"Couldn't you put them into some sort of logical order?" Misha complains trying to read through the list.
"That puts them in convenient spots in my system display when I want to check up on them. It just doesn't make for an easy to read list I guess." Cain shrugs.
"Forget that, where do we find more Dragons? I want a pretty dragon." Elmira cheers. What a combination that would be, the greatest magical creature known to humans, paired with a Pixie that increases magic damage. Unfortunately for them, Cain doesn't know where to find 46 more types of Dragons. In fact, he's not sure there even is a Dragon based dungeon in the valley, only a few scattered through other types of dungeons.
The group looks over the list a while longer, getting a good grasp on what all Cain has been bringing with him, before moving on to last minute preparations. They gather food, repair tools and scrolls, put useful items into the Guild Bank and finish up any tasks they had in progress, not wanting anything to be forgotten since they don't know how long they will be gone for.
It's hectic, but by early afternoon everything seems to be in order and they have all returned to the Sunnybrook Guild House to discuss when they should actually leave. Right away is the most popular option, but that reminds Cain that he had been forgetting an important task.
"Before we head out, there was one more thing I promised to do. I was going to take Triss through a dungeon to get a couple more levels and finish up her talent tree. She's just a couple points short of a necessary skill for Bartending in a Dwarven City." Cain realizes as soon as he says it that the Tavern will already be open for today and therefore Triss won't have time to go play in the dungeon.
"You know what, nevermind. We can take care of that after we return."
Leaving from Sunnybrook, they begin heading northeast, following the road that should lead them towards the old Troll capital on the Eastern edge of the valley. From there they only need to find and destroy as many Ogres as they can, and help any willing Trolls they find to retake this last corner of their land.
More groups from the various factions will be headed toward the Ogre territory and driving them back all along the border, so the only spot the Darklight Host needs to focus on for now is the one surrounding the fallen capital.
The route will take them though a mostly uninhabited corner of the Elven Forest, and the Fae in their Guild are getting more and more excited about it. The forest is a soothing presence to them, inherently relaxing like being at home, even when you know there are dangers around.
The rest of the Guild can't really understand but Dimnys seems to. She expressed the same sentiment when she first came to the Guild house in Graska, deep within the mountain.
Every farm and small village they pass, they stop and ask about recent Ogre sightings or other suspicious activity, not wanting to miss anything at all. As far as they know, no other group will be traveling this far east, so they're intending to take the time to end any lingering dangers to the locals. If it awards Guild Experience, all the better.
This route is well away from the Dungeon the Ogres spawned from, so the sightings have been sparse, but one farmer insisted he saw a pair of Ogres come this way just a few weeks back. That might be the King and advisor they killed, but another local mentioned there was a hidden forest dungeon not far away, so they're going to search the area for signs.
Hopefully there's no more Ogre leadership in the area, but a nice dungeon visit can be refreshing too.
Belle is in her Husky looking wolf form, since it has a better sense of smell, but she is coming up blank. That is until they reach a clearing near where the dungeon is supposed to be and she catches the scent of a two headed Ogre, not fresh but not very old. He must have come this way only a few days before they arrived.
During that time the Ogre King had been busy attacking the city, but the last attack was the one with dual forces. Cain alerts them all to be cautious of a hidden Ogre army in the area, as they don't know if the second army was from the dungeon or brought with their Commander.
The trail leads to a hidden Grove, as the locals said the dungeon should be in, and Belle informs the group that there are Ogres in the area. So they weren't from the dungeon, those ones should have reset without anything to hold them here.
Mythryll goes ahead to scout, hidden by Elmira and Belle follows silently beside them.
[Fifteen Ogre Warriors with a two headed Mage are sitting around a campfire. No sign of the dungeon entrance.] Mythryll sends in Guild chat.
That's a good number, that number they can deal with quickly, before they can flee or call for help. Cain signals the group to surround them, everyone understanding that this will be a blitz attack. Belle reports no sign of other Ogres, or recent travel in the area. These ones arrived here more than a day ago and haven't left. Her suspicion is that they were left behind by the Advisor to the King, the last of his personal forces, unless the trail of the others was hidden.
He probably meant to return for them, but that's not happening now.
With everyone in position, Cain signals the attack in Guild Chat and abilities rain down on the unsuspecting monsters while Summons appear in their midst. They die in seconds, overwhelmed and taken by surprise.
"Good work everyone, now find that dungeon entrance and let's see what it has in store for us." He instructs.
The entrance is only a few hundred meters away, but in a poor spot for a camp, up on a hill where everyone could see their fire from miles away. The only scents Belle finds are those of the Ogres dead down below, so hopefully there's no others hiding inside.
Cixelcid leads a team in to take a look and comes back smiling. "It's a Dark Fae dungeon, Dark Elves and their pets. No Ogres that we could see, but we can do a full clear if you like."
"Might as well, we'll wait here for you to finish and clean up the Ogre Corpses so we can use their campsite. I'll message in Guild chat if anything happens, so have fun and don't forget you've got the Lesser Demons you can use when in an all Guild group too. Every party can call them twice an hour."
Cain smiles, sending his summons back to collect the Ogre corpses. Throwing them inside a dungeon instance is the best way to dispose of them.
Cixelcid takes Misha, Lickity Char and Candia into the Dungeon, while Elmira and Mythryll go looking for forest gets and vegetables to liven up their dinners. They packed plenty of food for the journey, but new flavors are always welcome.
The rest simply try to stay out of the way as the Summons bring over the bodies and stack them to the side in the dungeon. Cain discovered that simply putting a hand through the portal holds the door open for them, so he doesn't need to keep going in and out, saving them a lot of time. That grisly task finished, the Golems cleaned up the area, bringing fresh soft branches to sit on and combing all the trash and refuse left by the Ogres into a hole and burying it.
[You've got to come visit this place. I've never seen so many types of magical Beasts before. There's Drakes here too, past the second boss. The Pixie might murder me in my sleep if I didn't inform you of a chance to get more Dragon Forms.] Cixelcid sends in Guild Chat, making everyone laugh.
[I'll go in when you're done. I don't want to drop the Guild Firepower too much in case of attack. Just don't dismiss the Demons when you finish, keep them around until I'm back.] Cain sends in response.
The group is all laughter when they return, looking none the worse for wear, and Cixelcid saunters over to Cain. "You'll love that place, every group seems to be a different type of creature, and I know how you enjoy collecting them."
"Yeah, and there's a whole bunch of Drakes and flying Lizards as well as a couple actual Dragons. I don't know if they'll all count towards your Dragon form goals though." Misha adds.
"No more dungeons until after dinner." Mythryll adds with her arms full of plants.
Forget adding to dinner, they've got enough roots, leaves and mushrooms there for days worth of meals. It looks like Elmira found a beehive too, as she has honey on her hands.
The monstrous bees of the Elven Forest terrified her when they first met, but now, it's her turn to terrify them. They might still be near her size, but she's not a pushover without skills or gear this time.
