Our loot was pretty impressive. Much of what we brought back had decent stats for starter gear. Unfortunately, most people at the inn didn’t have the coin to pay for anything even at half the cost we could sell it back to the store. While we wanted to help others, we couldn’t take such a financial hit.

I found that my ring that we looted before the first boss fight increased my mana pool. That was convenient. The robe increased my mana pool and my resistance to magic attacks. There were no numbers in this information, which was a shame. I really wanted to know what items would be better than others beyond what floor they were gathered on. I also wanted to know what my health and other statistics were. It would be great to be able to tell just how much healing my friends needed other than a wild guess. The guide book let me know that such information was possible once the right skill had been obtained.

Jun’s items boosted her wind magic, except the robe which increased fire magic. She had no fire spells available to her yet, but the robe’s increase of magical defense made it worth still wearing. Her choker increased her mana pool and decreased mana consumption when using wind magic. The wand increased all magical damage but increased the critical hit chance of wind magic. This meant that she had a greater chance to do extra damage with wind, a perfect pairing for her.

Clint’s shirt and belt buckle increased his stamina and physical damage resistance, just what was needed for the party’s tank. The sword improved the damage that he dealt, which was something we had already observed and made sense as the starter gear should have been the simplest of weapons. His stein was a thing of wonder. It would fill with mead twice a day once opened. I didn’t have the taste for anything alcoholic, but Clint said the magic brew was damn good.

The other items were varying in the same kinds of stat increases, but we decided to sell them all off, earning us 216 more silver for the party pot. In total, the party funds were up to 100 copper coins, 4 silver coins, and 125 gold coins. We exchanged most of our silver coins for gold as soon as we could. Ten copper made a silver coin and ten silver made a gold coin. It was a simple system and exchanges could be made with any NPC.

As we made exchanges and sold off all the unwanted loot, we stopped to chat with other players. We warned them about Liam’s group, what they had pulled, and did our best to hint others towards the boss as much as we could with the spoiler filter. Some groups gave us hints towards some interesting places they had found. They could tell us about the new kinds of monsters they ran into and it was sounding more and more like a normal first floor. Short goblins, wolves, boars, and large spiders were in large supply, but they did not overwhelm any party in number.

One of the few who aided me while others were clearing out the Blight had been watching the docks and keeping track of the respawn rate. He went by the name Skeevie and no one knew his real name. He said very few people died now and when they did it was one or two at a time. He had come back to the inn to see if there was anything going down when he saw Liam’s group respawn. It was the largest bunch to return to town that way since the Blight were removed from around the black tower. Once we told him what happened in the pit, he went off to spread the word. He wasn’t going to stand for the heroes of the town to be attacked like that.

While I did wish Liam the very worst in many ways, I felt bad about spreading information like this. It wasn’t exactly a rumor, but it felt like it. It felt like I was trying to smear that party by using my standing to spread the bad word. It just felt wrong, so I tried to not say too much after we Skeevie was given the story. I wanted people to be careful, not to lynch a party.

Once our bellies were full, our loot was sold and most of the coin stashed, I went to check out the NPCs that were responsible for building new businesses and homes at the employment of players. No one had started anything new, of course, my party was the richest in town and I am fairly certain we didn’t have the funds yet for any kind of building.

I had guessed that if a guild licence cost 500 gold that the buildings would be around that much. I was partially right and, at the same time, so very wrong. The cost of a home barge on one of the docks was only 100 gold. The idea of having a cute little boat home excited me. I could picture all the things I could do with my own home in this strange little town. The cost of a merchant ship, which came with an NPC to sell wares we stocked, was 300 gold. The merchant ship came with a captain’s quarters, first mate’s quarters, two crew cabins as well as a mess hall with a full kitchen, a craft room, a hull for storing goods, and the merchant stall just on the docks.

Everything that could be built on the mainland was ungodly expensive and was purchased with platinum coins that were worth 1,000 gold coins each. A guildhall, which was a three story building at minimum, cost 200 platinum coins. This was going to take forever to afford.

I was crushed that my plans for building a guild seemed so far out of reach. I wandered off, finding myself on a nice dock that had delicate flowers carved into the posts. I sat on the smooth boards and let my goat legs dangle. The dock was too far off the water for me to soak my hooves but I still enjoyed the position, and the view of the setting sun. It made my disappointment not as strong.

“At least It created a beautiful place.” I said to myself with a sigh.

“It did.” A voice behind me said.

I nearly fell into the water with a start, but the person who spoke had grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back safely. I placed a hand over my heart, sick of the sensation that reminded me so strongly of my death. The poor thing was racing and trying to leap out of my chest.

“Stars above and below.” I panted and turned to see that it was Allen who had snuck up on me. I would have voluntarily jumped into the ocean had I not noticed he had two things in his hands that were decidedly not weapons. One hand held a drawstring bag and the other held a fist full of flowers. “Holding a woman hostage generally prevents them from being too keen on taking flowers the next time they see you.”

Allen rolled his eyes. “I know I am nearly your least favorite person in the afterlife right now, but I heard that you collect flowers from the floors. These are from the second floor and are just the start of an apology. I filled this bag with as much as I could, too. I’m not asking for anything in return, I know you won’t forgive me just because I brought flowers. I felt like I owe you a lot. Your party should have killed me, I just followed you through after you left. I figured the boss wouldn’t respawn if I stayed in the area and I could go through then.”

He set his gifts on the planks and backed away some more. I watched him silently for a moment. He didn’t say another word, didn’t justify his actions, didn’t try to sweet talk.

“Why do you party with him?” I asked, looking into his lion's yellow eyes.

He looked away and down. “I don’t have much of a choice right now. I am working on it, though.”

“No one will work with you after this, you know. You’re going to be more stuck with his party because you won’t have much choice.” I turned back to the water and the sunset. “Nothing is worth being associated with that swine.”

“She is.” Allen said in such a soft tone, I almost didn’t hear it. Before I could ask who “she” was, Allen was walking away at a brisk pace. I guessed that he had heard me and wasn’t ready for the conversation.

As far as I knew, Liam had no women in his party. No worthwhile woman would find Allen being associated with Liam’s party to be impressive. It had to be something else that I was missing. I didn’t feel like thinking about it too hard, though. That bunch wasn’t worth any mental energy. I wanted nothing more to do with them and I was done with my pity party.

It might take me months to get my guildhall, but I had the best people to spend all that time with. I got to my feet and picked up the apology gift. It was time to meet the others for dinner and plan our next steps.

When I returned to the inn, it was loud and joyous. It seemed that everyone had returned for the night and was partying with the money they were able to make that day. No one was sleeping in tents in town tonight. Someone had found some musical instruments and were doing their best to pick out a tune while people sang along with “Yankee Doodle.” Every chair was filled and the bar was packed. Several people were drunk out of their minds. While it was a little sad, I felt so much joy to know that I helped people be able to do something.

I could hardly move through the inn as everyone I came across offered to buy me a drink or tell me a tale of what they encountered on the floor. I promised so many rain checks that I was going to be flooded before the month’s end. Many handshakes, hugs, cheers, and one proposal later, I made it to my party’s table.

“I think Jun named our party correctly. We are practically celebrities.” I said as I sat with my bowl full of half a baked chicken and stewed potatoes.

“Everyone and their mom is trying to join our party.” Jun stressed. “I’m sick of it.”

“People are tryin’ t’ get me to leave the party and join them.” Clint added. He was nursing his stein merrily, some mead foam was stuck to his bovine, wet nose.

“Which ones? I’ll blast them to the respawn pool!” Jun stood, reaching for her wand that was sitting on the tabletop. Clint simply put his hand over hers and shook his head.

“I’m glad you wouldn’t leave us, Clint. I don’t think our party would survive with any one of us leaving. We mesh so perfectly. I’m sure we will need to grow at some point, but I am happy we have each other.” I wasn’t able to look up at them as I spoke, it was a bit more emotion than I meant to put out there. I was still thinking about Allen’s situation and what he might have been going through to willingly stay with someone who treated him like an animal. Worse than an animal.

“Ew, gross. It’s like you like us or something.” Jun teased, sticking out her tongue and smiling at me when I looked up.

“Y’all are the best people I could ever call friends. We ain’t partin’ until we are floor 100.” Clint declared and sealed his statement by slamming his stein on the table with a thud.

We all drank to that.

“So, besides some profound emotions, what’d you find out about building costs?” Jun asked, absently picking at one of her golden scales on her neck.

“A building on the streets is impossibly expensive. It will take us months and probably teaming up with a large number of people to afford it. We could afford our own house barges right now, more room to move around and store stuff. I would like to use the party funds and my share to purchase a merchant ship to live and work in.” My proposal made me feel greedy. The house barge sounded nice to live in, but the merchant ship was significantly roomy. “I will put half my earnings from the shop into the party fund since the party is paying for most of the building. I would just happen to live there too.”

I took the time to explain the size of the ship and the amenities. Jun asked a lot of questions about the other building options. I noticed other tables trying to listen in on our conversation and one person actually taking notes, so I quieted down.

“I want my own place. I’ve never got to live by myself before. I really want to do that.” She decided after our long discussion. “I’ll agree to party funds going to the merchant ship, it will be the best way to get our money really moving towards being able to afford a real building. Seems to be the only way, really.”

“Since there’s extra room in the ship, mind if I take the first mate’s cabin?” Clint asked bashfully, scratching the back of his head. “I could buy my own barge, but I don’t like bein’ alone. I’ll put in a hundred gold like I bought a barge.”

“Ok, I’ll put in a hundred and we’ll take a hundred from the party pool. That’ll make sure we don’t bankrupt the party and it is fair.” I smiled at Clint, sheepishly. “I don’t want to be alone, either. I died while living alone and I’m not sure how I’d feel alone again.”

The other two people at the table stared at me in silence. It was beyond uncomfortable. I looked down in my lap at my hands and muttered an apology for oversharing.

“It’s just really sad.” Jun said finally. “I didn’t know. That’s why you were so mad before. I didn’t think, I mean, like, I should’ve known that it could be sad. It’s death, I just thought you both were like me and that meant you didn’t have it so sad.”

I laughed hollowly and replied as neutrally as I could. “No, my life was very sad. I just don’t want to be sad all the time. If I show all that sad, it weighs me down and I can’t do anything at all. I can’t get to floor 100 running on that.”

Jun nodded in understanding. “I totally get that. I mean, I was depressed often, but, like, for no big reason.”

“It means a lot that yah understand now, Jun.” Clint said softly.

“Oh, I so do and I’ll never push for that again. I’m sorry. I really didn’t know.” She apologized again. “You guys are saints to put up with me.”

“I prefer to think of myself as a budding goddess.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. We had just survived amazing things and had so much more we were going to have to face. A little social bump in the road between friends was nothing. It was going to happen as we learned more about each other and found boundaries we never knew were there. This was just how friendship was, or how I had imagined friendship would be. I was finally getting to experience it. Even with the bits of bad we had so far, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.