[NR] So Close To The Dungeon - Chapter 446 (Patreon)

Bright and early the next morning, Rosha is bouncing around in excitement. Though she soon calms down once she realizes they still aren’t heading to the dungeon. While they technically could, dungeon’s being heavily instanced, there were enough possible quirks that Courtney needed to ask around a bit.

Sure, last night she sounded quite knowledgeable about the dungeon, but that was all surface level information. Some of it could even be figured out without knowing a single thing about the dungeon besides the name.

Though as they leave the inn, Courtney turns to Jason and asks, “So, has any mysterious high level patron decided to take us under their wing in this town as well?”

Rosha tilts her head to the side, while Jason just laughs a bit before answering. “Sadly, not this time. Though to be fair, I haven’t been to that many places in town. Plus, this is quite the low level town compared to even the tutorial town. The dungeon, while important, just doesn’t support that kind of stuff.”

Courtney raises an eyebrow, “And yet the only times we’ve come across them is when you’re around. Honestly, if there was a luck stat I wouldn’t be surprised if you secretly were getting stat points and putting them all into it.”

Jason, “While I’m not getting points, I wouldn’t be willing to bet on there not being a luck stat as a secondary. Anyway, if you want a high level patron, it seems you’ll be the one that has to find them this time.”

At some point during the back and forth, Rosha figured out what was being talked about and so at this point interrupts the two. “While that is all fine and dandy, where and how are we getting the needed information? I assume the guild has everything we need, but can we afford it?”

Courtney, “You aren’t wrong about the guild being a bit on the expensive side if we wanted all the information on the dungeon. Luckily, we aren’t looking for that.”

Jason nods, “I’m expecting we’ll need to spend about 120 gold there for the basic info sheet at the very least.”

Courtney, “And between 50 and 100 gold for the info on any disruptions in the instancing if that shows up in the basic info. While most dungeons are pure instances, sometimes there will be specific trials or even entire floors, which will throw multiple groups together.”

Rosha claps her hands, “Well this all sounds fun, but Hypotheticals don’t get us anywhere. Pick up the pace, I want to delve me a dungeon!”

A couple of people walking by the group give them the side eye at this outburst, though one player who heard it lets out a hearty laugh and a, “Don’t we all!”, which caused Rosha to blush. No one else could probably tell as fur doesn’t exactly let people see it, but Jason and Rosha are close enough to her to notice.

Deciding they’ve done enough arguing in public, the trio make their way to the guild. A good thing too, as even with how early they are, every receptionist has quite the line already. So after a good long wait, they finally make it to the front and are able to purchase the basic info for 132 gold, split evenly between the three. Then, after a quick glance to make certain they don’t have to buy instancing information, they take the paper off to the side and read it over.

[Basic Info on the dungeon “Invasion from the Deep Sky”

Floors: 10

Bosses: 1 (on final floor)

Confirmed Monsters: Tardigroids

Layout: Lunar Cave

Features: Completely Instanced, standard environment, no flora or fauna, arena style fight on 5th floor, crude traps starting on 8th floor, Boss is a loner type]

Rosha frowns, “That isn’t exactly what I expected for 132 gold.”

Courtney shrugs, “Part of that is because of how simple the dungeon is. Deeper and more complex dungeons could end up with multiple sheets that include stuff like puzzle guides and examples of traps which are too outside of the norm.”

Jason smirks, “And while that is true, this specific dungeon’s information costs so much because it is a popular place for travellers to do exactly what we’re here to do, breakthrough to level 25. While a generalization, travellers will have more money to spend. Not that we’re necessarily richer, just that we’re more willing to spend it on stuff like this.”

Rosha nods, “So basically we’re paying tourist trap prices?”

Jason looks impressed, “Huh, I hadn’t ever thought of it that way, but yeah. That is kind of the perfect way to explain it. Anyway, the big thing about this sheet is that it is backed by the Adventures Guild and so probably the nearest to being completely accurate as you’ll get.

“For instance, it says traps start at floor 8. If there was even one confirmed report of a trap appearing on floor 7, that information would be heavily researched and, even if not proven, they would still mention it.”

Courtney, “Though most important for us isn’t that info, we should still be checking for traps the whole time, no reason to develop any bad habits. No, the most important information is the bit about an arena fight. I actually suggest that we just explore up to floor four today. An arena fight should probably be put off until we get a good feel for how the enemies fight and react.”

Rosha sighs, “Fair enough, now can we get to the actual dungeon diving?”

Jason laughs, “We should probably have breakfast first, but after that? I don’t see why not.”, And Courtney nods her head in agreement with him, which causes Rosha to pout about having to wait longer. Despite that, she understood why they were waiting. While whether it is day or night doesn’t particularly matter in a dungeon unless there is a day and night cycle, It doesn’t do them any good to get into the dungeon only to need to sleep or worse, ruin their sleep schedule. All nighters are not good for you in the least bit.