Dungeon Crawler Quest(Original Fantasy)

Loot:
[X] Al: 1 potion, Merchant's Bag
-[X] Equip Merchant's Bag
[X] Shimah: 1 potion, 1 Amrita, Mogo's Boots, Warg Cloak
-[X] Suggest she keep the Cloak for fifth level, if nothing better comes around
[X] Sell the Sword and Chainmail

Actions:
[X] Check Mission Board
[X] Go around the inn, asking for more info on local dungeons, difficulty, challenges, tricks, etc adventurers have found in the low level dungeons. Update your guide.

 

Aqua Prison + Frost Spray + Chill Aura = ?

 

Yeah, we probably have a almost-surefire way to freeze enemies that would break out of our prison. Either that, or prolong the prison's length by freezing them.

While i don't think we should do Crystal Lake D-rank quite yet, i am pretty sure Aqua Prison would have worked wonders against those annoying enemy healers.

 

+checks+
Well, there is no range mentioned there, so I am gonna assume Medium to Long range, which should be standard ranged attack.

On the other hand, the healers are those larger spiders, right?
Might be better to just Aqua Prison the egg sacks, if that is possible.

 

Loot:
[X] Al: 1 potion, Merchant's Bag
-[X] Equip Merchant's Bag
[X] Shimah: 1 potion, 1 Amrita, Mogo's Boots, Warg Cloak
-[X] Suggest she keep the Cloak for fifth level, if nothing better comes around
[X] Sell the Sword and Chainmail

Actions:
[X] Check Mission Board
[X] Go around the inn, asking for more info on local dungeons, difficulty, challenges, tricks, etc adventurers have found in the low level dungeons. Update your guide.

 

I wonder do we now look kinda like this?

 

Reasonably close. Not nearly that much webbing on your hands and feet though.

 

Neat.

 

“Yeah, sure, I’ll take the bag. As for the white items… why don’t we just sell all three in town and split the gilder evenly?” you respond after a moment.

Shimah nods, and you think you catch what might be a smile there for a moment, “That sounds reasonable. As for the consumables, one potion each I assume?”

“Yeah, and you can have the amrita, since you actually used one,” you offer graciously. That was actually a nice little cool down run.You might have to consider splitting up for easier dungeons like this again. You’re all likely going to be too high for the Goblins after this, but the cap on the E rank of Ogre Den is still four…

Once the two of you divide the loot up, the dungeon fades away, leaving the two of you waiting outside the copse of trees that form the dungeon in the normal world. You take a moment to equip your new bag, and settle in to wait.

“So, you think they’ll be fine?” you ask nonchalantly, not worried at all of course.

“Given Anshelm’s high damage taking abilities and the others damage dealing, yes, they should be fine,” Shimah states simply, crossing her arms under her chest as she waits along with you.
You sigh a bit, not really sure what else to talk about with Shimah, you don’t really know her that well, and you aren’t great with social stuff to begin with. “So… how’ve you been getting along it Altkhot?” wow, that sounds a bit lame even to you.

“It is strange, but in a good way I think, disorganized but… what is the word…prosperous,” She responds after a moment’s thought, “I do not regret leaving Edessa.”

Well that’s good you suppose… oh here comes everyone else. Watching them fade in is kinda weird, like they’re ghosts or something. Looks like Sera and Anshelm leveled too.

Sera looks kinda disgruntled, but Anshelm looks pretty pleased with himself. “I hate goblins,” Sera mumbles petulantly, “Horrible, dirty little monsters.”

Anshelm just rolls his eyes, “Yeah, the uh… stink bomb attacks were kinda gross, but was it really that bad?”

Sera just turns and stares at him woodenly until he starts to look uncomfortable. Just what kind of attacks do D rank goblins have? Maya is chuckling, even if she looks a bit put out herself, “Now, now Sera, don’t be mean to Anshelm.”

She sighs and looks to you, a faint shiver of disgust passing through her, “Al, they…. They threw p-p- excrement! The fire just made it smell worse,” She whines, pouting adorably.

You didn’t just think that. Nope. Instead, you just reach out and pat her on the shoulder. “Hey, at least you won right? I’m sure it’s nothing a soak in the bath won’t fix.” Now that you’re standing close you can detect a little bit of a lingering… scent, ugh, yeah. That’s pretty gross.

She huffs in annoyance, but falls in beside you as the five of you start on your way back to town. “So I was thinking we could ask around town a little bit, see if there are any other low level dungeons around, maybe get some new tips and tricks on the ones we have,” after a moment you add, “Maybe we could check out the Mission board too.”

“Bath first,” Sera grumbles, “I wouldn’t mind after that though.”

“Mm, it might be a good idea if only to make sure we’re not missing any good loot.” Maya muses.

“Yeah, sounds good, Al,” Anshelm replies lazily. You glance over at him, and find yourself blurting out something you’ve been meaning to ask.

“Hey Anshelm, what’s it like having horns anyway, does it feel weird?” you ask.

“Mm, they feel kinda like fingernails, you know?” he says, after a moment, “Like… I can feel ‘em, but it’s kinda dull.”

“Lucky, the ears and tail being sensitive is fun at first, but it can be a little bothersome, you know?” Maya adds, she glances slyly at Anshelm, “Then again, the benefits are pretty nice, aren’t they Anshelm?”

Anshlem looks down, looking embarrassed, “Uh… yeah, real advantageous. Right.” He trails off into mumbling something about fluffiness. You glance at Maya, who looks far too pleased with herself. Nope, you aren’t prying into that.

You fall into pleasant, if unimportant chatter with your friends, the city isn’t far, so you aren’t worried about making it before sundown. You pass the gates with a fair margin of time to spare, and you and Shimah go to check out the mission board while the rest go to uh… cleanse themselves. You figure, you and Shimah can fill them in on available missions.

The main plaza is a lot less crowded in the evening, but there are still a handful of branded milling about the job board or just talking to each other. You and Shimah wander over to see what all is available.

[]A herbalist requires a number of common ingredients harvested from the nearby forest. Description of the herbs will be given in person. Payment is 150 Gilder, Minimum group is one. E-Rank
[] The City sewers are starting to fill up with dire rats again. Someone needs to go down and clear out their nests. Payment is based on the Number of Rat Kings slain. 50 Gilder per Rat King, Minimum group of three. D Rank
[] A merchant caravan disappeared off the eastern trade road, a group is needed to track it down. Survivors are unlikely. Primary mission is to retrieve the goods if possible. 900 Gilder reward. Minimum Group of three. D Rank
[] A small band of Devil type monsters was sighted burning down a logging camp, in the west. Extermination needed. 600 Gilder Minimum group 3 D Rank
[] A pair of branded needed to guard the transferal of dangerous goods from the academy to the Labs. 300 Gilder. E rank. Only two needed
[]A Goblin tribe has been forming from wandering Monster bands, a full party is needed to exterminate the band before it grows too large. 800 Gilder. Requires five people. D-Rank.

Not much in the way of E ranks, but you guess most of those tend to be spur of the moment fetch and carry stuff, aside from things like the apothecary. At a guess you would say that one is probably almost always there. “Anything catch your eye Shimah?” you ask.

“Perhaps the Devil mission, if only to gain some experience with that type of enemy. The merchant caravan mission has good rewards as well, but I worry that whatever could take a caravan from the well patrolled trade roads may be more dangerous than expected,” she replies.

“Yeah, that’s true, another unknown danger mission,” you muse. You are kinda interested in what they’re transferring from the academy, it might just be volatile stuff that they need someone with a branded’s constitution to carry in case it blows up, or it could be captured monsters or something. Whatever it is can’t be TOO rare or dangerous given the mission rank though.

You and Shimah return to the Inn after a brief aside to sell your unwanted commons, and settle in to wait in the common room. You look around, considering who to ask about local dungeons… and notice somebody you haven’t seen in awhile. Alex to be precise, well at least he probably won’t recognize you. His buddy isn’t around though, and you can’t help but think he’s looking a little shell shocked.

Yeah… you have a feeling something went poorly for them. The rest of your party joins you soon enough, and you discuss missions before splitting up to talk to some other branded about local dungeons.

Your uh… target, ends up being a burly level twelve guy with way too much facial and chest hair. You can tell the latter because his armor consists of a pair of leather straps forming an X on his chest, short fur pants and boots, and absolutely nothing else. What the hell. Wulf, that’s his name, is a Viking, which is some kind of Axe warrior mix you guess. He’s also a surprisingly amiable guy for looking like a half shaven bear. He’s able to point you to the Drake Nest, a level seven dungeon full of flying Lightning using enemies. Mostly elite types from what he says. Though there is a spawner room toward the end where you have to smash up eggs before they hatch, or you get overwhelmed. Boss is a real pain though, it just flies around out of melee bombarding you till you can kill it’s help, then it comes down and fights, summons more and repeats. It’s six rooms long.

The only other one near your range he knows of is the Tomb of Worms. It’s level ten, smack in the middle of a desert zone and full of status effect inflicting enemies. First one he ever saw that had enemies inflicting toxic. He warns you off that one until you pile on a couple levels. Apparently the stuff there is kinda weak to fire though. It is nine whole rooms long, and only one of those is a puzzle room, some kind of key hunt thing while the room fills with toxic gunk.

Upon getting back together with your friends, you find out about the Ashen Grotto, a small quasi volcanic dungeon full of fire using and resistant enemies, only five rooms long with a cap of five.
The only other new one besides that is the Desecrated Fort, full of armored, weapon using undead types. Its level eight and six rooms long. Anshelm was warned that the enemies there have really good coordination and ally buffing skills though, and that you would have to fight smartly to have a good shot at beating them.

You get everyone to help compile what you’ve learned into the ever changing master copy of your guide, and then start working on copies. You figure you can make a run of twenty this time and pass them off to Adel. You're seriously gonna have to consider going to a copyist soon though, this is starting to give you hand cramps.

You finish up the night with a little studying, and settle in to rest.

[]Blessings/Shopping for the morning?

What do you want to do tomorrow?
[] Dungeons
[] Missions
[]Something Else?

For ease of Voters, these are the dungeons you are aware of but have not visited yet. Lost Graveyard(6), Devil's Eye(10), Ashen Grotto(5), Drake Nest(7), Desecrated Fort(8), Tomb of Worms(10)

 

[] A merchant caravan disappeared off the eastern trade road, a group is needed to track it down. Survivors are unlikely. Primary mission is to retrieve the goods if possible. 900 Gilder reward. Minimum Group of three. D Rank
[] A small band of Devil type monsters was sighted burning down a logging camp, in the west. Extermination needed. 600 Gilder Minimum group 3 D Rank
[] A pair of branded needed to guard the transferal of dangerous goods from the academy to the Labs. 300 Gilder. E rank. Only two needed

These missions I find interesting.

I think this
[X] Missions
- [X] Full party
[X] A pair of branded needed to guard the transferal of dangerous goods from the academy to the Labs. 300 Gilder. E rank. Only two needed
Should not take much time, and then this:
[X] A merchant caravan disappeared off the eastern trade road, a group is needed to track it down. Survivors are unlikely. Primary mission is to retrieve the goods if possible. 900 Gilder reward. Minimum Group of three. D Rank

Although there is some risk... We are five, not three, so it should be doable.

If we do dungeons - Ashen Grotto and Lost Graveyard?

 

[X] A small band of Devil type monsters was sighted burning down a logging camp, in the west. Extermination needed. 600 Gilder Minimum group 3 D Rank
-[X] Full party.

We have type advantage here.

 

[X] Last night you forgot to ask, but is there any special loots from the other group? Alice and Shimah only have these Bag and Boots to show for.
[X] Shopping: 5 Amritas, 1 Ether > 130 Gilder
[X] Blessing: Blessing of Lesser Good Fortune > 75 Gilder
- [X] Suggest others to pick this Blessing as well
Total: 205 Gilder


[X] Dungeon
-[X] Drake Nest
-- [X] Anshelm will have to take one (or twenty) for the team in this Dungeon,
--- [X] Anshelm to equip Purty Hat and Crystal Shield for Lightning Resistance
-- [X] Can Maya jump high enough? If not, then Alice will try to spam Aqua Prison and Frost Spray together to ground the fliers

 

Okay, Ashen Grotto is probably good for Sera, and our water element should smash stuff there hard.

Drake Nest probably drops the lightning mage crystal we'll want for Sera as well, and is maybe at a decent difficulty. I expect fire damage won't be that high in Ashen Grotto so.... Also, we're likely to outpace the E rank fairly soon...

[X] Split the party?
[X] Anshelm, Maya, Al- Ashen Grotto
[X] Shimah, Sera- Ogre's Den or a mission if they'd prefer?

Nope to Lost Graveyard. Nope, hard, at least for now.

I want to do it, but I want to do it when we're good enough to smash it. Maya has issues there, and pushing pas them might be good. But we don't want to risk something there even if it is doable now. We're probably going to run it only once and only for the express purpose of tearing through it. (Unless Maya wants to clear it eventually)

Type advantage could be good, and a devil race mod for Sera would be funny if it's fireish. That said, the payout's pretty low. 600/5= 120 per person, less than a 2 man run of Ogre's Den would net us. Small group of enemies suggests that there won't be terribly many drops either to supplement this.

So it's hard to say it's worth it really. Maybe if we split the party, but it's an unknown risk at the moment. Given travel requirements it's possible that the mission would take a full day as well. The payout hardly seems worth it in that sense.

Likewise taking Sera (Only has fire attacks) to fight Devils is probably pretty shit. Particularly in an area where the problem is putting out fires and Sera's main skill is starting them.

Given that type disadvantage, we probably only really have 4 people to help, not 5.

AND Al's type advantage means more damage, means drawing aggro from the tank, while Anshelm is already very hard pressed to keep up with Al's talent for angering enemies.

In short, while it looks like water vs fire is good it creates problems for our party dynamics.

We probably can't freeze them and we saw that Sera's fire attacks actually helped WEAKEN Aqua Prison back when we fought the bonus boss. While they weren't enough there, if devils are naturally firey, they might very easily be pretty resistant to both freezing and Aqua Prison.

Going to Ashen has just the same type advantage and is probably easier. It should only take half a day AND we won't be dragging Sera along for something that she can't really contribute to.

Given what we've seen out of other dungeons, it probably has good drops we can pass to Sera as well.

 

I don't see why you are Noping on Graveyard. We've managed level 7s so far and this is a 6 and we just went up a level ourselves. I think we are ready. We even have water available so the ice thing won't matter much.

I do know I don't want to split the party up that much.

 

I will note, since it was mentioned when you looked at it in Maya's dungeon menu, but The Lost Graveyard has a reccomended party of five. This isn't noted for other dungeons because only your Divine Eye lets you see that.

 

The Drake nest isn't a bad move - we have Anshelm and Maya for the adds, and Al, Sera and Shimah can hit the boss while it's on the wing. Is the level 7 listed the minimum, the maximum, or the recommended level?

I'm okay with doing missions though. Either a duo (including Al probably) doing the guarding mission and the other 3 hunting down devils, or the full group doing the merchant caravan.

 

Maya has trauma there. Going back to help her get over it is maybe nifty if she wants to, but should be done pretty exclusively when we're sure it won't be hard.

Going there to grind/get loot is probably a kinda dick move.

Any plan to go there should presume we're A: Ready to trash it, and B: Maya's up for it.

Max level. I'm in favor of Drake since it's probably pretty good dropwise for Sera, giving her the compliment to her fire job.

 

Okay,
[X] Put it to a vote with the group. Do they want to split up and do the missions (Al and Sera on guard duty, Anshelm, Shimah and Maya tracking down Devils) or stay together and hit the Drake Nest?

 

Hmm, if we are going to the Drake Nest we should get the loot boost so we can get Sera lightning right away.

 

Note, we have the extra space, so stocking in Amritas for Gilder saving is possible.

I would suggest doing the Delivery Mission and Herb Gathering in the morning.
Delivery should be done by those with high Perception and Skills that aid such checks, as well as a partner that complement them.
Herb Gathering can be done by one or two person, I guess. But the mention of various monsters around might mean Random Encounters.

Or do a nearby E-Rank Starter Dungeon instead of the Gathering Mission.

 

Updated vote

[] Buy 5 Amirita
[] Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder
-[] Encourage the others to do the same.

[] Dungeon
-[] Drake Nest
-[] Full party.

 

[X] A small band of Devil type monsters was sighted burning down a logging camp, in the west. Extermination needed. 600 Gilder Minimum group 3 D Rank
-[X] Full party.

 

Drake Nest, level cap seven, six rooms (= Wailing Cavern D-Rank)
- Lighting-damage elite flying monsters (low minions)
- One spawner room

Tomb of Worms, level cap ten, nine whole rooms (> Crystal Lake D-rank)
- Toxic status-inflicting monsters, weak to fire
- One puzzle room, key hunt on toxic trap
- Desert zone

Ashen Grotto, level cap five, five rooms (= Goblin's Glade D-rank)
- Fire-damage & fire-resistant monsters
- Volcano zone

Desecrated Fort, level cap eight, six rooms (> Wailing Cavern D-rank)
- Undead-type armored monsters, good coordination and buffs

Definitely should not do Tomb of Worms, until we can do Crystal Lake D-rank with more ease. Sera has type advantage though.
Ashen Grotto is an easy Dungeon, but Sera is at a disadvantage there, while Alice might have type conflict.
Drake Nest can be done, and about our current capability, though the martial types, especially Anshelm, might be at range disadvantage.
Desecrated Fort is where we want to go for challenge at our level, I think.

 

The payout from a starter dungeon is several times higher than the herb mission, and higher then the delivery mission which seems unlikely to actually see conflict.

The simple fact is that most of the missions we have look completely not worth it. They're the kind of thing Sera was doing with the paladin because dungeons were riskier.

Most of the others come with unknown risks.

Missing info is recommended party size which can dramatically sway difficulty. Sera's at a type disadvantage so Alice should likely have a type advantage on either water or ice.

As Sera's skills are pretty focused on fire, it makes sense to do the fire dungeon for better Sera drops. Ergo we should run Ashen Grotto before we hit 5. Sera doesn't need to be there since the loot can be passed to her. A 3 man makes about as much sense as a 4 and Sera/Shimah could run a different dungeon (Ogre's) if we check party size and it works.

As Al has a type advantage, the 3 man Ashen Grotto makes a great deal of sense if we know the recommended party size.


But if Desecrated Fort has a party size of 5 suggested rather than 3? That would probably be harder than Crystal Caverns. Given that coordination and difficulty were talked up there, it's likely harder.

Drake Nest is probably a decent challenge for us, since we're reaching a good tier regardless of party size and no one would be useless (even if no one was at a disadvantage.) The disadvantage for melee is mostly in DPS, so Anshelm whose role is less about hurting things and more about getting hit would be fine. Maya might be at a disadvantage.

We don't even have confirmation it drops on E rank.

 

Yrs has commented that we got drops that didn't belong in a D rank when we got it the last time. There is something to be said by overcharging our loot tables.

 

We rolled a natural 100 on what I am fairly sure is a d100.

Let's not count on that happening consistently.

 

@Darkened
Agreed on the party number thing, that might also change my opinions, but that's the best assumptions I currently can make until we actually see the Dungeon themselves.

EDIT:
Maya might have a less harder time in Drake's Nest if she has good Agility stat, assuming that includes acrobatics and jumping.

I am okay with Drake's Nest, if Anshelm is willing to play the statue to the drakes' doves.

EDITEDIT:
[X] Last night you forgot to ask, but is there any special loots from the other group? Alice and Shimah only have these Bag and Boots to show for.

[X] Shopping: 5 Amritas, 1 Ether > 130 Gilder
[X] Blessing: Blessing of Lesser Good Fortune > 75 Gilder
- [X] Suggest others to pick this Blessing as well
Total: 205 Gilder

[X] Dungeon: Full Party
- [X] Drake's Nest
-- [X] Anshelm will have to take one (or twenty) for the team in this Dungeon,
--- [X] Anshelm to equip Purty Hat and Crystal Shield for Lightning Resistance
-- [X] Can Maya jump high enough? If not, then Alice will try to spam Aqua Prison and Frost Spray together to ground the fliers
--- [X] How about picking up a Ranger Crystal and a Bow? What does Maya think of that?

 

Drake Nest is dangerous if it's party of 5, i would prefer waiting a bit more for this.

I like Darkened's idea of splitting the party in the morning and doing a harder run in the afternoon (so Drake Nest there, once we got more EXP/JP), but i sort of worry what will happen if the recommended dungeon for Ashen Grotto is 5.

Still, i am somewhat confident we can do a lvl5 party 5 dungeon with three people... hopefully. So, here is my decision:

[X]Blessing of Lesser Good fortune: Slightly raises the likelihood of receiving treasure from dungeons and wandering foes. 75 Gilder

[X]Go to Ashen Grotto, look at the recommended party:
[X] Split the party if it's not recommended party 5, if not do it with everyone
[X] If we Split
-[X] Anshelm, Maya, Al- Ashen Grotto
-[X] Shimah, Sera- Ogre's Den or a mission if they'd prefer?

I am also almost tempted to tell Sera to go and buy a lightning Job crystal, but heh, it can wait.
@yrsillar is it possible to do a "If it looks like a 'do mission' vote is winning, then switch my vote to Drake's nest" or some such?

Because while i think Ashe's Grotto is a much better idea right now, everything is better than the missions.

 

Huh, vote for this is pretty split. 3 way tie currently.

2 for devil hunting
2 for drakes
2 for split the party. Ashen\Ogre. One with a caveat to look at how many people are required first.
1 for ask the group.
1 for dual missions, full party on both.

 

...yeah

[X] Last night you forgot to ask, but is there any special loots from the other group? Alice and Shimah only have these Bag and Boots to show for.
[X] Shopping: 5 Amritas, 1 Ether > 130 Gilder
[X] Blessing: Blessing of Lesser Good Fortune > 75 Gilder
- [X] Suggest others to pick this Blessing as well
Total: 205 Gilder
[X] Dungeon: Full Party
- [X] Drake's Nest
-- [X] Anshelm will have to take one (or twenty) for the team in this Dungeon,
--- [X] Anshelm to equip Purty Hat and Crystal Shield for Lightning Resistance
-- [X] Can Maya jump high enough? If not, then Alice will try to spam Aqua Prison and Frost Spray together to ground the fliers