Chapter 145 - 145

"Welcome everyone to the first group of Day Two of the city council organized Raids. As I'm sure you all heard if you didn't already know, our party can field a lot of summons. They will be in three groups, two of them independently clearing the raid and one more helping the main raid group. Loot will be secret and random, assigned by the interface. We won't be taking a cut off these runs, they're to help the citizens get back on their feet." The crowd cheers his words, happy that the rumors were true in a positive way for a change. 

"Now if I can get tanks to the right and healers to the left, we can get started."

There are quite a few healers today, seven in total. They must have been in hiding yesterday waiting for their deserter tags to wear off before showing their faces in public. All the locals clearly know who they are, so they're not new arrivals, and Cain did give his word to give clemency to the ones that fled the Guild before it fell, as long as the citizens did. None of these guys are getting any murderous looks, so Cain is calling that acceptance.

They've only got two tank volunteers though, and the group looks worried about the chances of this raid group composition working. 

"As I said earlier, we've got lots of summons. Today they'll take up the tank role so everyone can damage and heal while they take the brunt of the damage. Now, in we go, I'll lead and bring out the summons first so they have room to spread out." Cain says before leading the way to the entrance portal.

He steps inside to find a diseased and rotten swamp, home to the Plague Demons. He also notices that the healing from multiple Kone and Su pairs doesn't stack, only 2 stacks of the Aura, even with 6 pairs out of 7 nearby. But the cleanse effect is more frequent. That's good news for the group, as the debuffs in here are likely to get pretty brutal. It was in a dungeon like this one that Vala gained Pestilence after all.

Cain decides to use Lesser Demon Army on everything, because it's better to not have to work too hard when you're expecting to get constantly Poisoned and Crippled.

These Demons will be immune to that effect, but Vala should still be doing enough damage to keep up reliable healing. Things seem to be going as planned until a Shadow Warrior, an advanced Rogue type class enters and all the Oath Breakers turn to stare at him, like they do to everybody they see for the first time. It's creepy, but that's just how they are. 

"Those are Oath Breakers. The Legendary Raid Boss. One of them eliminated almost the entire sixth Guardian Guild after they got locked in the boss room." The man says in a shaky voice. 

"I heard about that, AllNatty almost got killed, he left with only two other Raid members when they finally killed it." Another agrees. 

"Forget the Tyrant, that thing is terrifying. How does it compare to the one they faced?" One of the healers asks Cain. 

"I can't really say, since I don't know what level they were at, but it should be pretty comparable to one my level. Anything they lack in power they make up in Numbers." Cain shrugs, indicating the small army of summons. 

Nobody seems to have any more questions, so Cain sends Vala's teams and the Oath Breakers on their way after giving the Legendary Demons their usual instructions to help any ally they see in trouble. They seem to understand, or remember, the system this time and have decided to leave a path of demons untouched for the main party to fight. 

With maximum Summon numbers spread out all over the dungeon, it's pretty obvious that they're getting drops even when they're not actively fighting, but the raid groups have developed an unspoken agreement not to talk about anything they see in here. Not that anyone who hasn't seen it would believe them anyhow. 

Telling people that the city council Summoned Legendary Demons and dozens of Drakes and Dragons to help gear the townsfolk just makes you sound like a lunatic. 

"Everyone try to avoid getting multiple stacks of the poison and Pestilence Debuffs, it just makes life hard on the healers. If you get two stacks, back up and let them clear off while the Tank Type summons take the damage." Cain says as they engage a group of Plague Mages with infected rats as an annoying companion. 

The strategy is working fairly well, the Oath Breakers are so durable that the debuffs that do get through their resistance don't matter while the groups led by Vala haven't lost any members yet, according to Cain's interface, so they must be doing alright. For their part, the Epic Quality Snapping Turtles have incredible resistance, shrugging off most effects, while the Epic Quality Wrath Bringers are just savages, they take damage from all sorts of debuffs, but ones that should slow or weaken them seem to have no effect at all. 

The difference between greater and epic quality might be hard to tell at a glance, but in combat it's immense. 

[Level Up] 

Cain and Kone smile at each other in victory. Experience scaling from the dungeons didn't quite keep up with the scaling as they increased levels. They've almost cleared the third raid now to get a single level. With the modifier from the number of summons and party members, the average raid would have to grind every day for most of the year to get the same benefit. 

Even with his Guild carrying him through extra runs, AllNatty only made it to level 137 in the decades he was in the city. Presumably he had some sort of experience buff or a Guild member with one as well. Such things aren't unheard of, in fact, Cain has already encountered quests that gave extra experience for a time. 

The morning raid has come to an end without too much drama and the raiders are excited to get home and enjoy their gains. 

"If anyone wants to trade an item, this is the time to do it. As we asked the other groups, keep quiet about your drops until you've sold them or used them. The last thing the city needs is transfers getting mugged."

"I've got an A ranked book of Blizzard to trade." Says one of the Berserkers. Wow, was that an entirely unsuited drop. Most of the time they're at least usable by your class, or a sub class similar to it. 

"I'll trade you an Epic shield that heals you when you block and 5 repair Tokens." Says an Elemental Shaman. They can use mage books of the elements they've put points into, with increasing effect as they add more points until they can cast that element at full base effect. 

It's not as high of damage as a mage type class, but very versatile with their Totems and heavier armor. 

The Repair Tokens are an item Blacksmiths can create that instantly repairs an armor piece to full durability. A Prepaid mobile equipment repair service of a sort. 

"Deal." The Berserker says after looking over the shield. Not many of his class go a tank route, but a good shield can be a life saver if things get strange in a dungeon. 

"Anyone need a ring that enhances Earth Elemental damage?"

"How about Pauldrons with 30 percent damage reflection?" 

A few more trades are done and the group heads home, Cain returning again to the Guild house to shower and change before the afternoon raid. 

He drops the gear and materials he's gotten into the Guild bank and gets a load of happy notifications from the crafters in return. These high level items are perfect to increase their skill level on. The Dwarven Earth Mage that just joined them in Graska even has an addition of their own, Quality Dwarven made furniture. A full living room and bedroom set to be exact.

Cain takes a moment after eating to run over to the Merchant Hall before the next group starts to arrive and puts the furniture up for 12 hour auction. Somewhere around midnight tonight they'll find out what the demand is like and what the furniture sells for in this higher level city. 

"Find everything you needed?" Norm, the half Orc Tank asks him, walking in as Cain is headed out. 

"Actually I was posting up some Dark Dwarf made furniture created by a Guild member. We thought the city might enjoy a little more Dwarven craftsmanship." Cain laughs, watching the big man look through the postings. 

"12 hour unreserved auction. Testing out the demand are you?" Norm asks, nodding his head as if the answer is already determined. 

"I'll let the Dwarves know, and they can look it over and critique the construction, you know how they are."

Yes, that Cain does, they take great pride in their work. But that also means of this batch of furniture gains their approval it will garner a much higher price from those who trust their judgement.. A calculated risk he is taking to make a name for her furniture, instead of selling it at generic retail prices.