The High Priestess suffered the most brutal beat down in the recent history of the Bara Dungeon.
Not only did it not manage to get a single major skill off, it was so thoroughly overwhelmed with pure brute force that it was on the defensive for the entire battle.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen. That is the whole run through the dungeon. In double time, as it were. Our total time is only a little over three hours, half what I had expected. Normally four hours is considered a top clear speed for practiced Guild Groups, so I must say that we had an exceptionally efficient day today.
Now, there are a few standards once we get out of the Dungeon. You are not obligated to tell others what you got, and that has turned to a general taboo on asking, unless you’re a vendor looking to purchase something.
But there is one more matter. The Darklight Host member has the ability to create mining illusions, and the mountain faces, as well as many of the ore nodules throughout the city, can be mined.
That is one of the primary reasons to do a full clear. If you don’t then the designated miners can’t work safely.
It is customary to split both the work and the reward in a pickup group if you do it at all. So, I have pickaxes in my inventory.
Today, we have a flying scout who can examine the city for anything we might have missed, like wandering Spiderlings. But I’ve done this a number of times now, and I am fairly certain that we got it all.”
Thomas’ explanation caught them all off guard. They were going to mine out the dungeon? Only the crafting guilds did that, and none of them saw much benefit in spending hours gathering what was an abundant resource here in Bara City.
Karl and Little Butterfly both sent out a team of Dwarves with pickaxes, two dozen illusions each, with instructions to gather all the ore and gems.
The others laughed as they saw the small army headed into the dungeon, with a few starting work only metres away, where a node of ore was growing from the ground behind a tree – sized mushroom.
“I will pile it here if we want to split it. It’s just extra materials for our Guild’s Grandmaster Elemental Smith.” Karl offered.
The others shook their heads. “Don’t worry about it. You have the Dungeon Pass, and that already saved us as much as selling those ores will gain. Keep them for your workers, we won’t begrudge you that. Especially when you have so many summoned miners to gather it.”
“The amount of ore varies from run to run, and it doesn’t always appear at the same spots, unlike the basic dungeon features and the enemies, which always appear in the same locations.” Thomas explained to Karl as the illusions spread and began piling up the ore in Cara’s space with the other loot.
“That explains why a group of Dwarves didn’t go straight to a specific spot for the most valuable nodules.” Karl realized.
Thomas sighed. “Some stereotypes never fade, do they?”
Karl laughed. “Don’t think too deeply about it. I grew up in the Lithium mines, and spent most of my childhood deep underground. I know that the appeal of finding a particularly valuable vein, or a surprise inclusion.”
The Dwarves all chuckled, and a few of them nodded in agreement. The Dwarves might get annoyed by being stereotyped as miners obsessed with ore and treasure, but it was still generally true.
The illusions spread quickly, and each nodule only took a minute or so to extract the surface ore from. Karl didn’t order them to dig deeper to follow the vein, and the butterfly didn’t know anything at all about mining, so they moved quickly through the dungeon, then vanished when the job was done.
“Alright, we’re good to go. They’ve finished collecting the surface ore and transferred it to me. There might be more beneath the surface, but this is good enough for me to show the smithy what is available.” Karl explained.
Thomas led them all out of the dungeon, and the beasts returned to their spaces. Cara wasn’t actually interested in raw ore, but there wasn’t a better spot to put it until they got home.
Besides, it didn’t take up too much space, just a small hill in one corner.
Thomas led the group out of the dungeon and to a quiet pub only a few blocks into the mountain.
The ten members of the dungeon team sat down around a large table, and Thomas ordered a round of drinks.
“Well normally this is where we go over what went wrong, and how to improve for next time, but this run was somewhat unconventional. I can’t say that I expect you’ll ever have another run like this one in the future, so you can just disregard all the fighting techniques that you learned today, other than the initial group placements.
However, we got a full clear, we’re done in time for a proper meal and the newcomers get an afternoon to explore the city. That’s all we can ask for.” The Paladin insisted.
Karl smiled. “That’s a good idea. I should bring things back home to Drodh. Souvenirs for the Guild members.”
Thomas chuckled. “Well, don’t spend too much on that special lady. International Portals aren’t cheap.”
Karl laughed. “Well, I don’t need to worry too much about that, as I can cast the portal for myself. I just don’t know too many locations within the Dragon Isles, so about the only place I can go is here or home.”
“After all those other skills, you still have the ability to portal?” One of the Dragonkin asked.
“Yes. A portal is the usual option, though I could use [Recall] instead, as I’m going back home to my Guild House once I’m done here anyhow.” Karl remembered.
“Portal and Recall. Whose mother did you sleep with to get that much influence?”
Karl frowned. “Recall wasn’t hard to get. I got it as part of a payment from the Lared Royal Academy. I made some gifts for their graduating class.
Portal, well, that was a special circumstance.”
The Dragonkin slowly nodded. “That makes sense. Lared created the Recall Stones, so it’s not a big deal for them to pass out the spell. But that also means you can come back here at will.
That’s huge, with your free entry pass.”
[He’s totally jealous.] Cara laughed.
[Tell them that you made an artifact grade weapon to get the free pass.] Rae suggested.
[I think they’re jealous enough. Let’s make friends here. Real friends that we can adventure with.]
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