Arc 1 Interlude 2 The Sky Arrows

"Squeek" - with a loud cry the large, brown bird flies through the dungeon corridor and claws out the eyes of the enraged Shadow Boar. Using the distraction an iron hammer descents on the skull, ending boar and fight.

Shadow Boar [Below Average] killed

Low Rank Penalty - four ranks below: 6% effective XP

Distributing 36 XP (6% of 600) to party.

"Argh - the pets are the only ones who can still level in this idiotically low rank-dungeon. Cleev, how long until we finally can travel to the Bremarin Dungeon? That would be at least a bit better than this idiocy here..."

"With the current tensions between the Cities and the Empire any passing of the border, especially to get access to an empirial dungeon, requires a lot of paperwork - and it didn't exactly speed things up that you called the ambassador's assistant a stonehead. So a lot of this delay is on yourself."

"Hey, I'm a dwarf myself - I can call anyone of my race a stonehead if I want to."

"Cut it out you two - let's finish this run and we can discuss our future plans at the Red Unicorn. Corwin and Holgun, front for the next room. Claudia, middle - and make sure Taarna doesn't run ahead again. Cleev also middle, be ready with some firecones. Gladia, we'll stay in the back and be ready for long range attacks."

"OK" "OK" "Yes, Tom" "Knifes ready".

...

Several hours later twelve people are sitting or lounging around a large table at the side of a tavern room. The group is a bit diverse even for the sphere, but nothing to warrant a second glance. Someone from Earth would be gaping however, especially since only five of them are human.

One of the humans is a rather large and muscular man - he looks as if he has no problems carrying heavy armor and large weapons, although he is now in casual clothing of very good quality. Another human is of the same overal size, but much thinner and wearing leather armor. A Felir - a cat-like humanoid dressed in a toga sits next to a blue-skinned human in simple woolen clothing.

In front of the table are two rather inhuman peope who need the place and can't handle chairs or a bank anyway - a dark-skinned Arac'neel with a hairy spider-body that carries a human top-half and a Paut'a (or Panthaur as they are sometimes called) with a black panther main body and a humanoid torso. To the side a dwarf with chainmail talks to an elf in a light crystal plate while a dark-skinned human man with a blue mohawk in robes listens to them. On the other side an Orican and an asiatic looking woman munch on their meals while slipping part of it under the table, where a sabre-toothed tiger gnaws on some meat.

Curiously a badger and a beaver are peacefully sleeping on the tiger's fur.

Spoiler: Picture of the Sky Arrows

The thin man, Tom, adresses the paut'a and the dwarf.

"Cleev, Holgun - what's the current status on our request for passage to Bremarin?"

"Not good - with the Empire and the Cities clashing over trade and border definitions, everyone at the Embassy is stalling for not wanting to decide or busy with more important treaty considerations. And I have absolutely no idea how long that sorry state will remain."

"How about we relocate to a neutral country and try the embassies there? That would at least remove some obstacles."

"And where to? It will take a few weeks waiting no matter where we go, and what will we do in that time? We do have some reserves, but not as much as I would like."

"Why not? We have been clearing the local dungeon daily and even if it is barely [Average] that should have brought a lot of silver or even one gold or two despite the fees."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but the local guild has begun charging extra for adventurers above the dungeon rank - they don't like how many runs we've purchased away from the local people. We did get a lot of money in the first weeks, but not in the last one - and the paperwork at the embassies needed to be paid as well."

"And with the new fees, that will not change - in fact I'm considering the case here lost if we can't get the clearance for the Empire now."

The dark sage, Park, puts in his knowledge of the region: "There are only two neutral countries important enough for their own empire ambassadors around here. Logrinton is in the wrong direction, but has a [Below Average] dungeon. Not much, but we could try that. Rivansea on the other hand has no dungeon at all, even if it will shorten travel time to Bremarin when we finally get clearance."

"Rivansea would have the added advantage that we could check if we can get to one of Kaarg's dungeons later - I know that they are at best [Above Average] and not [High] like the Bremarin one, but it would still be better than the ones here - at least the open ones, you have to be either an elf or a citizen to be allowed into the better dungeons of Lefor'ga."

"Let's call it a vote - Rivansea, Logrinton or waiting here a few weeks longer?"

...

"Rivansea it is - Siirm, Lenari, can you check and purchase what we need to travel tomorrow?"

"Shouldn't be a problem. Fast travel or foraging? If we hunt while traveling it will be a lot cheaper, but if you want to get to Rivansea as fast as possible that would cost us about half our reserves for extra food and fodder."

"I think we should try to keep as much of our reserves as possible - we might have to pay for a few weeks of an inn in Rivansea, that town has no Adventurer's Guild, only a Traveller's Guild."

A barmaid approaches the table with an assortment of beers, wines and juices. "Here is your order, Sers and Seras.."

She distributes the bottles and mugs around the table, but instead of leaving she hesitates a bit.

"Sers, Seras, please excuse my curiosity, but might you be able to answer a question from me?"

"Sure lass, what do you want to know?"

"I know you are the famous [very high]-ranked adventurers, the Sky Arrows. But I always heard that that is a single party, and here you are with two parties sharing the name. Why is that?"

"And why do you think we are two parties?"

"But a dungeon party can have only six people, and here you are with twelve..."

"Aahh, that - no lass, we are not twelve adventurers. Three of us are helpers that rarely enter dungeons. They get a minor share of the loot for keeping our camp ready and making travelling easier - or like Hurok here stand ready to heal anyone who needs it after we leave the dungeon."

"As to why we are nine adventurers when only six can enter at one time - different dungeons have different tricks and defenses, so a party needs different skills and powers to go through them. Other parties usually try to brute-force their way through the defenses when they don't have the correct mix of powers, but that doesn't work as good for silver-ranked dungeons as for copper and black ranked ones."

"So any group interested in clearing the higher ranked dungeons needs to be able to adapt different strategies for them. So depending on where in a dungeon we want to go, we decide which six of us will enter. That is why we are such a large group."

"Not that it matters if the rank of the dungeon is too low to give any experience anyway" comes a grumbling from the dwarf at the table corner.