Chapter 49: Herding Cats

Pluuk suggested that I keep a diary, to better reflect on how becoming a leader affects me personally and how I can study my own thoughts and behavior to improve faster. Harder than I thought it would be to write with one hand…and harder than I thought to be a leader.

My first impression? Herding cats.

Roger keeps flirting with Alice, who has no idea that’s what they’re doing, Jason is a hair’s breadth from getting into a fistfight with about half the Party, but especially Trent, who seems to thrive on being an ass. Julie is professional, thank the gods, but the woman’s loyalty is to the highest bidder, and the only reason she hasn’t betrayed us all is because no one’s made an offer.

Being a leader feels as though I’m crossing a treacherous channel in a ship held together by cobwebs.

• Ancient journal fragment discovered on the 7^th

“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 I’m saying, maybe if your family wasn’t so complacent, 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 gave him to carry,” June said. “That Loth picked out because it doesn’t attract monsters. It in fact, actively repels a few types that we are not hunting, making the ones that we are 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.

Déjà vu.

“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 that’s 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 4^th Floor admirably, but with seven, it was a task so easy that it’s sheer ease began causing problems.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

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.

I need to change their perceived challenge without getting anyone killed or seriously injured. How can I pull that off?

“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.

Will, Mark Wyrd is in town, and he’s asking if anyone’s seen you or your Party. 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 5^th Floor. The bathhouses on the 5^th 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.

How convenient. Ask for stress to straighten out the party dynamics, and ye shall receive, 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.

That’s a lot.

“Oh. Oh my.” Loth said as she read the letter.

“What?” June asked.

“We may have pissed off Mark Wyrd on the 3^rd floor,” Will said. “And he may 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.”