Dungeons Are Bad Business

It was a good thing that Vee hadn’t expected day two of the circuit to go as smoothly as day one, because he found himself having to handle several major problems as soon as he reached the Westown gate.

The first was that some of the people who’d lingered around the dungeon after the day’s runs were finished had gotten a hold of some alcohol and thrown a raucous party right outside Crestheart. Naturally, it’d ended with all the…debris that usually followed such an event, and to say the street was gross would have been an understatement of the same kind. Having finished their work in the city for the night, the light section of Vee’s orchestra had already cleaned up the worst bits, but there was still a distinctly nauseating acidic tang in the air and some lingering stains. The [Dungeon Master] hoped the stench would blow away as the day went on, but in the meantime, he decided to ask Juniper for some flowers that would help mask things a little bit.

That brought him to the second problem, which was that someone – or more likely, several someones – had decided to have a bit of fun at the expense of the buildings near the dungeon. Several windows had been smashed to pieces, walls were festooned in crude, childish graffiti, and both Juniper and Thien reported some light thefts.

Thankfully, neither faced particularly serious losses, but the [Herbalist] and the [Goldsmith] both made it abundantly clear to Vee that they expected him to make things right and ensure that similar issues didn’t happen again. Such was the responsibility of the landlord and the right of the tenant.

Summoning the medium section of his orchestra, Vee ordered the fiends to assist with the cleanup and promised some fleurs to help cover Juniper and Thien’s losses. However, he knew that such measures wouldn’t be lasting solutions, and found himself thinking about the next steps to take before diving into the third problem waiting for him. He’d have to come up with some sort of security solution for businesses near the dungeon, especially if he managed to convince the council to keep Westown open all day and night.

This type of stuff wasn’t his forte by any means, but Vee wholeheartedly believed that it was something he’d have to figure out eventually, so the sooner he got to it the sooner he’d make progress.

His first thought was to create special ghostly sentinels to patrol and monitor the streets at night, but he dismissed the idea pretty quickly as he thought about the logistical constraints. With the way things stood now, there was no way that he’d be able to keep ghosts tethered to orders for long outside the dungeon. His ability to multitask just wasn’t strong enough, and eventually the ghosts would wander off to do whatever they wanted, which was definitely not ideal.

Adding the sentries to his orchestra would mitigate that issue, but he had no space to spare in order to do so. All four of his sections were full, and there weren’t enough fiends in the medium section to do a proper job as sentries either.

Plus, Vee didn’t want to risk exposing the medium section to unnecessary risk; he’d invested a lot of time and refined ectoplasm into their development and wanted to see what that would bring forth.

Vee rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Expansion, huh? He’d never been all that interested in maximizing the effects of his class; in fact he’d rolled his eyes and thought poorly of the people he’d met at the academy who were. There was more to life than furiously optimizing every last facet of one’s profession, hobbies, and personality in the hopes of adding a few points or levels here and there.

However, Vee increasingly found himself thinking that there was a lot of potential to make his life easier and improve Crestheart’s performance by sitting down and actually putting some time and effort into focused leveling…or concentrating on expanding his orchestra.

Orchestra expansion was a huge pain in the butt though, and Vee had never liked it. The process required him to sit still for hours – or maybe even days – repeatedly humming the same nonsense sound over and over while trying to connect it to a part of his psyche so that he could assign ghosts to it. It was tedious, and uncomfortable, and irritatingly finicky, which was why Vee hadn’t ever bothered expanding beyond three sections during his time in the academy. Some of his peers had gone for five, or even six sections. Vee had thought them insane at the time. He still mostly thought that, but now wondered slightly if they’d been onto something.

Vee gave the matter some more thought. Did he really want to sit around humming ‘woah woah’ to himself until the repetition made him nauseous? No, of course not, but that might end up being necessary in order to set up better security for Westown.

Alternatively, he could take one of the advancement options he’d unlocked for [Ghost Maestro]. If he became a [Ghost Artificer], though, he could eventually learn [Ectoplasmic Device Fabrication] and use it to make some Ghostanchor Boxes, which would function like smaller and weaker versions of Dheart. By installing them around Westown, Vee could create areas where ghosts would follow orders without requiring his constant focus and energy. How long that would take though was anyone’s guess. [Ectoplasmic Device Fabrication] was a so-called ‘recipe book’ skill; there were over a hundred different ectoplasmic devices it could build, and classholders unlocked access to them randomly as they used the skill and leveled. There were strategies and tactics to try and tailor the skill’s progression, of course, but they weren’t certain by any means. If he tried to go that route, he might end up being stuck with a bunch of useless devices for a long time before he got the ability to make Ghostanchor Boxes.

Alternatively, he could become a [Ghost General], which would immediately unlock [Control Host] and its related subskills. That would disband his orchestra and turn it into a host instead. Rather than distinct sections, there’d just be one big blob – for lack of better word – of ghosts to control and think about, and its size wasn’t constrained the way his orchestra sections were.

It did have some downsides too; he’d lose a substantial amount of control over his ghosts, and his upkeep costs would skyrocket. Failing to pay that increased upkeep would lead to rampages, times when his host would refuse to obey his orders and follow their worst destructive instincts. Beyond that, Vee worried that the changes would automatically adversely affect his fiends or the Expectation. Most [Ghost Generals] tended to only have a few types of ghosts in their host which were easy to substitute for one another, and specialized in utilizing standardized formations and tactics. Since Vee liked the prospect of nurturing his orchestra as individuals, this didn't seem like a particularly good idea.

Vee sighed. There were still dozens of options he had yet to think about, and the [Dungeon Master] shook his head. This was part of why he hated these types of considerations. There was simply too much to evaluate and compare, which was probably why [Class Consultants] had such stable careers. They got access to [Common Upgrade Wisdom], which let them see the most likely upgrade choices for various classes, among other things. Then from there they could follow a series of flow charts to make basic suggestions that depended on desired outcomes.

Vee only had his thoughts and personal experience, which meant that he’d return to the matter at a later time.

For now, he had to focus on fixing the third problem of the morning: the gaping hole in the wall that led out into the rest of abandoned Westown.

Turning to Reginald, Vee seethed, “What is it about forbidden areas that makes them so attractive to people?”

The hat, perched atop his ghosthetic, shrugged. “That’s one of the greatest mysteries of life, boss. You want me to go take a look and see if I can find anyone out there?”

Vee considered the time. There wasn’t much time before the day’s runs were slated to start, but he didn’t want to deal with the public relations nightmare of missing adventurers.

Groaning, he went ahead and gave his [Majordomo] the go-ahead to start searching, as well as strict orders to return before the dungeon opened.

Once Dogginald vanished down an abandoned alley, Vee reached through his bond to Dandelion and asked the fiend to help too. Dandelion and Kai could take care of themselves in the abandoned section of the city, and while they were still busy with menagerie duties as well as making progress on Kai’s Verdant Construction project, they had a good amount of free time.

Pinching his thumb and forefinger together, Vee activated [Shape Ectoplasm] and got to work making a simple patch for the hole in the wall. It wasn’t a permanent solution by any means, but it would hopefully prevent anyone else from going out into the abandoned section of Westown.

Once the patch was in place, Vee did what he could to hide its existence, but there wasn’t much he could do to obscure the contrast between the vibrant ectoplasm and the dull wall. He’d have Do or another [Dungeon Maintainer] make him a better patch after the day’s runs were finished.

Shaking his head, Vee ran his hand through his hair and swore under his breath. He looked up at Alforde and said, “I don’t think I’m ready for these kinds of problems. All the solutions I can think of are going to take time to figure out. I suppose we can just refer problems to the [City Guards] for now and hope they can help us for the time being.”

Alforde clapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s a good enough plan for now, and we'll think of a better one later. Come on, let’s go ahead and get to the dungeon. I can already see a crowd gathering outside. But just so you know, Vee, I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. These are just growing pains, and you’ll figure out how to handle them with time and experience. Don’t look so down!”

Vee grinned.

“Thanks, buddy.”

Standing in front of Crestheart’s door, Vee raised his hands for quiet and waited until the throng of people waiting outside the dungeon obliged.

Clearing his throat, Vee raised his voice and said, “Good morning! I’m sure you’re all excited to challenge the dungeon, but before we start our runs, there’s some housekeeping matters I need to address.”

He listed all of the issues that’d occurred the night before, and made it clear that all new offenses – in addition to the ones that had already occurred – would be reported to the [City Guards] and the Adventurer’s Guild for investigation. He’d thrown in the mention of the Adventurer’s Guild on a whim, but judging by the way several people paled, it had more impact than the [City Guards] did.

Vee made a mental note to remember that in the future.

Almost as soon as Vee finished talking, Reginald returned and discreetly reported that he hadn’t been able to detect any signs of people in the abandoned section of the city.

“I bet it was just some low levels trying to show off by daring one another to go in,” the hat said as he led Vee upstairs toward the office. “Stupid stuff like that is sadly far too common in situations like this. Everyone is trying to show off how strong and tough they are.”

Vee poured the day’s first dose of aqua magia into Dheart and sat down at his console. Grabbing the day’s stack of adventurer applications, Vee read the first name and grinned. He looked down at the street below, and saw a familiar [Fighter] warming up.

Alisanne Henret was deep in her warmup, swinging her clubs in long, lazy circles and hopping back and forth from one foot to the other. Her face was set the same way it always was, and seeing how determined she was, Vee was tempted to go ahead and use a charge of [Boost Drops].

Ultimately though, he decided against it. The Crestheart regular always did her best, but was still too rough around the edges to have a good shot of making it all the way through the dungeon, especially with the newest layout.

Reginald invited her to begin, and Alisanne cautiously stepped inside.

Main Character Sheets:

Main Character Sheets (Unchanged From Last Chapter)

Vee Vales:

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 32

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 24

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 6

Might: 15

Wit: 40

Faith: 25

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 16

Plotting: 19

Charisma: 17

Devious Mind: 28

Leadership: 21

Guts: 14

Intimidating Presence: 11

Citizenship: 24

Public Relations: 8

Determination: 6

Persuasiveness: 6

Bargaining: 4

Patience: 3

Competitive Spirit: 1

Pragmatism: 1

<3<3 Infatuation <3<3

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 6

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 18

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 18

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 11

Might: 58

Wit: 15

Faith: 28

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Endurance: 33

Intimidating Presence: 15

Heart of a Champion: 14

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9

Vigilance: 11

Vanity: 2

Single-Mindedness: 1

Reginald:

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

#$&Q#$)(@#$#@#$%!@#$##%#%()@#$**@@##

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 43

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 21

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 13

Additional Class: Hyperthymesiac (Self), Level 5

Might: 1

Wit: 37

Faith: 17

Ambition: 28

Greed: 24

Deceptiveness: 27

Manipulativeness: 42

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

Loyalty: 46

Patience: 11

Irritability: 25

Remorsefulness: 17

Expository Prowess: 23

#%$Pragmatism*#$: @#61$5

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

@#$@%%^

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

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9