A party from Grandbridge arrived the next morning. Six of them, dressed in bright colors and hauling weapons and armor along with the help of a porter. Vonn first saw them in passing when they walked out of the Reeve's place.

"Hey, kid. Know anybody who's been to the dungeon?" The speaker was Human, a man with a sword and spiky hair slicked with grease.

"I scouted it myself," Vonn said, in a wary tone.

One of the others laughed at him. To Vonn's pleasant surprise, the spiky guy shushed that one. He said to Vonn, "We heard about this place through Grandbridge. Anything you could tell us, most of us would appreciate."

Vonn sat down with them outside the cooper's shop and talked about the site's current state, including the bass-thumping frog thing and other creatures. "There might still be ordinary skeletons too. You understand there's little treasure, right?"

"We heard. We're mostly here for earning new levels, maybe destroying the core. Your village headman said destroying it is allowed."

"You'd be doing us a favor, I think. Based on my own visits though, I'd strongly advise not trying to do it all in one trip."

One of the delvers chuckled. "I had some buddies who tried that. I go to visit their graves sometimes."

Their leader scowled at that. "Anyway, thanks. Before we go, where's a good place to eat?"

Vonn directed them to his usual hangout, then went to find Kotta. The Bard actually did have a day job at the mill or sometimes as a woodcutter or cook. (Being a successful Bard meant people didn't notice you weren't doing any actual work.) Today he was on the river, helping to manhandle a barge upstream.

When he heard about the delvers, Kotta said, "Right, I'm in. Give me a few minutes."

Vonn hurried off to the Rising World building and told Urika, "Dungeon trip. Kotta and I are joining some outsiders."

Urika looked annoyed, but paused before answering. "Enough outsiders that you won't get yourself killed? And you'll stick to the upper areas?"

"It's not a pleasure visit. Kotta wants another Fighter level and I have magic to practice." Vonn held up a carved stake he'd made on his own.

Polestar looked up from the gadget he'd been making, an elaborate box or rack that made Vonn think he was trying to do a pinball machine. "Be right there."

Tazo sais, "I need the practice too."

Urika said, "If you must leave me alone with Ashfall, bring back scrap iron. We have work to do."

#

Vonn, Polestar, Kotta and then Tazo showed up for the trip. The six outsiders looked surprised. Their spiky leader said, "We can't protect a whole gaggle of kids."

Vonn casually checked his wind gun. "Three of us were in Tukka's Hollow, evacuating the civilians. We plan to retreat in good order, but we want the practice and some iron if we can find any."

An Elf in leather armor asked, "What kind of weapon is that?"

"A 'wind gun', an air-driven pellet crossbow. I invented it."

Polestar commented, "I want one of those, by the way. Can you do a shotgun?"

"Yeah, I actually used the local cliff as a shot tower. The pellets come out too small for this one but they'd work as buckshot."

They traveled west together. Belatedly, Vonn noticed that one of them was wearing a colorful tie-dye sash. "Did you get that from the new dyeworks in Grandbridge?"

"I did. Why?"

"A friend of mine runs it."

Kotta used his lute to keep up a marching tune that Polestar had taught him, without the obscene lyrics of the original.

"Reduced Stamina use? Good," said one of the people listening to the song and concentrating on it. "Should work in battle too."

"I plan to get into melee, though."

They got within sight of the dungeon. Two of the Baron's men were out there, keeping watch, and they had Selen's hot air balloon inflated and anchored, ready for a quick escape to the sky. Vonn waved to them and told the visitors, "Same friend also built this flying machine. Not as cool as my design but a lot more practical for now."

The delvers were starting to look weirded out. Vonn noticed Tazo's tail flicking as she suppressed a giggle. She'd been continuously doing small tricks with her wand, flickers of various magic types that wouldn't drain her Mana.

They surveyed the tainted land. Within sight, one of the spidery bone walkers and one of the sound-thumping beasts wandered the scar-like trenches that cut across the ground. Studying it all, the leader said, "We'll pull the bass-beast first." He gave a few more instructions and the group spread out.

Vonn considered the geomantically enchanted stake he'd brought, and rolled his eyes. The ground here was hard stone this close to the dungeon; he'd imagined spiking it into soft dirt. So much for that plan.

Their two archers started things off, one firing first. The arrow missed, but made a whistling noise and landed close enough to draw the attention of the bassist. The shooter looked pleased, and this time both him and his companion shot. One of the two arrows hit home, sticking in the monster's side. Now it roared and a low pulse of air swept across them all, doing no harm.

"Spread more," said the leader.

Vonn wondered about the sound attack. He wasn't in gun range yet, so he held out his left hand and focused on the air between his fingers. It was still at first, but then he made it churn and swirl, producing a hum. He lacked the force to push that noise outward. Maybe what the monster was doing was more of a wind spell.

The monster's frog-like throat thumped and another pulse swept toward them. The beat swept Vonn's spell away. He staggered, taking a point of damage. But he felt how the rippling air was torn from his hand. He pushed back.

One archer said, "It's keeping its distance. Another volley?"

"One more."