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Shiloh raised a hand. "I'm in no russsh for a new blade. Thisss one hasss ssserved me quite well," he purred, patting the hilt of his sword. "It wasss jussst an idle thought. Would you mind telling me more about thessse monssstersss?"

The gladiator is more than happy to share the tale.  The girl looks annoyed with him, but stays quiet. "They're ten foot tall preying mantises.  They have a purple body and metallic grey limbs, more or less.  And green wings!  They get their name, 'death mantis' because they are like a reaper.  They are known to decapitate explorer's like it was nothing.  Even worse, while some monsters are just protecting what they think is their turf, and won't attack you unless you get too close, not these guys.  These mantises will hunt you down."

"Ah, jolly good. Let's move on, Mr. Nihsa, there's much business to attend to!"

Head to the bar and get a bottle of sewer brew. Preferably several, if possible.

Then rejoin the others!

You ask for a bottle of the foul drink.  "I'm sorry, hun.  We don't bottle that.  Hardly anyone drinks it.  Would you like a refill?"  Oh well.  You refill your glass and head back to Dahne and Shiloh, who seem to be getting along well.

Bagpipe by his side, Dahne listened to the other adventurers talking about the mantis. It was mildly amusing how he managed to seem dignified and serious while having part of his armor and attire stripped off. "And what was the worst battle you managed to pull through?"

Question.

The girl continues to let the gladiator share all the stories.  "Worst battle?  Well, one time we were fighting regular small fries on the second floor, and this deer comes out of the woods and charges right for us.  We only had moments to try to finish killing the monsters we were fighting first before that deer came and wrecked our shit.  We managed to run away, but it was close."

Bianca shook her head as she realised that she was just wandering around the town with nothing in mind. Eventually, she found herself outside the bar, the lights inside shining out onto the street. With no more than a deep breath, she braced herself and entered the bar.. Only to be slightly dissapointed when it wasn't a wrenched den of villany and hives.. Or something along those lines, right? After all, those books said something along those lines... Anyhow, she made her way to the protector and highlander, giving a small greeting to the both of them.

Rejoin with the Protector and the Highlander, and listen to what the conversation's about.

"Hey girl." Dahne acknowledged Bianca's arrival as she greeted them, subsequently gesturing towards his mug of liquor with a large hand. "Want some? I think we all can use some relaxing." Then, as if thinking over what he had just said, he added: "Unless you aren't of age."

Bianca looked up at Dahne, and gave a sot of 'Really?' Look. "Of course I'm of age, I'd be a fool to come to this labrynth as a child. As it stands however.. I. Guess a sip or two can't hurt?" Bianca looked somewhat conflicted at the end there, and her last words were somewhat uncertain.

With the table getting rather crowded, the girl chimes in again, "Oh you're all together?  That's great, you look like a solid team.  It's important to work well together.  I guess that's pretty obvious though."

Quote from: BlitzDungeoneer on September 09, 2014, 12:40:43 pm

Zertch suddenly steps out from the shadows, right beside Maximus K. Mackay.

"Ah, Mr. Nihsa, good to have you join us! Would you like a sewer brew?"

Regardless of the answer, he looks back at the old man.

"Oh, but where are my manners! I am Maximus K. Mackay. Who might you be, good sir?"

Inquire as to this fine individual's name or other identifier, if he sees fit to provide one.

You show your drink to your Ninja companion and recommend it.  He shows little emotion, considering his face is hidden as it is.  You shrug it off and turn back to the old man.  "Oh, but where are my manners! I am Maximus K. Mackay. Who might you be, good sir?"  The old man seems a bit shy about it, "Oh, I'm nobody.  The rest of my guild has long since left or died, and the Radha won't let me go solo."  He sighs deeply and finishes his drink.  "It's turned sour, that's my que to go.  I'll be around."  He gets up and starts walking away.  He stops next to you for a moment.  Without looking at you he mutters, "Ordo, the name is Ordo."  And then he leaves.

Zertch suddenly steps out from the shadows, right beside Maximus K. Mackay.

The shadows are your friend, and nothing can get in your way.  Like a leaf on the wind you flow into the tavern in an instant and stop next to a familiar face, Maximus.  Nobody really noticed your sudden appearance, too deeply involved with their food and drink.  Eventually Max sees you and welcomes you.  He holds up what must be sewer brew.  You get a whiff of it, and it nearly knocks you off your feet.  You use every ounce of willpower you have to keep your cool and collected appearance up.  Dear god, what did they make that stuff out of?  You've seen poisons milder than that!

"Oh. Well, if they're free..."

Shiloh swipes ten bottles.

You stash a couple of bottles away.  They smell a little funky, but that'll wash out... probably.  Dahne stops stripping and helps you take a couple more bottles.

Dahne suddenly halts what seems to be an attempt to strip down to his tartan so he can play the bagpipes wearing only his house's pattern and decides to assist the catperson in his efforts to gather some bottles.

Help Shiloh with bottle-gathering and afterwards go around checking if there are any pleasantly joyful tables with people discussing rumors, tips and ideas.

You drag Shiloh away and go around introducing yourselves to people.  Most are pretty welcoming.  They wish you the best of luck with your exploration.  A female Survivalist and a male Gladiator invite you to chat for a bit.  The girl sips at her coffee, but the Gladiator is pounding away alcohol like a champ.  The guy says, "Yea, you need to be really careful.  There's a lot of really powerful enemies out there.  Today we ran into a death mantis on the fourth floor!" "Third floor." "It was the third?  Well in any case, we just cut our losses and got out of there.  Those things have swords for arms, practically." "Don't let your guard down, even on these early floors.  Sometimes monsters will wander upwards, and cause trouble.  Just trust your intuition and don't bite off more than you can chew."

Shiloh tapped Dahne on the shoulder, then pointed at the spring job. "What do you think?" he asked.

"It seems as good as any. Do we have a limit on how many of these tasks we can take?" Dahne asked, taking a very long gulp of his liquor afterwards but keeping questioning eyes focused on the cat-person-thing.

The two of you head over to the bar and wave over the woman serving drinks.  "What can I get you boys?"  Shiloh motions over to the board and replies, "We would like the job about the 'pure spring' or something on the first floor.  You handle that stuff?"

She grabs some papers from behind the bar and looks through them.  "Yea, people leave jobs here since it tends to be the most frequented by you explorer types.  I manage these jobs and payment for finishing them.  Ah here it is.  Nobody has taken it yet."  She points at a paragraph on the page and reads it out.  "There was a legend of a knight who got lost in the Labyrinth.  He had taken serious injuries, and wasn't going to survive the night.  He pushed on as long as he could, but collapsed.  To his surprise, he had found a spring of crystal clear water.  Drinking from the spring, his wounds were miraculously healed.  Now, the client wants you to relocate the spring and bring a sample of the water back.  He insists the legend is real, but who knows, this could be a wild goose chase.  It pays 200 En if you can find it."

"I... don't know. Haven't asssked." Shiloh shrugged. He turned to the bartender. "How many of thessse can we take at a time?" he asked, pointing at the job board.

Ask!

"So how many of thessse can we take a time?"

"We limit each guild to three.  Please try to drop jobs if you don't think you can complete them.  That way we can get another guild on it."

"To the tavern we go, then. Hey Judy, join us if or when you have the time to." Dahne said, inviting to the girl behind the counter as he left with renewed purpose and firm steps towards the local watering hole. He still had some of his special liquor, but it'd be worth saving it for more special occasions.

To the tavern!

Shiloh shrugged and headed back to the tavern as well, wondering what he ought to do with his money. He hadn't spent any of it yet.

How much money did we get?

Whatever the case, walk over to the tavern and join my compatriots!

You (and anyone else who wanted to be there), make your way over to the tavern.  It was already bustling with people craving food, drink, and merriment.  The bartender seems quite busy with all the orders for more drinks and flirting from inebriated patrons.  The job board stands against one wall, but most adventurers seem to just want to relax for now and not worry about work.  Most conversations are bragging about accomplishments in the Labyrinth, or rumors of this or that.  Many of these adventurers have had more experience than you, at least when it comes to the Yggdrasil labyrinth.  This is a great opportunity to ask your seniors for advice.  But maybe you are just in it for the challenge, and need no help?  Some of these guys seem off their rocker, too.  You're never quite sure if these tales are true or not.

How much money did we get?

Whatever the case, walk over to the tavern and join my compatriots!

((You all got 80 en total from all sales including plants and monster junk, please see the second OP post for your current inventory and money.  Maximus is currently at 80 En total.))

((Since I previously thought that was the standard: Enable Looting mode, where my character will do the sensible thing and loot stuff like the clawmoles' claws without constant and repetitive posts telling the GM to do so.))

((To clarify, I did not penalize you for not taking it.  It was more from a flavor perspective.  Rest assured I am not making you loot everything deliberately.  It can be assumed that you will always loot monsters and you will never have to specify that you are doing so, although I will certainly respond to it with additional writing.  Anything else, as long as SOMEONE says they are gathering it (Plants, or similar being the most common) then as a party you can be assumed to have gathered the maximum benefit from it.  I will try to be clear when looting/not looting matters. "Take the golden idol off of the clearly trapped pedestal?".  At the moment the way I'm handling generic loot is that I'm just eyeballing how much money you should get based on how much was gathered, in this case it was 2 battles worth and a harvest point.  Generally, you all are going to get the same amount of money.  Cyra gets a smidge more because of take when plants are involved.  When looting chests or similar (Like the boot), whoever gets it, gets it.  I'm not going to try to split that evenly.  It's up to you guys to divide loot or whatever else as you choose.))

((Sorry about that Caellath, I forgot to include your HP up and Atk up before.  So the second post has updated HP for you, and you should do slightly more damage now.))

Quote from: Harry Baldman on September 01, 2014, 03:55:11 pm

"Well, we're obviously safe! Let us turn our backs to this area and frolic out of this dungeon peacefully, yes?"

"We should've gotten out faster if we just frolicked. Non-cautiously. It looks less like frolicking that way."

Cyra checks the other groups before looking at the rest.

"Dusk up; any ideas about what our guild will be named?"

The other groups of adventurers look just like yours.  Motley crews just looking to make a name for themselves.  Everyone is tired, beaten, and battered, but otherwise cheerful to be back in town.  One group of three is solemnly carrying the dead bodies of two of their other companions over their shoulders.  Although they will be able to be revived, it must be weighing heavily on their minds to have been so close to death.

((ATK Up for me.))

"The day wasn't bad. Anyone wanna get a bite and a drink after we get our goods checked on the shops? That'll probably get us far more creative." Dahne asked, gesturing towards the tavern with an inviting, toothy grin. Then he was off to see whether the apothecary was still open.

Check if the Apothecary is still open; in case it is, greet and see how much the plants we got will get us.

Shiloh will go with Dahne for now and do the same for the plants he gathered himself.

((Another point into Kebari.))
Zertch also goes to the apothecary. He asks about the plants he picked.

Quote from: Caellath on September 02, 2014, 01:12:22 am

((ATK Up for me.))

"The day wasn't bad. Anyone wanna get a bite and a drink after we get our goods checked on the shops? That'll probably get us far more creative." Dahne asked, gesturing towards the tavern with an inviting, toothy grin. Then he was off to see whether the apothecary was still open.

"Quite! Let us eat and drink heartily, yet responsibly!"

See if the apothecary has any use for vitamin-rich clawmole livers, or perhaps some woodfly or clawmole eyes!

You all make your first stop the Apothecary.  It looks like they are open late, to accommodate adventurers just getting out of the Labyrinth.  Another guild files out as you head in.  Judy is behind the counter, carefully sorting through plants, and putting them in containers.  The owner, Mason, is nowhere to be seen.  "Hey!  You guys are all together?  I'm happy you made it back in one piece!  That first dive is always the worst for newbies.  So, how can I help you?"  She clears some space on the countertop.

You explain that you have some flowers and hoped they were worth something.  You each take what you have and lay it out for Judy to inspect.  "Alright, let me take a look.  Ah yea, these are nice.  They're pretty common though.  Okay I'll ring this up."  She starts counting out Ental and pushes the plants in groups to the side.  She hands you each what you're owed.

"Perchance do you have any use for some prime mole livers or woodfly eyes?"  Maximus plops the package of monster guts on the counter and shows it's contents.  Judy recoils and covers her nose.  "Eww, get that off the counter!  We don't really deal with that stuff.  Take it to the blacksmith, Dragas, or another one of those shops.  They deal in that garbage.  I mean, just eww."  She shoos you away and makes you take the guts with you.

Everyone gains 80 En each.  Cyra gains an additional 20 En.  ((This includes the sale of the monster spoils.  I'm just bundling it in here.  Not sure how much money I should be giving you guys.  Grr balancing issues.))

"Well, we're obviously safe! Let us turn our backs to this area and frolic out of this dungeon peacefully, yes?"

If the people agree, cautiously frolic out of the dungeon, ready for anything at all that might happen.

With the consensus being to leave and recover, you are the first of the area.  After all, you were ready for absolutely anything.  If the dirt itself suddenly became sentient and performed a black magic ritual that turned you all into newts... you were already prepared for that possibility.

Shiloh follows as well, though he walks backwards with his weapon raised and keeps his eyes on the hole until the party passes through the door.

Dahne glanced at the rest of the party; it seemed some suspected the kind of bad stuff would happen. "Fine." he said.

Back from the area, take the same stance as Shiloh just in case.

The two of you look at each other and have that manly moment of comprehension that needs no words.  You both get in formation and back away cautiously from the room, ready for an ambush.  Only until the door shuts behind the party do you relax and make your way out of the Labyrinth.

The way out was right nearby, of course, and the party manages to get out without incident.  Once you see the sky, the real sky, you know you made it out.  You take what knowledge and experience you gathered from this first incursion and vow to push on further next time.

Before long you reach Etria.  The sun is dropping just below the horizon as you enter the town gates.  You aren't alone.  Several other guilds were heading back from the Labyrinth as well.