Richard stumbled backwards and threw up his arms in front him. Trying to get his buckler and club in between him and whatever or whoever was coming at him. His eyes also may have been closed. Since if it was death knocking, it might not be better to look out the door. Or something.

  “Wow,” a voice said. A decidedly not monster voice. “This is new. I haven’t even said anything yet and someone is already afraid of me.”

  Richard took a chance and opened his eyes. In front of him was a party of people, all with smiles on their faces and chuckling at some level. The tall woman in front of him was dressed in something akin to full silver colored plate armor, with a large heavy looking shield and longsword. Her hair was braided into cornrows. Out of all of them her smile was the biggest one.

  “Now lay off the lad Em,” a man said as he stepped up. He was carrying a bow and had a hat on that reminded Richard of Robin Hood, even including the feather. His long brown hair was tied behind in a bun. “Maybe he didn’t expect someone of your high standing to have appeared here is all.”

  Over the man’s heart was his guild’s emblem, a golden sword shining silver. They must have been a party from the Sword Soul guild. One of the bigger guilds in Welf. Big enough that Richard had heard about them even before he started exploring. They were known for being a fair and just guild. To the point that there were some people who criticized them. As that all of the volunteering, stay hunting, donating and other philanthropy they do must be a cover.

  “I think that you scared our poor man dumb,” the man with the bow said. He craned his neck around and looked behind Richard. “Where is the rest of your party?”

  Richard shook his head. And it took him a couple attempts before his words came, “Met some coming down. Joined in for the second floor. Seemed to be wanting to force me to join their guild. With force if needed.” He showed them the Crafter’s Union badge on his satchel.

  And when he looked up again he realized that the mood had changed. What had once been jovial, was now focused and there was an underlying tension filled with danger.

  “Did they have a guild emblem?” Em asked as she placed a hand on Richard’s shoulder and stepped closer.

  He shook his head. “Not that I could see.”

  “Probably hiding it. Or unofficials,” she said and turned to the rest of the party. “Aright, we’ll get him back up to the surface, and then come back down.” If there were any complaints no one said anything. Before Richard had noticed they had already taken defensive positions around him.

  “Do you feel up to moving?” The man asked.

  “I think so. Have had a chance to catch my breath.”

  And like that they moved through the tunnels. They must have known where they were already going, since they did not consult a map and didn’t hesitate to pick which tunnel to follow next. Any monster that appeared was dispatched before Richard even laid eyes on it. The drops gathered and put away.

  “My name is Art,” the man with the bow said. “You’re lucky that you were able to get away. Most times those they press gang aren’t heard from again. Though they do turn up at times in raids of red guilds.”

  Em, who had taken point, turned back and glared. “Art, what the hell are you doing? Leave the poor man alone, and don’t go getting him any more worked up.” At her rebuke Art ducked his head, showed a sheepish grin, and stepped further away.

  ***

  Alison was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Which led to her having trouble keeping her head up. She was already on her third cup of coffee and should have been wired. The long day and excitement probably had something to do with it. Sam was in the manager’s office taking a nap so that she could go home sometime and finally get some rest. Once again she cursed Newt in her head for being a traitor and taking her time off away from her.

  There was a noise at the entrance to the dungeon and Alison was startled awake. When she looked she found that one of the Sword Soul parties was coming up from the dungeon. Emily, the leader, smiled at Alison and spoke, “Look at the little mouse we found wandering the 3rd floor.” Escorted by the rest of the party was a worn looking man using rented dungeon equipment with messy brown hair. Alison recognized him as she had processed checks and drops before. But it felt like there was something that she was forgetting at that moment.

  “Wonderful,” Alison said. “We are closing the dungeon since some red guild members were caught on their way out after sneaking in.”

  At some point Emily moved from where she was standing to right in front of the desk. “Which guild were they from?” Alison was either too tired or Emily moved faster than she could see.

  “Ah?” Alison was beyond the point of caring if the information was sensitive or not. “I think that it was the Field of Bloody Roses or something like that? At least one of them had that on their dungeon ID. I don’t know if I can tell you that or not. But Sam is sleeping like the arse he is. So that’s what’s happening.”

  Emily walked back to her party. “I know we said it before Richard, but it seems like Whoever luck really smiled down upon you today,” Emily said to the man they found before clapping him on the shoulder. “If you weren’t as lucky as you are then you would have been underground for the rest of your days.” She turned toward her party. “Sorry folks, this needs to be reported more than we need to explore.”

  Alison processed the check out and drops for the Sword Soul party, watched them leave, and then looked at Richard. “Sorry, but could you tell me about what they were talking about?”

  He reported that he had been attacked by a party of three that invited him deeper into the dungeon. And from the description that he gave it was the ones Newt had let in without checking. She sighed and it felt like all the tension of the day drained out of her at one. They found the person that they were looking for. It should be good to go home now right?

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Alison asked him to wait and went to kick Sam awake. She raised her foot to boot him before she let continued employment get the better of her.

  “I hear you there Alison,” Sam said. He turned and glanced at her foot hanging in the air. “What is it?”

  When she explained that the Soul Sword guild had come across the target Sam jumped to his feet and ran out of the office. It was then that she remembered why Richard had stood out to her. He had been the one to sell her that odd potion that Sam was all bothered over.

  Ah whatever, Sam can take care of the mess. And instead of going home Alison found herself falling asleep on the couch in the manager’s office.

  ***

  Richard was still rather rattled about the whole situation. Knowing that he had just about been nabbed by a red guild put his perspective on exploring into a tailspin. He could probably get away with just crafting as many potions as possible and then not needing to explore at all. It would be boring. It would be safe. But was that what he wanted?

  “...any idea?” The manager, Sam, had been retrieved by Alison. Richard realized that he had become lost in his thoughts and missed most of what had been said to him. He caught himself before he smacked his cheeks. And instead pinched his thigh through the nanocarb armored pants.

  “Sorry. Could you repeat that?”

  “Do you have any idea on why they might have been targeting you?”

  “I’m not sure. Everything was going well until they invited me to join their guild. When they found out that I had already joined the Crafter’s Union they went strange,” Richard said and then showed him the emblem on his satchel. “After that I managed to get away and ran down to the 3rd floor where Em and the others found me.” He left out the how, since it would be hard to explain away auto crafting a potion mid conversation.

  Sam sighed. “You are very lucky to have managed that. Oftentimes when people go missing, within and outside of the dungeons, it is because of the red guilds. And if we could we’d put up cameras all over the dungeon. But even if the budget were there they don’t work inside. So the best that we can do is keep watch like this.

  “I would suggest that you only enter into the dungeon from now on if you are part of a group. Otherwise stay on the first floor of safe dungeons if you are going to continue to solo.”

  A group would be needed, Richard felt that. But what was the best way to find people to explore with? Anyone of them could be selling information on him to whoever might want to kidnap a crafter. The Union seemed to be pretty loose with exploring. Maybe it would be better to find another guild? His knee had started bouncing at some point and he did his best to calm it.

  “I can see that you are rather distracted. If you don’t mind we can escort you home or put you up in a hotel for the night. I saw from your ID that you are from Welf. The buses have already stopped by this time.”

  Richard elected for a hotel just to get to resting as soon as possible. Even if the buses were running he wasn’t sure if he could handle being so exposed around strangers like that. What if he fell asleep and then woke up in some basement? He shuddered and rubbed the goose pimples that appeared on his arms.

  What had happened to him inside of the dungeon didn’t help with his misanthropy at all.

  ***

  Richard woke up early and was on the first bus back home. He didn’t think that he would be able to handle going into the dungeon at all. Not by himself. And maybe not at the Beetle Dungeon for some time. He knew that he would have to face his newfound fears at some point. But that day wasn’t the current one. Everything felt too raw.

  Once he was home again he fell into bed and started scrolling. Everything and anything, just for that dopamine hit. To keep himself occupied and avoid thinking about how terrifying running for his life had been. Yes they wouldn’t have killed him. But chaining him to a wall and forcing him to churn out goods for the rest of his life might have been a longer and drawn out end.

  Dungeons had been around for a good 25 years or so. There had been cases of people getting kidnapped and forced to work by corps, and then guilds. It was a common trend really. A small group of capitalist minded humans looking to exploit the work of the skilled few. Only exploiting through an unliving wage and enslaving them were two different things.

  He got up and fished through this bookshelf until he found what he was looking for. Some number of years ago an Enforcer raid had been productive in finding a number of missing people. They were taken and forced to work for their captors, churning out gear and items endlessly. It had been found after the fact that the red guild had been one of the providers for a popular brand and there was a hell of a scandal.

  The book was named ‘How I was kidnapped by a red guild and forced to create gear underground’ and written by HammerSlave078. It had been the source of the underground meme that had been a thing for a few years. And really one of the biggest fears any crafter had.

  As he flipped through the chapters Ricahrd found the one that he had remembered. It wasn’t something that he really read when he went through it the first time. But now he was in need of something, anything to help him move forward. Chapter 38, was titled ‘How I learned to trust again’.

  The findings of the author could be summed up into a few ideas. He had been hurt by a very small number of people, a tiny percentage of the billions of humans currently alive in the world. He could either treat all humans as if they were due the same, or understand that most people were not deserving of such treatment. The author surrounded himself by those that he could trust. And from there started some philanthropy to try and put more good into the world.

  While Richard struggled with the ideas he could see that it was better than rejecting everything like he was feeling. There was a notification at the door and he spring to his feet. His heart beating away in his chest harder than it should have been. Once he worked up the courage to see what it was he laughed at himself. It was a package that he had ordered the other day. And was something that he was expecting. But the noise still spooked him.

  After retrieving the parcel that had been left at his door he quickly ripped into it. Inside was the grain and hops that he needed for his next batch of beer. Since the days were getting colder he figured that it was time to create a big stout for the winter months to sip and enjoy. A winter warmer so to speak.

  It wasn’t much. But it was enough to keep himself somewhat busy and happy. Though he still hated having to clean and sanitize everything. Things would turn out alright in the end. Enough time just had to occur first.

  Later that night he checked his messages and found that he had finally heard back from his friend. Enigma. They had finally gotten around to completing the investigation into the Fist of Thorns Guild. There wasn’t anything on the surface pointing to them being a red guild. Only that was the same for most of the guilds who were outed as red in the past. All tracks leading to any vile acts were thoroughly erased. And they wouldn’t be caught until a mistake was made. There was also a warning to be careful.

  Richard sent his thanks for the information. But also filtered the experience that he had just gone through. That he had just about been nabbed by a red guild and how he narrowly avoided being captured.

  No sooner had he sent the message than a call came. It was Enigma checking in. Richard pretended to be better off than he was. But for some reason Enigma badgered him to play games until he relented. The morning came before their play session ended.