Azure: Gunner

Chapter 7-13

While the vast majority of magical items available for purchase are manufactured and enchanted by people, there are certain exceptions. Some things have never been replicated by human hands and are believed to be impossible to create by anyone other than the System.

The most well-known of these System-enchanted items is the suppression collar, which prevents anyone wearing it from using any type of Skills, Spells, or even regenerating their barrier. Suppression collars may only be purchased by the government through Settlement Stones, but other System-enchanted items may be found in dungeons and obtained as rewards from the System.

- Rufus Veres, Level 29 Prolix Historian, Oddities of the System

All I really learned from Arlo was that Maria/Mateo was part of the Branderson family, which was one of the primary ‘shareholders’ of the Bank of Lost Angels, which owned the green skyscraper in Eagleton. Whatever a shareholder was, it obviously meant they were rich. Oh, and I was supposed to call them ‘she’ when they were Maria and ‘he’ when they were Mateo.

I was thoroughly confused. The only clear thing was that the card Maria had given me was something I could show to any of the Porters pulling a cab and they would take me to Maria’s family’s house. And it would show the guards there that I was expected, and someone would inform Maria. Or Mateo, I supposed.

Jayce was more intrigued by Maria’s transformation charm, which apparently was a very expensive item that they’d never heard of before. Arlo didn’t know how it worked, but apparently the transformation was ‘complete’, which made me blush again and the rest of the team laugh.

By the time we’d wrapped up that wonderful conversation, we were out of the square and moving down the street. It was the same wide road we’d come through the gate on, but now that we were south of the square it was the dividing line between Central and District Two, or Deuce. That was a word I only knew from playing cards, and it was also the origin of the district’s name.

I made him explain what hubris was before we continued. The buildings were distinctively different from the others we’d passed that morning. Most of them were larger and bulkier. Some had no windows near the ground, and only small windows higher up near the roofs, which were all flat. They were also predominantly natural stone, though some were whitewashed or painted.

We passed a few streets before we came to an intersection with a huge A–Z Weapons & Armor Emporium on the corner. The store had a similar sign to the one in Backhorn, only much larger and fancier. The store itself looked to be at least ten times bigger than Samuel’s. I was very tempted to go in, but I doubted they had anything I could afford. We followed Arlo past it to the left, down the street into Deuce.

After a few blocks the street opened up onto a smaller square, this one only about the size of Sunland’s main square. The Delver's Guild HQ was impossible to miss, as it had a huge blood-red Guild logo painted on the grey wall over a set of large iron doors. The building was imposing, at least three stories tall, though there were only windows at the very top. Arlo left us there, heading back towards Central as we headed for the Guild.

Unlike the banks we’d passed, and the A–Z, there were no guards stationed in front. No one challenged us as we walked right up to the doors. I grasped the large iron ring hanging from the right side door, and pulled. Absolutely nothing happened. Blushing, I used both hands and tried again, with the same result.

It took H’ruk’s strength to heave the door open, and as he did, a blast of noise hit us. It took me several moments to realize it was supposed to be music. I followed the Fire Mage into the room beyond the door, and almost stopped in shock.

It was dark inside, dark enough that it took my eyes a moment to adjust. Shafts of light arced overhead from the small windows, but outside of the small areas they directly illuminated, the room was dimly lit. What light there was came in a multitude of colors, and I realized the far-up windows were stained glass.

The room looked a bit like the saloon in Sunland, only amplified in every imaginable way, as well as many ways previously outside my imagination. It was far larger, to start, though not very crowded. There were clusters of people scattered around large wooden tables. They were wearing everything from plate to robes to t-shirts and jeans to other things I had no names for.

The Delvers looked intimidating, many showing signs of corruption. They also looked hungover. One of them turned to see who’d come in, and then broke out in a wide grin.

“Fresh meat!” he bellowed, making the others around him wince. One of the people at his table groaned loudly, starting to protest, but the man cut him off.

“Kelley! Fresh meat!” he shouted again, looking over to the bar, which was marked by red mana lamps hanging low on long wires descending from the high ceiling. A heavily-tattooed woman behind the bar looked over and sighed, then ducked behind the bar for a moment. The music suddenly changed, and I realized there was no Bard or band in sight.

I paled slightly as I realized that everyone in the room was now staring at us. The sound of a drumbeat echoed, and then suddenly everyone stomped their feet in unison, the sound thundering through the room.

“We go!” they shouted out, and then a moment later they did it again, and again. I had barely processed that they were stomping in time with the drum before a voice blared out.

“Steel in our hands, fire in our veins

We march to the dark where the shadow reigns

The earth it trembles, the walls they groan

This dungeon's alive and we're not alone

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Torches blaze to light the path

Every step might be our last!”

It was unlike any music I’d ever heard before. It sounded more like shouting or screaming than singing at first, then a chorus broke out as the Delvers in the room added their voices to the deafening song.

“Danger waits and wild winds blow

Into the depths, Delvers go – we go! We go!

Monsters rise, we strike the foe

Into the depths, Delvers go – we go! We go!”

My Squad just stood there, watching and listening in stunned silence. It lasted several minutes, finally ending with another shout of ‘WE GO!’

I had to admit it was a rousing song, telling of the bravery of Delvers in the face of terrible danger. My heart was beating much faster by the end, which definitely had nothing to do with being the center of attention. I was just debating whether or not I should clap when H’ruk burst out with a shout into the now-silent room.

“Ha! Now that is a proper greeting!”

He marched up to the man who’d started the whole thing and clasped his arm in an orcish greeting. That broke the ice and the rest of the Squad followed his lead. We found ourselves being introduced to the man’s Squad – Nathan was his name – and offered a round of beers. I wanted to decline, but didn’t have the heart to tell the eager orcs no.

When I introduced myself to Nathan and his team, the big man’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened.

“Azure! I’ve heard your name around… Shit, you’re the one that fucked up that Kalmár kid, right?”

“What? How the fuck do you know about that?” I asked in confusion.

“HA! I knew it!” he laughed. “Hate to break it to you kid, but gossip is even more all-powerful than the System. I doubt the average person on the street knows, but word’s gotten around among the Guild, that’s for sure. It’s not often that a group of recruits gets the better of trainees as rich as that Kalmár bastard. Certainly didn’t happen when I was at the Academy.”

“Well, we did all right, despite their bullshit one-shots!” I couldn’t resist bragging a little.

In moments, another table had been dragged over and Kelley delivered a pitcher of E10 for us. As we sat around, describing our fights with Squad Elite, we got a lot of approving comments from Nathan’s team.

They loved the way G’hala had turned the tables on the dwarf Gullen, and hated that Thompson had disqualified her for it. When I tried to describe my fight with Yuri, they demanded more details and more excitement. Finally I let Raylan narrate the whole fight to them, making it sound at least twice as fierce and three times as long as I remembered.

“Has anyone heard exactly what happened to Yuri?” I asked. “Thompson told me that he’d been corrupted, but then he disappeared from the Academy.”

None of Nathan’s team had. It seemed Yuri had been ‘a very public shitbird’ – as Nathan’s teammate Helen described him – but since he’d returned he’d stayed hidden away somewhere.

“And thank fuck for that!” Helen exclaimed. “That motherfucker was the most arrogant little shit I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something around here!”

The rest of their Squad exploded in laughter as she continued.

“Can you believe that he walked straight up to a friend of mine and asked her how much she wanted for a fuck?! I mean, this girl is a badass Delver and we were out walking around the city in the middle of the Wasted day! I swear, I would have thrashed that little shit if it wasn’t for those fucking bodyguards of his! He hadn’t even gone through the Tutorial yet… Dead gods!”

That led to a round of toasts to Yuri’s misery, which led to us holding empty glasses. When Nathan started to call Kelley over for a refill, I finally had to step in. I quickly explained why we’d come to HQ in the first place, before we’d gotten distracted. None of Nathan’s team knew about the orphanage, but they were all pretty young Delvers, still in Tier 1.

Nathan started asking around the other tables, and we were quickly pointed in the direction of a smaller table up against the wall, where a dwarf and a red-skinned man with curled horns were eating. I Identified both of them.

Name: Shieldbreaker

Class: Berzerker

Tier: 4

Name: Haldred the Swift

Class: Skirmisher

Tier: 4

Seeing how strong they were, I hesitated a moment before gathering my courage and approaching.

“Mr. Shieldbreaker?” I said tentatively, and the dwarf looked over with a dark expression.

“No autographs, kid!” he growled. His companion glared at him, then smiled at me, revealing fangs almost on par with the orcs’.

“That’s him alright!” the horned man – Haldred – said cheerfully. “What can he do for you, young Azure?”

“Hey!” Shieldbreaker shouted. “I ain’t doing anything for anyone today! It’s my fucking day off, got it?!”

Most of his glare was directed at his companion, but even just catching the edge of it made me take a step back for a moment. Then I squared my shoulders and stepped forward again.

“I just want to find out where the Delver's orphanage is, and someone pointed me to you,” I explained quickly. The dwarven warrior looked at me with an inscrutable expression, then grimaced.

“Back to your table, kid. When I’m ready to go, I’ll find you,” he said at last, and turned back to his food.

I stood there for a moment before shrugging and following orders like a good little Tier 0 Delver. It seemed safer that way. It was only ten or fifteen minutes later when Shieldbreaker came stomping over and I was slightly relieved to see Haldred coming with him. The table fell into a respectful quiet at the approach of the two powerful Delvers.

“Well?” Shieldbreaker growled. “I haven’t got all day. If yer wanting to visit the orphanage, let’s get the fuck on with it already.”

Shieldbreaker

Haldred the Swift