Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 24

"She's looking to get them to invest here, as well as have them convinced others to invest. Help Kragle Rock grow. The town, well a city, is as much what draws people to a dungeon as the dungeon itself. The two usually grow side by side. The dungeon provides more opportunities, so the city grows, and with more people arriving, a proportionally larger number of them will brave the dungeon, helping it grow."

He took a goblet without looking and sipped it. "We've had setbacks that disrupted the pattern, and she's looking to set that right."

"Why?"

"She has expectations to meet, I expect. She's in charge, so she's held accountable for how things happen."

"And what happens if she can't meet those expectations?"

"I'm not sure." The sorcerer glanced at Tibs before looking at the crowd, sipping his goblet. "Within an academy setting, she'd be brought before a board of inquiry to determine how much of what happened is her fault. Too much and she'd be replaced."

Tibs watched Tirania; tried to determine if there was any desperation in how she spoke to the woman with strands of silver woven into her black hair. "What's a board of inquiry?"

"It's a group of people who have the authority to decide the fate of those under them."

Wasn't Marger the only one above Tirania? "Where do they judge someone?"

Don chuckled. "I have no idea where Tirania would be judged." He thought it over. "But I suspect that they'd need to look over the results of her decisions first, so the final judgment could take place here, since they'd already be here."

Tibs nodded. So Tirania needed the town to grow, and these people were how she planned on making it happen. If that failed, Marger would notice, wouldn't he? That would draw him here. Then, what he needed was to get information.

"I think we should talk with these people," Tibs said, taking a goblet. "See what they're looking for in a place to send people to." He smiled at Don. "We do want to make Tirania's work easier, after all." He downed the content and grimaced as it burned his throat. When he was able to breathe again, Don's suspicious expression was gone. And they stepped into the crowd.

Time after time, as Tibs was dismissed, talked down to, or simply ignored, he had to fill cracks in the ice. The nobles hadn't held on to the impression Tibs was important. Most realized how Tirania used him and Don, and from the pieces of conversations he overheard, he had the impression many only humored her.

Some treated Tibs...better. As the nobles' perceived place within their hierarchy dropped, the dismissals came with apologies. The talking to didn't have quite as much of a downward angle to it, and he wasn't ignored. They were who looked at what Tirania was offering as a way to advance themselves. They weren't all ignorant of the show she put on, but they seemed tolerant of it.

Then there were the few merchants among them. They swallowed everything she told them so completely that if Tibs couldn't sense the absence of essence on Tirania's bright words, he'd think she was using magic on them. They saw a new market to increase their wealth, and through that, their position within their city. Some saw Kragle Rock as the city of their future, where they could start a mercantile empire from.

The merchants talked with Tibs, but kept their distance. They weren't worried about the information they gave him, but that he might pick their pockets. Merchants could spot thieves and rogues at a distance, and few of them trusted either to keep their hands to themselves.

When, much to Tibs's surprise, the meal was called; he realized he was ravenous. After that, there was more being ignored, more conversations he listened to, and a few in engaged in, and when he noticed some of the attendees leaving, he did the same, but not before Don grabbed him so they could bid their host a good night, as was proper. Then they were escorted to the exit, and Tibs couldn't wait to reach his bed.