(Gary Salvatore slotted the five quest cards into place. He figured he would get the most out of the rat invasion and the golem going crazy. He could slot the rest in around those two objectives.

Twenty used cards seemed a lot. The five tables might be there all night as the game masters went about their work. He figured he would sleep in his car before trying to drive home if it came down to it.

The convention and display was three days long. If his table didn't complete the quests by the time they were ready to break up, they could work on it tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

The main thing was to have fun trying to win that prize money.

Gary looked at the other three cards. There had to be some way to use them with the two he already had. He decided he would try to come up with something on the fly. Maybe one of his players would come up with a solution without realizing it.

It wouldn't be the first time he had used player ideas to keep things on track.

Quest One was the invasion of the city by rats. He had to figure out a way to get the players underground.

Quest Two was a golem on the rampage. That meant some fighting for his group while they tried to figure things out.

Quest Three was the loss of information for one faction. Maybe someone was using it on the Rats.

Quest Four was an illegal fighting ring that needed to be stamped out. No one knew who ran them, or how to keep them from springing back into existence once the heroes moved on.

The last Quest, number Five, was a goblin uprising against human tyranny.

“Are you ready, Gary?,” asked Ted Gaul. He stood six, five and weighed a hundred pounds. A mop of hair rode on his head like a tribble come to life. He was playing the group's magician for this game.

“Just thinking,” said Gary. “But you're right. We should get started and see what we can do before the session is over.”

The five other people at the table made noises in the affirmative to indicate that they agreed with that.

His six players were a mixed bag. Ted was the youngest, playing the oldest character. Tonia Grayson was playing the rogue. Adam had picked out the knight. Will had a barbarian. Don had decided that a ranger was the utility player they needed. Katie had put together Sister Boudicca of the Order of the Holy Hammer.

He hadn't needed to look at her character to guess what her primary weapon was going to be in melee. He expected that she would try to continously upgrade it in montage bits while the rest were enjoying the limited downtime they would have as the game ran.

He doubted they would have a lot of montage bits if they wanted to keep picking and closing Quest cards.

“I think I'm ready to go,” said Gary. “Let's start with the city...”)

The group that called itself the Dungeon Delvers arrived at the East Gate of Grail City in the afternoon. They had raided a dungeon east of the city and come away with some treasure and artifacts. Then they had tried to collapse the entrance, but they weren't sure if that had been successful.

They would have to go back and make sure as soon as they rested up and were battle ready again.

(The table created a walled city for the group. Small blocks representing various buildings and houses popped into view. The hole representing the dungeon was put in east of the city. The feature blurred out of sight as the city expanded to show the group the area they would have to navigate.)

“I will have to report to the local mother superior before I can do anything else,” said Sister Boudicca. She wore the Order of the Heavy Hammer's light blue tunic and a chain mail shirt under that. She carried a large hammer on one shoulder.

“The rest of us will have to report to the Adventurer Hall to turn in what we found,” said Sir Parzifal. He looked every inch the hero in his shining armor, swept back blond hair and gleaming teeth. “Then we will have to find lodgings until we're ready to go back to that dungeon and make sure we did a good job closing it.”

“There was a lot of magic floating around at the end, Parsley,” said Houdin. The old wreck slouched along in a tunic and cloak of violet with a large hat on top. He hadn't shaved in years and it showed. “It might be some time before it calms down after what we did.”

“We'll still have to check to make sure people can travel through that part of the area,” said the knight. “That's part of our responsibility.”

“And some of the monsters can still dig their way out if they lived,” said Ardath. He had a suit of leather buckskin and a coat. He wore a quiver of arrows, bow, short sword, and a dagger over that. “A warning will have to be posted to keep people away from the scene if we find any openings.”

“Jed no like eyeless snake,” said Jed. He stood seven feet tall, was a lighter shade of green due to his more human side, and had stolen and patched together clothes from a group of smaller men. He tapped the small tree in his hand against the palm of the other hand. “Little Jed not work so good.”

“I'll give you that,” said Houdin. “But we won in the end, and collapsed the tunnel. Nothing got out of that.”

“But we're going to make sure,” said Parzifal. “We might take some more people with us to help make sure.”

The last member of their party said nothing. She watched the guards watching the group descend on the gate. She wondered who was in charge of the local syndicate. She didn't want to get in trouble for a heist if she didn't need it.

“We're not stealing anything here, Andrea,” said Sister Boudicca.

“I wouldn't dream of it,” said Andrea. Black leather formed a suit that made her nearly invisible at night. She left the hood down so her brown hair, round face, and calculating eyes were visible. She gave a false smile to the nun.

“You had that look in your eye,” said Sister Boudicca. “We don't need any trouble with the local Guard since we're finally reasonably solvent.”

“I was looking over the ground,” said Andrea. “I might have contacts here we can use for more quests after we make sure of the dungeon.”

“Before we do anything,” said the knight. “Let's deal with what we're carrying, and get it off our hands before something bad happens and we lose the hard earned gains we have.”

“Jed agrees,” said Jed. “Jed wants a reasonable bar tab for once.”

“We do need supplies,” said Ardath. “We can't depend on what we can hunt while we're traveling.”

“I know,” said Sir Parzifal. “As soon as we have rooms, we can plan our expedition. Right now, I want a bath, and four walls that don't have any mimics present.”

“I don't see anything wrong with that,” said Ardath. The ranger usually slept outside in whatever nook he could find under the stars. This one time, he could use the roof of whatever inn they finally settled on until they were back on the road.

It wouldn't kill him.

(“Every time you say something like that, Gary,” said Don. He tapped his work area with his pen. “Someone dies.”

“It's never been you,” said Gary.

“I don't think that's the point,” said Katie.

“All right,” said Gary. “I won't say it again.”)

The group decided to split up after talking to the guards at the gate and getting directions. Sister Boudicca and Andrea would go to the temple to talk to the local order. Boudicca had to report what she had been doing since she had been in a temple of her goddess. Andrea just wanted to walk around without attracting too much of the wrong attention.

The others would head to the Adventurer Hall and use the local vault to store their loot until they could split it among the group. They would also secure a room and check if there were paying jobs they could do before they went back to the dungeon in the east.

Something small might allow them to charge for equipment so they didn't have to dip into the money and artifacts they had just secured.

Potentially they could fund their expedition with enough smaller jobs to pay for rooms and any equipment they might need. They just needed the right jobs.

First they would take a few days to wind down. They had been underground for a while. Monsters had stalked them almost constantly. Now they were among humanoids, they wanted a chance to act without having to worry about serious consequences.

Hopefully they would be able to use the city as a base as they tried to clear out the local monsters. Once they had made enough doing that, they could move on to a new place to fight.

The group had been on the road for almost a year. They had found some things, and stopped some problems from growing out of control. The local adventurers might give them leads to threats that needed to be stopped.

Sir Parzifal almost had enough to set up his own estate. It would be good to settle down and pick a place to defend while letting others chase fame and fortune. He hoped the others found their own places when he left the group.

If they wanted to go with him, he was not adverse to that. They were fine friends and he valued their abilities.

The world at large would never miss the Dungeon Delvers when they had so many adventurers throwing themselves at any old dragon that dared to raise its head from its lair.

Ardath noticed a rat as big as a hound looking at him from an alley. He frowned at it. The dire rat retreated from his gaze.

“Did you see that?,” he asked the group.

“See what?,” asked Parzifal. He looked at the alley.

“I just saw a giant rat in that alley,” said Ardath. The ranger held his hands apart to show the others the size of the thing.

“That is a big rat,” said Jed. “Should we chase it?”

“Let's talk to the Hall,” said Parzifal. “Maybe others have seen the like.”