Chapter 142 - 142

Misha runs off to Graska to finish the recruitment, while Cain greets the morning's batch of raiders. Maybe the Guild War was for the best. They never intended to have a Guild House here, but now that they do, he won't be separated from Misha for months at a time. 

"Welcome to the Darklight Host Guild House everyone. Check off your name on the applicant sheet, so we can see if everyone is here and signed up." Cain begins, while looking over the group. They're an odd bunch, mostly crafters with life skill related titles visible by their names in the interface, but there's three healers, all subclasses of the Cleric class, with deserter tags, so they've got a good mix. 

"Tanks on the right, healers to the left, damage dealers remain where you are. As everyone likely recalls, My class is based around Summons, so the group composition doesn't really matter, I can make up the difference." Cain starts getting the group sorted, finding that they've got four potential tanks, all under geared except one burly green half Orc named Norm with a Blacksmith achievement title. The healers look to be in better shape, having previously been Guild Members and allowed good enough gear to do the dungeon runs. 

"Alright, Norm, you can stay as a tank. The rest of the potential tanks can just focus on dealing damage until you get some gear. The drop rate is pretty good, and lots of coins are usually in the loot, so you might be alright after today." Cain instructs. 

"What's the loot split?" Norm asks, leaning on his shield. 

"System allocation, private drops. Whatever you get is yours, no questions asked. If you want to trade something that's not suitable for you, you can sell it later, or ask at the end of the run if anyone got something you need. Remember, it's private so nobody else will see what you got. You'll have to tell them if you want them to know." Cain explains and the group looks at him like he's insane. 

"Private loot and no fee? What's the catch?" One of the Clerics asks. 

"We've both got Iron Man Titles that increase our drop rates and quality. We'll do alright without a fee." Kone answers on Cain's behalf and the group chuckles.

The bonus applies to the whole group, but the ones with the title always seem to get the best of it. In normal circumstances, where a party actually needs the extra members to do a raid, they'd use the title to reduce or eliminate the fee they pay to join an overpowered group, because everyone would get extra loot. The carry group having the title is a whole other thing, usually they'd charge more to the ones needing their help, not less.

"Call it a public service. The city needs to get back on its feet, and a lot was lost when the Guilds fell. So twice a day until I get bored or annoyed, we will continue leading Raids into the Demon Dungeon." Cain adds and the cleric nods. Cain is a City Councilor now after all. 

They all head to the dungeon entrance and Cain leads them in, summoning everything before the others follow and separating them into groups. 

Each Vala twin will lead a group with fifteen Greater Lamia Scourge Casters, Eight Wrath Bringers from her Personal Guard, two Epic clones of Kone, along with their sixteen Snapping Turtles, their copies of Su and Nemu, with her Felian Assassins. 

That leaves Cain with the twenty four Wrath Bringers, now Epic Demons and presumably much stronger than before, Four Epic Dread Spiders, now twice Cain's size, four Epic Plague Mages, two clones of Kone along with two Dragon form copies of Su, plus their Turtles and the ever present Wasps. 

Laura and her Drakes will be working as scouts for whoever needs it, their high flight speed giving them the mobility to pick and choose. 

The last thing on the list is to pick an Epic Summon. This looks like an open city Wrath Demon type raid instance, so Cain goes for a Boss he found in a Succubus type dungeon, called an Oath Breaker. It's a six armed Demon as tall as the Wrath Bringers, but much more agile. Every hand ends in long claws that cause [Cripple] and they can teleport short distances to appear behind their target and attack. 

With Cain's [Glory of the Mark] buffing them to Legendary status they've gained a shadowy aura, but other than that, they still look to be the same leather pants clad shirtless Demon they've always been. The two of them appear and instantly become four, smiling evil grins at each other before looking at Cain. 

"Can we clear this place? You called us here to kill, right?" One of them asks. 

"We are leading a group through this place. Protect them and kill all the residents of this place, but don't start until they're all here." Cain instructs them.

"You have a deal. It will be glorious." They reply in unison, creeping Cain out. 

"One last thing. I am going to cast a spell on you, tripling your numbers, make good use of it." Cain says and uses [Lesser Demon Army] to turn the four into twelve. The one that spoke first looks behind Cain, one finger extended to count all the group members that have appeared while they were talking. 

"That's all of them. Can we go now?" The Demon hisses in excitement. 

"Yes, and remember to protect your allies if you see them in trouble. Now, go have fun." Cain instructs and the Demons vanish. They're not idle though, Cain's chat log shows an immediate flood of notifications about dead demons. 

"That's our cue. Have fun everyone." Vala says and the two forces break off to find targets. 

"All that and you still kept enough Summons here to guard the group? No wonder the city fell in a day. Even those twelve Legendary Demons would annihilate most Guilds." Norm says with admiration. 

"Don't forget me." Laura says, finally shifting into a pair of shimmering white Dragons.

Cain scratches the spot on her head behind her horns and turns to the group. "A fast as those Oath Breakers are, we might be short on targets, and I've got no idea what way they went. So, we will pick a direction that Vala didn't lead a force towards and get this run started." Cain says, turning the Wrath Bringers to the far left where a road leads between what looks like ruined store fronts. 

"I'm already getting drops, not just silver and gold, I got new armor." A warrior cheers, putting it on to replace the low level item he was wearing. That only makes sense, with so many Demons loose and destroying this dungeon, they're bound to get some early drops. 

Cain sees a group of Dark Red Demons with swords up ahead and signals the group that they've found their first fight. They're level 108, about the average for the group, which is encouraging. Most of them should get experience bonuses, beyond the one Cain is silently giving them. With so many fighters out of sight, it will also make it impossible to Guage experience per kill against what they already knew, helping hide the one skill he prefers not to advertise to strangers. 

Norm and the Wrath Bringers are just about to engage the group when an Oath Breaker appears, tearing the two Demons to shreds in an instant before laughing and disappearing again. 

"First of all, let me say thank you for NOT setting those things loose in the city. Secondly, can this even be counted as a dungeon run if we don't kill anything?" One of the Mages asks, shaking her head. 

"If there's experience, it's a run. No matter how unfair it might seem." Cain shrugs. 

"The man has a point. Lead the way and let's find something they missed. I came for a fight and I'm going to find a fight." Norm insists, charging ahead in search of more Demons. 

It didn't take long, there is a whole city in this instance from what Laura has reported to Cain from her vantage in the sky. She's Summoned her Ice Drakes and is serving as the main group's scout, leading them to areas that haven't been cleared yet. 

They've found a group of six Wrath Bringers, who are visibly upset at what they see as traitors charging them with the raid party. Norm has found his fight, crashing shield first into a Demon a full head and more taller than even his burly frame. He uses a heavy hammer with his shield, pure blunt force to match his personality. The fight only lasts about eight seconds, but it's put him in a better mood. 

Laura indicates more Demons down this road, frosting them up with her breath to show the way and the group takes off running, what is normally a time of caution and fear for the under geared is now a challenge to get a hit in before the target dies. 

"Alright, I'm thoroughly exhausted. I haven't gone for a run like that in ages." Norm says to the equally sweaty and tired group. As the numbers dwindled, the Oath Breakers took great joy in intercepting any targets that the raid found, snuffing them out moments before the raid group could arrive. Thus the marathon type exertion. 

"Next time, I'm only bringing four of them. That was ridiculous." Cain laughs, taking a long pull of Dwarven mead from a wine skin.

"If anyone wants to trade a drop item with the group, this is the time. After this, I politely ask that you keep your drops secret unless you're selling them. We don't need a rash of robberies from people who just finished a run through the dungeon. The sign up sheet isn't exactly a secret." Cain instructs the group and a few members link items in raid chat. Nothing terrible, just unsuited for their class or build.

Most of them have gotten a few good items, so the trades are completed without issue and they exit the dungeon in high spirits, waving goodbye as the group dissolves and heading home to shower.