Sure enough, Garret sauntered into the Catanzano house ten minutes after Orrin brought Emily in. He was in the middle of introducing her to Madi when the archer announced himself.

“Orrin! Where have you been hiding?”

Madi’s eyes shoot up as the tall man walked right to Orrin and hugged him.

Orrin stood very still as he felt the heat rise a few degrees.

“Orrin,” Madi stepped closer. “Introduce me to your friend.”

Orrin opened and closed his mouth multiple times before Garret bowed low, sweeping back a short cape. “Garret Bell, at your service Lady Madeleine.”

Madi put her hand on Orrin’s elbow and positioned herself between the two men. “I’m assuming that you are to be our fifth member, along with Ms. Emily here.”

Garret nodded and waved at Emily. Emily shook her head in dismay at her friend.

“Good.” Madi gently pushed Orrin toward the front dining room. “Daniel will be down soon enough. Let’s get settled. The Guildmaster sent word that her attaché will be arriving within the hour. That should be more than enough time for us to all get to know each other and set some ground rules for working together.”

Orrin felt the heat in his face start to fade as they filed into the cleared dining room. He’s just a flirt. Ignore it, he thought. But when he sat down and Garret ran a hand along the back of his chair and lightly touched his shoulder, Orrin jumped again.

“Garret quit it,” Emily demanded. She sat down in the empty chair next to Orrin. “Sorry about him. He’s incorrigible but harmless. I’ll keep him in line.”

“Unless you want me to get out of line,” Garret whispered across the table.

Emily pointed at him. A small crystal of fire formed at the tip. “One more quip and I’ll burn you again.”

Garret put his hands up in surrender. “I’ll behave. Sorry, Orrin.”

Emily waved her hand and the fire crystal dissipated.

“After the dungeon, I’ll ask you on a proper date.” Garret got out before he fell out of his chair. The smell of burning filled the room. “Damn it, Emily. These are new pants.”

Madi hid her mouth with her hand for a moment before composing herself. “Let’s agree the first rule of this party should be to not harm or distract each other during the dungeon raid.”

Garret ran his hand through his hair as he sat back down gingerly. “Agreed.”

“That includes flirting or trying to get a rise out of each other,” Madi said and then raised a hand as Garret started to interject. “Yes, Garret. I heard it. Don’t antagonize your teammates.”

“Good rule,” Daniel said from the doorway. “Rule two, everybody listens to what Madi says in the dungeon and out. She’s going to keep us alive.”

Madi kept herself composed at the praise and vote of confidence from Daniel, but Orrin could see the words had a great effect on her.

Emily went to stand as she noticed the [Hero], while Garret had already noticed and was starting a bow.

“Rule three, no bowing or posturing. We’re a team for this mission. I’m just an adventurer like you. I’m sure I’ll learn as much from you two as I have from Madi here… and Orrin.” Daniel added his friend after only a small beat.

“That is going to be hard for us,” Emily admitted. “It’s an honor to meet a real [Hero]. To meet you.”

Daniel sat down at the other end of the table from Madi and waved a hand. “I’m serious. I’m just a normal guy from another world who has some cool magic and shit. A few months ago, I was just going to school and worrying about what I’d wear to prom. Please, just treat me like you’d treat Orrin.”

Orrin watched Garret close his eyes and take a breath. He smirked at Orrin but nodded to Daniel.

“If that is how you’d like it,” Emily said in her half-crouch from standing. She settled back in her chair. “It’s still going to be an adjustment. When Tin told us that the Guildmaster was requesting us for a mission with the [Hero], half the Guild was in an uproar. Why us?”

Daniel pointed at Orrin. “He vouched for your group and Pritus selected two of you to fill the gap in our ranks. Don’t disappoint his trust.”

Emily and Garret turned back to Orrin with renewed respect. Madi clapped her hands.

“Before we get the information about the dungeon, I’d like to discuss the two of you a bit,” Madi started. “Basics first if you don’t mind. Class and level? Have you ever been in a dungeon? Any notable weaknesses?”

Garret and Emily exchanged a glance and Emily nodded. She stood, pushing her chair backward. “I’m Emily Ibarra, [Fireflower Mage], level twenty-five. I raided the Boiling Swamp before it was cleared. A two-tier, two-year-old dungeon south of Dey. We turned back after the sixth floor due to losing our main fighter to a pit trap. Weaknesses are mostly water monsters.”

After her cut and dry speech, Orrin expected the same from Garret. Instead…

“I’m Garret Bell. [Earth Archer] extraordinaire. I’m level nineteen but teetering on the edge. I’ve not raided a dungeon, but I’ve helped turn back enough [Hordes] and fought enough monsters to know the game. I have no weaknesses unless you count a beautiful smile or good time a weakness.”

Madi sighed. “Does your class allow you to take damage?”

Garret shrugged. “I stay on the edges of fights. I’ve got a trump card if I need to avoid a big blow, but if the party does its job, I should be able to take down any monster quicker than most.”

Emily spoke up. “He’s not just bragging. His arrows hit hard and he has a knack at trapping monsters. He usually outkills me and Tin combined.”

Madi nodded, taking a few notes. “We’ll discuss our strategy later but know that we don’t care how hard you can hit individually. We work as a team. If you don’t think you can take orders and go against the normal adventurer code of most damage output possible, you can leave now.”

Emily frowned but didn’t move.

Garret laughed. “Are you saying you want me to not kill the monsters?”

Daniel hit the table loudly. “If Madi says to not kill a monster, you listen. If you can’t do that, we can’t trust you.”

Garret’s smile disappeared. “Woo, woo. I’m not saying I can’t follow directions. It’s just… why?”

Orrin raised his hand and Madi nodded at him. Orrin stayed in his seat, not trusting his legs while having to give the same speech he’d originally given to Brandt, Jude, and Madi so long ago. “It comes down to strategy. If every one of us just goes full out at whichever monster we want, the chances of success go down. Instead, we’ll work as a team. Daniel usually can keep the attention of a few of the monsters and stay up while we take down straggles or more dangerous prey first, depending on the situation. Madi and I have worked out a good system of giving directions during a fight. We’ll explain it all later. By picking our targets, we can concentrate our damage and increase our odds with every kill… or escape and regroup if the enemy is too strong. We each have a few tricks up our sleeves too, so using those in a smart way and in cooperation with each other, we don’t have to worry about anyone going off on their own and dying.”

Emily’s razor-sharp gaze focused in on Orrin again as he finished talking. “So, Madi gives the orders?”

Orrin nodded. “Most of the time, yes. But if you hear me shouting, or even Daniel, it’s likely a good idea to listen. The three of us have fought together enough that we know how to stop any gaps in each other’s weaknesses.”

Madi spoke next, talking about her own class and level. She even gave a short demonstration of her color-coded messages, reassuring Emily and Garret that she would go over it again in much more detail at a later point. Daniel also had a chance to tell them about the general overlay of how he’d fight, keeping his skills vague on purpose, as they’d agreed beforehand.

Orrin had already gone over his class with the two new members in the past, but so much had changed since that point. While his main skills were still buffing, he could also heal, track with [Map], give a protective shield of sorts with [Ward], use [Teleport], and keep the party alive with food and supplies with [Dimension Hole]. He didn’t get a chance to explain that he was a Swiss-army knife, though. A guard knocked on the door, interrupting Daniel.

“Ma’am, a member of the Guild is here for you,” a guard that Orrin didn’t recognize opened the door a bit more, letting the man inside.

“Thank you, Sir Perkins.” Madi answered. “Come in, please.”

Of course, she has already memorized all the new guards’ names, Orrin thought. With the general upheaval across the city Lords, the guards had been shuffled across different positions. Orrin had a hard time keeping them straight.

The man who entered was not what Orrin had expected from a Guild member. The man was old. Older than Tony. He must be eighty at least, Orrin judged as glanced at the long white hair and braided beard that reached the middle of his chest. The man carried two books clutched tightly to his chest and gazed around with an almost dazed look in his eyes.

“Guildmaster Pritus has sent me to prepare you for a dungeon foray,” the man spoke. “I’m Calak Ewing, Guild assessor.”

“An honor to meet you, sir,” Madi bowed her head. “Thank you for meeting us at my home. We hope to not take up too much of your precious time.”

Orrin glanced back at Madi, who was using her politician voice and flowery language. Who is this guy?

“What’s an assessor?” Daniel asked, still sitting. “Do you want a chair, Mr. Ewing?”

Calak glanced around and seemed startled to find Daniel sitting so close to him. He jumped back a step and almost tripped but righted himself at the last moment. “What’s an assessor?! You must be Daniel, the new [Hero]. Your power level has grown, young man, but you are still ignorant of the ways of our world. You should spend more time learning, or else you’ll die of that ignorance as so many before you have.”

“Daniel, an assessor, like Calak, is something of a historian. They study trends and information on different topics to give us predictions on what might be,” Madi explained.

Orrin itched to ask more questions. If Calak had a class geared toward information gathering, he could use that to their advantage. Maybe he could take the skills himself and figure out a way to get them home. Unfortunately, Daniel didn’t ask any more questions, and Orrin felt too many eyes were in the room to risk asking what could be common knowledge.

“Please sir, have a seat. What can you tell us of the new dungeon?” Madi motioned to an empty chair, which Calak shuffled too. He sat, still clutching his books to his chest.

They waited.

Calak watched each of them in turn.

Daniel, Orrin, and Madi watched him back. Garret raised an eyebrow at Emily, who shrugged.

“This party has a twenty-three-point-two percent chance of clearing a tier one dungeon. As the exact specifications of the dungeon type are unknown, an extra ten-point-three percent was taken off. While I would make recommendations, the Guildmaster has assured me that this is the group you have decided to stay with. Is that correct?”

Everybody took in a collective breath. Twenty-three percent chance of succeeding?

“This is our party, yes,” Daniel said, with an edge that Orrin recognized. Daniel did not like being told he couldn’t do something.

That kind of prediction probably pissed him off, Orrin realized.

“If you fail to clear the dungeon, there is a seventy-one percent even chance of one fatality, a sixty-four percent chance of two fatalities, a fifty-tw-“

“Stop,” Daniel said with an authority Orrin hadn’t ever heard his friend use. “There is a one-hundred percent chance we clear this dungeon and survive. I don’t want your predictions. I want information on the dungeon.”

Calak’s eyes blinked rapidly as he looked at Daniel. “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I get lost in my numbers.” He looked down in front of him and realized he still held the books close. Reverently, Calak placed each book next to the other and opened the smaller one first.

“Initial dungeon break was three days ago. Fifty-odd level two monsters of various types, including poison, water, and steel appeared and were contained. Twenty-three level three monsters of the same assortment were contained. One level three aberrant escaped, type unconfirmed. Based on this data, the dungeon is tier one, with a deca-set predicted.”

“Pritus said that our party could take that out in a week,” Daniel challenged Calak.

“Guildmaster Pritus could have meant a full party at level twenty, the recommended level for dungeon subjugation would have a higher success rate.” Calak closed the smaller book and opened the larger one. The pages were yellowed but the leather binding was pristine and polished. He also took a single piece of paper from his pocket and set it delicately on the table.

“With the combination of poison, water, and steel, it is likely that the dungeon will include moving traps, rivers or lakes of acid, and monsters of the same type. A list of possible monsters for you, if any of you care to read it, along with some historic traps found in steel and poison type dungeons.”

Calak began to read off the names of monsters. Orrin recognized one in ten of them but hoped he could peruse the bestiaries later.

“Any questions?” Calak asked, with his gaze shifting around the room.

“None at this time, thank you, sir,” Madi answered after a pause. “If we have any questions, we’ll reach out.”

Calak shuffled his books back together and stood. “If you should succeed, please complete a full report. More data helps future generations increase their odds of survival with knowledge and proper planning.”

Orrin watched Daniel. The [Hero] was glaring at the old man still as he left.

“I’m not saying I’m not willing to go, but one in four chances that we succeed isn’t the greatest,” Garret piped up as soon as the door closed.

“The only information he bases that off of is our current levels,” Madi said as she stood up and walked to the folded piece of paper left in front of Calak’s seat. “We can improve our own odds by being smart.”

She smiled up at Orrin as she grabbed the paper. “Ready to do some research?”

Orrin smirked. “Let’s defeat a dungeon.”