บท 4: Dungeon Rumor
Ellias almost forgot about the actual Class festival. Okrie briefly mentioned it when he spoke about the larger adventure guilds trying to recruit people. Though it was little weird a lot of people in the town had so many birthdays close together, it became a tradition in the town. Since so many people had birthdays close together large guilds inside the Adventures Guild created a festival, The Class Festival.
This was a month long festival that became a tradition and holiday for the town. Large guild would set up stalls in the center of town showing off their greatest achievement. Some guilds would show off the hides of Monsters, from Gnoll Warlords to Elder Wyverns, everyone liked to show off. Other guilds on the other hand would do something completely different. Some guilds would set up food stalls or even small shops selling their old goods to young adventurers.
Not every guild was the same. Most guilds were your standard guild of trying to clear dungeons and make a name for themselves, like the Emerald Blades and the Silver Slayers. Both of these guilds were part of the most popular guilds in the land, though these two were based in Litwik. Other guilds like the Jaded Hammers and Elder Scrolls are crafting guilds. These guilds would set up shop and sell either old items the guild no longer needed or the failed goods of the new recruits. Although, their failed goods aren't bad by any means, they just don't live up to the items they normally sell to other guilds.
These crafting guilds were very hard, even harder then the normal adventure guilds, to get into. They had much higher requirement of a Warrior or Mage to have at least 5 levels in a crafting utility skill! This was a tough challenge to any new adventurer. It would take years for any Warrior or Mage to get any normal Spell or Combat Art to level 5. To level up a Spell or Combat Art requires one to use it X amount of times and complete a challenge to level it up. For utility skills for crafting it is much harder. No only does the user need to craft X amount of one type of item, but the challenges normally tend to make higher level versions of those items.
Even with all the requirements to join guilds the Class Festival is always a hit! Larger guilds will set up stand to entice new recruit while smaller guilds will set up a more modest stands to get to know recruits on a deeper level. The biggest event in the Class Festival has nothing to do with adventurers, but the arrival of the Duke herself! Every Class Festival the Duke arrives and gives a speech to those who have just begun their journey as an adventurer. She wishes them well, but also throws her hat into the recruiting as well. She is always looking out for new members of her army and those with sufficient skill so she may make use of them.
"Think you'll be able to clear the Glacier Waste dungeon before the festival fully kicks?" Ellias asked while quickly hiding and wrapping the present up. "it's only a couple days away."
John shrugged "no idea. My party and I have done some research and scouted it out. Although the task to hunt the Great White Beast is harder then we would like."
Dillion stood back and listened to his son talk. He was also secretly testing his son on his information gathering skills and how well he lead his party.
"My entire party and I have entered the dungeon to mainly get a feel for it. the dungeon itself teleports you on the side of a mountain in an unending mountain range."
Ellias ears pick up when listening. He knew a handful of dungeons, and this is the dungeon where his parents got the Snow Tiger hide.
"The dungeon only has one mission and that's to hunt the Great White Beast. It's easier said then done. Not only are you in a constant snow storm, but must track the beast both in the storm and the maze like tunnels through the mountains. And if that wasn't bad enough, you also have to deal with other monsters, like the Snow Tiger and Blizzard Bird."
Dillion nodded in approval as John went into more detail about the dungeons. Everything he said was fairly accurate, but since he was a relatively new adventurer some of the things he spoke of was wrong. Dillion didn't correct his son regarding things he said or noticed incorrectly. These would be lessons his son has to learn to grow. If he would tell him all the little details and correct him his son won't last long. So he just cheerily smiled and listen to the excitement and nervousness in his son's voice.
"And that's not all" John added to his already long story. Which he has been talking nonstop for over 10 minutes now. "There is also a rumor of a hidden treasure inside. Many claim to seen a deep within the cave maze, but say it's guarded by a fearsome beast! Even more fearsome then the Great White Beast itself!"
Dillion waved his hand discounting the rumor. "Bah don't listen to those rumors son. I've been in the Glacier Wastes plenty of times and not once have I ever saw or heard of any hidden temple there. It's probably some rumor made to distract people from some other hidden treasure in another dungeon."
"Is that a common thing" Ellias asked curiously. "I've heard of this rumor from my parents as well."
Dillion smile embarrassingly. He didn't want to call Ellias's dead parents liars. "Unfortunately it is a common thing. Some dungeons have 1 time treasures while others have limited time treasures. Best example was the legend of the Gold Frog in the Burning Swamp dungeon and it's rumor counter part. The Kings Blade in the Castle Heights dungeon. You two heard about them?"
The two shook their heads. They had never heard this story even though they were 17 and 19 respectively.
Dillion looked around for a small stool to sit on, which Ellias happily provided. Once he sat down Dillion gathered his thoughts to make sure he was telling the story correctly.
Dillion cleared his throat and began his story. "Years ago there was an adventure guild named Thema's Chosen. They were a medium sized guild, that is now a major powerhouse on the continent. Now keep in mind before I explain this. All this information was found out after the ordeal. When this guild was just starting out and entered the minor leagues they entered the Burning Swamp dungeon. One of their Warriors with high level observation skills noticed a Gold Frog hopping around. It greatly stood out from the dark green colors of the swamp yet this Warrior was the only one to notice."
"They asked their party if they saw the Golden Frog and yet no one else noticed even if he pointed directly at the frog. No one was able to see what the Warrior saw. They decided to have their party wait as they went to find this Golden Frog. For hours this Warrior would chase the frog and always barely capture it. Narrowly missing the frog or the frog would jump right at the last second. No one really knows, still to this day, how this Warrior caught the frog, but they did. When they came back to the party, who at this time decided to completely the quest without them was just wrapping up the mission. When the Warrior arrived the party could finally see the Golden Frog for all it's beauty."
"It was the size of a bullfrog, gold skin, emerald eyes and other smaller gems along its body. Everyone was amazed! They weren't sure what to do with the frog till after they completed the dudgeon. When they did they all noticed that they all received over 10,000 gold! Seeing as they had a way to make money they knew they couldn't let other guilds find out about this. And they devised a plan."
"One of the higher rankers of their guild had found a Royal Blade. A rare magical blade with only 20 in existence. Since it was a trump card for the guild no one outside the guild knew about it. They used the magical weapon to start a rumor in the Castle Heights Dungeon that there was a hidden trial by the dead nobility. If you completed it you could get a magical sword or even a Royal Blade. So the guild went into the dudgeon, spent over 36 hours in there and when they emerged, battered and beaten, they cheered and boasted about their made of trial."
"This caused a widespread fever for more blades. Over the next few weeks more and more adventure guilds would enter the Castle Heights Dungeon, but never find the trial. Although only members of Theme's Chosen would find other magical blades, but never another Royal Blade. Those in other guilds that were more astute then others noticed the rising strength and coffers of Theme's Chosen. After digging into where they would get so much money they found the truth! Once the truth was out Theme's Chosen was sanctioned by the Adventures Guild from not using the Burning Swamp dungeon. Although only a week after they were kicked out of the dudgeon, it went purple!"
"The Duke lead a portion of her personal army, along with other guilds of adventurers, to destroy the dungeon before it full broke. They couldn't allow the precious farm land be turned into a burning swamp land. Once it was destroyed many blamed Theme's Chosen for the dungeon break while others knew that it wasn't possible to turn a dungeon purple. Many did speculate if Theme herself descended to the land and turned the dungeon purple while others just chopped it up to bad luck."
The two were bewildered by his story! How could they have not heard this before? Even John was surprised that he never heard about this. He's been an adventurer for little over a year, but still never heard of these things. He planned to look deeper into where this story originated from. While he planned to find the truth Ellias stared at the ceiling day dreaming. Day dreaming about finding a hidden treasure for a legendary weapon. Becoming a grand and renowned hero.
Dillion smiled at the two. Both reminded him of different points in his life. Ellias's' day dreaming reminded him of how he was at that age. Before he learned how tough it was to be a real adventurer and the horrors one would witness. It was a way to grow as a person. But he was even more proud of his son. Seeing his son step up as a leader and start to think about the bigger picture.
"Now with the story out of the way. What do I owe you Ellias" Dillion spoke knocking Ellias out of his imagination.
"OH!" Ellias embarrassingly handed the wrapped present to Dillion. "Since you only wanted the hide tanned and these pins imbedded into it, it was a simple job so only 5 gold." The two eyes widened drastically.
"Are you sure?" Dillion spoke." Most places would charge 3 times that amount for dealing with magical items and being a custom piece of armor!" Even John was surprised. When he asked one of the crafting guilds to make him the bone sword he has now from a Hill Giant they charged him over 75 gold!
Ellias smiled at the two. "Like I said. It was a simple job and already paid to have the pins enchanted. If I needed to do that I would have charged more. Plus you gave me some valuable information. So we'll call the 5 gold a fair trade."
The two were at a loss for words. Many crafting guilds rip fellow adventurers off with their over charging. To be treated as an equal for a crafting job like this truly meant a lot to them.
"That's it" John spoke adamantly. "For now on the Dark Claw guild will only come to you for jobs!"
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