Fandom In Need of an Adventurer Party (Closed)

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Connor had just emerged after a long day in the early floors of the dungeon. He was trying to improve himself as quickly as he could being he was the only member of his familia. If he didn't get some monster crystals to exchange, he and his patron deity wouldn't have any money to eat. Luckily, he had managed to defeat a bunch of beginner monsters before he had pushed himself too far, going to deep and exhausting himself to the point that he got sloppy beaten up.

Now it was time to go to the exchange and get some food money for dinner. Waiting in line, he was excited for his turn. He knew he wasn't about to strike it rich, but it should be enough to buy a decent meal. After getting his pay, he ran home to their hut of a base and let his deity know that he was going to go out and get them food. His body was sore and aching, but he didn't want to let on how badly. The last thing he wanted was to disappoint his patron after they were kind enough to take him in and give him their blessing.

Practically running out to the market, he grabbed some bread and two kababs of common meat for their meal for tonight. It was all he could afford with the meager earnings he would obtain from the first few floors of the dungeon. Returning home, he gave his patron their portion of the meal and sat down to eat himself. Contented, he got his status updated before cleaning up and going to bed.

The next morning he had decided that he was going to look for someone to go into the dungeon with. He had found an old plank of wood and a piece of chalk to write on it with.

"Looking for a party for the dungeon," he had written as he decided to go into the middle of town and hold the sign, hoping someone would be willing to take an amateur like him into the dungeon with them.

All of his experience was from trial and error on the earlier floors. He didn't have the money to go to pubs or restaurants, so he didn't get to hear much gossip or rumor. He did hear a rumor about some kid getting saved from a minotaur on the earlier floors by Ains the sword maiden of the Loki familia and how said kid ran through town covered in blood as red as a tomato. The image elicited a chuckle before he remembered why he was here and returned his concentration to holding the sign for people to see and be able to read.

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona stepped out of the inn, her mostly impractical armor reflecting small bits of light here and there while she made sure to properly secure her blades so as not to lose them. Once she was certain she wouldn't lose any of them, the felinoid made her way to the dungeon on her own. Not that she was unable to party up with members of her own familia, which consisted of a fair amount, Leona's abilities just had a tendency to cause friendly fire, as well as varying degrees of collateral damage. With this in mind, The Lioness, as people called her, preferred to work alone.
The first thing Leona saw when she arrived at the fountain just before the Dungeon, was a young man holding up a sign. "Hmmm, someone looking to form a party. This'll be interesting."
Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way over to the orange haired man, hands resting on the pommels of her sword and dagger. "You best be careful when you advertise Bud, you never know who's going to show up."

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

His gaze meeting a lioness', Connor was surprised someone was even speaking to him. He was just a no name adventurer from an unknown familia after all. Offering her a smile as he lowered his sign, Connor felt the desire to response promptly to her approach.

"My name is Connor. And you are Miss?"

He was doing his best to be pleasant towards her since she had shown him the first sign of interest today. He wasn't really desperate for someone to take him into their party, but it would definitely help improve the quality of life for his patron and himself. If she decided to pass on him today, it would be just like any other day and he would have to get by with what he could do on his own.

 

[DracoNightshade]

"Name's Leona, from Athena's familia." Her tail flicked as she towered over Connor, likely unintentionally intimidating him. "In case you can't tell, I'm a swordswoman."
Leona extended a clawed hand to Connor. "So you want someone to go into the dungeon with you? I have to warn you though, I have a tendency to get carried away."

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"A pleasure Leona. I'm from the Taranis familia. It's okay if you've never heard of it. We are a small group," he replied, craning his neck to look up towards her. "I could. I use a spear."

He accepted the extended hand before continuing their conversation.

"Yes. And just so you're warned, I can be kinda stubborn. So, when are you available for our first trip into the dungeon together?"

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona flashed a toothy grin, revealing extended canines. "I guess today's your lucky day. I just so happened to be heading there myself when I saw you with your sign."
Retracting her hand, Leona cracked her knuckles and then her neck. "You wanna go now or wait for someone else?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"I've made it through the first few floors by myself. I think we can manage a few floors further with just the two of us, if you think you can manage to keep up?"

As they made their way towards the entrance of the dungeon, he threw away his sign. Hopefully, if today worked out well, they could go in together more than once and he wouldn't have to look like a beggar with a homemade sign every day.

Once they were inside, Connor drew his spear and became more alert. He wasn't going to let some rookie mistakes prevent him from making it further into the dungeon today now that he found someone willing to party up with him.

"So Leona, how deep have you made it on your own before today?"

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona drew her sword and dagger as she answered. "I want to say about five. I could have gone further, but I don't have enough storage capacity to continue collecting items on my own."
Leona's golden eyes seemed to glow in the dark as she scanned their surroundings for prey. "You want to go deeper without fighting or evaluate each other's skills?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"We will definitely run into monsters before we reach the second floor, never mind the fifth. We will have plenty of opportunities to see each other fight and utilize our skills," he replied as they came up on some ants.

The issue with ants wasn't that they were strong and challenging by themselves. It was their sheer numbers that would overwhelm any solo adventures if they weren't careful.

Rushing forward, Connor skewered the first one that appeared. Then, as he moved forward, he discovered more approaching from multiple angles.

"Any time if you'd like to join in Leona. I'm more than willing to share the experience and crystals."

 

[DracoNightshade]

"Fighting it is then." Leona reversed her grip on her dagger so that the blade pointed towards her elbow before lunging for the nearest giant ant with her sword, stabbing it between the eyes. As the insect disintegrated, she blocked another one's jaws with her dagger before stabbing it just beneath its eye. A third one tried to attack her back, but was blocked by the huge sword hanging there.
Constantly spinning and cutting down giant ants while avoiding hitting your teammate does get tiring after a while and Leona was getting frustrated as they seemed to just keep coming. Frustrated enough that the minute she was clear, she unleashed a beastial roar reminiscent of a lion. The nearby ants halted their advance and quickly started backpedaling away from the duo. As Leona breathed a sigh of relief, she turned to Connor. "You alright?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Deciding to stand stationary and let them come to him, Connor was impressed by how well Leona handled herself. She seemed to be able to hold her own fairly well. Granted they were low level monsters but when they swarmed, they could still be quite the challenge. He couldn't afford to let himself get too distracted though. A distracted adventurer was a dead one.

Focusing back onto his opponents, Connor took out a bunch more with a few swings of his spear, slicing heads that had been surrounding him with razor sharp mandibles. He was starting to tire when he heard a deafening roar like that of a fierce beast. He saw the ants freeze in fear almost as if paralyzed before turning to see that it had come from Leona. The ants retreated for now and they could take a breath before advancing.

"I'm fine. You? That's a useful skill you have there. I was beginning to think we'd be stuck fighting an entire colony of those things."

 

[DracoNightshade]

"A little winded, but otherwise okay." Leona took one deep breath after another before continuing. "That's my Lion's Roar. It doesn't just work on low-level monsters though. I always have to be careful using it in a party because it also works on low-level adventurers."
Leona sat on a nearby rock, laying her blades down next to her before removing the great sword from her back so she was more comfortable. "A lot of people in my familia have low to average mental resilience. If I end up using it around them, they have a tendency to freeze up and soil themselves. Not a fun time for anyone involved."
Opening a small pouch that was previously hidden by the sword on her back, Leona pulled out her rations, offering a piece of jerky to Connor. "Fighting monsters always makes me hungry. I reckon it's the same for you?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Nodding at her response, Connor took a few deep breaths as she explained the misfortune of her roar skill. When she offered the jerky, he accepted the morsel from her.

"Thank you. Appreciate it. It is definitely hungry work. Let's take a few before we move on. After that roar, I doubt the ants will want to come back. I hope this doesn't come across as conceited or insulting to you Leona but, if their mental resilience is that low, perhaps they shouldn't be adventurers? I mean my pants are dry and I've only ever been around the first few floors so I'm not a high level or anything."

After they finished their jerky, it was time to move further on.

"You alright with going further?"

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona shrugged her shoulders as she took another bite. "It's usually the ones that are just starting that wind up like that. The stronger I get, the more people my skill can affect."
Finishing her snack, Leona stood up and stretched. "How about we pick up the cores that are scattered about first? Don't need to put in all this work if we aren't getting paid for it."
Leona knelt down and started picking up the mess of Giant Ant Cores scattered about the cave, not even bothering to count them. "What do you think, 50/50 sound good to you when we go exchange?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"Kinda figured a skill like that would scale up with the user's level. Makes it even scarier to some I suppose. But if it aint affecting me so far even if you level up, as long as I do the same, we should be good in theory, right?"

Standing from where he had been sitting to take a breather, he joined her in picking up the ant cores. She was right about one thing. Why go through all of this work if they weren't going to get paid for it?

"Sounds like a plan," he said aloud in response to both of her questions.

After they picked up all of the monster cores, they began to make their way further into the dungeon.

"Might as well make the trip as profitable as possible. Let me know if you want to take another break," he stated with a chuckle.

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona shrugged as she packed away the last ant core before retrieving her weapons. "Doesn't help that I'm one of the only Leonids in this city. Heck, I could be the only one here."
Leona smelled the air as they continued through the tunnels, hoping to get the jump on anything that might come out. Just then, her ears twitched and she growled. "It's a good thing your weapon has reach, Conner. I think we've got some giant bats coming our way."

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Stopping in his tracks as she spoke, he focused his vision on the path ahead, waiting for the creatures to appear into his field of vision. His spear at his side, as soon as the creatures came into view, Connor began to thrust and swing his spear at the creatures as they approached. He managed to clip a few of their wings and continued attacking as the injured ones fell to the floor. Due to the amount of them, though, he was tiring more quickly than he would like. Glancing to make sure that Leona was alright, he jumped back to catch his breath.

"Sorry Leona, if you can keep em busy for a few seconds I should be able to catch my breath and rejoin you."

 

[DracoNightshade]

"Sure thing." Rather than draw her blades, Leona extended her claws and swiped at the incoming bats. Luckily for her, the monsters in the dungeon disintegrated upon death, or else their bodies would be stuck on her hands with each successful kill. Granted, while she mainly aimed at the heads and necks, Leona would occasionally miss and instead rip through the wings, disabling the flying menaces before finishing them off.
Leona was certainly not quiet either. Rather than use a full power Lion Roar, Leona snarled as she fought, occasionally even catching the flyers with her teeth and crushing bones with her powerful jaws. Needless to say, they tasted absolutely terrible. And much like Connor, Leona also began to tire.
"Connor, anytime now!" Leona called back to her partner as she ripped a bat in half.

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Connor watched her as he focused on his breathing, trying to recover. After approximately a minute or so, his breathing calmed and returned to normal. When she said his name, he gripped his spear a bit more tightly before rushing into aide her. Thrusting his spear through one creature that was getting too close to her, he returned to swinging and stabbing at the critters. Luckily it seemed as if their numbers were beginning to dwindle because he didn't know how much longer they could keep up the constant combat. Then a thought crossed his mind.

Why the hell were they having such a difficult time going through the first couple of floors? He didn't have this much trouble when he came alone. He knew it couldn't be due to a lack of skill on his or Leona's part since he had made it through these floors solo before. Could the dungeon itself adjust the difficulty based on the size of a party that was exploring? That would insinuate that the dungeon was a living, breathing thing which would be an astounding revelation to him at least.

"I'm going to use my one and only skill. I was trying to save it for the later floors, but it should finish off the remainder of these things."

Jumping back into a powerful thrust wind-up stance, Connor ignited a white aura around himself as his body tensed. After a few moments he shot forward at breakneck speed and simultaneously thrust his spear forward. The aura itself as well as his weapon seemed to cut through the creatures that had swarmed in front of him until he came to a stop and the aura dissipated. The creatures disintegrated as they fell to the floor, almost showering Connor with their crystals. Taking a moment to make certain that more weren't coming, he turned back to Leona afterward and gave her a tired smile.

"Piece of cake," he muttered before falling down on his butt.

This floor was getting exhausting. He could only use the skill twice a day so far in his training and he had already been tired from the drawn out fights they've had to endure thus far.

 

[DracoNightshade]

Leona gave Connor a thumbs up while hunched over before spitting some blood and fur out of her mouth and off to the side. With heavy breaths, she spoke. "I don't know about you, but I think I just want to collect the loot and cash it in right now."
It was a strange feeling, being tired so early in the dungeon, and Leona did not like it one bit. It was also weird that there were so many monsters already. "The dungeon's feeling especially energetic today, huh?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"I was just feeling suspicious of the same thing. I was thinking perhaps the dungeon can sense the size of a party and because we came in together, it decided to adjust the difficulty?"

Approaching her, he looked at her for a few moments before speaking again. He had noticed her spitting some blood and was concerned a bit.

"You alright?"

After checking on her he began collecting the crystals that the monsters dropped. They were small in size but there sure were plenty of 'em. They would both eat good tonight.

"You doing alright over there Leona?"

 

[DracoNightshade]

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Just don't enjoy the taste of monster blood." Leona stuck out her tongue in disgust and mock gagged. "I hope the return trip is a little easier."
Leona soon joined Connor in retrieving the numerous crystals scattered about the floor.
It took some time, but soon all of the crystals were gathered up and Leona was ready to leave for the day.
"We could really use a porter." She then turned to Connor. "How are things on your end?"

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

"Let's hope," he commented in response to her statement of hope.

Once they finished gathering the crystals, Connor approached Leona.

"Before we go to exchange, how do you want to do this? We splitting it all 50/50? Or just keep what you gather? I'm fine either way so you let me know what you're feeling. In the mean time, let's get out of here before any more monsters decide to show up. You good to walk on your own?"

He was pretty much exhausted so he hoped sincerely that they didn't run into much resistance on the way back out. Honestly they hadn't done too bad for their first dungeon dive together but boy could he use a meal, a bath, and some rest.

 

[DracoNightshade]

"Seeing as we didn't keep score, I suggest we just split them 50/50." Leona cracked her neck before stretching her shoulders. "Besides, we both did the same amount of work to gather these. The fun part will be dividing it after gaining more members."
Leona curled her tail to stretch the caudle vertebrae within before whipping it behind her. "And to answer your question, I'm good to go. So let's get the heck out of here."
It took quite some time to return to the surface, luckily the duo did not encounter any other monsters on the way out, despite their exhausted states. "How much you reckon they'll pay us?"