BXBX NOVEL Chapter 96 - 96
After dinner and introducing the rest of the Guild to the wonders of Dwarven liquor, everyone heads back to Sunnybrook. Coming to visit is only as far as a room in the basement now, so there\'s really no reason not to sleep in their own beds. Plus the bedrooms here aren\'t ready yet.
Even Dimnys heads back, pointing out that her room is only one room away from either forge now. In the back of the Graska forge through the storage room, and across the hall from the forge in Sunnybrook. Ragnar travels through the circle with a hint of envy, seeing that his new friend has not one but two forges available.
"One for working and one for prepping metal." Dimnys laughs and he grins at her. The two of them have come to an agreement to work together. Ragnar will be her assistant and shop for her materials when needed in exchange for a percentage off the smithy items they sell. Cain worked up an official employee contract for him over drinks, so he can be sure he\'s going to get what they agreed on.
Another bit of good news, when a local guild employee withdraws Guild funds, the system does it in local currency instead of the generic coins that the transfers and others with a system get. Now, that\'s not a big thing in most places, but Graska is different. This bit of information means they don\'t need to worry about trading for coin, they can just sell and deposit to the Guild Bank automatically everywhere they go in the future.
Cain and Kone have just arrived back in Graska this morning, intending to get a day in grinding in the Beastkin dungeon, while the others intend to do the Naga Raid along with a smaller guild from Sunnybrook. Ragnar is a bit bummed out that Dimnys won\'t be in the forge until lunchtime, but he understands the need to go gather gems and reagents they\'ve mostly used up in their testing. Until she returns he is starting to prep and purify raw ore ingots into magical metals in preparation for the weeks work, the forge already hot and loud when Cain and Kone arrive.
Triss is with an Earth Mage when they come upstairs to grab some Honey Mead for the day. Gramps got the brilliant idea to enchant their employee areas as employee only. The spell will stop anyone not a member or registered employee from going beyond the tavern. A great way to keep the house secure once they\'re operating.
Triss also has an idea, suggested to her by Bertha. Like how the burly Matron sells bootleg liquor, they too can have a little something on the side to bring patrons in. Not wanting someone to cut into her business, Bertha had suggested local goods from Sunnybrook. The rules don\'t prohibit a Guild from selling their gains directly to whoever they want, so if a guild member placed say, some fine cloth, or delicacies from the Elven city for sale behind the bar in the tavern they wouldn\'t actually be breaking any laws.
With the Guild House they\'re also now considered Graska locals, so it wouldn\'t violate the letter of the embargo either, and the Fae Alliance is a big fan of exactly following rules. Which is a large part of why the Dark Dwarves won\'t join them.
They\'re working out an arrangement for things locals might want that would be easy to get in Sunnybrook when Tanya comes running out of the circle room and stops dead upon seeing the massive kitchen here.
"I\'m really in Graska. No, wait, there\'s an important message. A huge Ogre army is attacking and everyone else is already inside the Naga Raid. All four big guilds are there today and the city came begging for any members we have left." She pants, still looking around the kitchen in awe.
That could be bad. Without the Guilds the city Defense will take a lot of casualties.
"What did the attack look like?" Cain asks, hoping she knows.
"They said it\'s only in the East, but it\'s all in a Phalanx. That\'s all they said." Tanya shrugs, looking through the cupboards and opening the massive fridge and freezer.
"You can cook here if you like. There\'s the three girls already working here, but the upstairs is under renovation still for another few days." Cain says and Tanya smiles. This might work out well for him, staff being able to move back and forth through the circle will allow them to add extra hands for parties without hiring a load of new faces they will need to let into the secure areas.
Cain and Kone head back to talk to the city officials in Sunnybrook, while Tanya sits down with Triss to discuss the weekly menu, already having decided to make good use of this kitchen big enough for both of them to work at the same time without even crossing paths away from the walk in fridges.
It\'s only been a few minutes, but the officials are looking panicky when Cain and Kone come out with Vala and Nemu following them. They sent a message to the Guild, informing them of the situation, and they sent back that they\'ll need another four hours or so to finish the clear safely. They\'re plenty strong, but nobody wants to get swarmed without the mass of Summons as their first line of defense, so they clear almost everything as they go. Better safe than sorry.
At the gates they call out the summons and assess what they have available. There\'s a group of Three Clerics off to one side, looking nervous, so Cain sends Kone to go fetch them. Slayer is here with just two rogues and a Mage. They come over the moment they see the Rock Trolls Cain has called to distract the Phalanx.
"It\'s really good to see you again. Thought you might have left us for good." Slayer calls as they approach.
"Is good to be back. Hopefully today we can deal with this upstart Ogre King and chase him back into the North valley." Cain says, hoping to see more transfers. There\'s two more groups of ten or so towards the flanks, and they look organized so that\'s a start, but the force is less than a quarter of the usual turnout, and none of the higher level transfers are here except Cain and Slayer.
Seeing that they\'ll have nothing else to work with, Cain changes his Supporters. Trying to clone Vala just brings up a [Companion Already Known] message, but he can clone Cixelcid, who also heals the group a little due to his equipment and a skill, but doesn\'t give the additional damage buff. Or he could copy Char, who has the best Totems and good AoE damage.
At level 80 his Supporters are set to become Advanced Supporters, but Cain isn\'t quite there yet, so balancing what he can with class skills only is a challenge.
The final suggestion comes from Kone, who wants to see more Bears. So Cain makes two copies of her and two of Char, giving them four bears and a bunch of Totems in addition to the actual Supporters.
"That\'s so weird, I can actually feel that I\'ve been cloned. I can\'t control them or anything, but I can feel that they exist." Kone giggles, petting the bears one after another.
"Game faces on, it\'s almost time to attack.." Cain smiles at the Druid and turns back to the Ogre lines.