Changes in the Mine

"Hey Trom, I've got a question for you," Rydel yelled as he and Jack entered the Boar's Inn. Trom quickly appeared from the back kitchen and waited for Rydel's question. "There are two clerics who came back from the mine recently. They lost their party and go by Drad and Slivia. Do you know where we can find them."

"You came to the right place," answered Trom as he pointed at a table in the back. "They showed up a couple of days ago half dead. They passed out on our doorstep, so we gave them a free room and dragged them to bed. Since then, they haven't left the inn, only coming down for quick meals now and again when they get bored of their room. When we asked them what happened, they said nothing and paid extra to keep their stay here a secret."

"Then why are you telling us?" asked Jack.

"Because the staff and I eventually figured out their identities from the rumors. We know that you guys are heading to the mines and as members of the association, you're the most trustworthy people in town to handle this," said Trom.

"What about the crown prince? Can't his guards handle it just as easily?" asked Jack.

Trom smirked, "I hate the Royal Court, all they do is raise taxes and let the Balt Guild handle our protection. The association members that stay here always pay well and handle some trash that occasionally walks in, like last night. I hear everything before everyone, so know that you've got yourselves one of the best sources in town."

"In that case, we'll cover their meal. Bring our usual order up to our room and bring four rounds of brundy to the table," said Rydel as he placed three gold on the reception desk and started walking towards the back of the restaurant. He was already familiar with Trom, so he understood how Trom liked to do things.

"It'll be right out." Trom flashed a smile and winked at the two adventurers before he disappeared like always.

Rydel, followed by Jack, casually took a seat across the table from the two clerics. "What do you recommend here?"

"Not much, it's good food at a reasonable price. You won't be disappointed," the male cleric said as he gave a smug grin and started to stand.

"Why the rush, you haven't finished eating?" asked Jack sitting down next to Rydel.

"I lost my appetite," said the male cleric, determined to leave.

"It's a shame you two have been cooped up in this place for so long. Why not enjoy a drink and relax?" commented Rydel as a serving girl arrived at the table and passed out four mugs of brundy.

The male cleric flinched and sat back down. "What do you know?"

"Drad and Slivia, right?" asked Jack. "Have you been able to fully recover after returning from the mine?"

Both clerics let out a depressing sigh. "I told that man to not tell a soul. When this is all over, I'm gonna—"

"We're with the association." Jack's interruption caught their attention and they began to listen. "We'll be heading to the mine in two days, so we've heard a lot about the missing party incidents. Do you guys know what's going on down there?"

Drad was hesitant to respond and grew tense, but Slivia placed her hand over his to comfort him. She asked, "What good is there to tell you? Just stay away from there, or else you'll end up like our party."

"I doubt that," Rydel joked. "Most people my level don't pay attention to the mine, but I'm not here for the EXP. Besides, if there's something that I can't handle down there, we can always call Zariff."

When they heard Zariff's name mentioned, the two clerics began to relax. Drad said, "Fine, but not here."

"Way ahead of you," laughed Rydel, who chugged the complete mug in one go.

The other three finished their drinks at their own pace. Jack spoke after he stood up. "We can meet in our room, our dinner's already waiting for us there."

The clerics were surprised to hear that these association members were one step ahead of them.

They followed Jack and Rydel up the stairs and entered their room.

Jack and Rydel grabbed their food off the end table and sat on one bed, letting Drad and Slivia sit across from them on the other.

The clerics were anxious and unsure if they should say anything, Slivia's expression change when she saw Bowser start playing with a boar's leg. Seeing her like this Drad chuckled, "So, what do you want to know?"

"Everything." Jack took the lead to ask. "Has something changed inside the mine?"

Drad sighed, "Not much has changed inside the mine. There are a lot more goblin settlements then we had anticipated, and we were ambushed after reaching the third level of the mine. We fought for a while but after it became too much, we tried to escape and used our contact crystals to call for help. But before we noticed, the exit had been clogged by high-level goblins and the crystals weren't working."

"We only made it out because our captain gave up his life using a forbidden technique and forced a small hole in the goblins' ranks. Then we climbed back out through some of the old mineshafts instead of the main path."

"That explains how you got out," said Rydel. "That also explains why you passed out on the doorstep. You've been poisoned, right?"

The clerics' eyes went wide when Rydel figured it out. "How can you tell?"

"Simple, because I've climbed through the old mineshafts before. I know that particular azure mine very well, it's how I make a good chunk of my coin." Rydel retrieved two small glass bottles with a purple liquid inside and tossed them to Drad and Slivia. "That's an antidote strong enough to remove your poison. Give it a couple of days and you'll be back to normal."

"These… We can't just take these. An antidote like this cost a few silver each," Slivia complained as Drad downed his bottle's contents immediately.

"Then pay in information. You already know we're not gonna harm you, so just keep telling us your story and don't leave anything out," said Rydel.

Drad flinched before Slivia answered, "The biggest change was that there's not a single goblin settlement left on the first two levels. They've all been abandoned or relocated."

"But Slivia, they said—"

"It's better this way," said Slivia, not giving Drad an opportunity to say anything. "For most of our time on the third level, we didn't find anything. But we later found a goblin city, probably made up of all the goblins from the earlier floors. After we saw the city on the horizon, we were ambushed and us two were lucky to escape after captain used his ultimate technique."

"Was your party killed?" asked Jack.

"Our leader died letting us two through, but I'm not sure what happened to the others," answered Slivia. "I don't know why the contact crystals weren't working but I know there are a lot more high-leveled goblins now. The ones that surrounded us were all lv. 15 or higher, there was even a lv. 20."

"Seriously?" Rydel was surprised. He was very familiar with that azure mine and he was sure that the highest level he'd encountered was lv. 17 and most were lv. 10 or lower. "Are you sure? How many were there?"

"At least ten over lv. 15, at least that's how many surrounded us," Drad spoke up, finally willing to speak openly. "But I think there are a lot more, and there are probably some over lv. 20 too."

"Wow, looks like I'll be doing a lot more leveling then I'd expected." A couple of notifications from the system went off but Jack ignored them for now. That's when he noticed that he had old notifications waiting for him.

A little excited to explore the new notifications later, Jack quickly returned to the conversation. "Other than that city, were there any other active settlements?"

"There were a couple, but now I understand that they were outposts and not settlements. That's probably how they knew we had approached the city," said Drad.

"Then don't worry too much. Rydel here can handle any high-level goblins with ease, and I can come up with something that'll even the playing field." Jack's eccentric smile caused the clerics to feel nervous.

"What are you going to do?" asked Drad.

Jack laughed, "Since the goblins want to group up so much, that just makes our plans a lot easier, right captain?"

"You know it kid," said Rydel. "You two shouldn't worry too much, the association will step in and take care of this. Is there anything else we should know?"

Drad shook his head as Slivia began to watch Bowser finish chomping on a charred pig femur. Jack said, "Good, then you're free to go. Thanks to your info, I'm even more excited to get inside that mine."

The clerics started to think Jack had gone crazy, but seeing Rydel's smile, they could only assume that the hunter duo had a plan. They said goodbye to the hunter duo and Slivia waved goodbye to Bowser.

As the two closed the door behind them, Jack roared with laughter. "Yo Captain, it looks like we'll both be leveling up this time. Just imagine the loot!" Both Jack and Rydel celebrated their future success with brundy and food till dawn.