“Eat, drink, be merry!” Lance announced, waving the team at the grocery store. The group fell upon the shelves, grabbing granola bars, cans of pop, chips and more with abandon. No ready made foods unfortunately, though beef jerky made a good substitute. In the meantime, Lance fished in his pockets and found a couple of twenties that he slipped under the cash register. No idea if it’d still be there when the owner came back – if the owner came back – but he would not steal.

Once everyone had grabbed what they wanted, the group trooped outside and start scarfing down the food. Idly, Lance added ‘food and drink’ to the minimum requirements for a dungeon delve. Not that they couldn’t buy food and drink from the Shop, but it seemed a waste to use hard earned points on something so mundane.

“I know all of you want to eat…” Lance stared at Neil who had stuffed his mouth so full he looked like an armoured chipmunk. “and I’m not going to stop you.”

“You could try…” Sarah said, having finished guzzling the beer can and tossing it aside.

“But we should talk, briefly, about what’s coming next. Especially since we got a wealth of points-”

“Two hundred and fifty each for the Boss alone!” Yanesh muttered, awed.

“-and this invasion isn’t over. So. First things first – I intend to hit another dungeon immediately,” Lance stated, firmly. He made sure to look at each person in turn, vague recollections of speech practice in school telling him that was the way to inspire leadership. Or loyalty. One of the two. “I’d love all of you to come along, but I understand if it’s too much.”

“I’m in,” Sarah said immediately.

“Still need to get more points to get Elemental Bolt. Or Call Lightning. So I’m definitely there,” Yanesh said.

“More healing would be good,” Lance said, pointedly.

“Sure, sure. That too,” Yanesh replied, not at all guilty.

Everyone turned to Neil then, staring at the man as he finished swallowing. When he finished taking a long drink of his soda – Dr.Pepper, the weirdo – he blinked at the group. “Why are you staring at me?”

“You haven’t answered Lance. You coming or not?” Sarah said, impatiently.

“What? Fight and get beaten upon by monsters, have my bones broken and given a concussion that’s going to do great for my future as an accountant?” Neil said, drawling a little. He paused for dramatic effect. “Sure, why not?”

“Woot! The party stays together!” Yanesh said.

“Hey! I’m hurt…” A voice, from behind. The group turned to see Matt and Keeley standing beside them, both of them looking a little bushed. “Also, next time, we’re going in too.”

“What changed your mind?” Lance asked, curiously. They were also missing Keeley’s friends, he noted idly.

“Points.” Keeley said firmly. “We need more of them.” Something in the way she spoke and the jut of her chin made Lance think better of asking exactly what had happened.

Tragedy’s enough this day.

“Right. Then we just need to find one,” Lance said.

“Already beat you there,” Matt said. “That’s what me and Keeley were doing – scouting. I’ve got a line on three places. One of which Pamela’s headed for, so that leaves two. The first…”

“Later.” Lance held a hand up. “Unless it’s pertinent to us using our points, we’ll get details later. We need a break first.”

“Nah. Standard monster set-ups in both, melee fighters and one set of flyers. We got the flyers,” Matt hefted his bow. “So we’re good.”

“Then everyone, start eating and looking at your Shop. Remember your roles – tank, DPS, healer-mage, archer DPS.” Lance tapped his chest at the last, before tilting his head to Matt.

“Scout DPS. And Keeley’s healer-mage, mostly buffs-debuffs,” Matt supplied.

“Alright then, get buying.” Lance ordered the group before grabbing a piece of jerky. No time better to figure out a better build than now. And most of all, he really wanted to see this new section of the Shop. Grinning a little, he flicked open the Shop and navigated to the section with a few thoughts.

The Dungeon side of the Shop was much smaller than the main Shop. In addition, now that he was peering at the equipment closer, Lance was sure…

“This thing’s filtering the equipment based off roles, right? Or what we’ve bought or done before?” Lance muttered.

“Yup,” Yanesh said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lance said, confused.

“Figured you’d figure it out like you did. And it didn’t matter for Pamela, till they clear,” Yanesh said. “Anyway, I wasn’t entirely certain since we haven’t really had time to compare. But I assume you’re getting a bunch of archery stuff?”

“Mana Bows, Bow of Far Firing, Bow of Splitting, Quiver of Restocking, Integrated Quivers, Quiver Upgrades galore. But no defensive rings this time,” Lance rubbed his chin. “I guess it didn’t think I used it enough?”

“Probably. Waste of a buy really,” Yanesh said.

“Says the guy who hasn’t had his arm chewed on,” Neil remarked.

“What’d you get?” Sarah said, leaning over as though she could see the screens he was staring at.

“Armour. A lot of it. But I’m looking at the Skills… and aren’t you supposed to do that?” Neil said, grumpily. Lance did note he didn’t move away from her though.

“Already done.”

“What!?” Neil yelped.

“Easy-peasy. I just got a strength and healing upgrade,” Sarah said with a grin.

“You should have talked to us, to me, about it. What if you chose wrong?” Neil said, frowning.

“Why should I change what’s working?” Sarah said. “Next up, I get a better spear. And maybe slightly tougher skin.” She rubbed her chin. “Once I get really used to my current reflexes, I’ll upgrade it. Anyway, figure it out. I wanna go kill something.”

So saying, she moved away from Neil to chat with Matt and his girlfriend, happy to regale them about the fight.

Lance snorted, turning his attention back to his own Shop. She might decide fast, but he wasn’t going to. On the other hand, she did have a point. No equipment. The upgrades had to be better than the normal Shop, and he had been holding back just for this reason.

Time to see what kind of upgrades there were.