The Sisters of the Night were the last group to arrive at the location of the raid, but they were the most heavily anticipated. Aster was preoccupied with talking to Caius and Riley when they heard the tramp of half a dozen feet, and she turned just in time to see the lead woman coming around the last bend of the forest path. This was her first time seeing Kyraa in the flesh, and she could see why the woman had been able to recruit such a large guild this early in the game. She radiated total power and confidence, even if it were in a somewhat dark fashion.
“They’re here,” she said quietly, alerting Caius and Riley to the new arrivals.
Caius glanced over, his eyebrows rising. “I think that’s my first time seeing that woman. She looks scary.”
“Anyone marching at the head of an army would look scary,” Riley said with a snort of laughter. “Well, it may not be that large of a guild, but it’s the closest thing to an army we’ve seen.”
Caius couldn’t help but nod his agreement with that. “There’s a reason we asked for their help. They’re the biggest organized group that we know of, and we need the numbers to make up the raid. At least this way we’re negotiating with one personality, rather than a few dozen solo players.”
That, he’d explained, was crucial. A guild leader had the assumed authority to negotiate on behalf of those under her, and they could reach an agreement more quickly. When talking to multiple people, all whom had their own goals and desires, it was harder to reach an understanding. Of course, The Sisters of the Night were the only other guild they knew of in the area. Oscar had finally figured out how to form a guild, and after they’d built a small guildhall on their land, they’d formed ‘The Progenitors’. They’d fully expected to be the first guild to form in the game but had been surprised to learn they were just a day or two too late for that achievement.
Their guild name had been an inside joke and Caius’ idea. Since they’d been the first to figure out so many secrets of the game, as well as the first business, first farm, and several other things that nobody had figured out until after they did, Caius had suggested it. Progenitor also meant ancestor or the first of a line, which perfectly fit the unique role they had, being among the first thousand players of the game.
“Good evening, Kyraa,” Caius said, offering his hand in welcome as the woman came within easy conversation range. “Glad you were able to find the place easily enough.”
“Wasn’t too hard,” Kyraa replied, shaking Caius’ hand. “Our scout found it after Centrogen came back with the offer. Some of us actually thought of attempting the raid ourselves, but we thought it would be better to respect your rights for finding it.”
“Well, thanks for that,” Caius said. He and Azalea shared a quick glance. She could tell he was thinking the same thing as herself. Neither of them had considered that those they invited might try to jump the gun and steal the raid out from under them. “Glad we picked honest partners for this.”
A small smile curled across her lips at that remark. She chose not to say that it was she who’d suggested taking over the raid without telling them and that it was only because of her guildmates’ voting that she’d agreed to respect their rivals in the area. Guilds, she reflected, were essentially big teams. They didn’t survive long if they didn’t have some kind of competitive spirit, and she considered hers to be the strongest here.
Caius and Kyraa regarded each other in silence for a moment, and Azalea wondered what was causing her friend’s eyes to tighten like that. She didn’t think anyone else in the group would have noticed the small expression, but she knew him too well. He found something about the encounter fishy, she thought. Was he considering calling off their temporary partnership?
“As we agreed, we’ll provide some buffs for everyone at the start,” Caius said. “And for that, we’re claiming an extra 5% of the yemon. Also, we’re claiming the first slot in the loot priority since we’re hosting.”
Kyraa nodded agreement at once. In a previous dungeon, they’d discovered the entry point at the same time as a duo traveling through the area. They’d agreed to take the dungeon on together, and though the loot had been smaller as a result, they’d also learned two interesting things about how the game worked. First, contracts could be formed on something like teaming up for a dungeon. Second, you could decide loot priority before even setting foot in the dungeon, so that the different teams didn’t have a chance to fight over loot when it was all said and done.
“We’re taking the second slot because of our numbers,” Kyraa said. She made it clear it was a statement, not a request, but Caius was quick to agree. “What’s our percentage of the yemon reward?”
“Forty percent,” Caius said. “That’s a fair share. Outside of our two guilds, we have a duo and five solos. Together, they’re all getting twenty percent. Which leaves us with the other forty.”
“So we have seventeen in total,” Kyraa commented. “You think it’s enough?”
“Well, we don’t exactly have past raids to draw upon for reference,” Caius admitted. “But considering it’s D-Rank, and we have yet to encounter anything above E-Rank in difficulty, we can only assume that this will be more difficult than anything we’ve faced. So the more we have, the better.”
“Safety in numbers,” Kyraa agreed. A woman in a short black robe and heels approached. She had black-green dragonish wings sprouting from her back, and curved horns sprouting out of the top of her head. “My second-in-command, Centrogen, in case you don’t know her already.”
Caius nodded a greeting, but before he could offer a verbal introduction, his attention was drawn to Oscar. Their rogue and scout had just appeared at the dungeon’s entrance, his brow furrowed in a thoughtful frown. He made eye contact with his party, and jerked his head to one side, beckoning them closer.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Just a moment,” Caius excused himself. “Kyraa, would you like to listen in? Centrogen, you’re welcome as well.”
The moth and dragon women looked surprised at this gracious invitation. Clearly, they expected to be kept out of meetings and for information to be limited. That would have been Kyraa’s style, after all. She hid a small smile as she nodded, following Caius, Riley, and Azalea as they moved over. If Oscar was surprised by the decision to include them, he didn’t show it.
“So what did you discover?” Caius asked straight away, without offering an explanation as to the extra listeners. “Is it a cave like the labyrinth?”
“It is for the most part,” Oscar reported. “But it’s weird. I expected to find a large dungeon full of monsters. Which I did, but there’s also…”
He trailed off, casting a quick glance at Azalea, then at Kyraa and Centrogen. Caius frowned. “What is it?”
“There’s… there’s also quite a bit extra in there,” Oscar finally said. “I was able to identify two different mines. There’s also a grove of trees I’ve never seen before, and a whole field of flowers and herbs.”
Suddenly, his hesitation made sense. Like Kyraa, Oscar was thinking about his guild first, and he hadn’t wanted to share the extra loot information in case Caius decided to try and get the extra materials for themselves.
“That could be slightly problematic,” Kyraa commented. “We’re going to honor our agreement, of course, but the solos might try to snag those mines while we’re busy fighting.”
“That would be less than ideal,” Caius agreed. “We’ll have to modify our Contract with them, it seems. But how do we stop them from picking herbs or cutting down the trees instead of fighting? I’m not really into the idea of threatening them.”
They fell silent for a few minutes, trying to come up with a solution. It was Azalea who spoke first. “Why don’t we just make it so that we have to dump all the loot - including the materials - in a central location? Then we can split it up according to the portions.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Riley said, speaking up for the first time. “Except…”
“Except what?”
“Those of us in guilds or larger groups will have a greater need for materials,” Kyraa pointed out. Riley nodded. “Not just that, but we’ll also have different priorities. You clearly have more use for those herbs and plants than we do, but Bubbles and Centrogen will want some for themselves.”
Centrogen nodded her confirmation of this. “We’re alchemists, after all, and we fight with potions and small explosives.”
“Right. And we’ll likely have more need of the metal in those mines if they can be used for weapons and equipment. But something of this quantity would also have quality increases, which you could benefit from.”
“And there’s gotta be something special about those new trees,” Riley put in, which drew muttered agreement from the others.
“I see,” Azalea said. “So we have to find a fair way to spread the loot based not only on equal shares, but also what we need.”
Kyraa nodded again. “That’s the real problem of it all.”
“There’s only one way we can settle this,” Caius decided. “Hey! Solos! Get over here! You two as well!”
Curious, the extra members of the raid came over. They were a motley assortment, Azalea thought. It would have been easier if they were all fighter types, but she recognized a few magic users, and one who looked as though he was some kind of lumberjack.
“What’s the problem?” The leader of the duo, a tomboyish and muscular woman, asked. “What’s stopping us from getting into the raid?”
“We’ve discovered some extra materials,” Caius said, inclining his head toward Oscar. “There’s two mines full of metal. We don’t know what kind, but there’s also a load of herbs and trees.”
The disinterest in the woman’s face couldn’t have been more plain. “We don’t care about all that. I fight with my fists anyway. Laf here already has a weapon he likes, and we couldn’t care less about herbs or wood.”
She said it as if it simplified things, but Azalea could tell that the others didn’t think so. Seeing their continued hesitation, the brawlers added, “Would it help if we said we just want money out of it? If you increase our share of the yemon, we’ll forfeit any claims to the materials that you pull out. Of course, I don’t mean the loot that the monsters drop. If we get a drop, we’re keeping that.”
“That… actually might make it easier,” Caius said. “Do any of you feel that way as well?”
Three of the solos nodded at once, muttering that they just needed money. One looked as if he disagreed completely, and the other seemed ambivalent. Kyraa offered a solution. “Well, if we pay them most of the yemon, we can still make that back through materials.”
“Good point,” Riley said. “So what if the agreement for the new materials is that we just split it evenly amongst the two guilds?”
“But we still need the metal more,” Kyraa said. “Though it doesn’t seem fair to demand a bigger share of that, does it?”
“Are you sure you didn’t see what kinds of metal were in the mines?” Caius asked, turning to Oscar. The rogue grimaced.
“There were too many monsters in the way of each one. They might even be smaller dungeons for all we know.”
“Dungeon in a dungeon,” one of the solos said with a laugh. They couldn’t make out the person’s face because of the mask they wore, but they swore they would be grinning. “Dungeon-ception.”
That brought a laugh from the others as well. Caius took a deep breath. If only they were better friends, this would have been much quicker to resolve. “Okay, how about this? We agree that those not in a guild will get a bigger share of the yemon. Let’s say a forty percent share for them, thirty for us, and thirty for the Sisters of the Night. Then we’ll settle any material decisions once the raid is complete. For now, we’ll agree that any materials harvested will be put in a communal pool, and we can’t leave the dungeon until we decide how to split it. That sound good?”
To Azalea’s surprise, Kyraa agreed at once. The solos nodded their agreement as well. “That sounds fair. I’ll go tell my guild about the new terms, and we can get started.”
Azalea, who’d been listening to the discussion and working up a Contract rather than negotiating herself, sent a copy to the other parties, who all agreed at once. Now it was a binding contract, the terms of which they couldn’t break. They’d already seen that characters who attempted to break a Contract forfeited materials and had to resort to raiding or PvP to reclaim the lost rewards. She was confident Kyraa wouldn’t do that, and if the solos did, they could handle them.
“We’ll start in half an hour,” Caius said. “Azalea and I will spread the buffs out before then.”