Monroe

It turned out that Bailli had been part of a shepherded group that contained four very freshly pathed youngsters, and things had gone badly on the sixth floor.

One of the group members had moved too far over to get a good shot at the boar that the party's Guardian was holding off, and had attracted another boar. In the process of avoiding that boar, she triggered another. As she ran back into the party, they panicked and ended up pulling another two boars, which turned out to be much more than they could handle.

The shepherds had stepped in, and no one had died, but Bailli had lost her arm, and the Guardian, who did everything right, lost both a hand and a foot.

Bailli was a little upset that the two people who hadn't fucked up had been the ones who ended up with real injuries that a healing spell couldn't fix.

To make matters worse, the Adventurer's Guild coffers were so low on crystals that she was having to wait to have it regrown, as the Guild didn't have the one hundred crystals needed for a priest of Vi'Radia to cast the ritual.

It turned out that pushing forty-eight people from level one to level five, at the cost of two hundred and fifty mana crystals each, really added up. To twelve thousand mana crystals in point of fact. Between that and the outlay for healing people who'd been seriously injured on the wall during the wave, the Guild was well and truly tapped.

That entire group was currently out of commission, as Thidwell had decided that while the shepherds had saved them, the newly pathed freshers desperately needed a remedial lesson in delving the Dungeon, and Harv and Elli were going to take over once they finished up with Eddi and the J's.

Bailli was feeling especially frustrated, as she'd worked for half a year as a server in the Tavern to have this opportunity.

"So how far did you get with leveling up your skills before the incident?" Bob asked as they were wrapping up their meal.

Bailli grimaced and replied, "Not very."

Bob hesitantly said, "If Harv and Elli think it's ok, you can join me down on level seven for a couple of days, if we split the crystals it'll only take four days at an hour a day for you to get the hundred crystals you need," he offered.

Bailli gave him a questioning look and said, "Who else is in your group?"

Harv and Elli were both starting to smile.

"Just me," Bob answered.

Bailli looked across the table at Harv and Elli and said, "He is soloing the seventh level at level six?"

Elli laughed and Harv nodded before saying, "He is, and he makes it look easy."

Bailli's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she turned and looked at Bob with careful consideration.

"How many monsters have you killed down there?" She asked in a challenging tone.

Bob shrugged and he closed his eyes as he mentally tabulated his murderous rampage.

"Nineteen thousand one hundred and ninety-nine," he said finally.

She silently mouthed the number and then said weakly, "How?"

"Jake is a very big boy," Bob said happily, "I'd go so far as to call him an absolute unit."

"Jake?" Bailli asked, "I thought you were alone?"

"Jake is my summoned monster," Bob said.

"And while I don't know what an 'Absolute Unit' is," Harv added, "I can tell you that it is very impressive."

"Can I see it?" Bailli asked.

Bob looked around the tavern and then eyed Eddi.

"We should probably go outside," Bob said, "between Eddi and I, there is a real concern that the tavern might start banning dinosaurs."

"I'll come along," Harv said as he stood up, "I haven't seen that monster in a while, I'd like to see what it looks like now that you've leveled it up a bit."

Eddi bounced out of his chair with excitement and chimed in, "I'd love to see it side by side with Rexxy!"

Elli looked at them and said, "I'll stay here and guard your cat from these three," he nodded to the J's who ignored him in favor of worshiping at the altar of Monroe.

"Alright then," Bob said as he headed out of the tavern, Bailli, Elli, and Eddi in tow.

Once they exited the doors, Bob moved a dozen paces to the right, and then summoned out Jake.

The UtahRaptor was now almost eight feet tall at the shoulders, and a full twelve feet long. The downy feathers on its torso were a burnt orange fading to a deep red, and the plumage, tail, and wing feathers were all a light yellow that progressed through orange, amber, red, and then a deep maroon.

Jake was a very handsome boy.

The UtahRaptor paced in front of Bob with its quick stabbing steps, its head angling as it eyed the array of people in front of it.

Bailli took a step back as she took in the powerful jaws filled with the dagger sized teeth, and the massive scythe claw on each foot. As dangerous as those looked, it was the eyes, the way it looked at her that was the most frightening aspect.

"It has gotten quite a bit bigger," Harv said dispassionately, having gotten used to Jake's hungry gaze over time.

"It looks like it wants to eat me," Bailli muttered as she took a step behind Harv.

Bob smiled and said, "Bailli, he wants to eat everything that is smaller than he is, and made of meat," Bob shrugged, "and you do fit those qualifications, so..."

He laid a hand on Jake's shoulder and stroked the feathers, "Bailli is a friend, not food," he said, causing the UtahRaptor to let out a trilling chirp that sounded a lot like disappointment.

"The good news is that he kills monsters very well," Bob said.

Eddi had been looking at Jake in awe, and he took the opportunity to summon his T-Rex to compare the two.

"Rexxy is kind of small," Eddi said sadly.

Bob looked the two dinosaurs over. Jake was around two and a half feet taller than the T-Rex.

"In the wild, Jake is about as big as a UtahRaptor was likely to get, although a few specimens have been found that were slightly larger," he said, "but the Tyrannosaurus, they could reach almost fifteen feet tall at the shoulders and forty feet in length."

He patted Jake again, and said, "They really were from two different periods, you'll note," he gestured to Jake, "that the UtahRaptor is covered by downy proto-feathers, whereas the T-Rex is covered by a scaled hide, although there is increasing evidence that the T-Rex might have had a soft down of proto-feathers along its back."

Bob cut the mana flowing to Jake, and the UtahRaptor disappeared.

"He kills the wolves and bears while I watch," Bob said to Bailli.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bailli was waiting at a table in the tavern the following morning.

Bob nodded in greeting as he slid into his chair and depositing Monroe onto the table.

Bailli cooed at Monroe and scratched his ruff, an action that seemed to please him, as he started to purr.

"So," Bob said as he waved for Theo, "I normally just do an hour a day down there, any longer and I start to feel uncomfortable."

Bailli continued her one-handed kitty ministrations as she replied, "That sounds good, I'm not sure how well I'll hold up down there to be perfectly honest."

Theo arrived, and after confirmations that both Bailli and Bob would take a full breakfast, paused to glance at the cat sprawled on the table before shaking his head and heading back to the kitchen.

"So," Bob said, "I summon UtahRaptors and I make portals."

He sighed and reached out a hand to stroke Monroe as well.

"That is the full extent of my skillset," Bob admitted, "and I understand it's considered impolite to ask, but being as we're about to go into the Dungeon, would you be too averse to telling me what you can do?"

"I'm a Lightning Savant," Bailli said, "I have Conjuration, Lightning Blast, Lightning Aura, Lightning Weapon Enhancement, and Lightning Backlash."

Bob said, "I know what the Conjuration school of magic is, and Lightning Blast sounds sort of self-explanatory as does the weapon enhancement, but what about the aura and backlash?"

Bailli replied, "Lightning Aura surrounds you in lightning and if something hits you, they take lightning damage," she noticed Theo headed their way with a pair of plates and bowl, and started trying to extract her hand from Monroe.

"Backlash is a sort of shield, in that if I'm struck with lightning damage, it takes that damage, adds my own to it, and sends it back to the caster that hit me with the damage," she finished.

She shrugged and said, "Backlash isn't that useful, but you have to take all four of them for Lightning Savant, so...." she trailed off.

Theo slid their plates in front of them and deposited Monroe's bowl of meat chunks on the table, which immediately drew the big Maine-coon's attention.

"So I'm guessing you mostly blast stuff with lightning bolts?" Bob asked as he started to tear into his scrambled eggs.

Bailli nodded and added, "Or I'll put the aura up on the Guardian."

"Probably wouldn't hurt to put it on Jake," Bob offered, "if you're looking to level it anyways."

"We'll see how things go," Bailli replied.

Bob caught sight of Harv entering the tavern with a barely ambulatory Elli shuffling behind him, and waved the pair over to the table.

"Morning Bob, Bailli," Harv said cheerfully as he sat down, while Elli just flopped into his chair with a grunt.

"Good morning Harv," Bob said, "Any chance you have a few potions that I could buy?"

Harv frowned as he started digging into his backpack of holding, "Are you out?" He asked.

"No," Bob said, "haven't needed to use any actually, but I figure if I'm bringing Bailli down, I should probably have some extras."

"Besides," Bob continued as Harv pulled out five crimson healing potions, "it isn't like they go bad or anything."

Harv stopped and stared at Bob, as did Bailli. Even Elli cracked an eyelid.

"They do go bad, or more accurately," Harv said, "they lose their effectiveness."

Bob closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.

He opened his eyes back up and calmly asked, "How long until they go bad?"

"Mine are good for ten weeks now," Harv said.

"Why does no one tell me these things," Bob muttered to himself.

"It's one of those 'everyone knows' things," Bailli offered.

"Regardless of the limited shelf-life, the ones I got from you two weeks are still fine, so these are just some backups," Bob said as he pushed two crystals across the table to Harv before taking the potions and pulling them into his inventory.

Harv nodded, and waved to Theo, while Elli slowly crept out a hand towards Monroe.

"So just going down for an hour this morning?" Harv asked as Bob and Bailli worked to clean up their plates.

"Just a quick delve," Bob confirmed between bites.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Half an hour later Bob and Bailli stepped out of the Gateway and into the seventh level.

"So, I have a spot that Harv and Elli helped me map out," Bob said, "it lets me pull three different wolf camps depending on which direction I move in, so once we get there, don't go more than two paces from the portal."

Bailli nodded, apprehension clearly showing on her face.

Bob opened a portal and stepped through, maintaining his concentration as he moved the side, feeling the mana drain out of him rapidly before she came through the portal.

Bob let go of the portal and gestured grandly, "Here we are," he said.

"I'll just need a moment to regain my mana," he added.

"So, what we'll have here are packs of wolves," he said as he leaned on his staff. "They come in fours, and Jake has an easy enough time with them, although occasionally a bear will wander by."

Bob reached up and scratched Monroe, who was firmly attached to his shoulder via Makres, under the chin and said, "Monroe doesn't care for the bears, and he'll let us know if one is coming."

Bailli nodded and planted her feet, her own staff held in her hand.

Bob saw that his blue bar was full, and summoned a UtahRaptor, then portaled it down in front of a copse of trees that he knew held a wolf pack.

Four big wolves hurtled out of the brush and lunged towards Jake, who adroitly dodged one, and took little damage from the others, as he ripped a massive gash in one of the wolves with his scythe-like claw.

Bailli flinched back at the sudden violence before visibly steeling her self, and shooting a lightning bolt at the wolf Jake had already torn open.

The UtahRaptor needed only another vicious slash to end the wounded wolf, and it turned its attention towards another, dodging another blow as it maneuvered.

Bailli was methodically delivering lightning blasts to the targets Jake chose, and within ten seconds, the wolves were dead.

The UtahRaptor drug the bodies to Bob by gathering all four tails in his mouth, and deposited them there, where Bob dismissed him, and then looked at Bailli before saying, "And that is how we do it, by the time we're on the third group, the first should have dissolved into crystals if there are any."

With that, Bob summoned Jake and dropped another portal to put him in front of another copse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An hour and twenty minutes later, Bob and Bailli emerged from the Gateway, where Bob tossed two crystals to Austan who caught them adroitly and gave them a friendly wave as he opened his ledger and marked them as safely returned from their delve.

They had wiped out twelve hundred and sixteen wolves, with Bailli pushing them to stay over the hour mark long enough to ensure they each had pulled twenty crystals.

As they crossed the plaza towards the Adventurers guild, Bailli quietly asked "Is it always that easy for you?"

Bob shook his head and answered, "No, normally it takes about four seconds longer for each pack because Jake has to claw at them three times, not twice."

Bailli sighed and motioned to the benches outside of the guild.

Bob followed her lead and took a seat.

"My lightning blast leveled up," she said, "it's level five now."

"It'll probably take a couple of days to get it to six," Bob said, "But you can always use your aura or weapon enhancement after that."

Bailli shook her head and said, "You say it like it's already done."

Bob shrugged uncomfortably and replied, "Unless there is a sudden wave or a tide, it pretty much is, right?"

"I mean," he continued, "there isn't anything stopping us from just going down there for an hour a day, every day until you have the crystals you need to get your arm back."

"For most people," Bailli said, "delving is dangerous work."

Bob didn't have an answer for that, so he just shrugged, and shuffled Monroe off his shoulders and onto the bench, where both Bob and Bailli could easily pet the cat as the sunrise broke over the mountain peaks to the east.