Return to Safe Haven

"Councilors. Master Marius, Master Grumman and the scout team have returned. They're heading here to give their reports."

"Thank you, Watcher Rumas. You can return to your post." Kansur replies.

Rumas salutes, "Yes, Councilors." then leaves.

"Do you think they're successful? Is it really a dungeon?" Councilor Borkoi asks his fellow Councilors.

"We'll have to find out from the Masters themselves." Hessane answers.

Marius and group enters. "Greeting, councilors."

"Is it real?"

"Yeah it be real. A mite bit low-level for me tashte but shtill a dunjun."

"Then we must start organizing expeditions to the dungeons. Adventurers, supplies, pack mules..." Sevillt replies.

"Hold on, Sevillt. We still have many things to and discuss before we exploring the dungeon."

"Why? You confirmed it's real. We can start now..."

"Shut up Sevillt! Do you know how difficult it is to get to the dungeon, huh? Five days. Five days of traveling, just to reach the dungeon. Five days, even for a team that includes me and Grumman. Five days of constantly checking you environment, avoiding Nether beasts, Nether fog, and pockets of Nether miasma. And we're the closest haven. Trying to organize a group to travel to the dungeon is an undertaking on its own, especially for groups from other havens."

"We don't need to inform the other havens. We can surely..."

"Shaddup ye miserable tood, or me gonna turn ye into fecking frog legs!" Grumman roared to Sevillt. Ye dunno fecking knuh anyding. Lots of people will die if ye go wid what ye want!"

"While Master Grumman is a bit harsh, he is right. Traveling to the dungeon is a challenge by itself. Not to mention the logistics needed. Also, we have to inform the other havens of the dungeon's existence. We cannot keep this to ourselves." Hessane speaks.

"But we can just..."

"Be quiet, Sevillt." Kandur cuts him off. Kansur never cuts off anybody. That's the first time I saw him do that. Serves you right Sevillt.

"As the council knows, the dungeon is located in area that has a high concentration of Nether. Also,

dungeon is quite far from any safe haven. Trevellen is the closest one, but it's still 170 kilometers away. There may be three waystations between here and the dungeon, but Broken Blade Pass is the only large enough to hold more than 10 people in any given time. Barrowmeen, the closest one, is still 70 kilometers away. Not to mention that the path between here and the dungeon is highly dangerous, especially if we send low-level adventurers."

"We lose at least one person for every hundred men we send out every month on supply caravans. Triple that on scouting missions. Compound the fact that the dungeon is not on a regular supply or even scouting route. The scout team that discovered it was very lucky to find it due to the fact that they were sent out to check the Nether tide that sweeps to Trevellen that passes through that area."

"So the biggest challenge is to clear a path from here to the dungeon. If we use Barrowmeen as a staging point, we have to expand it and strengthen its shields. Which is impossible because of its very small mana fount. We can boost it with mana crystals, but the only source of them are mana founts and well.. the dungeon itself."

"I have about how we can organize expeditions into the dungeons. And here are my recommendations."

"First and foremost, contact the other havens. In the beginning, we will have to spend more resources than what we'll get from the dungeon. To lighten the burden, we'll need support from them. Food, medicine, equipment, anything they can provide. In exchange we can give them slots to the adventurer groups going to the dungeon."

"We can also use the scouts as a basis for organizing the adventurer groups, making them more reliable and able to survive the rigors of traveling to and back from the dungeons."

"Expand the waystations and organize teams to clear the path of Nether beasts. An increase in people traveling to and from the dungeon will attract more Nether beasts to the area. It will jeopardize the expedition. We can even organize a small base near or even inside the dungeon itself. We will have to talk to Henry for that."

"Henry? Who's Henry?" Borkoi asks.

"Henry is an adventurer we met inside the dungeon. He calls himself the 'caretaker' of the dungeon. A claim that may as well be true. No monster attacked him or even disturbed him while we were exploring the dungeon. He knows a lots about the dungeon itself. Dungeon layout, types and levels of monsters, item drop chance, the best spots for hunting and gathering resources, even safe areas. He even explained to us many aspects of dungeons that many scholars only speculated about. And he is the only person that has complete access to the entirety of the dungeon. He even informed that there will be a expansion of the dungeon itself to accommodate more adventurers.

"Can he be trusted?" Kansur asks.

"About the dungeon or dungeons in general, quite a lot. I cannot find anyone more knowledgeable about them than him. About other things, we do not know yet. He seems to be hiding something. I cannot put my finger to it, but it seems to be a link between him and the dungeon itself. Not to mention this 'benefactor' of his, which he explains is the 'being' responsible for the dungeon existing in the first place. That being also despises the gods from some unknown reason. Anyone that can create a dungeon by himself is someone really. Someone that can contend or even surpass the gods themselves."

"So we one or more beings that has some unknown motive or secret as to why the dungeon exists. Will this endanger our chances to obtain resources from the dungeon itself."

"No. Henry explained that he welcomes anyone that comes to the dungeon, as long as they have no evil intentions. Like causing harms to others or to the dungeon itself. He then warns us as to the folly of that action and the consequences it will bring. Not to mention the lost of access to the dungeon."

"It is vital that we ensure that the dungeon will never come into harm. Dungeons are crucial to eradicating the Nether from the world. Henry and his 'benefactor" concurs to the endeavor. They state that the Nether must be cleansed from this world. to that effect, we noticed considerable thinning of the Nether itself from the area. Even the Nether tide that arrived after our departure has some difficulty passing through the area. The scouts concur, saying that the delay between Nether tides reaching our shield has lessened and the intensity decreased. This will be covered by the scout team later."

"So your theory is correct, Master Marius. Dungeons do really absorbs the Nether and release pure mana back into the world." Kansur interjects.

"Yes, councilor. It this continues, we can even place a new Haven near the dungeon itself to cater to adventurers. We can reduce the congestion on our more populous havens, lessening their burdens and reducing the amount of supply caravan we need for them. Caravans we can shift to service the route from here to the dungeon."

"Oooh, I want to taste those wonderful dishes made out of monster meats from those story you tell me when I was young, Master Marius." Councilor Xureva exclaims. A gnome, a species grows only up to a height of 3 feet. An avid eater of rare dishes and a glutton. He can eats his weight in food in a day, quite a feat. Good thing he is quite skillful in growing them too. Or he will not have enough food for him to eat.

"Don't ye worry lad. Unca Grummy got lots of meat wid him. Me gonna cook up a feast fit for a king. Got even sum spishes too. Gotta love dat dunjun. A gift dat keep on giving. Ah've even got a whole Black-Tusked Boar carcass we can roast."

"Grumman, Councilor Xureva. Why I may understand that you are both quite hungry, please control yourselves. We are still in a meeting. After this, we can prepare a feast. I will even cook my Spicy Alligator Ribs."

"Yes, yes, right, Master Marius. Oh I can't wait to taste them."

"So, do we agree on this plan of action? Then let us put it into a vote. Anyone favor says raise hands and say 'Aye'."

Almost the entire council agreed. Except Sevillt. Selfish bastard. He only cares for his own gain and benefits. That slimy toad.

"Then this concludes this meeting. We'll develop more concrete plans on succeeding meetings. Meeting adjourned."

"Finally. I'm starving. Master Grumman, you will cook that roast boar, yes?"

"Aye, laddie. Come wid Unca Grummy and we cook up a feast."

"Yay."