Nena grinned at Black Rabbit as she made a quip about the dress, but ignored her. Dresses were for Black Rabbit, and that was that. As they arrived at the mines, someone jumped out of a tree and requested to join. For some reason. Maybe he wanted a dress of his own? People these days were swarming her for her crafting ability, but she didn't mind. Making the world beautiful was her duty. Like the Sontarans, gender was a sticky subject for her mind, and she never really got past go on it.
"Sure, you can join us. More people means more murder, and murder is good~" She exclaimed, doing her hand thing to send him a party invite, and then remembering she never actually got Black Rabbit in one, so did the hand thing for her as well.
"I'm Nenatalev, the amazing Fox Blacksmith, and this is Black Rabbit, she is not actually a rabbit. I'm going to get her a dress soon. And then we are going to make the Little Garden, and it will be awesome. Do you want to join?" She asked, her tail swishing softly as she waited for the party invites to go through.

The group entered the first floor of the mines to a scene typical of horror fantasy. Piles of bones heaped up on either side of the entrance, a mine shaft large enough to fit one player at a time through, though they would need to duck their head. Wall sconces were lit and brightly illuminated the first floor, in the distance was a patrol of unarmored and poorly armed skeletons. A group of 5 lazily stumbling about a large room with a central furnace and anvil. Tipped over mine carts, all empty, littered the area. Above the door blocked by the 5 mobs was a hastily scrawled "Turn back ye adventurers".

Not the scariest scenario in the world, but for the first floor it served as a bit of a mood setting obviously. Long corridor, single room of enemies, then a ladder to the second floor. After that it would only get more difficult. At the entrance to the mines was a digital board recording the deepest anyone had gone in this particular instance. So far the deepest was a level 3 excursion by a group calling themselves the midnight edge.

Nena led her party into the mine, taking note of the board that claimed Midnight's edge had already made it to the third floor, must have been a bunch of Clearers looking for some Col and exp. And if three was to much for them, she decided to only go there if two turned out to be easy enough.
"Everyone check inventory for health potions and teleport crystals. Dying kind of sucks, so I want you to avoid it" she told her party, before walking up to the nearest skeleton, and hitting it with a Palm Strike. Between her decent strength stat, good weapon, her skills, and the damage bonus from her Set, it exploded into bones on the first strike, and then into pixel-shards, giving her a read-out of col and exp gained for the kill.
"You are not Brook. Stay dead" she told the skeleton that was now nothing but a respawn timer. Then she looked to her party, and gave a nod. "Kill them all!" It was kind of her to delegate, even though she could quite possibly kill them all herself.

Black Rabbit checked his inventory thoroughly, though he didn't even had to look long to find the items. "Got plenty!" he replied just as Nena went for the first skeleton. Either they were really weak or this foxgirl was stronger than he had thought. As her business with the first was done she looked back at them and gave a nod "Kill them all!".
She didn't have to say it twice. So Black Rabbit instantly drew his rapier and charged at nearest skeleton. Recognising him as an enemy the skeleton raised his rusty sword to strike. BlackRabbit easily dodged it and took it down with two swift swings, beheading it with a critical strike to the neck. "One down!" he exclaimed as the skeleton exploded into pixel shards.

"Excellent" Leno exclaimed as he accepted the invite and followed after Nena and Blackrabbit "Name's Leno by the way" He almost walked into the wall several times as he did some inventory management while they walked through the tunnel, his attention returning to the game once they came across the skeletons.

"Kill them all!" The Fox said. Watching as Nena and Rabbit dealt with the first two skeletons Leno just shrugged "No need to waste time" He pulled the bow of his back and rushed a skelly, pulling his dagger out and hooking the thing to swing himself around it and finish it with one of the bladed arms of his bow. Coming out of it with a spin he loaded a scattershot and send it at the last two, the hail enough to kill one and weaken the other. "why you little..." He drew a second arrow and launched it at the surviving skeleton to finish it off.

He put the bow on his back "Handled"

The first floor minions hardly put up a fight, easily failing to damage the experienced players with their uncoordinated frontal assault. Defense was not even a concept for the poorly armed skeletons of the first floor. These skeletal monsters were only placed to give players an idea of weak points or how brittle they could be, but it served a second point to those smart enough to catch it. The monsters were weak. The later mobs would not be nearly as forgiving a foe. More than one player had met their end in the lower zones for thinking the enemies were easily crushed under heel.

As the last of the skeletons shattered into shards, the floor room and halls were suddenly illuminated with a golden glow. The light revealed a pile of salvageable cloth and chain mail armor and 2 iron nodes. It was a meager amount to gain, but it was a just reward for the effort put in. Some players even farmed the first floor just for tier 2 materials, and sold them for cheap. An easy bit of coin.

Drops from their foes came up with a ping

Leather shoes
Rusted dagger x2
Bone shards x12
Dented helmet
Dented gauntlet
Rusted cleaver

All the items were capable of being broken down into base materials at a forge or with a crafters token.

The sconces lit in a row, one after another, to reveal the exit of the instance or a ladder down to the second floor.

---------------------

The second floor followed the outlines of the first, a series of narrow tunnels twisting around in a spiral before depositing them out into a large open cavern. Nearly 30 feet to the bottom and crawling with skeletons and bats, the floor would force the teams to traverse over narrow pathways and bridges suspended over the pit. To fall meant death on contact.
As the first player enters the dungeon, they will see a single iron ore node. Further into the distance of the mines are the burning red orbs of the patrolling skeletons.
Two such skeletons wield rusty swords but they walk with purpose. They are not mindless and will retreat when combat is made. If not stopped, they will join with the armored mob in the bridge and deny entrance to the third floor. Use caution.

Dem skellies died e-z. But, it was to be expected for base floor mobs, pretty much everything died like that. Nena was begining to think the level balancing system was a little off from the players having spent so much time on each floor, but that was a theory for another time. Now, she had loot to go over. Not much at all, really. Some daggers, a cleaver, helmet and gauntlets. It might make her some trinket once broken down, or she could refine it into something worth a dam, but she'd barely get enough to make some daggers out of what she got.

So, after a brief check of her own inventory to confirm multiple health crystals and some teleport crystals - and a couple of firebombs apparently, she had forgot she got them, but they were a reward from that alchemist for gathering some mateirals for him - she headed to the second floor, where she saw monsters and an iron node. Her mining wasn't very high, so there wasn't much chance of getting anything good of it, so she turned to the skeletons that were the skeletons. They looked to have patrolling code, and aggro ranges, which meant that a rapid melee strike followed by a ranged attack would be best at reducing their numbers.
"Archer guy, nock an arrow, and hit the guy I punch in the face, if we take him out before he can retreat, it'll be one less monster we have to contend with at the bridge" She said, before crouching low, and waiting for the icon to appear on her HUD, indicating her Foxes Whispering Forestt skill had been activated. With that, her speed was increased dramatically, and she shot forward, activiating a second Sword Art while in flight, her Bull's Goring Horns, a great synergy between the two.

With the stack of damage buffs she was currently riding, it wouldn't be impossible for the skeleton to blow up in one, but she wanted to make sure the Archer guy was ready in case it got knocked down to the red rather than dying outright.

"huh? Wait!" Leno drew his bow again just as Nena charged at the two skeletons, he had a lightning arrow ready by the time she hit, she was perfectly fine taking out that one, it crumbled like the ones before but...you know...there were two...

The second one was already running away. He targeted it and hit it with the arrow, sprinting after it when it was stunned for a short second Jumping up Nena's back and kicking off her head to leap over it and block it's way, he tried to shoot it again from mid-air but the arrow missed and the skeleton got closer to his landing spot than he would have liked. He started swinging at it to keep it at bay but since he was swinging a bow, albeit a bladed one, he wasn't having the easiest of time cutting it apart. Hopefully Nena or Blackrabbit could lend a hand...

BlackRabbit didn't hasitate to move as he noticed that Leno got into a rather uncomfortable situation. He drew his rapier as he sprinted past Nena, charging at the skeleton from behind. His weapon shimmered slightly as he activated his 'Daring Thrust' sword skill. As it was fully charged he lunged forward to close the distance between him and the skeleton and pierced right through it.
With the skeleton being weaked already the guaranteed critical hit was more than enough to finish it off. After the skeleton disappeared he sheathed his rapier. Thankfully this was one of the weaker mobs. BlackRabbit looked at Leno and gave him a thumbs up with a confident smile on his face "Don't worry, Black Rabbit got your back!"

Both skeletons shattered in a shower of rainbow sparks, but the pieces littered the floor. No loot had been awarded as the vivid colors turned a dull grey. The room was clear of patrols and continued on into the walkways. Dozens of them now, swinging with an eerie creak. 5 skeletons armed with bows stood one after the other along the upper ridge, a walkway of stone overlooking the area. Another skeleton armed with heavy armor and a zweihander stood guard at the single doorway leading to the exit or floor 3. Unlike the others, this creature saw the group enter and rushed forward. If they weren't careful, this creature would cut the bridges and have them all fall to the deaths.

As the armored skeletons went on the assault, navigating the bridges with easy despite the rocking, two other skeletons with daggers and molded leather armor climbed over the nearest railing behind the ground and began to attack the archer, buying time for the armored skeleton to advance further with every second.

The archers had not yet seen the party.

Nena took in the situation as the skeletons were dispatched, and when she was done, decided she was the leader of this little guild, and started to give the orders.
"Rabbit! Go help Shiro with the skeletons, I'll hold off the big guy!" she exclaimed, moving forward to the bridge as she did so, and making it impossible for the skeleton to proceed without first going through Nena, and she intended to make going through her a difficult task indeed. Trusting her party members to follow her orders - and really, there was no reason they wouldn't, the command was stratigically sound after all - she began to prepare for the skeleton's arrival. His armour would negate one of her damage skills, since it specified unarmoured, rather than armoured, but she was confident she could take this creature. From the looks of him, it'd be high health, high damage, a tank skelly.

Nena's next move put her in the hands of her party members, as she adopted the form for her Wolf Swallows Moon sword art, to prepare for the impact of the big guy.

BlackRabbit looked at the tanky skeleton that made his advance over the bridge towards their small group. "That one looks like trouble." he said, when Nenatalev began to give orders. "Rabbit! Go help Shiro with the skeletons, I'll hold off the big guy!" she exclaimed as she headed for the skeleton that assaulted over the bridge. To Rabbit it seemed like bad idea going toe to toe with this juggernaut.
"What? Wait! You can't-" Before he could finish his sentence he noticed that the two skeletons attacking from behind were already about to attack Leno. Swiftly BlackRabbit jumped in between the skeletons and Leno and deflected both strikes. It seemed like these two skellies weren't all too happy with Rabbit interfering, moving their focus from Leno to BlackRabbit who stood between them and their initial target.

BlackRabbit tightened his grip as he readied himself. Then the skeletons began their attack. Rabbit block the first skeletons attack and managed to push it backwards, making enough room to deal with the second skeleton. Trying to use the larger attack range of his rapier compared to its dagger, he lunged forward and attempted to strike it down before the first could recover, but that son of a b**** simply jumped backwards to dodge his strike. To make things worse first skeleton had recovered already and already prepared its next attack while he tried his luck at the second one. Taking a big swing it jumped at BlackRabbit, who barely managed to deflect its strike and this time, had to take a few steps backwards. Those two wouldn't go down as easily as the previous skeletons...

Leno returned a smile as Rabbit saved him. He turned to see the rest of the skeletons but before he could even ask about their strategy Nena was giving orders and charging off again.

Leno whirled around when Rabbit saved him yet again, he had to make a quick decision. Hope Rabbit could at least fend off the two skeletons and go for the archers, perhaps even help Nena with the armored one, or leave Nena on her own, hopefully not getting spotted by the archers during her fight with the greatsword wielding skeleton and finish off the skeletons with Blackrabbit.

opting for the latter he turned around and nocked and arrow, trying to stay behind Rabbit while lining up shots where he could.

@KabenSaal

The armored skeleton wailed a haunting scream as it crossed the distance to its targets, locking onto Nena as the closest threat. Bringing its greatsword into the air the skeleton brought the weapon down in a titanic arc aimed at the smaller foxgirl, the blade began to glow as it gained speed. The creatures attack was uncommon from such enemies and if it connected would likely deal a tremendous amount of damage. Few creatures had displayed the ability to perform a sword skill, those that could were often used as warnings to other players new to the area or the foe. Dodging the sword skill was the only way to prevent its damage.

@DiZL ReloadeD

Both skeletons pushed the advantage of the solitary fighter, alternating between fast swipes and thrusts and flanking the swordsman as his back attention was focused on the other opponent. The result was very few offensive opportunities, while any attack that connected from his opponents resulted in a stacking, though minor, bleed debuff. A few swipes would be negligible but if they applied too many it would be difficult to keep his health bar above the yellow for any period of time.
The saving grace came with the twang of a bow. (@Zetsuko) The arrow hit a knife wielding skeleton in the side of the skull, shattering the creature into glittering shards as it fell over the side of the railing. The remaining skeleton turned its attention from Black rabbit and made a full sprint at the archer, seemingly determined to cut him down.

It wasn't until it was within striking distance that the trap was sprung.

The two skeletons who had shattered into gray shards at the entrance came running from the entrance the group at come in from, both brandishing their rusted weapons. Caught between the iron dagger wielding foe and the surprise ambush, it seemed the archer was about to be in a desperate fight or flight.
It seemed like the only available options were to make a leap to another walkway, dodge the knife wielding skeleton, or collapse the bridge.

Nenatalev watched the giant creature charge, and couldn't mov,e her sword skill locking her position. It was rare to find something that could use a Sword Skill, and all she could do was stand here and hope, she'd probably be in the red if she got hit by that, with her armour off-level and her defence never that great. The blade connected, and nena could see the little guage that told her the threshhold for breaking shoot up, passing fifty percent with ease. She began to sweat when it got to eighty, and actively panic when it hit ninty. Maybe this was a bad idea. Fortunately, the gods were in, and it slowed to a stop on ninety eight percent. Being - as a friend of hers would say - a raggy little git, she activated her second Sword Skill, Snake Ensnares Earth, reflecting his own Sword Skill back at him, along with her own copious attack power. By herself, she'd neer hope to take it out in any quick fashion, but the skeleton had offered a helping hand, or helping sword.

Being locked up in her own little world, she didn't notice what was going on behind her, but they could handle a few mook mobs while she took on the big guy, no?

The odds weren't really in their favour. On one side was Nena fighting a juggernaut alone and on the other one were respawning skeletons with the intent to get rid of the groups archer. It was when the armored skeleton used its sword skill against Nena that BlackRabbit realised that they had to take one of them down asap, either the armored skeleton or the mobs. Though it was uncertain if they would just perish if taken down or if they would respawn until a certain condition was met.

@Zetsuko
Just as the skeleton was about to strike Leno BlackRabbit barely managed to jump in between and block the dagger. Meanwhile the other two respawned skeletons closed in on the two so BlackRabbit pushed the skeleton away, making it stumble backwards, far enough for it to fall down into the pit. He didn't intend to kill it, if it got killed by the fall it was even more of a win, his usual plan was to 'disable' one of the three enemies so that he could focus on the other two for now.

"Leno, go and help out Nena with that big skeleton. I will keep them away from you!" Just defending against these two skeletons was easy, he could give it a try and pick them off one by one if he had an opening. For now he just had to keep them away from Leno and hope that they either manage to take down the armored skeleton or fall back.

@Lightbox
Ikanus-Reaper/floor 4-Angel's rest

---

Ilanus chuckled and nodded. Usually I have a different method of doing so, but taking a quest is a good idea. he paused and tilted his head. "You two can pick. I am open for any. he was curious as to what type of quest they would select. He was also curious if they would send a party invite or keep him seperate until they saw what he could do.

He looked down at Anubis who had woofed. "Oh almost forgot. This is Anubis. I'm working on getting him more abilities. he half wondered what they thought of the jackal...half didn't care.

@BlackPanther

StormCrow & Derringer / Angels Rest / Floor 4 / Level: 25 & 24

Stormcrow smiled to Reaper "Excellent! I think we should start with something simple... perhaps some kind of fighting quest... hmm I wonder what sort of 'dungeon raid' style quests they have on this floor." He then looked over toward Derringer and stated to her "Definitely something we should look into." she simply nods in acknowledgement. He then returned to smile at Reaper "Looking forward to working with you Reaper, and to seeing quite how your pet fares."

Derringer took to ignoring the two humans and instead crouching down and attempting to pet Anubis with a rather happy look on her face.