Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 38

The Dark Night, Khumdar explained, was the night when Claria and Torus vanished from the night sky together for a few minutes away from their children.

Tibs knew of those nights but hadn't known they had a name. They were the nights when running the roofs was dangerous because the stars alone, the children of the story, didn't provide enough light for him to see by.

Carina hadn't known of it since nights didn't carry any significance to her. Mez had heard of it but didn't keep track, and Jackal hadn't been around to ask. Kroseph hadn't known, nor had any of his siblings. Tibs had asked Darran, who should have known, as someone who stole, but the merchant had never been one who depended on the night. He'd approached other merchants on the chance they were familiar with it, but he was sent away when it became clear he wasn't buying.

There was a dark mood hanging over Merchant Row since the fire.

That left Tibs with one recourse. Alistair would know, and hopefully not wonder why Tibs asked about that particular night. The question was if he was in Kragle Rock already, or away and would only arrive in time for his training.

The only way to know was to go to the guild.

* * * * *

"Any idea what the plan is?" clerk asked her companion as they walked. Tibs turned to follow them on hearing the next words. "We're running out of people to send into the dungeon."

Tibs had been moving through the first floor of the guild building for a few minutes, checking the common and open practice rooms in case his teacher was there and had inexplicably gotten lost twice already. Magic had been involved; it had to be. He'd been trying to make his way back to the entrance when he came across the pair of clerks.

The man snorted. "They're just going to bring in more criminals. The kingdoms are always happy to send those to us, to be disposed of."

"But they have to catch them first," she said. "Have you looked at the numbers? We've gone through over ten thousand since the dungeon was found. Now, the usual providers only have the kind of criminals that were caught on their first crimes. Those aren't going to do us any good, the way the dungeon is eating them."

"It's going to calm down," the man said. "It's probably still rebuilding its strength. It did nearly die."

"It won't if we can't send anyone for it to feed on." She paused. They walked in silence for long enough that Tibs was about to go back to his search when she spoke again. "You think there's something wrong with it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've heard about it," she insisted, and her companion shook his head. "We lost nearly ninety percent of the original conscripts. They were Rho, with a handful of Lambda." She lowered her voice. "Samson says the dungeon's going feral."

"That isn't a thing," the man scoffed. "You know better than that."

"I heard stories of—"

"Since when do you believe a bard? Or are you saying someone who knows what they are talking about is saying this kind of thing?"

She didn't reply.

"I thought so."

"You think they'll abandon it if things don't change?"

"Of course not. That'd just be an invitation for one of the kings in the area to make a play for it. We know the mess that's going to turn into. I don't know what the Guild does if a dungeon ends up not being a good investment. I mean, we're here to train adventurers, not just feed it."

"I am so glad I'm never going to be of a rank where I have to deal with those decisions."

He chuckled. "No ambition?"