Racknar tried his best to track how much damage on average they've done over the course of the fight. Fourteen D six plus ten D six for an average of one hundred and forty four. Divided by half for it technically being non magical. Seventy two. Then an additional three D six per round it was on fire divided by half rounded down for one damage for about six rounds totaling seventy eight. All before any attacks were made. Then adding in the two damage per arrow after reduction and three damage per goblin sword hit… however it was hard to track how many attacks were actually landing with so many being made in a small amount of time.

  Racknar did his best to try however, and eventually estimated around three hundred damage dealt leaving it's health at one hundred assuming average health pool. It was then it broke out of its mental stupor and started getting serious. Eventually taking flight into the air triggering an ability that does fire damage to anything that leaves Racknar's melee range. The corrupted dragon then declared in the draconic language. “Call lightning storm!” A spell Racknar knew to be a ninth level AOE spell.

  A thick dark close formed and lightning started striking the ground. Marionette and Krys'tal were able to dodge, with Ariagoria and Davy using defense spells to reduce or negate the damage. Racknar unfortunately took the full damage. He was barely able to stand afterwards, almost falling over as smoke came off him. The goblins and spiders were less fortunate with all the goblins being dead as well as many of the spiders with the survivors being close to death. Racknar used the badge of Arachne to send them away to save what he could.

  Once the spell was cast however, the dragon suddenly went limp in the air and dropped to the ground with a thud. Racknar had already been moving into position to attack it. “It's about time it tried casting a spell. Although as written it should have taken effect the moment he tried and not after the spell, not everything has been one to one. Sand of Morpheus for the win. It takes an amount of magic from someone touching it to activate so if you cover a mage in it without activating it then it functions like a sleep mine the moment the mage casts a spell.

  Shortly after the dragon impacted the ground Racknar was already attacking. Still moving faster than normal, he made twelve slashes that all cut into the dragon. The rest of the party didn't hesitate to send there own attacks with Krys’tal shooting ice arrows, Marionette shadow jumping in for some slashes, Ariagoria running in to smack it hard with her mace, and finally Davy casting a spell that caused a handful to grab the dragon and rot the touched area.

  Normally the sleep status would end the moment it took damage but the corrupted dragon and its parasite were not moving anymore. The party had done it, and with the exception of Racknar we're only mildly wounded. Ariagoria started casting healing magic right away and the magic intern finally came out of hiding. “That. Was. Awesome!” He declared as he jumped around. Racknar glares at the intern “You could have been casting magic the entire time. Even a cantrip would have been helpful. Damage is damage.” The intern shrank down a bit. “I was told only to observe.”

  Racknar rolled his eyes and started limping his way back to the city. “In addition to the pay your Lord owes me one cart.” Once in the city Racknar hands the Duke the I.O.U he signed and the intern gives him a report. The Duke of August then did some math on an abacus for a bit before tossing it to the side. “You can't put a price on the dangers an Illithid mother brain can pose. Especially when latched onto a powerful dragon. In addition to paying your due and replacing your cart you'll each receive the equivalent of three platinum coins and the honorary title of Protectors of the Realm.”

  Racknar tilted his head. “So we are officially heroes then. Nice. I think we'll take a nice long rest before leaving your city.” The Duke hands them each two hundred gold coins or relatively speaking thirty thousand dollars before doing a bow. “Feel free to stay at the best inn, free of charge for tonight.” The party all bow lightly before shambling to their rooms and passing out as soon as they hit their beds.

  Racknar woke up still feeling sore and groggy. He went downstairs for a free meal and was quickly joined by the rest of the party. “Before the fight we were probably level, maybe seven. After that fight we definitely leveled up. This means Davy should now have access to fireball and other fourth tier spells. One or two a day, give or take.” Davy nods. “I had access to tier four before the fight. This puts us at level eight now. I'm guessing. Honestly not sure why we keep using game terminology.”

  Racknar chuckled. “Because it's easy for me I guess. I mean many are used in this world as a part of it and so far we haven't been harmed by it. I just wish I knew how much damage my weapon did in game terms.” Davy did a small hand wave gesture. “How would you write it up?” Racknar thought for a moment. “Well these are bigger than normal greatswords. When a weapon is increased in size class it's damage dice jumps up. In the case of a greatsword that would bring it from two D six to two D eight. For the chainsaw aspect I think I would double it to four dice. The material would then give it a plus one for masterwork. So four D eight plus one.”

  Marionette sighed. “I have no idea how much damage that is because I have no idea what you are talking about.” Racknar sighed. “It puts my damage range at thirteen to thirty eight with an average of twenty four. That's without accounting for equipment, rage, or reckless attack. So my minimum damage is actually fourteen. That's the average health pool of a dire wolf. Meaning even if I fumble damage I can still one shot it.” Marionette nodded. “I see. Still not fully sure how good that is. I mean if I hit a big wolf with a sword it would probably die in one strike of a normal sword. This isn't a game and health points aren't a thing in real life.”

  Racknar nods “Yeah, even with resistances that dragon probably should have dropped sooner. I've had that happen a few times. Even had a time or two where something died much sooner than expected. So I think I'll stop tracking health pools. Especially considering assuming average damage and health is silly anyway.” The group finishes their meals. Racknar stands up. “Well Monster Mash, it's time we take the week plus long trip to Bramble.”

  Marionette and Krys'tal both shuffle. Krys’tal spoke first. “I don't feel comfortable being away from my geode for that long. Leaving it undefended and open to who knows what.” Marionette then nodded. “I don't like leaving my adoptive father alone for more than a few days at a time if I can help it.” Racknar hummed. “I suppose Davy, Charity, and myself can go to Bramble then use the gates to get back in a few hours. Then we can grab you two and gate back to Bramble.”

  Davy then shuffled. “I think I'll stay behind too. I uhhh… want to make sure no other things from the Nautilus survived. It's my fault and my responsibility.” Racknar nodded. “How mature of you. Guess it's just Charity and I. Unless you too have a reason to stay.” Ariagoria shook her head. “I don't have a reason to, but it might feel a bit weird if it's just the two of us. But I guess I can't leave you without any backup.” Racknar gives a small nod. “Alright. Then before I head off I'll remind everyone to make smart purchases.”

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  Krys'tal looked at their money. “This… actually might be enough for a land claim on my geode. I'll check with the Duchess of Flowers to see.” Davy looked at them. “That was your entire reason for becoming an adventurer. Does this mean you'll be leaving our little Monster Mash permanently?” Krys'tal shifted around. “Not necessarily. Our work helps people, and I enjoy the kinship we have as a group.” Davy let out a sigh of relief.

  With everything settled Racknar and Ariagoria got into the spider driven cart and waved goodbye to their party members that were returning to Flowers. The cart started moving and the two began their journey to the country of Bramble. Within a short ride of August the pair reached the country border and after showing their papers were allowed to exit Ran and granted entry into the neighboring county of Gallia.

  Much like how the country of Ran was a parallel to Holy Roman Italy, Gallia was a parallel to France. Racknar grumbled a bit due to how prevalent medieval Europe was in fantasy but from what he could tell it was just the Ran Empire that followed that. Skald for example resembled a fantasy Scandinavia as an island nation and was somewhat of a departure but not uncommon. The change in architecture was only noticeable in cities and even then there were many similarities to the buildings in Ran.

  The pair were not stopping for anything other than gate activation as they passed through cities and towns going in as straight of a line as they could while keeping to the roads. Encounters with hostile entities were rare on the main roads and what did pop up could be easily handled or scared off. Any bandits avoided the two as soon as they saw Racknar's illusionary form that looked like a big dude in nice armor with four large swords on his back.

  The two would take shifts driving so as to not stop with the other resting or sleeping in the back of the cart. The two weren't exactly here for tourism and sightseeing. That said it was hard for the two not to stop when they reached the halfway point in what was this world's equivalent to Paris. Lutèce Parisii. Ariagoria looked around in awe. “I always wanted to visit Paris but never got to in my past life.”

  Racknar sighed. “We've been going non stop for a while. We can take a proper break and look around if you want. We have the gate and could visit later but we are here now. Who knows when we'll get another chance.” Ariagoria gains an obvious excitement in her voice. “Yes, I'd love to spend a day here. Maybe we can visit the Eiffel tower.” Racknar quickly pointed out “This area resembles Europe around the thirteen to fifteen hundreds technologically and architecturally. The Eiffel tower wasn't built until the eighteen hundreds. Though I guess it wouldn't be the first anachronism we've encountered.”

  Ariagoria nods. “It's like an uncanny valley for history and geography. Everything is at least slightly off and then you have things that seem to have been intentionally changed. Twisted and corrupted like how the Church seems to actively embrace the worst aspects of the time. Though there are more progressive members like myself and Sir Ken. We are a minority.”

  Racknar nods “Papal authorities have already been an active problem for us. Speaking of which, I wish I took the chance to visit Da Vinci before we left. I could use some food magic items and would rather support a friend than a stranger. I should still get us bags of holding sooner rather than later.” Ariagoria nodded. “Being able to carry more loot increases our ability to make money so it's technically an investment.”

  Racknar grumbled “You’ll just use it to donate to the church. Little of that goes to charity work. You're basically financing the papal military and real estate.” Ariagoria began to protest. “I! … No, you're right. I should probably give the money directly to a cause every time rather than just some times.” Racknar nodded. “You know most people in my world who wanted to visit Paris did so because it was seen as the most romantic city in the world. Fantasizing about bringing a date over for the best time ever. Going to the restaurant in the tower. An overpriced experience requiring a reservation way too far in advance to be worth it if you ask me.”

  Ariagoria continued to look around in awe at the city. “I never really cared about that, I just wanted to visit because the pictures made it look so beautiful. Same with Florence. I just wanted to see all the most beautiful places in the world to admire its beauty.” Racknar chuckled. “Well if not for your oath and the fact they chose to stay behind the others might have gotten the wrong idea about us stopping to spend a night in this city.” Ariagoria glared at him. “Don't joke about that, it's not funny.”

  Racknar let out a light laugh. “It's a little funny.” Ariagoria rolled her eyes. “Even if I didn't have my oath, I feel romantic relationships within the party could get messy. It makes me glad that Krys is ace and Mari is a bit too young to worry about that just yet.” Racknar chuckled again. “Yeah, relationships can be filled with drama. That said, I have no objections to people reaching out and trying to find love. Even if I myself don't plan to spend time in that search anytime soon.”

  Ariagoria looked at Racknar. “Man, so there really is nothing between you and Elizabeth.” Racknar made a clock noise. “She herself has said she has no romantic interest in me.” Ariagoria chops the air. “That woman is lying to herself. The way she looks at you, her body language.” Racknar grumbled. “How would you know what having interest in someone looked like?”

  Ariagoria sighed. “I'm not ace, I've had crushes.” Racknar clicked again. “You had a crush on a priest teacher at your church school. Something I find a bit odd considering said school tried to correct your left handedness despite that practice being made illegal.” Ariagoria gave Racknar a look. “How did you… how do you know about that?” Racknar sighed. “You favor your left but hesitate whenever you are about to reach out for things. You show partial ambidexterity but considering you always write with the same hand it's out of habit and training rather than natural. You kept the habits and ticks despite being left handed in this life too.”

  Ariagoria knitted her eyebrows for a moment. “So what you are saying is you are in fact very observant, just really good at either ignoring or dismissing signals. That or you are an idiot who takes what Elizabeth says at face value.” Racknar grumbled. “Why do you keep bringing her up?” Ariagoria chopped the air again. “Because she's obviously into you and I feel she deserves at least a proper response. If your feelings are not the same then just tell her.” Racknar sighed. “She is well aware of how I feel about her.”

  Ariagoria groaned “Then what the heck is up with you two?” Racknar shrugged. The two continued to go sightseeing for some time, exploring the city before stopping at a restaurant to eat and finding a hotel. “Normally I'd suggest camping because it's free, but I could definitely use a proper sleep in a real bed.” Ariagoria enthusiastically replied “Yes please.”

  Racknar and Ariagoria enter the building and go to the counter, the person looks up at Racknar, then over to Ariagoria. “zit iz fifty argentum a night misur.” Racknar tilted his head. “Each?” The man looked a tad confused. “Non? Fifty for ze both of you.” Racknar paid the man and received a single key. They were then led to a room with the clerk leaving before opening the door.

  Racknar opened it and walked in, stopping when he saw there was one bed. “I was expecting two beds like a modern hotel, but it looks like I'm sleeping on the floor anyway.” Ariagoria enthusiastically moved to and leaped into the bed with a thud. “Thank you, you're a real gentleman. We probably saved money compared to a two bed hotel room. So sleeping in a bed roll might be worth it.” Racknar grumbled. “I guess it's better than sleeping outside and risking getting attacked in our sleep.”

  Racknar set up a bed roll and climbed in. “That clerk acted kinda weird don't you think.” Ariagoria shrugged. “I wasn't really paying attention. I was too distracted by his thick accent.” Racknar laughed. “Yeah, it was almost cartoonishly French. So much so it wouldn't have surprised me if his name was Fran?oise or something.” Ariagoria climbed under the blanket on the bed. “This bed is definitely big enough for two. Maybe he thought we were a couple?”

  Racknar sighed. “Don't know, don't care. I'm just going to sleep in my bedroll.” He then snuggled in and started trying to sleep. Ariagoria laid in the bed awake for a while. Looking over at Racknar on the floor every once in a while. He was the first one to mention wanting a real bed but quickly sacrificed it for her. It was a simple, nice gesture. He was certainly considerate of others.

  Ariagoria slowly dozed off in the bed, her anticipation of exploring the beautiful city more tomorrow was high. It took her some time to be able to dose off however as she felt bad for Racknar on the floor. She dropped the thought when she realized he was already asleep and finally drifted off herself after he was out cold.