As a dungeon report, it was basically useless, saying nothing about the general character of the dungeon and very little about the threats that might be found there. It likely wouldn’t have been all that useful to Alfric, given how much higher their elevation was and the difference in what they were bringing into the dungeon, but part of the point of dungeon reports was to get a sense of the range of probabilities. You weren’t supposed to read just one of them, you were supposed to read a bunch of them and then get a general sense of the dungeon’s shape. Sometimes there were commonalities. A report like this though, one that detailed nothing, was worthless for that purpose.
As insight into the party, the dungeon report was revealing. It was hard to know whether the things Lola had said were accurate, especially since she must have known that Alfric would be reading it, but all the same, it had the ring of truth. Lola was tricky in that way though, an accomplished liar who knew that people would more readily believe her if she offered some vulnerability or let them in on a secret, or simply told them what she thought they wanted to hear. He had seen her do it with others, and she’d talked with him about it. She just didn’t take lies and manipulation all that seriously. Everyone lied, in Lola’s opinion, and everyone manipulated to some degree or another. It was normal and natural to her. Alfric hadn’t agreed, had never agreed, not just because of how he’d been raised, but because it seemed normal and natural to him that people should say what they mean and mean what they say. All of it called into question the report, naturally.
If it had been Alfric in her position, he’d have worked out some kind of monetary exchange with Josen to compensate for the loss. It was the loss of entads, payment to the clerics, and labor for remaking mana constructs, measured against the labor for Alfric of another dungeon. It seemed there was likely some kind of equitable exchange to be had there. It was the sort of thing he’d suggest to her, if they were still on speaking terms.
The second entry from Lola, for Traeg’s Knob, was much less illuminating. It had been similar to their experience, with a wet place and mostly natural interior, though they’d faced tougher monsters and more rooms. It was a bit of a surprise just how similar they’d been, but based on the timing, Lola’s party must have done Traeg’s Knob within a day or two of Alfric’s.
Alfric took some time to read through other reports, but most of them were terrible in one way or another, either sparse on details or with far too much in the way of extraneous details. It did seem like Pucklechurch was a more difficult place than most expected it to be, and Alfric supposed that was due to a higher concentration of magic there, from either the artifacts that had been left there or the leyline that had once run through it. Pucklechurch was a place of power, but an old and weak one.
“I think there are worse places to stay,” said Verity as they finished their tour of the League house. “Relatively few people around though, for all that they have three rooms of five beds each.”
“Most parties who do the local dungeons are themselves local,” said Alfric. “And most parties who are from outside the region looking to do a full clear will camp rather than stay in town, or they’ll have their own ways of getting around, or their own mobile housing, which means they don’t need to use League housing.”
“So why have it?” asked Verity. It was rare that she showed any interest in dungeoneering, and Alfric was thankful that she seemed curious.
“It probably gets used with some frequency,” said Alfric. “Though the ideal time for doing easier dungeons is early spring, like I said, so we’re probably in a lull right now.”
“And we could have stayed here for free rather than going to the hotel?” asked Verity.
“Probably,” said Alfric. “Some of them charge, but having met Priya, I doubt this one does.”
“It’s good for a town to have dungeoneers come through,” said Hannah. “Most try to make it easy. Same reason we don’t get taxed.”
“We don’t?” asked Verity.
“Why, were you keepin’ a ledger?” asked Hannah.
“I don’t think I’ve ever paid a tax,” said Verity.
“You should look into that,” said Alfric, frowning a bit.
“We used to have someone who did that kind of thing for us,” said Verity. “An accountant.”
“Sounds expensive,” said Hannah, wrinkling her nose.
“If we’re on this for long enough, we’ll be picking up people,” said Alfric. “Someone to handle the money is usually pretty vital. Vertex has a counterparty, which would probably be two porters, a merchant, a coordinator, and an entad specialist, though a counterparty usually splits up their duties a bit more than that, and with fifty dungeons done, my guess is they’re not quite there yet. Maybe two or three people.”
“You planned that far in advance?” asked Verity, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s the family trade,” said Alfric. “A counterparty is the natural outgrowth of a mid-level dungeoneering party. At a higher level, there can be more than one counterparty, though it would be a bit unusual for them to travel to every dungeon, depending on what entads are available.”
“And your parents employed hundreds, ay?” asked Hannah.
“Not for dungeons, no,” said Alfric. “They do a handful a year, maybe a large handful. But once you have enough entads, you’re usually able to build some kind of business around them, and those businesses employ hundreds. Maybe more.”
“It was a joke,” said Hannah, sighing.
“Ha ha,” said Alfric.
“How far away from hiring someone are we?” asked Verity.
“Not far at all,” said Alfric. “If we can use the stone to move the whole party through the dagger, then it might make sense for us to hire a cartier, though if we’re going at a more sedate pace through the dungeons, it wouldn’t be full-time.”
“There’s a cartier who services Pucklechurch,” said Verity. “She comes by the Fig and Gristle every now and then. She’s a friend, of sorts. Xy.”
“A friend?” asked Hannah.
Verity gave her a look. “Yes.”
“A special friend?” asked Hannah.
“A bit special, yes.”
“Oh, ay,” said Hannah. She seemed a bit flustered. “Sorry for the confusion, earlier.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” said Alfric. Neither of them offered any comment. “Relevant to our core mission?”
“No,” said Verity. “Definitely not.”
“Well, I’ll speak with her, then, and see what her terms would be. It would only be once a week, running the dagger over to whatever the next dungeon is,” said Alfric. “And then, I suppose, running it back and getting it in position. In theory that would allow us to stay in Pucklechurch for a long time, especially if she’s using our wardrobe to cut down on distance.”
“Well, I’ve had enough talk about dungeons for the day,” said Verity. “It seems like the last thing we need to do is to figure out whether the stone can hold us.” She hesitated for a moment. <Are the two of you done with your walk?>
<Just finishing up,> said Mizuki. <What’s going on?>
<I was hoping that you could get an animal for us to do the stone testing with,> said Verity.
There was a brief silence. <What kind of animal?> asked Isra.
<As close to a human as possible,> said Verity. <Not a bear.>
<A squirrel?> asked Isra. <Will it be okay?>
<She’s holding a squirrel in her hand at the moment,> said Mizuki.