---

---

---

---

As the sparks flew between her other party members, Tiferet kept to the sidelines and watched, trying not to burst out laughing. The whole thing was priceless, really, between Mirage's deadpan humor, Graves' short temper, and Landon playing the hero, and subsequently getting decked. Tiferet honestly wished that Pariah had some sort of camera function, just so she could have taken a snapshot of Landon's face riiight when the fist connected. Of course, everyone came out alright-ish in the end, though Landon had apparently used some neat little potion-thing to help absorb the damage. Tiferet made a mental note to ask him how those were made later; maybe she could end up making some herself.

Tiferet was momentarily distracted by one of the other resident mages - Red-something? - setting off a massive explosion. She wasn't sure exactly why the other woman had done such a thing, but fortunately her spell hadn't scared out any monsters, from the dungeon or otherwise. Not that Tiferet would have expected any; the journey there had been amazingly quiet. After the initial trepidation wore off, Tiferet returned to her previous position of leaning against a tree and snickering quietly to herself, while listening in on the conversation some of the more leader-y types were having. Seemed like they were having a discussion as to who should lead the party properly. Tiferet silently put her vote in for Elian; she knew for a fact that the dancer was a pretty decent leader, so long as the situation didn't get too out of hand. However, she kept her eyes on Graves, instead. Something told her that there was more to the tank than met the eye.

---

---

---

---

Ochre breathed sigh as the cool afternoon breeze wafted over his form, body entirely lax under the sun's rays. The stallion that pulled his cart was no better, laying on the grasses under his hooves while it indulged in the stream's water. Neither horse nor master seemed to be moving anytime soon, despite the mental assertion Ochre made multiple times to himself that he would reach the town before sundown. He didn't really see the rush when he could enjoy the wonderful weather of the world instead.

The armorsmith didn't really understand how it all worked, really. The synapses firing in his sense, relaying to his brain the subtle motions of the air as he lay baking on the wooden stage of his cart. He could feel the grains of wood under his legs, the leather on his back, the soothing warmth that washed over his body with each cloud that passed him by. Even as his mind knew that the world was merely virtual, the body perceived no difference from fantasy and reality. And, in all honesty, he was more inclined to listen to his instincts that his brain. Less troublesome that way, unlike trying to discern the cracks in the virtual world.

In his introspective mood, it took Ochre a good few seconds to realize that he was being addressed, his topaz gaze opening to the blue sky above as he discerned the voice that had called upon him. "Altissima. Yo," the armormsmith replied back with a dull tone, merely tilting his head back from its place on the cart's armrest to view the enchanter upsidedown. "Here for the dungeon? Good seeing you."

Despite his usually lazy nature, he couldn't help but say the enchanter's name in full, rather than taking up the moniker of "Tessa". There was something just... off, when it came to addressing the chain-wielder by such a short name. Like placing a puzzle together, forgetting the outer edges of the piece merely for a quicker assembly. While that may be the case, not needing those edges for anything in particular, Ochre hated only two things more than overworking himself. Harm to his family, and not finishing something he started.

Granted, Altissima's name wasn't something he started, himself, but speaking the name in full was its own sort of completion.

At the sound of his master's voice, the stallion finally began to rise to its hooves, shaking under its own weight as the large, stocky horse rose to all fours. With a regretful sigh, knowing that his reply to the enchanter had broken the peace that had fallen over steed and master, Ochre pulled himself upright with a pained groan, sitting up in his cart seat with a lethargic glance towards the metal harness for his horse. "Don't matter. Gonna lend a hand with this? Heading to town for raiding party."

---

---

---

---

The Ranger began her formal apology, with all eyes on her, Landon and Graves, Ebon guessed that she missed something while she was acting as a rearguard. Ebon scratched her head and glanced around, sort of lost. Her gaze rested on the dungeon in front of them, to her it seemed pretty dumb to be doing this sort of thing in front of hostile territory. Rael spoke up, saying that she'd said that earlier, making Ebon red around the ears a little. She should have been more attentive, but what Rael said worried her, she spoke like a veteran dungeon explorer, and Ebon had no doubts that she was. Her statement that this had never happened before made Ebon regret joining a dungeon raid a little, she found herself wanting to get back to her park.
"Even though this is new, still just a dungeon, right?" she replied, elbowing Hawkwood in the arm and glancing to him.

Elian asked for a comms check, and began a discussion about strategy. Ebon reached under her mask and felt her non pierced earring, a communications amulet converted into an ear piece. Graves offered his opinion that everyone should stick together, and Vulcan expanded on the idea by adding that we should be split into fireteams.
"Fireteams in a squad, just like how the army does it. I think that's the best option we have, go in as a squad and have fireteams supporting each other. If we need to run out and we're being pursued, we'll more easily be able to set up a bounding overwatch system." she chimed in.

---

---

---

---

"Well...at least they worked it out. I think. Probably not." Hawkwood thinked as he saw the exchange of apologies, one-sided in its sincerity. Or, maybe there was none at all. Bah...irritable people and depreciative jokes were like oil and orange juice. Now, that analogy might not make sense, but if you ever tried to drink both at the same time, you'd die. Well...you'd die drinking oil anyways. Regardless of his crudity, Graves was a great shield for the party, and Hawkwood could respect that...as far as it mattered.

Regardless of his personal thoughts, the moment had passed and new discussions popped up that were far more interesting...such as why the dungeon's surroundings were so...tranquil in comparison to earlier dungeons. And shit exploded. Loudly. Deafened a bit by his helmet, Hawkwood looked up at the little fireworks display, then to the fire mage, then sighed, running his palm over the front of his helmet. Today...would be long. And loud, undoubtedly.

Then, the MOST important discussion came up, of how they would approach tackling this dungeon's interior. Pondering for a moment as he listened to the ideas of separating into groups or going as one massive Zerg, Hawkwood soon found himself elbowed in the arm by his companion. Her idea was plenty sensible, and Hawkwood nodded in agreement. "Splitting up is a bad idea, but going in an organized group will definitely get rid of a lot of confusion. We don't want our newcomers winding up running into someone's spells or blades, so I feel like we should definitely keep a veteran on both ends of each fireteam if we're doing that. Preferably someone close quarters to bring up the rear in case of an ambush." he said, having finally broken his silence. "Leave the front to anybody with armor and shields, and knows how to use them; We'll make openings."

---

---

Maxwell // Ochre
_{LOCALE // The City of Thorinn, Outskirts
TIME // Afternoon}

---

---

In his introspective mood, it took Ochre a good few seconds to realize that he was being addressed, his topaz gaze opening to the blue sky above as he discerned the voice that had called upon him. "Altissima. Yo," the armormsmith replied back with a dull tone, merely tilting his head back from its place on the cart's armrest to view the enchanter upsidedown. "Here for the dungeon? Good seeing you."

At the sound of his master's voice, the stallion finally began to rise to its hooves, shaking under its own weight as the large, stocky horse rose to all fours. With a regretful sigh, knowing that his reply to the enchanter had broken the peace that had fallen over steed and master, Ochre pulled himself upright with a pained groan, sitting up in his cart seat with a lethargic glance towards the metal harness for his horse. "Don't matter. Gonna lend a hand with this? Heading to town for raiding party."

---

---

---

---

Tessa's brow furrowed for no particular reason, it was merely a natural response of hers, indicating the tiny bit of stress she always felt when having a normal human interaction. She did appreciate that he always took the effort to say 'Altissima' in full, even though he left out 'Ailanthus'. Not that it mattered; she felt very little attachment to the name as it was merely something she chose that had a minimal likelihood of being taken.

"I was just selling enchantments at the Lawn. Almost out of Crystal Powder though," Tessa said monotonously, mostly to herself, "I suppose if you're heading down into the dungeon, I might join you." Tessa assumed Ochre already had a group ready to be joined, a poorly-thought out assumption considering that it went against everything she knew about him and his tendency to let things fall into place rather than plan ahead. Letting out a sigh, Tessa decides to help him with his horse's harness. She told herself that she wasn't a helpful person, but she knew that with Ochre, one of the few ways to make him move just a bit faster was to pull some of his weight, and she didn't want to crawl the last few yards into town at a snail's pace only get to the lawn at sundown and find that Ochre's party had left, too impatient to wait for him.

---

---

---

---

Landon didn't miss the thank-you from Mirage, and he smiled graciously in response - it had been his genuine intent to help smooth out the situation, and he figured a punch in the face was worth a smile from a pretty girl. And it might be worth it to follow up with her later, after the group was done with the dungeon. Out of the ladies so far, this was the most promising lead...

Then the conversation changed themes a few times, and he found himself listening to the proposal of serious tactics. His own RL experience in the military supported the practicality of Ebon's idea, and he decided to take a risk and suggest a plan that might have a decent payoff...

"Okay, fireteams, that makes sense," Landon agreed, inserting himself back into the conversation smoothly. "And, while Graves is a jerk, I think we can all agree that he was also the first one to point out that we needed to form up and avoid being a target - he speaks from experience, so I nominate him to be the leader of the first fireteam, which I suggest should consist of Vulcan, Hawkwood, and Thael. Graves can take the front, Thael the rear, with the other two covering the flanks.

"The other fireteam," he continued, in his usual swift patter, "will consist of Rael, Red, Mirage, myself, Elian, Ebon, and Tif. Rael in front, Ebon in the rear, with Mirage and I in the middle providing ranged support, Red being fire support, and El doing her healy thing. We'll also be able to cover Graves's team with our ranged attacks and provide healing and buffs as needed, and make up for our relative lack of tank armor with numbers. Any questions?"

---

---

---

---

Landon shrugged and grinned back at Elian. The healer had seen through his plan for what it really was - an excuse to get Landon alone with all the ladies of the party. He didn't really expect it to work even this well, though he hadn't been entirely selfishly-minded in his party division. A team of tanks supported at range by another team was a pretty solid strategy. And with his buffs, he could reinforce the tanks at range with little trouble.

This change in the party structure didn't change things much for him, since Elian was off-limits anyway, and it made more sense to have her close to the ones who would need the most healing. He himself was also surrounding himself with others, giving him maximum safety and viewing angle to check out a combat situation - or the rear ends of his party mates.

That said, when monsters entered the scene, he would be all business. His wrist-mounted crossbow was ready to go, and the lid on his quiver was loose so he could swiftly reach in to get access to his next shot rapidly. The quiver itself was specially spring-loaded, and some of his favorite loads were tipped up a little above the others for quicker access and as a way for him to index his quiver so that he could find what he needed by feel alone. His backpack, with his additional gear and storage space, was all strapped into place such that he could move freely even with the additional weight.

With a final motion, he reached up and tightened up his goggles over his eyes. Landon Longcross was ready!

"Hey, we came this far - not about to turn back right in front of the entrance!"