Days with dwarves at the smithy were spent discussing business. It was decided that both the production and the main store would be situated here, in Stonefalls, while another shop would be opened in Westbrook at a later date. They considered expanding to the east, but the journey and the risk that came with it wasn't worth it. The dwarves dispersed the next day, each leaving to work on the assignment given to them. Bones stayed and continued practicing engraving in his small corner of the workshop. Darsumi called for another meeting to take place by the end of the week where they would discuss the prospect of "retrieving" the mana core among other valuables. His information network proved to be the core aspect of their plan and everything revolved around the information retrieved.

At the end of the week, under the dim light of candles late at night, a meeting of a select few was taking place. The seven dwarves and Bones sat at the table, looking at the papers and floor plans scattered around. "All targets are the so-called nobility, so any house is a good and proper target! One thing we ought to consider is the security and the object of the heist for Mr.." One of the dwarves said and asked, turning to Bones.

"Bones." Bones replied, seeing as they were all meeting for the first time.

"Right, for Mr. Boney."

*sigh* Bones exhaled, not even bothering to correct them anymore.

The dwarf speaking earlier continued. "Our information network gave us a rather detailed information on the security and I have to say, it will be difficult! Or rather, it would be difficult if we didn't have a proper distraction, don't we?"

Snicker was heard going around the table and Bones felt he was missing out on something. "-and what would be that distraction?" Bones asked.

"Hm? Ah, apologies Mr. Boney. The day of the heist would be the day of the festival! And we plan to hit all the targets in a single night!" the Dwarf explained, boasting. Bones however, still didn't get why exactly would the festival be a distraction.

"Right, the festival?"

"Aw hun, where are ye from? There's only one festival that would make them nobles leave their houses! Every year we celebrate the day the kingdom was founded and have a festival! "The one to explain was the female dwarf, Mirami, a knowledgeable thief and a proper burglar!

Bones nodded in understanding and motioned for the meeting to continue. The security around the estate and in the houses of the nobles was tight. So tight in fact, they wouldn't be having a meeting discussing the heist if it wasn't for the festival. On that day however, the houses wouldn't have the security that tight because the main priority to protect, after all, weren't the houses but their owners. Those of lesser upbringing, no one would care if they attended the festival or not, but for the nobles, it would spat a shame on their so-called reputation. This marked the first of the many more meetings to come as the festival was less than six months away.

Bones for the first time felt the pressure going down on him from all the things to come in the next few months. He didn’t mind it though. He was used to working under the pressure and sometimes, pressure was a good thing. It made him keep his wits sharp and nerves on edge. Today marked one month since he left the capital and he said he would return by now, but it seemed he would have to prolong his stay here with the dwarves. Besides, he liked their company.

There would be another meeting taking place soon and after the meeting, Bones and the two dwarves, Hemdus and Darsumi, agreed to complete the first and the second stage of the dungeon once it got off the cooldown period. The dwarves needed to collect data if they planned to repeatedly farm the dungeon for crafting materials.

Bones was reluctant to join the party at first. Not that he didn’t completely want to party up with two dwarves, just that he wanted to clear the dungeon solo. Ultimately, he weighed the odds and concluded it was an opportunity to experience a dungeon run in a party. Bones thought the help of others to be the sign of weakness, but once he accepted the reality of a situation that he couldn't beat the boss of the second stage on his own, he changed his mind and adapted his attitude. Besides, he was interested to see how strong the crafter and the smuggler were.

The dwarves estimated Bones would have to be around the boss level to put up a fight and that didn’t mean just being boss level, but leveling more skills past basic tier and even advancing his race at level 25. Just like he received a bump in his stat from advancing his Bonemancer class, so he would receive one advancing his race. At least, that's how it usually was. The dwarves weren't sure if it was the same with the undead.

With two dwarves in the party, Bones would clear the second stage and take his first steps in the third one. It would give him a rough estimate of how strong his enemies would be. There was still a chance to drop the mana core from the boss of a second stage. From the dwarves' experience, even though they were too high of a level for the dungeon, if it was just the three of them and Bones had the most contribution, it wouldn’t diminish their overall chance for the loot. That was actually how the higher levels, power leveled the wealthier, lower levels with high standing.

The next day, Bones successfully created his first golem using engraved bones. The engraving resulted in a much easier time constructing the golem and mana consumption was greatly reduced. It also made infusing the nucleus smoother. Bones really got creative making the golem this time and the golem was combat capable for the first time! With everyone else being busy, Bones headed out of the city and into the mountain range that stretched further than his new perception let him see. The plan was to test the combat capabilities of the new golem, hopefully on the trolls roaming around the mountain peaks. He would return in time for the meeting and after, he would head to the dungeon.

After searching for a while, Bones didn't find any traces of the trolls. The snow had mostly melted by now as the winter season was slowly coming to a close. A thin layer of snow still covered the ground with rocks peaking out. He went deeper into the mountains and down the ravine into the gorge, where he followed the narrow stream. Occasional critters would cross his path and he commanded his golem to attack a deer looking animal in the distance. Golem rushed the deer but was too slow to catch up to the startled animal. Bones shook his head and noted the golem's lack of mobility. He continued moving down the stream until the night fell.

The night in the woods was anything but quiet. There were always some noises accompanied by the rustling of leaves or snapping of sticks. As expected from the wilderness. What Bones didn't expect was to see the source of light in the distance. He turned to the golem beside him. The golem won't last until morning. I could wait till the nucleus runs out and recreate a new one but I'll lose too much time. I'll sneak a peek at what the source of light is and decide what to do next from there.

Bones silently closed the distance until he was close enough to identify the source of light. It was a torch stuck in the gap in the tree. He looked around and spotted a faint outline of people and objects in the distance. A camp maybe? They could be adventurers, guards or even an army?

"Ay? Whos that? Is that yous, ya fuckers! I told ya to fucken leave me be when I take a piss!"

The voice was coming from a few meters away and was closing in. Definitely bandits. Right as the speaker was about to step out from behind the tree and enter his line of sight, Bones took the opportunity and signaled his golem to take the first hit. The golem rushed the bandit the moment he appeared and attacked with an upward swing like he would if he had a weapon. The badly executed punch hit and did nothing.

"What the fuck??" The bandit exclaimed. The sudden punch took the bandit by surprise and he reflexively retaliated. The golem was promptly punched in the skull, cracking it and sending it flying off the rest of its body.

Bones facepalmed himself and decided to deal with the bandit himself. He stepped out of the cover of a tree and closed in on the bandit with a quick dash. A second later, he too was punched and knocked down by a lightning fast punch.

Bones' hood flew off his head and his mask crumbled down. The bandit's jaw dropped when he saw what he just punched. "Whazat, a skeleton? Da fuck?" Then he glanced at the golem a few meters away. "Another one?" He turned in the direction of the camp and yelled. "OY MAGGOTS!! GET OVER HERE! WE AIN'T ALONE!!" When he turned back, Bones was gone and so was the golem, which was swiftly stored away in Bones' inventory. At least most of it was. The head? Cracked and gone.

Bones ran away out of the gorge, and only stopped when he was somewhere far away, hidden under the darkness of the forest. What in the world just happened?

*snorts* Bones placed his hands on knees as if he needed to recover his stamina, then chuckled at how stupid that was! Seems my endeavour has ended earlier than expected. By dawn, he was back in Stonefalls. Entering the smithy, he was assaulted by the smell of liquor.

"What? I leave for a day and you're already celebrating? Teased Bones.

"Boney! Boney? Wut are ye doin 'ere already?" Hem asked, puzzled.

Bones sighed and joined him and Darsumi at the table. He wasn't in the mood to drink and he felt a bit crestfallen, which didn't escape the notice of the smuggler.

"So, care to share what happened? How did your golem do?" Darsumi asked.

"Sure, I'll share!" Bones answered laughingly, just like his attempt to attack the bandit went. Hearing the story, Hem of course, burst out laughing while Darsumi was lost in thoughts for a moment. "Hm…bandits in the gorge of a mountain range…sounds familiar. Give me a second!"

Bones watched as Darsumi took a bundle of papers and started listing through them, while Hemdus was on the floor, forcefully and on purpose, laughing his ass off.

It wasn't THAT funny. Seems like Dar is searching for something…between the reports and wanted posters?

Darsumi stopped at the wanted poster and asked before showing the wanted poster to Bones. "Did you get a good look at the bandit? Is that him?"

"Only for a brief moment before he knocked me out but no, he's not the one."

"Then," grabbing the next one, Dar showed him another wanted poster and Bones recognized him as the bandit that whooped his ass!

"How unlucky. Among all the bandits in the camp, you managed to find the second in command."

"Is he strong?" asked Bones.

"Compared to you? He should be. He's at the peak bronze rank, level 39."

Peak bronze rank? That would put him around the same level as Guntar? "He was around the same level of strength as Guntar?"

Darsumi thought about what he should say for a while but Hem interjected. "It aint dat simple Boney as there be many factors to consider, but lets say he was eh?"

"Putting that aside", Darsumi continued," could you point out the location of the camp?" Darsumi took out the map and placed it in front of Bones for him to mark the location. "Don't look at me like that. It's valuable information and it is good to be in good grace with the right people! Besides, the bandits know their location has been found and they no doubt relocated already."

Bones knew the dwarf was dealing in information and he didn't particularly care about the bandits, so he took the map, marked down the location and passed it back to Darsumi who took it back smiling.

"I need to go, engrave more bones and reconstruct my golem. Is the meeting still on for tonight?" Bones asked and received the nod in confirmation. The meeting was held again, under the dim light. The dwarves prefered it that way because it accommodated the appropriate atmosphere to the meeting. The agenda of the meeting was again to discuss the who, what and how's of the heist.

When the meeting finished, the two dwarves took to bed while Bones continued engraving and impatiently waited for the sun to rise. After the abundant lunch, the dwarves packed the needed supplies and the trio headed out of Stonefalls.