“You’re back late, we’ve all had dinner already. How was the picnic?” Dimnys asks when the two return to the Guild House.

“Excellent, we must thank Tanya for that. We went to watch a theater play afterwards. It was, how should I put it? Not what we were expecting, but it was a great show. We might have to go watch it again.” Cain smiles, thinking about the day he’s had.

“I’ve heard Queen Anne was chased out of the good theater in town because of its low quality, but maybe the stuffy nobles just didn’t want to be reminded of the Harem Queen of the Elves, or the fact their families armies lost to her.” Tanya says, coming in with snacks.

“So they donated a son to the cause?” Misha chuckles.

“In fact, the infamous pool scene is at the palace here at the top of the hill. You can see it from the east windows on the second floor.” The Dwarfs eyes glint in amusement at the thought of the nobles embarrassed like that.

“How did the girls trip go? Did you find the good stuff?” Misha asks, setting down a cask of Dwarven Ale they picked up on the way back to the house after the show.

“We’ve got enough sugar to kill a pixie.” Elmira laughs. “Seriously, I think we’re everyone’s new favorite customer in the confectionary stores and pastry bakeries.”

“So are we going to try for level 60 tomorrow? If we can get Misha and Cain there I say we hold a big party at that pub down by the armor shop.” Char points to show she means the one only a few blocks from the Guild House.

“Are you even up for a party tomorrow after that much sugar today?” Mythryll laughs. “I think the ‘hair of the dog’ rule only works for alcohol hangovers.”

“I’m up for a party tomorrow!” Elmira cheers. “Party means cake, and I love cake.”

Cain notices Vala sitting on the couch with an arm load of equipment. “What up with Vala?”

“It’s all equipment for her, but you’re the only one that can equip upgrades on her, she can’t do it herself. She spent all day helping at the forge, we forgot to give her orders for the day.” Dimnys explains.

Vala is so interactive and full of initiative during combat that they’d all totally forgot that she can’t act outside her orders. The last thing she was instructed to do was head home, so that’s where she stayed.

“Vala, where’s your twin?” Misha asks, meaning the clone Cain’s ability creates.

“Guarding the Master’s bedroom. She enjoys hiding in his closet to observe him and guard his possessions.” Okay, that’s a bit weird, Misha thinks. She could just sit in the chair by the bed. But who is she to judge the Demon, right?

Cain equips the new gear onto Vala, finding she’s gained a lot of damage and a five point increase to healing done to others. While that’s not a lot, it’s 5 points to everyone, each time she deals damage. Against big groups, that’s almost as much as Misha’s basic timed heal.

Dimnys begs out of going back to the Naga Raid, claiming mental health concerns, and the rest all agree she has a point, that was a pretty traumatic experience.

The rest head to the dungeon after breakfast the next day, wondering what the regular Naga dungeon is like. They’ll get back to exploring the Demon Dungeon, and its multiple exits but for now, more experience is better, and they should still be very close to or below the Naga Dungeons level.

[Dungeon Option Available]

[Count Companions As Party Members?] Y/N

“Hey, I’m getting an option to count Vala as a party member when we enter. Maybe because the dungeon is a dual purpose, both regular and Raid? If we count her, we’re at 7 members, more than enough to enable the raid again. If not, we’re 5, enough for the regular dungeon.” Cain tells the group, who stop short at this new information. Do they want to do the raid again? They got a lot of good stuff last time.

“Let’s go hard mode again.” Char smiles. “I’ve got a good feeling, and we can stock up on blacksmith supplies. Guild crafters get taxed ten percent into the Guild Vault when they sell items to merchants, so the more equipment she makes the better off we all are.”

Cain selects ‘Yes’ to counting Vala as a party member and they step into the now familiar raid.

[Terror of the Naga] Guild Title active. Enemy damage done reduced by 10 percent.

“Now that’s a bonus.” Cain grins at the notification they all just received. Their efforts were more than worth the suffering. Assuming their unfortunate blacksmith mentally recovers.

After the first boss drops with much less drama than last time, they’re faced with a decision. Do they go straight up the middle again? Or do they go down the path they missed and clear all the monsters from the dungeon? The third boss will call everything they missed in waves anyhow, so they don’t miss out on experience either way.

“Let’s go up the middle, but kill all the Spear Throwers as we go. That way we shouldn’t get the chaos on the second boss.” Mythryll suggests.

“Misha? You’re the one that suffered most, your call.” Cain says.

“With the ledges clear we should be fine. Let’s go up the middle again.” She sighs, not missing the suggestive glances straight ahead the others are giving her.

The Naga wither under the barrage of Arrows and spells, as Cain once again replaces the Trolls with Naga Wave Casters for this series of fights. When they get to the second boss they find that there are a few opponents in caves on the ledges that they missed, but the dozen Naga are quickly rounded up and slowly dispatched as the party focuses on the boss.

“Kill Them All” comes the expected enraged shout, and they start cutting down the waves of incoming monsters.

When the final boss drops they get an unexpected notification.

[Shorthanded Raider Achievement Earned] clear 2 consecutive matching raids more than 5 levels above the party’s highest level member with only one Healer.

[No Guts, No Glory Achievement Earned] clear 2 consecutive matching raids more than 5 levels above the party’s highest level member with no valid Tank.

[Elmira Has Received Spell Book Dark Shuriken] Grade A

[Char Has Received Spell Book Earth’s Wrath] Grade A