The second day goes much more smoothly, as almost all the agreements were finalized the first day. Only the Fae Alliance and one group of Forest Elves in the East couldn't come to an agreement.
Sunnybrook deemed this acceptable, and intends to move forward with what they can get, unifying the agreements into a war alliance against the Ogres. They even managed to get a number of Frontline cities on board, using a high level Mage in Sunnybrook to open portals between the cities to move troops and supplies as part of the deal.
Beginner Valley is starting to look a lot more cohesive already. Only Graska won't have a full time portal, as the Fae Alliance threatened to invade the city if they established one, but unofficially, the Darklight Host will be moving huge amounts of materials and equipment between the two cities through their Guild House and bank. Their agreement with Sunnybrook ended up being one of supply, not of military force.
The hapless Fae Alliance will end up being the defensive force for the efforts biggest production facility simply because they have it surrounded. An easy win as far as the Graska King is concerned.
Misha and Cixelcid return before supper time, and the Quest reward comes in while the Guild is eating at the Sunnybrook Guild House, the Graska Tavern still being occupied by the group working out the final details.
The decision is made to try to get everyone in the Guild close to level 80 this week, so they'll all be meeting in Graska every morning to Raid the Demon Dungeon. If the pattern holds true, this area should be higher level than the entrance at Sunnybrook, giving them an advantage on leveling speed.
The new Clerics are a bit concerned, but with no fewer than 5 healers in the group they're fairly confident that they won't die at the very least.
"Can we bring some friends? A raid party is usually maximum 25 people, right?" Ohla asks.
"If you think they can handle themselves, I don't see why not." Misha shrugs and both look to Cain for confirmation.
"It should be fine. Who do we have in mind?"
"My friend Ghaz is a strong warrior, and his sister Morgan has a thing for Nathaniel, so she'll want to come too. She's a level 61 Fire Mage." Ohla smiles.
"Mork? Please no. She scares me." Nathaniel pleads.
"They're both half Orcs, with a Green Orc father. They're both good people, and they just got back from a summer in the far south visiting family. They're in a Guild though, I hope that's not a problem." Ohla explains.
"I don't see why it would be. Send them a message to meet you at the Guild House on time to get here for breakfast. Anyone else?" Cain looks around for suggestions.
"How about Shovel Face and the boys? You know, the Earth Mages from Bertha's place. They could use some materials, and they're all close to level 80." Ragnar suggests.
Cain knows who he means, six older Dwarven miners, all tough as nails, plus they'll have Rock Golem summons they usually use for digging.
"They're fun. Plus they can likely take the average Demon in a fist fight despite being Mages." Dimnys agrees.
"That works, you two can ask them to come along. The more strong fighters we have ready for the Ogres the better." Tomorrow is looking like a lot of fun. With so many people and a higher level dungeon they'll be rolling in the experience.
"Could you take weaker members too? The Orphanage has a couple of young Mages who could really use the help getting their level up before its time for them to get jobs." Triss asks.
"How weak?" Misha asks skeptically.
"Level 25. They're still pretty young." Misha looks to Cain to turn her down softly.
"Not this run, but I'll take them to the Beastkin dungeon later to help them out." He says and the Dwarf gives him a big hug in thanks. Speaking of which, she's got a system herself, a level 14 warrior, so she's never really fought. You can get that much experience doing job quests by her age. Maybe she'll want to tag along one day.
The next day starts with free entertainment. Morgan has found Nathaniel in the tavern and grabbed him into a hug, burying his face in her prodigious chest.
"Nate! I'm back, did you miss me? Don't worry I'll keep you safe in the dungeon." The girl gushes, shaking him back and forth.
If the others didn't know she was a fire Mage they'd never have guessed. The tall and heavily muscled half orc has chosen black short shorts with a crop top as her armor of choice and her pale green skin is littered with savage looking tattoos. Her long black Mohawk is deadlocked and the sides of her head tattooed in a tribal pattern.
In contrast, her brother is clean shaven, crew cut and wearing a neatly pressed tabard over his polished plate armor. He's even bigger than she is, standing about 220cm tall, where she's only a bit smaller than Cain's 195cm. Ghaz is big enough he could be a full blooded Orc, if not for his slightly more human appearance.
"Mork, put him down before he suffocates. Haven't I told you to be gentle with Elves?" he asks and Morgan flips him off.
"I just missed him, and don't call me Mork." She retorts, but does set the Elf down.
That's when the Earth Mages come in and look around at the assembled group, before laughing and heading to the breakfast buffet.
"Now this is a Guild. Bit of everything you might need, plus they've got food and whiskey." Shovel Face cheers them, and Cain makes a round of introductions.
When they get to the gate guarding the dungeons the captain of the Sunnybrook Guard and a few of his elite warriors are gathered, looking startled to see this ragtag army headed their way.
"Darklight Host and friends? We were going to head back this morning, we just had to drop off some documents for the Dwarven King. From the look of it they told you the trick to the Demon Raid. Care for company?" he asks.
Well, that would make an even 25 party members, so why not. Lickity adds them to the party and she chuckles at how Morgan hovers over Nathaniel when the lone female Paladin in their group looks his way.
"Don't we have too many?" The Paladin asks, doing a head count.
"Don't worry, a few of our members are summons. The dungeon only counts them if you ask it to." Cain explains, leading the group towards the portal with a smile.
