smiled ruefully. "Well, part is they are idiots. But also, they see my rank, even my whole Family, as almost..." He struggled for a few moments to find the words before finally saying, "Like clothing. It's not real to them. It's something they know I have but not what I am. I felt pieces of this when I met them. They are interesting. I wish to be a warrior poet, and they will help me find my dream."

  Aodh nodded slowly. It was true that Henry and Jason were idiots, but he understood what Bezzi-ibbi was saying. Something about them made him want to believe in them. The fact they could create ridiculous things like the Battlewagon and even irresponsibly strap bombs to his belt made him want to see what they'd do next. He felt a new sense of kinship with Bezzi-ibbi and was about to say so when suddenly he heard howls.

  The piercing, otherworldly cries sounded like nothing Aodh had ever heard. He was instantly alarmed and glanced around to see the rest of the team's reaction. What he observed was confusing and didn't help his growing anxiety.

  He couldn't see Jason in the driver seat, but the Battlewagon started to slow down. Henry looked excited and was doing something with the cannons attached to his turret. Keeja was still pretending to sleep and not doing a very good job of it. Uluula and Mareen both grabbed weapons and looked scared but excited. Rark-han was trembling; he was obviously terrified. Bezzi-ibbi, on the other hand, was calm and didn't do anything other than take his fancy coat off and flex his metal arm.

  Aodh didn't know what to do. He didn't know what was happening, but the howls were affecting his state of mind. "What's going on?" he whispered.

  Bezzi-ibbi rolled his eyes and said, "Probably demon wolves. I actually expected something like this. The odds were low we would meet them again, but wherever Henry and Jason go, trouble follows."

  "Demon wolves?" Aodh felt sick to his stomach. "What should we do?"

  "Get ready for attack and don't be under claw." He tilted his head towards Mareen and Uluula. "They might run over anyone in the way."

  "You know we can hear you, right?" Mareen gritted her teeth.

  Bezzi-ibbi yawned, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth before responding, "Don't care." He smiled slightly, his feline eyes glittering.

  Aodh felt his anxiety level rising. He didn't understand the reactions of the team; he just knew he'd never been in a real fight before or even seen a real monster. The farming communities outside Mirana were well protected, which was one reason why people paid rent to farm there in the first place.

  As Aodh stared at the surrounding forest, he silently screamed at Jason to speed up, not slow down! Why are we slowing down? Then he saw his first horned demon wolf.

  The creature was terrifying, nearly the size of a pony. It was dark, all muscle under matted fur. Its horn was a sickly yellow, and its eyes glowed red. It howled, flashing enormous canines, and it salivated in excitement as the rest of the pack become visible, closing in for the kill.

  Aodh's fear reached a fever pitch, and he almost involuntarily yelped as several things all happened at once. Jason swung the Battlewagon sideways; the vehicle's momentum kept it moving down the road sideways as it slowed. Uluula and Mareen jumped off the Battlewagon and ran at the demon wolves. Henry aimed fired one of his enormous cannons.

  The first demon wolf didn't even have a chance to react. It exploded into a cloud of red mist, and Henry whooped, the sound savage and satisfied.

  The violence was so one-sided Aodh couldn't even call it a battle. It was a massacre, a bloodbath. The pack of demon wolves was huge, almost twenty of them in all, but they didn't stand a chance. Aodh watched it all play out with sickening fascination. Bezzi-ibbi took occasional glances at the action, but Rark-han's attention was as riveted as Aodh's.

  Mareen wound up and swung her hammer with such force the front half of a demon wolf practically disappeared. Another monster tried to bite her leg off. She merely stepped back and backhanded it away from her like it was a puppy.

  Uluula was so fast and nimble none of the demon wolves came close to touching her. One of them lunged, its jaws wide. She stepped back and slammed the blade of her spear into its throat, bracing the butt of her weapon on the ground. The demon wolf impaled itself using its own weight with a sickening squelch. Before it could even start thrashing in death, the Areva woman used her entire body to kick the monster's head back before neatly scooping the spear up and extracting it from the creature's carcass in one smooth motion. She twirled the spear before precisely piercing another creature through the eye.

  Henry fired the second cannon barrel, and another demon wolf exploded. Both barrels fired. The Terran Bonded stood up and began using his new rifle.

  Jason clambered on top of the Battlewagon before disappearing, air rushing to fill the space he'd just occupied. He appeared to the side of one demon wolf near Uluula and neatly cut it in half. It was the first time Aodh saw Jason use his longsword, Breeze, and his skill was obvious. He was like an artist; each strike was so precise, so fluid, even Aodh could tell how deadly they were. Coupled with his magic, Jason cut a swath through the monsters so fast he put the heart crossways in the ones that were still alive.

  From the turret, Henry yelled, "Tony, try using a grenade!" The man actually sounded excited! With no time to think, Aodh mechanically yanked a grenade off his belt and threw it in the general direction of the demon wolves, away from most of the team. It was a terrible throw, botched from nervousness, and fell short. However, one of the demon wolves made the mistake of running directly towards the Battlewagon... right over the grenade.

  Aodh clenched his fist and activated the Blood Fire scrap in the grenade. There was an instant explosion, and he felt a dull thump in his chest. The demon wolf's head and front legs were pulverized in the explosion. The creature fell to the ground and began to convulse, its jaw only hanging on by a thread. Aodh felt a brief flash of triumph before his gorge rose and he was noisily sick over the side of the Battlewagon.

  The entire slaughter was over in less than a minute. Aodh couldn't believe his eyes. An entire pack of demon wolves, almost twenty strong, effortlessly destroyed. Such a large group of monsters could still terrorize entire communities in Tolstey.

  Keeja was still pretending to sleep. Bezzi-ibbi and Rark-han hadn't even done anything, although Aodh noticed Bezzi-ibbi's hand was on his metal arm and his body was coiled, ready to spring. After the battle ended, the boy relaxed and shrugged.

  Aodh couldn't get his mind around how easily his new adventuring company, Delvers, LLC, had utterly annihilated almost twenty dangerous monsters. Even Uluula had destroyed two or three demon wolves on her own... and each creature had been practically as tall as her at the shoulder.

  Aodh didn't know of any other Mirana-based adventuring company that could
boast this level of sheer destructive power. In fact, even in his stories of Thato Jacob's era, there weren't many adventuring companies that could have taken down a large pack of horned demon wolves in under a minute.

  It was madness! On one hand, Aodh felt overwhelmed that he was working with such a powerful adventuring company, but on the other hand he thought, Delvers, LLC is mental!

  * * *

  That night, Henry took a watch with Jason to discuss the fight. They sipped some kind of half-assed Ludan tea made with water warmed by the fire. Henry still hadn't found a decent coffee substitute. He grumbled, "I asked Keeja, and she won't say anything about the demon wolves. She literally does not respond and pretends she doesn't hear my questions."

  Jason shrugged. "She probably can't say anything about what Dolos does or doesn't do. I think it's rather obvious it was a test, though."

  "Yeah, no shit. Once, okay, that was bad luck. Twice was pushing it. But three demon wolf attacks in under half a year, each pack almost the same size? I think it's fucking obvious we're being tested."

  "I'm inclined to agree. The good news is all our hard work paid off. Bezzi-ibbi didn't even leave the Battlewagon. I really hate that name, by the way."

  Henry ignored Jason's gripe about the Battlewagon's name. His friend would just have to learn to live with it like he had for all the stupid monster names on Ludus. "Bezzi-ibbi is probably smarter than the rest of us. If this was a test, we still did too well. It means if we get tested again, we are gonna have a lot more shit thrown at us."

  Jason considered for a moment, eventually replying, "You're probably right. Damn."

  "Well, we're alive, and nobody is hurt. We can't complain. Plus, this dungeon we're hitting isn't very far away from Mirana, but it's in a dangerous area. I like that we can blow the hell out of any nasty critters popping up out of nowhere."

  "I guess that's true. It's also nice to know that our gunpowder inventions work."

  "Yeah, I was a little worried about it, but I'm really glad." Henry nodded seriously. "Dude, our nasty little surprises are gonna make hitting the dungeon, or any dungeon in the future, a lot easier. I think Tony did really good today."

  "Agreed."

  Henry thought for a minute before asking, "Who is going to take point lead during the op? We both technically own the company, but we probably need a clear chain of command for missions."

  "Yeah, you're right. I think you should take it. We can iron out who does what in the future later."

  "Yeah, dude, okay." Henry had been fairly sure of Jason's answer, but he'd wanted to make sure. He respected his friend and didn't want to step on his toes, intentionally or otherwise. "So, how far have you gotten with Uluula?"

  "None of your damn business."

  "I'd ask if the carpet matches the drapes, but shit, I already know the answer to that myself."

  "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you actually take pride in being the biggest cockblock on this whole planet?"

  Henry smiled. Now that their serious talk was done, he could spend the rest of their watch killing time. For the next hour, he complained about all the foods he missed. Jason mainly missed cold beer, but Henry missed everything.

  If they ever established any kind of normalcy on Ludus, Henry wanted to start researching food options. Maybe he could even find an animal on Ludus that produced decent steaks. Most of the meat he'd had in the last few months was oily and gamey. The tea they drank tasted like ass, and he could have desperately used some black coffee.

  They'd only been on Ludus for a few months, but it felt like a lifetime already. Unfortunately, they'd been either vagabonds or pinching pennies the entire time so far, and Henry was really getting tired of eating food that was only a step up from dog chow.

  He wasn't looking forward to the guaranteed violence when they hit Yanbei Cavern, but they sorely needed the money. Plus, he felt a little guilty for taking the first spirit stone. If their dungeon raid went well, Jason would get one too.

  Henry was starting to think that Ludus might not be all that bad. His mom was healthy and safe back on Earth, he had a beautiful woman he really didn't deserve waiting in his tent, and he had a rifle... sort of. He just needed to fix the goddam coffee situation, and maybe life wouldn't completely suck anymore.

  "Priorities," he whispered to himself, "priorities."

  Yanbei Cavern Assault

  Henry stood in front of Yanbei Cavern, his first dungeon, and didn't feel very impressed. The last couple miles before the group had arrived, they'd seen flashes of movement, presumably some of the residents of the dungeon itself. There were inhuman, four-toed footprints all over outside the dungeon's opening. Well-defined trails dotted the hillside.

  He had to admit the door of the dungeon was somewhat imposing. Recessed into a large cave, the stark rock wall had a huge, metal-bound wooden door. A fresh torch burned in a sconce by the entrance.

  It'd have been one thing if it was just a common dungeon, but Yanbei Cavern was one of the most dangerous dungeons within a week's travel of Mirana and had a fearsome reputation. Granted, the most skilled adventurers in Mirana usually worked in the southern wilderness near the coast. However, this dungeon hadn't been touched in years due to its reputation and the time it needed to reset.

  Henry felt insulted. It was just a door in a cave.

  They'd gone through a lot to get here. It wasn't too difficult a journey with the Battlewagon, all the new weapons, and the new team member, but on foot it would have been a nightmare. On the last day especially, it had seemed like a new random monster popped up every couple hours. When a huge, slow, shambling monster had risen out of a puddle, Jason just made the Battlewagon travel faster, and they left it behind. Everyone shrugged and ignored it.

  The Battlewagon itself was a godsend. When the team had to leave the trade road and head toward the dungeon, most of the terrain was fairly flat and open, so they'd just continued with the Battlewagon. The way it hovered made it a fantastic off-road vehicle.

  Henry stood with his hands on his hips and glared at the door. The fact that he was underwhelmed by the dungeon's appearance actually made him more wary. Uluula and Mareen had done a great job digging up the historical accounts of Yanbei Caverns from adventurers past. However, sometimes adventurers would leave things out of reports to the Adventuring Guild. There was also the possibility that dungeons could change or whatever new monsters moved in would make defense improvements.

  Henry very carefully examined the doorway from a safe distance. He used his sense enhancements to try finding anything out of place. Eventually, when he increased his sense of smell, he got a very slight whiff of something acrid. Then he looked carefully at the torch and saw the sconce actually had a pivot.

  Very clever...

  The rest of the team was still gearing up and preparing tools for the mission. Henry called over his shoulder, "Nobody come near the entrance for now!" Everyone nodded at him, so Henry unslung his rifle and grabbed a stick. He anchored one end of the stick in the ground and used it to steady his weapon while he carefully aimed. Finally, he held his breath and flexed his magic.

  Since Henry's rifle had no trigger, his projectiles had little to no recoil, and his barrel was rifled, it could be incredibly accurate. His shot was low power, it didn't even break the sound barrier, but the hardened golden slug easily smashed through the torch's sconce. The torch fell and instantly ignited the flammable substance on the ground. The fire began running out of the cave, following where the flammable substance, probably pitch, was mixed with the soil.

  Henry grunted and slammed his fist down. He'd first learned how to use this sort of power months ago when he was upset, but he'd refined it since then. The ground undulated before him and exploded, creating a shallow line of destruction and thrown earth about twenty-feet wide. The advancing flames stopped once they hit the improvised ditch.

  When he turned around, he noticed the rest of the team was staring at him. Jason just shook his head and went back to gett
ing things out of his pack. Everyone else got back to what they were doing too except for Mareen. She walked over and put her hand on Henry's shoulder. "My heart, beloved, next time you decide to do something dangerous on your own that could affect the rest of us, do you think you could at least tell someone?" She smiled sweetly, but her eyes glittered.

  Henry was simple in many ways. He knew he didn't always pick up social cues very well. However, as Mareen gently laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled, he felt a distinct sense of danger. She still wasn't angry at him, though. Yet.

  He didn't think he'd really done anything wrong; something had to be done, so he did it. Life and experience made him pause, though. He was willing to accept that Mareen was smarter than he was. Plus, although she was younger than him, she had an excellent head on her shoulders, and he respected her practical side too. She'd more or less grown up in a monster-infested world where humans were low on the food chain. If she was upset enough to actually confront him in front of others, he'd have been stupid not to listen.

  "Okay, no problem," he grumbled. When her eyes sparkled and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back, he knew he'd made the right choice. Women, he thought and shook his head. But when he turned back to watch the flames, he was smiling.

  Eventually, the rest of team got done preparing and joined him as the fire died down. Mareen was wearing a thick gambeson, her bronze bracers, and thick, wooden lamellar armor. Unlike Thod the bandit, her heavy armor had quick disconnects in case she needed to slip out of it.

  Jason was wearing his light armor, the same as Henry was. The configuration had served them well so far, so they stuck with it. Bezzi-ibbi, Rark-han, and Tony all wore boiled-leather armor. Tony just wore a breastplate since he wasn't used to wearing armor yet. Uluula wore a light jack, the sleeveless armor constructed of thin bronze plates sewn between the canvas cloth.