Finding A Tiny Dungeon

Alexander Bellstein scratched his head while double checking his work. The aethermometer had been calibrated just days before their trek and so should be working fine. And yet things weren’t adding up.

A lady behind him sighs, “Alex, I’m not seeing a gate. You’ve always led us straight, what’s up?”

Alex shakes his head, “I don’t know Beth. The dungeon should be within this section of the jungle. By the nine hells, it should be at ground level! And if not? Above, not below. We Should see it!”

Beth sighs again, “You said that an hour ago. We even walked a hundred paces in each cardinal direction to see if something was messing up your aether-what-zit.”

Alex nods, “And that should have worked. Hey, Jeff, you find anything?”

“Coming in from over here.” And the two turn to the right as a man in smudged leather gear seems to appear out of nowhere. His lupine ear twitches at the sound of them turning towards him.

Jeff, “I... I might have found something. Only a minute ago, but I was taking my time. It’s... Strange. Maybe dungeonborn?”

Beth frowns, “You’ve seen more dungeons than the two of us combined. If you don’t know, we aren’t going to be much better.”

Alex, “Actually, I might be able to do something with it, as long as it comes from the dungeon we’re looking for. Might be able to use whatever it is to better triangulate the dungeon gate.”

Jeff, “Yeah, well, I guess just let me show you. Won’t believe me otherwise. I half don’t believe.”

The other two shrug at this and follow him. Not the easiest thing when he practically vanished into the background, only his tail’s rhythmic swaying allowing them to keep track of him. A disturbing thing for them to consider as they both know he’s only swaying it like that so they can follow.

Though soon enough their attention is on what he had found.

Beth squints at it, “That looks like a dungeon gate.”

Jeff shrugs, “Yeah, if a dungeon gate was meant for cats.”

They both turn to Alex and he gestures for them to wait. Though after setting up his gear again, there isn’t much to add. “Well, either that is the gate or there isn’t a dungeon.”

Beth turns to Jeff, “So, you’ve ever heard of anything like this?”

Jeff snorts, “If I had heard of something like this, I would have said so from the start. Sure, dungeons that open underwater will tend to have circular gates, but the size is consistent.”

Alex sighs, “Well, this is going to be hard to explain.”

Jeff, “Yep, trying to explain this would be a pain. How about we don’t?”

Alex, “Umm, but money? This whole gig isn’t something I’m going for the love of the sport. You don’t trek out into the middle of a jungle even adventurers avoid for the fun of it. We don’t explain? We don’t get the bag.”

Jeff, “That would be the case, if we went to the guild with this info like usual.”

Beth, “But isn’t the guild the only place to legally sell this info? By the Nines, they were the ones to direct us here! They know we were the ones to go looking for it.”

Alex, “Even then, we can’t provide any information! I doubt I could fit my shoulders through the gate and I’m the smallest one here! You’d need some hard core kobold spelunkers to even get in and I doubt they’d want to be going sight unseen into a dungeon.”

Jeff smirks, “I’ve been doing this for a while now. Sure, maybe this is the first time to find such a strange situation, but it isn’t the first time I’ve come across a dungeon gate the team I was on couldn’t check.

“A dungeon in the middle of a desert? Kind of hard to explore when the gate is at the bottom of an oasis pool and no one brought water breathing potions. Or when a gate pops up in the nest of a griffon? Not only are wild griffons nasty to deal with, they’re protected by that one church as their deity’s mount of choice. Maybe if we had someone capable of speaking with them, but we didn’t.

“That and more I’ve come across! And through it all, there is always someone you can legally sell something to. Yes, the guild won’t take incomplete information. You have to enter the dungeon to confirm things or else their truth spells can’t determine if you really were in a dungeon or simply thought you saw a dungeon gate.

“However, while everyone goes around parroting that you can only sell newfound dungeon information to ‘the guild’, that isn’t the actual law. The actual wording is that you can only sell the information to someone from the guild. From, not the guild itself, just from. You can find so many people willing to buy this information that are from the guild.

“That griffon nest dungeon? My team back then made bank by selling what we found to one of the guild healers. Because while they were from the guild, they happened to also belong to a certain church. Though unlike that situation, we’ll likely make a bit less off this one. The griffon gate sold for more because even if it turned out to be something besides a dungeon gate, the church would want to go and work with the griffons.”

Alex, “But we don’t know anything! There isn’t some kind of hook. We assume that is the dungeon gate and we can’t enter to check otherwise. Nevermind all of my instruments are pointing to it being so. Who would buy that? They aren’t going to decide not to ask under a truth spell.”

Jeff nods, “You aren’t wrong, which is why you’re going to do exactly what I say.

“When we get into town, we rent a single room at the hook and crook inn for three nights. Do not hit up the guild, do not go drinking.”

The room is cheap enough, despite the size. Then again, about all that can be said about the inn is that it’s sturdy. No decorations inside or out and the sign is a flat square with only the word “Inn” on it. Not even a picture of a mug of ale or some such.

After settling in, Jeff is the only one to go into town and that is a quick trip to the guild. Even the report is brief. “We found something we couldn’t confirm”, no more, no less. Of course, the truth spell confirmed that statement and he was allowed to leave.

Back in the room, Alex and Beth fret until they hear three knocks, a pause, two knocks, a pause, and then a rumble-ish sound of someone dragging their knuckles from top left to mid right on the door. They still peek through the door slit to confirm, but it is Jeff and they let him in.

Jeff settles on one of the abundant chairs within the room. “I didn’t see the man I need.”

So they wait another day and Jeff once more heads into the guild. This time he’s lucky and spots the receptionist he wants. “We had a small problem on our recent expedition.”

The man working reception nods, “Always finding trouble, last time Alja helped you, right? Anyway, is it a lot of things or one specific problem?”

Jeff seems to think for a minute, drumming his fingers on the counter in a very specific sequence. “More than one, but not too many. Me and my group just want to be done with it to be honest. Though not so much as to lose out. I honestly can’t think of a specific solution that would cover it all. Kind of a tight situation.”

The receptionist nods, “I’ll see what I can do.”

And with that, Jeff returns to the inn.

Of course, anyone with half a brain that was looking for something would easily notice more was going on there. It wasn’t even all that hidden, only the tap code to confirm it was an actual request was any sort of secret. And that was simple depending on whichever name was said to have helped last time.

No, if you know what they’re talking about, things are mostly straightforward. Small problem? Whatever was up involved something actually being small. And of course, it was recorded in the logs that Jeff’s group had been looking for a dungeon, something involving the dungeon was small.

Next, the receptionist dropped the name and asked if he was selling and wanted a specific buyer or multiple. Jeff obviously asked for a few potential buyers as the situation didn’t really fall under a specific group’s umbrella like the griffon nest example had. And with that, Jeff arranged a meeting with a handful of guild officials with outside loyalties who would be up to buying their find.

And while Jeff did saunter calmly out of the guild and down the main road, the moment he turned off into an alley, he was running. You can get away with so many things as long as you run fast enough. Because information is free if you know what bones to break or people to threaten and he was already dealing with the crooked sort.

After all, this wasn’t technically legal. Well, what he was doing was legal. As long as information on a new dungeon’s location is sold to a guild official, you’re fine. What the guild officials are doing? Now that’s illegal.

However, this isn’t Jeff’s first rodeo. And while he isn’t able to blend into a cityscape like he can the forest? His skills at hiding and being able to move silently allow him to make it back to the inn.

Then the group doesn’t have to wait long. Early the next morning, a trio of guild officials show up. A dwarven lady, her beard braided in a flowing tapestry, displaying her mountainhome and her family’s illustrious history. A kobold with brilliant copper scales, displayed prominently and shined to a mirror finish. Lastly, a man in a black suit and an average face, likely human, but most wouldn’t swear to it.

Jeff was ready and invited them in after each of them presented their guild badge to the door’s eye slit. Inside, the room had been shifted around. The beds were up against the back wall and a large table taking up the center of the room with three chairs on one side and the rest of the chairs to each side of the door, allowing people to pick whichever fits them best.

No names are exchanged as the three guild officials pick their seats and Jeff joins the other two on the far side of the table. Once settled, Jeff nods, “We found the way in, but could not enter.”

A moment passes as each official waits for their truth spells to confirm the information. The dwarven lady speaks up first, “A dungeon?”

Jeff, “Yes.”

The kobold, “Unable to enter?”

Alex, “Yes.”

The man, “What’s small?”

Beth, “The gate.”

All three of the officials frown and share a look between themselves.

The kobold, “I fit?”

Jeff, “Would be tight.”

The dwarf sighs, “I’m out.”

With that, the five wait as the dwarven lady leaves the room and the door is relocked.

The man and the kobold share another look before the man asks, “terrain?”

Alex, “Jungle.”

The guild officials nod to one another. Then the kobold offers, “Half?”

Beth is about to speak, but Jeff stops her and responds, “Each?”

The kobold and man think for a moment until the kobold offers, “One-third.”

And the man offers, “Two-fifths.”

Jeff nods, “Deal”, and Alex and Beth shake hands with the officials.

The kobold and man stack up gold coins in front of themselves until the agreed-upon amount is there. Then the kobold asks, “Location?”

Alex pulls out the recording module from his aethermometer and places it on the table and with a couple of button presses, a simplistic map is projected. “This is the correct module and the map is accurate to our best ability.”

Both guild officials nod and tap their badges on the module, storing a more detailed map than the simple projection. And with that, they leave the room.

Though Jeff, Alex, and Beth remain seated for half an hour after this before they begin to pack away the gold. Well, Jeff and Beth handle the gold. Alex checks the memory module and confirms that all the stored data had been wiped.

Beth sighs, “That was way too stressful! Why did we have to speak so tersely?”

Jeff shrugs, “The less is said, the less someone can dig out of them under a truth spell. Though just as equally, while they don’t like letting this out, the less you say, the more accurate a truth spell will be. Single word answers? As long as you ask the right question, you will know what someone believes is the truth.”

Alex, “Bleh, I hope the next dungeon isn’t this eventful.”

Jeff laughs, “I prefer it this way! Less direct danger. This is so much safer than even the limited delving the guild requires for a confirmed dungeon. Way too many people in our line of work go missing and it isn’t because people are hunting us.”

Alex, “Whatever, at least we’re free of that tiny dungeon!”

Jeff shakes his head. He wasn’t going to bring it up in case fate hadn’t been paying attention. Because golly be! That was just asking for something to happen.