(Y6, August 24th)

There were times when Redcap almost wished he hadn’t put forward his candidature for mayor. At least he had a small core of experienced Gaters to rely on. But that meant meetings.

“Based on the usual two-to-three newbies a day, we’re allocating the last intact houses tomorrow,” reported Amanda.

“And repairs?”

“That’s with repaired ones. If it was the original only, we’d been short last week.”

“Ah. Sorry, I was on Recess then.”

Amanda completed, “We only have one person interested in repairing and building so far, and even he doesn’t want to spend his full time on it.”

“So what’s the solution?”

“Tents,” said Dadanlong.

Everyone turned to him.

“We have not found better place. We can’t make more houses faster. So, tents.”

“You know, that makes some sense,” said Guretogurainda.

The woman crossed her arms in a swish of silk. She always wore a kimono, except for her adventuring outings where she had a full leather biker’s outfit. Her distinctive French accent combined with her Japanese appearance made her extremely exotic in both modes.

“Most everyone comes with at least a small tent when they spawn, just in case. They can switch to a larger one on their first Recess.”

“Or we can sell. Store needs selling.”

“Ok. Crisis averted, slightly. Next item?”

Guretogurainda pulled out a paper.

“Scouting reports. Dungeons first. The mirrored tower south got delved one floor deeper. The sixth underground level seems to be Lesser Elite 25-30. The group of four didn’t push it after two rooms. But they confirm that the floor plan appears identical to the sixth above.”

Dadanlong added, “with less bats and more insects.”

“Those have 8 legs, so they’re not insects,” corrected Amanda.

“Tiny legs. Chitin. Compound eyes. Insects,” insisted Dadanlong.

“Anyway… two more cave systems found along the Straight Gorge in the east. That’s six so far within two days range.”

“That gives us lots of things for everyone to do, thankfully,” remarked Redcap.

“We then have two long-range reports from the west who confirm that the 50ish zone west extends a lot to the north and south. If anything, the northern side seems to be a bit higher in ranks. The duo there spotted something that, from the description is probably Acrantophis Fulgeas.”

“Which is?”

“Rank 60ish giant boas. Nasty.”

“Ok. So no expedition west for a long time.”

“Speaking of which…”

Redcap made a denial sign.

“No info during Recess. But then, the Cartographer guild hasn’t announced anything, so they haven’t arrived.”

“Given the zone, do you think?...”

Redcap gave a snort.

“No chance. A group of veterans would have not too many problems. They just had delays. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Thousander when you get to a big gorge or something. It just takes more time.”