Delver

It's been a few years since I first decided to become a delver. Eighty, actually, so maybe not so few. I may be what they call a veteran now. I kind of knew I was destined to be a delver taking up lost and found posters as "jobs" as a kid, exploring the boundaries of the wilds for treasure, and even getting my friends to explore abandoned buildings with me, looting broken glass, bed frames, and whatever else we thought might be cool. When I was old enough to go off on my own, I had already been reviewing the local job board for the first real job I would take. Delving was not what my childhood fancies had led me to believe. It's far more perilous, heartbreaking, and rewarding than I could have ever imagined.

— Aoax

Follow one of Aoax's earlier adventures with chapter one of Tales From Kald: Hat Hatid: A Night of Repose

Profession

Delving is not a profession for the faint of heart, it's filled with perilous adventure that can take you to the ends of Kald. At the risk of your life, your sanity, and your relationships, explore ruins and under-charted areas to find riches natural and made. The profession is fairly simple, just go somewhere and loot the place.

I've taken up a few delving jobs on a whim. None of them were particularly hard, no one died or anything. They also weren't as exciting as all the recruiters and storytellers make them out to be. Just go to some decrepit town, loot the place, and leave, so very, very boring. No traps, just a few Pupfitr looking for lunch, and no zombies or ghosts. I kind of doubt all the stories are true. I've had far more exciting adventures just wandering the forests of Mount. Witch

— Defza

Delving is not so simple. Firstly, the areas that can be delved are heavily regulated (though there will always be the unscrupulous that find them as suggestions rather than rules) and the danger most areas that require delving pose is very serious. Due to Nature's Dominance, there are many areas that may spontaneously lose population but not material wealth. The areas that lose population also tend to have a reason it happened, a reason that would risk life. Like a Kraken it's new home your old home. It's up to the delver to deal or not deal with any threats and retrieve (sometimes specific) things from the area.

People know where recently abandoned areas are and may hire a delver to retrieve heirlooms, wealth, religiously significant relics, or something else. These will be the majority of delvings, to retrieve these goods from lost areas. However, delving may also consider newly uncovered areas, forgotten to time. These require far more resources for recognizance, legality discussion (such as in the effect of sacred areas that may need to be returned to the descendence of the peoples), and unknown threats that may lurk in these unearthed areas.

Gigs

There are two primary ways of obtaining a gig. The first and most common is obtaining an upcoming expedition from a job board found at your local wafering center, governing center, or tavern. The other is from a guild, patron, and usually both.

Board work is for newer delvers and typically contains jobs that are less dangerous. If someone is wanting a larger job, they will go to a guild rather than leave it up to whoever arrives being the hirees.

Guilds are the most common place delvers call home. Many jobs require a minimum amount of delvers to ensure safety, efficiency, and professionalism. Delvers in the same guild tend to be friendly and work well together, creating tailored teams for any obtained, requested, or provided jobs.

Experienced delvers can create their own gigs, however, it is less forthcoming with reason and return. A delver may go to an area, legally and with a permit, of course, to delve for treasures on their own. But because they don't have the obvious reason as a board posting or resources to ensure delving there would be worth it, this is not a common occurrence. High risk and low potential for a reward have many delvers work for someone else rather than themselves. Those who do work for themselves may find their new position would rather them not delve and have other delvers work for them.