“How many fingers am I holding up?” Reggie asked, hand behind his back.
“Two” Alicia whispered.
“Wow, right again!” their Tank said with a beaming smile.
“Are you smiling?” Alicia whispered.
“Here, feel it.” Reggie said, bending down so their blue-eyed archer could reach his face more easily.
Alicia tentatively reached up and tapped Reggie’s face with her slender fingers.
“Wow, I forget…people have skin.”
“Well -”
Will cleared his throat.
“- Of course we do,” Reggie said, standing back up straight.
Will cocked a brow and glanced at Alicia and then back at Reggie.
‘In town.’ Will mouthed.
Reggie gave a stiff nod and clomped away, his heavy weight causing the marshy land to give way under his feet.
Shouting from the other side of the camp drew Will’s attention.
“And saying, maybe if your family wasn’t so you wouldn’t’ve lost your only Stronghold!” Mason said, shoving Travis away from him with his stick-thin arms.
Naturally Travis ignored it with his far higher Strength.
“The Lanovers never even had a Lord!” Travis shouted, putting his finger directly under Mason’s nose.
“Get that finger out of my face before I burn it off!” Mason shouted.
“Make me!” Travis shouted back.
“It was implied when I said ‘Burn it off!’”
“Children!” June shouted over the two of them, her voice just shrill enough to cut through their conversation, but not so shrill as to fail to convey her wrath.
“What is this about?” June demanded.
“The twink is using incense. It smells weird, and it’s probably attracting monsters. ” Travis said, thumbing at Mason, who glowered, fire dancing on his fingertips.
“This all feels familiar,” Will mused, standing next to Loth as they watched June handle the issue.
“Mason is using the bug repellant incense I him to carry,” June said. “That Loth picked out because it attract monsters. It in fact, actively repels a few types that we are not hunting, making the ones that we hunting more common by relative scarcity.”
“Oh. Well, now I know that.” Travis said, crossing his arms. “I change my complaint to ‘Mason is hogging the bug repellant’.”
Mason nearly took a swing at Travis before June stepped between them and smacked Travis in the back of the head.
“You know, maybe you should start a journal,” Loth suggested. The most valuable skill a leader can cultivate is-“
“Introspection,” Will finished for her.
“Exactly. And starting a journal will help facilitate that.”
“Cool,” Will said, nodding as he watched June gradually de-escalate the situation without their Decoy turning into a charred corpse, an icy chill running down his spine.
“A record of the mental state of your past self is an excellent way to gauge your current progress as-“
“What’s introspection mean?” Will interrupted.
Loth looked up at him, her jaw slowly dropping.
“…What?” Will asked, glancing down at her, the strange familiarity drifting away again.
“…The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes.” Loth said.
“Ah, should’ve guessed that from context.” Will replied, eyeing June. “…Make sure June’s financial incentives line up with the success of our Party, we can’t afford to have her bought out from under us.”
“What makes you say that?” Loth asked.
“Just…a bad feeling. Our Party has many weaknesses, but the only one with a price tag.” Will nodded towards where June was wrangling the others into getting prepped for the day of Climbing. “If there was someone with a lot of money and a grudge against us, that would be the first, easiest thing to exploit. I can think of two groups capable of it off the top of my head.”
“I see…” Loth said, rubbing her chin contemplatively. “I’ll address it discretely.”
“Much obliged,” Will said.
A few minutes later, Loth pulled June aside to discuss the Party’s ‘pay structure’.
While that happened, a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of Will’s eye caught his attention and he glanced over to see Reggie and Alicia flirting again.
“Wow, it’s bigger than my head,” Alicia whispered, touching Reggie’s bicep on the other side of the camp.
“And you can’t see it at all?” Reggie asked incredulously.
“Reggie!” Will snapped.
Things got under way quickly after that as June cracked down on the Party, dragging Reggie away from Alicia by his ear and saddling him with a pack that must’ve weighed more than the entire crew.
Once they determined an ideal travel weight, Loth took over with her bugs, but they made sure not to bring more than could be carried without her assistance, just in case she was killed or injured beyond the ability to command her insects.
With just four people, they had handled the swamps of the 4th Floor admirably, but with seven, it was a task so easy that it’s sheer ease began causing problems.
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They got practice working together as a team at first, but it quickly turned sour as boredom and a lack of stimulation began to mount.
Every encounter was quickly detected by Alicia or June, and then dealt with via a swift application of force from either Alicia or Mason.
Which caused Travis and Reggie to grow bored, and start bickering, which caused June and Loth to waste mental energy babysitting them.
Until it was basically just Mason and Alicia who were sharp. Even Will couldn’t consider himself sharp, because he was consumed with navigating the murky waters of interpersonal conflict.
To Will’s eyes, it seemed as though a Party’s efficacy dropped to match the challenge they perceived they were under.
“Are you William Oh?” An unfamiliar voice caught Will’s attention, making him turn to discover a slender messenger wearing swamp stompers, all eel-leather clothes and bearing a satchel of mail. The man was probably at least level 25 with a specialty in rough travel, because he was literally standing on the water, triggering Will’s envy.
“letter for you.” The messenger said, handing Will a letter before leaping away at blazing speed across the swamps, vanishing without a trace.
Will frowned and opened the letter, scanning its contents.
I’ve muddied the waters in ways that can’t be traced back to me, but he’ll find your trail eventually. He’s got nearly two full Parties worth of swamp-hardened mercenaries with him. One of whom said you guys attacked them on the way in? Attached to the back of the letter is their full Party composition. I recommend avoiding going back to Way Station for the forseeable future. In fact, you should probably just pick a direction and start running. Best of luck! I’ll head on up to the 5th Floor. The bathhouses on the 5th floor are something else.
If my quest must end, Let it be there.
Steve
P.S. getting this delivered Express by a high-level Messenger was ten Ivory, which nearly bankrupted my personal funding, so if you could have Loth earmark a bit of treasure to pay me back, that would be swell.
Will thought sourly, asking for his commanders to gather together.
“What do you need?” Loth asked as she arrived next to him.
Will handed her the letter while he read the attached list of archetypes that Steve had gleaned.
Druid, Rider, CC-Healer, Barrier, TrackerX2, Diviner, Sniper, TankX2, Nuker, and of course, Mark Wyrd, a Thorns-Tank.
“Oh. Oh my.” Loth said as she read the letter.
“What?” June asked.
“We have pissed off Mark Wyrd on the 3rd floor,” Will said. “And he have followed us here to track us down and kill us. We’re going to need to change our approach to stress speed. I’d like to emphasize grinding out some levels and searching for Swamp Stompers for everyone.”
Will glanced up into the sky.
“How high can your insects fly?” He asked, glancing back down at Loth.
“High enough.”
***Mark Wyrd***
“So, they stopped here…” Mark said, crossing his arms
“Yes, sir,” The Tracker said.
“Then they rose straight into the air,” Mark finished.
“Yes sir,” the Tracker nodded, before clarifying. “There was another person who arrived here before dashing off at high speed. Likely a messenger.”
“So he had an informant in town.” Mark surmised.
“Probably that Healer that cured Milo’s foot-rot.” The Tracker said, glancing at their Tank, who shrugged.
“Should we go kill him?” The sniper asked, thumbing the knife on his belt.
“No, if he’s any good, he’ll be long gone by the time we get back.” Mark said, fuming. He turned to his Diviner. “Which way did they go?”
The slender woman closed her eyes, then pointed off and to the right, nearly directly south, through the wettest, least traversable section of swamp.
“…Of course they did. how in the Abyss did a whole party fly?”
***William Oh***
Will hummed a jaunty tune as he picked through the pile of bones for Loot, standing on a slowly expanding platform made of driftwood and spidersilk. Even as he worked, flying insects brought sturdy driftwood off the swamp floor and set it down, where spiders began lashing it together with the rest of the platform, with a surprising level of craftsmanship.
Will thought as he worked.
“Why haven’t we been doing this the entire time!?” Travis demanded leaning over the edge of the platform and peering down to the swamps sliding below in the distance. “This is absolutely an exploit!”
They were a hundred feet high, above nearly every possible monster encounter moving at roughly the speed of a man sprinting, crossing treacherous terrain without an iota of effort. Even the insects carrying them weren’t particularly taxed, because there were thousands, and they took turns resting in the barrels, subsisting off of scraps of alligator meat.
“Because, how is anyone who isn’t Alicia supposed to get practice and levels from doing this?” Reggie asked.
“June, lend me your bow. I can take pot shots at stuff.” Travis said, turning to the scout.
“I’m not letting you waste arrows on that.” June replied.
“Dragon Eel,” Alicia said. Reggie held onto her belt as she leaned over the edge of the platform, her bow bending ominously as she lined up her shot.
She released, and a moment later, a swarm of Loth’s flying insects arrived to deposit the rapidly decaying Dragon Eel on the pile of dragon Eels decomposing into Loot.
So far they’d found 2 pairs of pants, an archery wristguard, (pin in that) gloves, a leather jacket, and one pair of boots. All eelskin leather, and many of them with Ranger buffs.
Will thought, retrieving the boots from the monster’s ribcage and tossing the rest of it off the slowly expanding platform to make room for more.
“Come this is the worst. I have to do ” Travis whined.
“…?” Loth asked, turning her attention to Travis.
“…Yesss?” Travis said hesitantly.
“I could arrange something. If Reggie and Mason are willing to assist.” Loth said, turning to Reggie.
“XP?” Reggie asked, glancing at Mason. Mason nodded.
“Loads of it.” Loth said.
“Yeah, we’re on board.”
Will shook his head, perfectly happy where he was digging through decaying dragon eel guts and not the subject of Loth’s ‘optimization’.
As Will predicted, in a matter of minutes, Travis was dangling from a metal chain mere feet above the surface of the swamp.
The Master Decoy’s shrill shrieks combined with his passive Aggro Draw caused monsters to lunge out of the water to find the source of the screaming and snuff it out, drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
“This is going to lower my damage a little bit, but I understand the necessity.” Mason said, switching the ring of Consideration out on his off-hand. “Even if I’d rather roast him.”
“I’ve marked him for , so you’d be roasting ” Reggie said, punching Mason’s shoulder before glancing down at Travis. “Hang in there Travis, you’ll be fine! I’ll take any incidental damage!”
“Screw you!” Travis shot back moments before a huge mouth emerged from the swamp and clamped down around their Master Decoy.
Reggie winced as tiny cuts opened up on his face, quickly sealing due to the Ring of Regeneration, but not before tiny wraiths emerged from his wounds and descended to the swamp to harry the swamp creatures flooding in around their engulfed bait, sending them scurrying away in fear.
“Mmm, looks like the haunting ring will scatter the enemy and make Mason’s explosions less effective for this particular strategy. Take it off.” June said. “And Mason, if you wouldn’t mind…”
An explosion rocked the swamp below them and the gulper let go of Travis, sinking back into the swamp, steaming in death, allowing their floating platform to continue on it’s merry way, stringing ‘bait’ through the roughest terrain the 4th Floor had to offer.
June, Alicia and Loth made a few paltry ranged attacks to make sure they were included as part of the ‘fight’.
“Okay, I don’t want to do this anymore!” Travis shouted up at them. “I was just something’s mouth! I didn’t even see what it was! PULL ME BACK UP!”
“No, awesome!” Mason said with a grin, giving Travis a thumb’s-up.
Bloodsuckers swarmed around Travis. Dozens of them landed on their Decoy’s body and attempted to drill into his flesh.
“Mason.” June said after the rest of them had taken shots.
The flaming remains of thebloodsuckers tumbled away from travis, leaving him singed and coughing, but completely unharmed.
“How was that?” Mason asked, glancing up at Reggie.
“Barely felt anything,” Reggie shrugged. “The bloodsuckers pinched a bit, but didn’t break the skin, and the conflagration felt like sitting in front of a warm hearth.”
“Excellent.” Mason said. “I haven’t even used a Charge yet.”
“Mason.” June said, pointing to where swamp monsters were once again crowding around their Master Decoy.
“Right.” Mason said, crouching down and preparing to drop a Conflagration directly on top of their howling bait.
“Dragon Eel,” Alicia said, spotting another of their Swamp Stomper generators under the water, lining up a shot.
A moment later, it was decomposing on the platform.
Will scanned his Party. Every one of them was paying close attention to their role, not bickering or bored, and as a side-effect, they were currently grinding the monsters of the 4th Floor at an unbelievable rate.
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