The new plex was massive – at least pared to their old headquarters. It made sense, sihere was no way that nearly forty people could operate out of the tiny facilities that they’d had before. This, though, was sized for at least three times as many people, probably closer to one hundred fifty, and there was no reason they couldn’t expand out further into the earth. They had Kustov, after all. There were several offices, a training room, equipment ste, a massive kit and teen, a break room and, of course, an armory.

  “Okay everyone, and now to the good part.” Ed said, leading them into the st rge room. The walls were lined with mundane onry – spears, long knives, and stacks of basic armambesons, mail, helmets and boots. Most of it wasn’t new, but it all looked to be in good repair. Bernt had no idea where Ed might have gotten it.

  “Underkeepers without preexisting fighting qualifications are going to get the same basic guard training as the city guards. Former adventurers get more specialized equipment when we find it. You, our inal underkeepers, are also going to have some specialized kit. Mages outside the military aren’t allowed to wear uniforms or armor in any style resembling Beseri army’s, so yoing to be wearing these.”

  He reached down behind the tall stack of gambesons and picked up a gray bundle, checked a hat had been pio it, and tossed it to Bernt.

  Bernt caught it a unfurl. It was a gray robe, almost exactly like the one he was wearing, but the material was thicker and the whole thing was a lot heavier. Metal peeked out from the inside.

  “Your new robes are lined with mail around the torso, like you’d usually get for adventuring gear.” Ed expined as he passed the new robes out. “They’re also ented to repel water, so you shouldn’t have to worry about staining iure when you’re w up in the sewers. Same with the boots over there. There wasn’t enough in the budget for defensive entments, but they don’t even spring for that in the military. It’s turning out better than I expected, all things sidered.”

  Josie cleared her throat. She hadn’t received a robe, which made sense – she wasn’t a mage. She was still wearing her own clothes, the ones she’d brought with her on her first day.

  “Uh… what about me?” She asked, looking around at the gear all around her.

  “I asked Radast about it, since you’re teically on loan.” Ed said his usual scowl taking on a wry edge as he talked. “He said he was going to handle your equipment himself – something about warlocks having ‘standards’. Don’t worry, you’ll probably be better equipped than anyone here.”

  Turning away, he led the group over to the ons.

  “Each of you is going to start carrying a dagger as a sidearm. I expect all of you to develop at least some basipeten close fighting with our rainer, who you’ll meet tomorrow – I highly reend learning to incorporate some spellcasting with this as well. It’s highly unorthodox fes to bine arms and magic, but orthodoxy is highly overrated when it es to surviving to a ripe old age as a war mage.

  Yarrod harrumphed pompously. “Hmpf. So, is that what we’re to be, now? War mages? I would have expected that the army that’s stationed about twenty-minutes’ walk that way would cover that part if worse came to worst.”

  Ed barked a humorless ugh. “Wars aren’t fought alo, imperable lines, my friend, and nothing about the Duergar Empire’s movements would suggest that they’re pnning to py nice for long. I would be surprised if we get through this whole mess unscathed. Allowing you to muddle through with the skills you developed wiping out the minor nuisahat pgue the sewers would not be… appropriate.”

  He sighed and scratched at the back of his neck. “We’re getting off track a bit. Just trust me on this, alright? I’m looking out for you.”

  The archmage turned around and pulled two staves, which Bernt had assumed were training spears, from the wall. He held the rger o to Bernt, and the smaller to Yarrod. “I also acquired two basic war mage staves from Arice’s quartermaster. Both of you use wands right now, which is fine in most situations, but limited. You’ll need something with a bit more heft to it.”

  As Bernt accepted the staff, Ed met his eyes and added, dryly. “It’s also useful to have a quality general focus on hand, for when you ’t burn your ast your problems with more specialized equipment.”

  Bernt grinned. He almost couldn’t wait, but he restrained himself and took his time to pick out a pair of boots that fit properly before leaving. He’d probably be using them for a long time.

  –------

  “Under ‘reason for resettlement’ you wrote ‘work’,“ the weary-looking clerk said with dead eyes. “While we expect the Uy’s ey to develop quickly, there are currently no known employment opportunities in the Uy."

  Bernt sighed and threologetice over his shoulder. A long line of impatient-looking dwarves, goblins, a few humans and a handful of gretched out behind him, extending far out of the magistrate’s offito the hallway.

  He’d listed work as his reason because he assumed that “I want to find a home for my demonic familiar” wouldn’t go over quite as well on a resettlement cim. Apparently he’d been wrong.

  “I already have a job.” Bernt said, indig vaguely at his robes. “I’m an underkeeper. The new headquarters is located in the Uy. As it is now, I’d have to walk over half an hour to reach it.”

  “Ah” the clerk grunted, scribbling something o’s form. He hoped it wasn’t going to be a problem. It couldn’t be, right? They were pnning to move goblins down there. Why wouldn’t they let him live there?

  “Alright,” the taciturn dwarf went on as he copied Bernt’s responses onto another sheet. “To limit religious tensions, the district has two separate residential quarters for adherents to shamanistic traditions and ohat houses temples to the three dwarveies that our own temple district hasn’t been able to aodate thus far. Do you have any particur preference?”

  That was a strange way to say that they were pnning to segregate the goblins off into their own neighborhood. Bernt supposed not all goblins were shamanistic, but still.

  “What about the third neighborhood?” he asked.

  “The third quarter is going to fun as sort of a sedary crafter’s district – it’s located directly below it.” He nodded over to another, much shorter line, poputed almost entirely by dwarves. “Only registered artisans are permitted to settle there.”

  “I see.” Bernt said, doing his best not to fidget impatiently. “Is there anything close to the tral marketpce? That’s where the new headquarters is. I don’t worship spirits or dwarven gods, so the neighborhood isn’t really that important to me.”

  The clerk scoffed and smirked disbelievingly, but he kept processing the paperwork, so Bernt supposed it was just as well.

  “Alright, sure. gratutions, you’re pre-qualified for resettlement. To obtain a resettleme and assigned housing, you’ll o pay an up-front fee of seventy-five gold marks or apply for finang via the Halfbridge city bank.” He held out a form. “Don’t worry, you’re pre-approved.”

  Bernt scoffed and pulled a heavy pouch out from under his robes. The dwarf stared at it in surprise and almost dropped the paper. It was almost everything he had left, but this would be worth it. payments ever again. He’d be able to save money more quickly than ever before. He certainly wasn’t about to sign up to pay io the bank for the several years.

  He opehe poud started ting out s.

  –---------

  Bernt tied his loose notes and papers into a buh a bit of string and put it inside his shoddy-looking bag of holding. It didn’t have an unlimited ste capacity – not much more than a closet, really – but it wasn’t as though he had that much stuff.

  His books, an old novice’s robe, cooking implements that he hadn’t used since before he’d st moved, a b, and a few other effects all fit into the bag with room to spare. He’d o buy some furnishings for the new pce. And, he thought to himself as he adjusted his heavy new underkeepers’ robes, some new clothes. Running around armored all the time was way too unfortable.

  Shouldering the bag, Bernt summoned Jori through their bond and started making his way down toward the Uy. She reached him as he ehe Crafters’ Distrid they walked dowreet together in the fading evening light. People turo watch them as they passed, but they didn’t look overtly hostile anymore, as they had the first few weeks after Jori had gotten her papers and Ed had posted an official statement about her status.

  Bernt very much doubted that many people had seen that statement, but they couldn’t have missed that her guards nor solicitors ever came after him. Eventually, they’d grown more used to the sight. Though, if Ed was to be believed, that didn’t stop them from ing to him with pints.

  It had only been a few hours since he’d st been here, but the new guard statioo the gate had already been transformed. A door had been hung into the empty frame and a guard stood in front of it – one dressed almost like a normal city guard, except for her gray tabard, which held the same symbol that was carved over the door of the new Underkeepers’ Headquarters. With some surprise, Bernt reized her. It alina, the ntern-jawed seniuardswoman who had worked with him and Kustov during the kobold invasion.

  Apparently, she’d decided to join the Underkeepers.

  He waved to her iing and she threw him an exaggeratedly crisp salute.

  “Underkeeper Bernt!” she called and winked down at Jori, who waved baergetically. “Evening.”

  “Weren’t they paying you enough in the regur guard?” Bernt asked, ing to a stop in front of her. “I didn’t think anyone would want to jump ship from the city guard to join us, sidering the ck of sunlight and all the sewer work.”

  “Ha!” Palina ughed. “No, I’m not doing that. I iated with the boss man. He needed experienced guards to teach the green recruits. And that crusty old Kustov reended me. I got a nice pay raise out of the deal, and,” she gestured around her, “I have the only sunlit post iire Uy district!”

  Bernt gri her. “Nice, gratutions!”

  “Are you going on duty?” She asked, noting his robes.

  “No, it’s not that.” Bernt answered, shaking his head. “I’m actually moving down. I’ve been having trouble finding a new pce, and the Uy is turning out a lot han I was expeg.”

  Palina snorted, eyes kling deeply at the ers. “Oh, I think it’s turning out han almost everyone was expeg. It’s probably some political game, but nothing for the likes of us to worry about. No sense spitting in the eye of good fortune, right?”

  “Right,” Bernt said, smiling as he headed down through the archway and Jori skipped after him. The trip dowunnel felt shorter than st time – it took maybe ten mio reach the Uy’s tral marketpce. Surprisingly, it looked like he wasn’t the only one eager to get moved in. While the pce was mostly empty, there were already a few people walking around, taking in the new sery or pulling carts across the square.

  Bernt pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and ope up to check for his new address. The dwarven clerk had assigned him to what he thought of as the goblin quarter, probably because he hadn’t wao put him into the obviously dwarven neighborhood. Following a rough map on the back of the piece of paper, Ber down the brht-hand tunnel.

  The neighborhood was arranged like a wheel, with broad tunnels radiating out from a small park in the ter that was encircled by a single rger tuhe first thiiced was the ck of normal sewer access shafts ireet. It was strange – where was all the waste supposed to go? He couldn’t imagihat Ed would be involved in building anything without a proper waste ma system. Now that he thought about it, they couldly funnel aire sewer system’s wastewater anywhere from here – the river was quite a ways up above this pce. He’d have to ask Ed about it some time.

  The walls were shaped into unfione facades on all sides, revealing hundreds of pin living spaces with gaping holes where doors and shutters would go. There were a lot of homes, more tha could imagihat they would need. Someone nning for the future down here – someoh access to a lot meomahan just Kustov and a few army engineers. By his guess, probably Iria and the Mages’ Guild.

  While the tuhemselves were lit by the Archdruid’s glowing vines, just as the tral market area was, the homes were dark on the ihat wouldn’t be a problem for Bernt, but everyone else would have to get creative. Maybe they could just put some of those brightly glowing flowers in a vase. The more he thought about it, the more he appreciated the cleverness of using pnts as a lighting solution. They looked nice, were accessible to everyone, and probably required little or no maintenance.

  It didn’t take long to find the right address – the clerk had apparently been listening after all. It was the third door down along the outer ring part of the neighborhood, almht o the thhfare that led back to the marketpce, but with enough distahat traffic wouldn’t be going right by his door. A nice gesture and not one he would have expected from the surly dwarf.

  A few doors down oher side of the street, he could see aerprising goblin hammering shims in behind a jamb on a new door frame. Jori peered at him curiously.

  “What’s he doing?” she asked.

  Bernt, who was critically eying his owy archway, looked back over at his new neighbor.

  “He’s making sure that the door jambs he installed are straight, so the door doesn’t get stuck on the ground when you open it.”

  “Do we have to do that, too?” she asked, fling back as the goblin shouted suddenly, threw his hammer against the wall, and then began kig at the new door frame in rage. A moment ter, a goblin woman stepped out of the door into the street, carrying a small child. She pressed the baby into the frothing man’s hands, eyed the frame critically for a moment, and then pulled some of the shims back out again.

  Maybe Bernt could just straighten out the stone wall with magic.

  Sure he could. Maybe.

  Bernt sighed. “Probably, yes.”

  Reag into his robes, he grabbed at the now very light pouch of s that hung around his neck. Maybe he could afford a carpenter?