It was late in the evening when Karl led the group out into the dim light of the tourist district of Bara to a hotel that Shaman Petros had suggested.
It was set up for large groups, as it was near the dungeon, and the sizing was multi species friendly, unlike some of the inns that were deeper into the mountain, where most of the rooms were sized for Dwarves.
While a few of Karl's group members might be alright with that, most of them would be incredibly uncomfortable on a Dwarf sized bed,
The next morning, they all gathered at breakfast to make a proper plan for their excursion, now that they had additional information about the threats.
"I've got a copy of the day's mission requests from the Innkeeper, but it's not a big list, as it only covers the region immediately around the mountain. Even if we want to go deal with the Sand Yeti issues, they're not on this list." Karl explained.
Tessa shrugged. "We can't get lucky every time like we did in Drodh, with their nationwide threat assessments being passed out at the guard station."
"Why don't we skip over the Sand Yeti groups, as they're going to go back soon enough on their own? We can start with the monster spawns, as they're an invasive threat." Lotus suggested.
To the Nature Goddess, the invasive threats would always be the priority.
Nachtia shrugged. "That works for me. They all need dealing with."
Ophelia nodded in agreement before speaking. "We should go see the dungeon first. Not just because I want to see how Karl's combat ability improved after that last incident, but to see if we can get anything good out of it.
It's Overlord Ranked, so it might give us something unexpected. As I recall, Thomas was going to bring some friends of his by this morning if they agreed. At the least, we should give them a couple of hours and leave after lunch if they aren't coming."
They didn't have to wait long, as the Dwarves were already outside the restaurant when they finished eating, and already geared up for the dungeon.
"You're going to join us today, Thomas? I thought you were going to take a day off." Karl commented.
"For your group, I'll skip the day off. Hell, I might even make up some of the lost revenue for the week. It's been a rough one all around, and we've had to abandon more than one attempt after the first boss." The Paladin explained.
That was barely a break even day for the group with the entry fee. It might be half the dungeon run, but it was far less than half the total loot at the end.
"Did everyone have what they need? Other than packed lunches, we can get those from the restaurant now." Karl asked.
The restaurant had them premade and sitting on a counter for the adventurers, so it only took Lotus a second to get the food and return.
"Good to go. Now, let's go see what's in the Dungeon. I want to see Rae bully the Spiderlings." The little cleric announced.
"She's friendly, you don't have to worry about her biting." Karl offered.
"I'm not worrying about being bitten. I'm worried about being robbed. I keep regularly used items in my pouches instead of my inventory. The Paladin complained.
[They all assume the worst of me.] Cara complained.
Remi hissed with laughter. [But he's not wrong, you were going to see what was in his pouches. Leave the poor man alone, he's here to help.]
Thomas distracted them by going over the basics for the run.
"My fellow Dwarves all know the dungeon routes by memory. So, we can do it again the same way as last time. We will get in position, and then Hawk and Rae can pull the
mobs to us.
Be careful not to use area effects that go outside the current battle so that we don't accidentally attract more monsters than we can smoothly handle at once. I have no doubt that some of you can deal enough damage to pull more than one group at a time, but trust me. It is faster to do them in order." He reminded them.
Karl nodded and took out his bow. This was going to be a fun run, and watching Hawk hurl Spiderlings like baseballs was always great entertainment.
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