The dining room area one again became the center of a faction meeting as Scott called everyone who was not on guard duty to order. He informed them quickly regarding the situation, that Brittani intended to come by to visit and that she would be bringing a guest.

The meeting area erupted in a slight uproar once Scott finished speaking. His revelation that they would soon entertain guests was neither expected, nor entirely something that the rest of the faction approved of at the moment.

"If we let them in here, what is to say that they won't kill us all?" asked Harold. The older man pressed his tented fingers to his lips and narrowed his bushy eyebrows. "There is not even an actual agreement between our groups despite the fact that she has helped you before."

Scott nodded to him. "Yeah, that's why we cut the team training short. We needed to let everyone know the situation as soon as possible. I seem to be someone of interest to her, but it's hard to say how real that interest is outside of her own ambitions."

"This could be good, if this Brittani Rotten, is brought into an alliance... But you do know this could go terribly wrong. Correct?" asked Michael. "I mean, even other human beings aren't entirely trust worthy much less undead popstars..."

Before Scott could answer, Michael massaged his forehead and offered the room a wide-eyed expression. "I can't believe that's even a thing."

"Yeah, I said much the same thing when I first met her. It was the strangest meeting of my life, to be honest," said Scott.

"What actually happened with that, anyway?" asked Rachel. She leaned forward, a curious expression on her face.

"Well, I've told a bit about this before. Basically, after I received my first title she appeared during a quest event. She gave an impromptu concert and I was forced to deal with a cinematic battle event where I needed to survive several waves of ghouls while she sang," he replied.

"Seriously?" asked Rachel, her expression shifting to one of disbelief.

"Yes, though she was surprisingly friendly throughout the entire thing," admitted Scott. "She's sort of confusing in that way, but then all of the non-human girls whom I've met have been like that except for Harley and to some extent, Eloa."

"They can't make up their mind if they want to kill you or kiss you?" asked Harold with a grin.

"Yeah, or they want to do both at the same time," said Scott.

"Like the mermaid who wanted to drown you in the river to keep you forever?" asked Cia, getting in on the fun.

Scott nodded to her. "Yeah, exactly like that. Which also leads us to a serious issue."

"Oh?' asked Michael, as though his interjection was needed to move the conversation along. Admittedly, however, they did go off track a little for a short while.

"In truth, it's not like we could stop Brittani from killing us even if we told her to stay away. It's a situation much like the one with Eloa," admitted Scott. "She's absurdly powerful in her own right, but she also commands an army of followers on top of that."

"She's that powerful?" asked Frank.

Scott sighed, "She easily made Discount Chopper turn tail and run back to his master. That guy completely overpowered me in every regard at the time. Even now, I'm not sure if we would be an equal match unless I greatly upgraded my gear and gained a few more levels."

"Couldn't that be a con, though?" asked Michael. "They were both ghouls, right?"

"It's possible, which is another issue," said Scott. "In a perfect world, this meeting would happen somewhere neutral. But she's declared her interest to come visit with me here at our home. From the wording of the message it seems like some sort of official visit."

"Seemed more like she wanted to come see you specifically," said Cia a smug smile on her lips.

"I wonder," said Frank in a thoughtful tone.

"Hmm?" asked Scott. He looked to Frank while trying to avoid eye contact with Cia. "What is it?"

The big man waved him off with one hand, but answered him anyway. "You mentioned Eloa as being different from the other girls who want to eat and date you at the same time. I was just thinking that if you use the excuse that you thought it would be an official visit, like between two factions, you might be able to bring her in on this."

"Bring in Eloa?" asked Scott with a nod. "I considered on the way back here today, actually. I'm just not sure how either of them would react. It also might make us look as weak as we actually are."

"Are we really that weak?" asked Rachel, her eyes wide. "I mean we're doing pretty well, all things considered.

Scott looked to the eldest Weiss daughter. "We're doing wonderfully by human standards in the area, but the other races have major advantages in levels and numbers."

Frank spoke up again, "I had a few issues with this meeting at first, but if you consider the goblin attack that happened a few days ago and that vampire girl, I really do think that trying to bring your lizard girlfriend along could help. She might be a good way to keep things honest and maybe work on a stronger alliance... God knows we could use friends who command armies."

"First, she's not my girlfriend," said Scott with a snort. Several chuckles echoed through the room before Scott continued. "Second, I'm not even sure she would be willing to come here."

"Why not ask her, anyway?" asked Michael. "If she is nominally an ally, and the one coming to visit is supposedly on good terms with you we might be able to strike some sort of deal."

"You jumped sides pretty quick," said Cia to Michael.

He nodded to the pom-pom clad girl. "True, but Frank made a good point. Also, if we do have an actual treaty with another group then it's always good to try and make that stronger. That bridge seems like it will be an important location for our plans."

Scott rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "True. Our faction is still weak, and there is no hiding that... If everyone else agrees that it would be a good idea to bring Eloa here, then I'll go discuss the situation with her."

"Gonna take protection?" asked Cia.

"I've got my swo—" began Scott in a dismissive tone, but upon seeing the look on her face he snorted then rolled his eyes. "I walked right into that."

Laughter ensued as Scott shook his head. A few minutes later he looked to Harley then smiled. "Ready to go?"

Harley closed her eyes for a moment. A hot pink helmet complete with orange colored visor appeared on her head. "Ready, master."

"Been a while since I've seen you wear that outside of a hunting trip..." said Scott.

"A girl has her reasons, master," said Harley cryptically.

"Woo," said Cia. She fanned her chest with her hand for emphasis. "Getting a little warm in here, huh?"

Scott shook his finger at her briefly. Cia grinned at him in then shook her pom-poms a little.

In an attempt not to let her drag him into more comedic hijinks, he turned to Frank, Harold, and Michael. "I should probably head over with just Harley. We can get there and back quicker on our own."

"How long do you think it will take?" asked Michael.

"It's a good two miles or so away, but this area is usually somewhat clear. Most of the monsters hang out further into town at the moment," said Scott. "If I'm not back by sundown it means something happened."

"So long?" asked Michael.

Scott shrugged. "Things happen. Doubt it will take that long, but it might."

"Double woo!" exclaimed Cia before she once again fanned herself emphatically, this time with both hands flapping. This time Rachel joined in with a laugh.

Scott rolled his eyes at them. Cia was far too interested in teasing him recently. He turned away and did not show either of the girls the small smile that crept up on his lips, however. He much preferred that his people were beginning to feel comfortable enough with each other that they would joke and carry on so freely, but he did not want to encourage them to tease him too much.

"In the mean-time we should cut leveling short until the visit ends and just have everyone stat train for a while if they aren't on duty," said Scott. "Heavy exercise interspersed with reading. It might not produce much in the way of results with the little bit of time we'll have, but it's something."

"You really think we'll gain a stat boost for anyone by training for a few hours?" asked Michael. "We could go hunting while you are gone."

"We need more equipment upgrades before I would risk that. It's far more dangerous to hunt with both Harley and I gone," said Scott. "Catch the attention of even one stronger monster and we could lose people."

"It won't be a waste of time though?" asked Frank. "You said it would make more sense to focus on hunting and increasing professional experience instead of stat training for the moment."

"Honestly? I worked myself relentless and only gained a few attribute points over the course of several days. It soon became much harder to get anything to happen due to the increase, and that was before acquiring a class," said Scott. "This training would at best help get more hit points and stamina since their low attribute scores don't help them as much when they gain levels."

He frowned a little then continued, "Even so, don't expect much. At one or two points in a stat you can work wonders over the course of a few days if you make extreme efforts, but training beyond a certain point is something that would take months of work even doing that."

Michael and Frank asked Scott about what he knew regarding stamina and hit point leveling. Upon learning that they would need to work until their stamina completely depleted and they lost hit points, they quickly looked to each other and nodded. There would at least be two people who decided to train hard while he was away.

Scott and Harley headed out. He waved to Rosa and Hana in passing, and they waved back. They were pulling guard duty at the moment, and did not know what was going on. However, they also did not ask. If Scott was heading out alone with Harley they were obviously going off to do something important.

"Well, Harley," said Scott. "Care to take me for a ride?"

She made a slightly cute noise then quickly shifted into dirt bike mode. Scott smiled at her antics then hopped on. He revved her engine then allowed her to drive off toward their destination. There was no way to know how Eloa would react to his request, but if he played his cards right then his faction might very well make another serious step forward when Brittani and her mystery guest came calling later that evening.