Malte and the Yet Unnamed Dungeon

Malte is wandering the woods not far from the camp with a roughly drawn map marking down locations of any useful resources he spots.

Drika is out in the woods as well, starting to pile dry branches and good, brick-sized stones into one area.

Hearing other footsteps, she cautiously looks and then waves to the other vague humanoid.

Malte adjusts his path to approach Drika and their set-up. He waves back.

"Hello there! A fellow adventurer I presume?"

"Ah, I'm not really an adventurer..." Drika says. "Though I am part of the camp outside the dungeon."

She gestures to herself. "I am Drika," she introduces.

"Helmond Reisenauer, but simply Malte will do," he offers a hand to shake, "May I inquire as to what capacity you are here in if not as an adventurer? I myself am here only partially under that label - I study dungeons and I believe there is much to learn in this one."

Drika returns a proper, but delicate handshake.

"Oh? Hmm," She hums thinking for a moment. "I suppose as a... student?"

She knits her eyebrows, unsatisfied with her own answer. "More as... a liaison for the Kesh Guild hall."

Malte nods, satisfied he's not got competition. "Ah, of course. I hope we will be able to rely on your guild for guidance as we set up here."

He nods towards her pile of resources, "Would you like a hand carrying any of that back to camp? I've been marking down locations of larger logs and stones," he shows Drika his map, "but sadly I am not strong enough to even consider dragging them back on my own."

"That would be wonderful!" Drika says eagerly.

"Here, let me..." she runs over to grab a staff leaned up against a tree. The metal head of the staff has two snakes entwined around a gem.

Drika holds it upright and focuses on a spell. The empowerment of Enhance Ability flows into Malte, giving them some strength.

"That should help some," she says, smiling.

"So. What yet have you learned of this dungeon?" Drika asks, tucking some lighter branches under her arm.

"Oh, that sure is a help! We can get something done with this." Malte waves his arm around admiring the feeling of not having a negative ability modifer for once. He beings loading stone after stone into his pack full of newfound hubris.

He continues to talk as he does so, "Not much to be honest. I've not even met anyone who's been inside yet. I'm not even sure if anyone here's been in yet."

Loud clanking and a little bit of swearing can be heard as Tiernan makes their way through the woods. As soon as they see other people in front of them, they stand completely still, then a wide grin appears on their face.

"Hi!", they wave with their sword. "Uh, a nice walk in the woods, am I right or am I right? Totally planned and all. Love the woods. I'm Tiernan, by the way. Tiernan Vulcanal, child of that Marie Vulcanal. Y'know. The adventurer one."

They chuckle awkwardly; you can tell they'd rather disappear in the woods again

Drika holds their staff somewhat at the ready, in case the clanking was something dangerous.

She blinks and gestures to herself. "...Drika" she introduces. "I'm not familiar with you or... 'That Marie'."

"Are you looking for base-camp?" she asks.

"It's always a good day to talk a walk through the woods." Malte holds out a hand for a handshake, "Helmond Reisenauer, dungeon researcher. I mostly go by Malte. Good to meet you Tieranan, though I'd prefer you put that sword down."

Tiernan's face drops for a second, then returns to the (now slightly less enthusiastic) grin.

"Hi Drika! I, uh, I'm a bit of an adventurer in the making, y'know. And, uh, I obviously know where the base-camp is, I was just on a walk", they add, though it's not very convincing. "Nice to meet you too, Malte", they say after putting the sword back in its sheath before proceeding with a really strong, firm handshake. "I prefer to keep it drawn, y'know? Never know what you're gonna come across..."

Drika seems to ponder that statement, without the experience to know any better.

"That seems like it would be tiresome to hold all the time..." she thinks aloud.

"Hm, when you are returning on your walk, would you help us carry stone and firewood back?" she asks. "There is a pile over there," she points.

Malte starts to say something but stops as he tries to lift his stone-laden backpack and finds even with Drika's spell he's far too weak to carry that mugh weight.

"Yes. It would be a great help." He tries not to show his grimace on his face. "Have you been adventuring long Tiernan?"

"Oh!", Tiernan's visible eye automatically lights up. "Yeah, I'm pretty damn strong, it's gonna be a breeze", they nod so enthusiastically you can almost feel your neck hurting from the sight alone. "Y'know. Good thing to be when you're... adventuring. And stuff. Since I've been adventuring for... a bit. Didn't get down to a dungeon yet though."

Realizing that this betrays their lack of experience, they wave their hands in the air for a while, as if trying to deflect the invisible accusations.

"B-because it's silly to do it alone, y'know. I could, but I don't wanna."

"Of course, having dependable people to rely on is as important when dungeoneering as being strong yourself, if not more. At least I hope there's something to that." Malte shrugs ruefully as he takes several, though not all, of the stones out of his pack and grabs a bundle of firewood instead.

"Ah but you'll be sure to enjoy dungeons. They're a special experience, truely. Would you mind if I joined you on your first expedition here? It's rare to have the chance to see someone's first time in a dungeon."

"Y-Yeah, sure! The more, the mar- merr- the better!"

Tiernan starts to pick up as many stones as possible in order to put them in their bag; the process looks equally disorganized and organized at the same time.

"Is it, uh... is it a rough dungeon?"

"There seems to be many subterranean monsters living inside," Drika starts to list, "as well, the caverns are winding. It could be quite easy to get lost without charting a way back."

"Perhaps the underground rivers are a hazard, too," Drika says.

Malte has finally sorted his pack so there's a perfect stone to firewood ratio to account for his strength. He's in the process of lifting it up onto his shoulders as Drika says this and he fully drops it.

"Underground rivers- winding caverns - Drika! My dear Drika. Have you been inside?" He's in an uncharacteristic rush and fumbles with the latches of his pouches as he takes out a notebook.

"Yes," Drika says, matter-of-factly.

"Only some ways into the entrance. I believe the party I was with could have gone further, but we found a rich deposit of iron and decided to carry it back."

"I have no frame of reference for if it's particularly dangerous or not," she frowns. "The only other dungeons I've ever been in have been far more... curated. Or 'abandoned' and in use by adventurers."

"That's all really important", Tiernan says to themselves as they check the stones in the bag. "Yeah, I heard about the rivers and all... and the monsters... pretty standard stuff", they say with all confidence. "Truly, dungeon standard..."

Malte's eyes almost pop out of his head. "You found iron? What happened to it? Or- where was the deposit? Was there any left? I-" Malte stop himself and takes a deep breath. And another one. One more.

"Calm down. There is no rush. We have a whole potential megadungeon to explore. Iron is only the start of things. If I get worked up now I won't get far at all. Listen to the newbie. Dungeon standard, they're right this is nothing. " He mutters under his breath, keeping himself in check. One more deep breath and he hoists up his backpack onto his back.

"Drika. We have time to talk as we carry all of this back to camp. Would you be so kind as to tell us about how your expedition went? Please, spare no details. I hadn't had the chance to mention earlier but I am hoping to put together a compendium of information able to be accessed by any adventure wanting to challenge this dungeon, so whatever you can tell me now will be of use to everyone."

Drika takes a moment to consider what details to go further on about, before they begin to recall what they saw in the dungeon. They talk of the strange blue glow in the water and flora, the encounter with the Grick in the tunnels, and the iron deposit in the wall with coral-like plants growing near it.

"It looks much like a naturally forming cave but it's been verified with divination that this is a dungeon," Drika says. "I would think Uli has gone down a ways further themselves, too."

"Are there many people who went down there?", Tiernan asks, trying to sound as confident as possible. "And, uh, do they all return and are fine? Just gathering info, y'know, before I go down. Fearlessly and all."

Drika peers up. "I am fine," she says. "There were no major injuries."

"Claire and Gnocchi seemed to be used to tougher situations. Fiara seemed scared but handled herself well enough, as well. I am not aware of other delves."

Drika shrugs.

"If anyone has died in the dungeon, they tell no tales," Drika says ominously.

Malte listens with dedicated concentration as Drika talks, scribbing down notes in the process. He mostly keeps quite but can't help letting out a few 'fascinating's, 'that could mean-'s, 'I wonder if-'s, and the like. In a large note at the end of the page he writes Talk to the merchant.

"The plant- do you have any left of it? Or would you be able to draw a map to where you found it?"

"There is some skin?" Drika answers.

"Hmm, I could try to draw a map. I would remember if I were there but..."

"Apologies," Drika says sheepishly. "Hadley's enthusiasm was infectious and it was fun to try treating it. There should be many more of the same plant elsewhere."

"So, it's not mapped yet", Tiernan whispers to themselves. "Oh."

"No, please, don't apologize. You are completely correct. I am getting too far ahead of myself, I haven't even thanked you for being so forthright about your experience." Malte smiles, a little sheepishly himself, "I hope you can understand my own enthusiasm, this is the first time I've been given truly free reign to study a dungeon all on my own. And a live unexplored one at that."

He nudges Tiernan, or tries to nudge their armor, "Completely unmapped and unmarked. All the more exciting, is that not so?"

"Y-Yeah! That's like... cool! Kind of legendary stuff! Who knows what we'll find, right?", they grin to the best of their abilities. "Could be anything under the sun- under the, uh, earth!"

Drika smiles back to Malte. "It is exciting."

"We've recieved no evidence of the deities responsible either," she says. "All I would know is that it is not my own."

Now no longer so absorbed in dungeon talk Malte pays a bit more attention to their surroundings and notices some familiar looking trees and the start of people beating paths into the undergrowth.

"It looks like we're almost back at base camp - did you have a specific plan for this wood and stones, Drika?"

"I was going to help Gnocchi prepare a campfire pit for cooking," she says. "We can leave these all near the infirmary tent."

"Do I just drop the stone there?", Tiernan asks. "Gotta make sure it's a safe location"

Drika blinks. "Yes, the middle of camp is safe. Have you not been there?"

"If nothing, the medical supplies are nearby," she says.

"Of course I know that the camp is safe! I just... y'know. Someone's gonna come out limping or something... trip over the stone... and get thrown back in infirmary, y'know?", Tiernan says with a slightly offended tone, the tips of their ears turning red.

"It would be good to have a designated place for materials in camp," Malte contributes to the conversation but it's half-hearted, his attention elsewhere.

Drika says nothing, only looking at Tiernan flatly.

A coward? Or someone expecting to be thieved as soon as they get camp? Drika thinks to herself.

"Malte, are you alright? You look tired," she asks. "I appreciate the help. We can set down the materials and return to tents from there."

Malte latches on to this, "Oh- yes. I'll do that. I'll see the both of you around. Tiernan - come find me when you want to go into the dungeon. My tent is that one," He gestures to it as he unloads the stones from his pack.

"Sure thing", Tiernan replies, also getting the stones they transported out of their bag. "I'll try to remember. Well, uh... rest well."

Malte nods non-committedly and waves as he runs off to his tent to start writing down everything Drika's shared.