Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 04

"Everyone grab your crate!" Kroseph's father called to the people assembled in the area set aside for large groups like theirs, next to the transport platform.

Tibs hadn't known the work needed to move this many crates of foodstuff between cities. He'd thought merchants simply came and went to get what they needed, or had a messenger bring it to them. That worked when the merchant only needed a handful of small items, but anything large, as in, everything needed for Kroseph's family to run the inn in Kragle Rock, required an entirely different approach.

Even if they could have done multiple trips, which they couldn't because of something Kroseph called the 'benefits of bulk', some of those crates required two people to carry.

Another complication had been the coordination with the other platforms. Unlike when it was only one or two people traveling, or a small family, their groups would occupy the entirety of the platform, making it impossible for someone to arrive while they stood on it.

Or rather, one of Kroseph's sisters said with a grin, he didn't want anyone arriving while they were on it, since it got really messy, very fast.

They also had to ensure that the platform in Kragle Rock was clear for their arrival. Considering how long it had taken the group to simply exit the inn in MountainSea to go pick up the stored crates, this platform would be unable to function for a while.

One of Kroseph's brothers tried to explain how the Attendants could coordinate between platforms and the accent didn't help, so Tibs decided magic was enough of an explanation.

"How are you feeling?" he asked Jackal. The fighter held three crates stacked and tied together, while Tibs only had a backpack.

He'd asked for more, but even getting the pack had proved difficult. Everyone told him he was too young to do the work. When he pointed to a girl around his age with crates, he was told she was family, so had to work. He wasn't.

The behavior irritated him enough he snapped that he was a Runner and not some kid. This was too much like when he'd arrived at Kragle Rock and couldn't get any work, as every Runner had been ordered to do as payment for having a place to sleep and food to eat. It had been amusing at first, but that hadn't lasted.

Before Tibs yelled again, Kroseph handed him the heavy backpack, and he'd been mollified.

"I'm good," the fighter replied, in spite of his pale color. The fever passed a day before the message came, informing Kroseph's father the town was ready for him to return if he was interested, but just this morning, he had trouble remaining standing for more than a few minutes. Right now, Tibs sensed how Jackal used his earth essence to anchor himself to the ground and stay up.

"For those of you who weren't with us the last time we did this," Kroseph's father called over the raising noise. "If you feel yourself getting sick on arrival, hold it until you're down the stairs. They charge for the platform cleanup."

"And something else the guild uses to get money out of us," Jackal grumbled.

"The guild doesn't run the platforms," Tibs said.

It was something he'd learned while speaking with the Attendants when one of them wasn't busy and willing to converse. While like him they had grown in power through the guild and running dungeons, because they had void as their element, the people running the platforms paid off what the Runner owed so they could work for them. No one could tell him the exact nature of the platforms, other than the methods had been discovered a long time ago.

Tibs was getting the sense that everything about essence and its uses had been discovered a long time ago and no one other than the sorcerers bothered trying to find out more anymore.