I sent a private message to Yamina, [He was a player?]

She responded “How else do you think he knew you were 4th level? Only folks with the System UI Perk can even see levels.”

I was still someone in shock, emotionally, when I system looted his body.

Looks like uncle was going to set up as a producer of drinks soon. A great idea, if the Merchant went along with it.

That last one was a hard choice, basically do I want economic benefits for the settlement of Appraisal, or Combat benefits. Having literally just survived a fight, I chose Stun.

I then went to the settlement interface and looked it up in the Tome.

Jesus, I’m glad I had him too angry to think straight, that would have been lethal to any of us before he was stuck in one place. Any one of us, stunned and stuck outside the barrier, at his mercy for over a half second. Thank god for the safe area barrier. Half a second to start with may not sound like much, but in a fight it’s forever.

I checked my Character sheet and that skill was not available to buy there. I went to the book, and bought it immediately and pointed it out to Yamina. A ranged instant stun for a fast but fragile flying character would be a literal life saver.

About then Jimni walked up, still in his bearskins, face screwed up tighter than ever, Holding out the necklace. “Here take dis back, yeah?”

“Hang on a sec Jimni. First off, I really don’t think this is the last trouble we are going to see from this. Claude here was part of an organization, they may hit us again at any time, and you and Thorbjorn are obvious targets, regularly travelling back and forth. If they ambush you, that might be the difference between you both living or dying.”

“Fine, but I fuckin’ hates it, I hates everything about dis.” He said shaking the necklace in his hand.

“I didn’t know you were a barbarian class.”

“-Was-, I -was- a Barbarian Skirmisher, a rare advanced class, but I hates it and all dey stood for. I turn my back an walked away. I hate dem bastards what did it to me.”

“Did you hate the people or culture of what that class stood for, or the actual class itself. Removed from Barbarian culture, couldn’t it be what you made of it and nothing else?”

“I fukn’ hate what dey made me, but I think on it.”

“Maybe there is a way to make a better path? a better you? and with Danu’s help you could teach others your better path. Save them from your mistakes? If not, we’ll find a way for you without the necklace or the class. For now, please hang on to it and stick to Thorbjorn like glue anytime you are out of the safe area, watch out for ambushes and backstabbers.

“Oh I knows da ways, Thor dere he’s my brudda, ain’t nobody killin him while I’m still standin.” Jimni stalked off next to Thorbjorn, who started trying to make him laugh to settle him down, clowning a bad imitation of Claudius.

I offered a quick prayer to Danu, to help Jimni find a better path, one where he’d no longer hate himself or what he does. This Divine chat stuff is a dirty trick, it gets you in the habit of praying to them all the time hoping for guidance… Point Goddess.

I saw Kat heading up to me, but it was a Kat transformed, she’d bathed and changed clothes. I’m not sure where the clothes had come from. Her hair was in a tidy pony tail. she looked years older and less waifish, not hunched over like a feral cat. She had the hints of the shape of the woman she’d become now. She looked clearly Rhuads age. She walked fast and stiff legged, her face screwed up and working.

“I hear you killed him, yeah?” she started as abrupt as ever.

‘Yes, I did, we going to have a problem?”

She barked out a laugh, pushing her stray blond hair behind an ear. “Gods no, I joined your religion just to get away from the bastard. He’s not even really my uncle, he just picked up strays and forced them to work for him and call him that. Thing is, I do have blood, an older sister, she’s why I dressed the way I did. Why a bound my breasts and padded my waist. Once she sprouted tits and hips, Uncle there, forced her into working one of his cribs in the Rathole.”

“Like taking care of the babies?” I asked confused, because she was way too dammed angry about it to be babies.

She looked at me her eyes large, and her brows twisted together, “No like locked in a box forced to be a whore, you idiot.”

While I blinked in surprise, she went on. “There are others there we could save, and lots of littles with nobody and nothing, we could maybe bring them here too. Plenty of others he’s forced into dirty work. But me, I’m here to bargain for my sister, Ginger. What will it take to get you to go get her with me?

Party: [Yamina grab everyone and gather back on me.] I said, before returning to Kat.

“Why the rush? you don’t strike me as the one to panic for nothing.”

“Cause once the bastard Merchant find out Uncle is dead; he’s going to try to take everything Uncle used to run. Uncle was running it for him after all. Merchie boy was Uncle’s boss. We don’t want to cross the Merchant, so we gotta get and scoot before he knows about it, he’s the head of the family here. His bastard brother-in-law, probably sent a messenger already about Claudius.”

“I’m in, we’ll talk costs later, after we know what they actually are. Go get your gear, hit up Fannon’s fast see what she can lend you, all my spares are gone.”

I added Kat to the party, and seeing the tab, added the whole party to the guild. I saw her eyes go wide. “Don’t fuck with it now, there will be time as we run, ask Yamina to explain it for you, before you spend a damn thing. Understood?”

“Aye, I hear you.”

“Then scram grab your gear”

I looked at the sky, “Danu, I Need you”

[Yes dear one.]

[With my points, Yamina, the Settlements and all points owed, is there a way to set up a teleport or recall for all the people we’re going to get?”]

[You’ve already got everything you need dear, I thought we went over this. Invite them all to your guild.”]

[Yeah , but they will not be bound here.] I said

[Bill, you really need to learn to figure this stuff out yourself.]

[I know, but I’m in a tearing hurry, can you at least give me a hint?]

She began talking in a soft flat voice clearly pretending to talk to herself. [Sigh…I wonder if he even looked at his guild and settlement perks yet, I didn’t’ make all that interface for nothing, you know?]

Taking her hint, I dove straight into guild perks. Looks like the guild being dedicated to her got 3. The Settlement too. And there it was staring me in the face. I grabbed

I then bought

That was going to be good now and later. The lessons of that mini-Boss lizard were not lost on me. Every member of my team now had 3 points of armor and it was only going to get better.

[How hard are perks for Guild and settlement for us to get later?]

[You can burn a point between us, to add a lowest level perk and another up upgrade the perk each level. I can also give them as quest rewards for guild or settlement related quests]

At that I jumped into the guild quest system and set up a global quest to help rescued the uncles’ captives for each member, then one for the guild and settlement as a whole. Another for the both for each member saved. Then I added a guild quest for each new member we add. All set to auto reward. So it was all up to the goddess. I was beginning to learn to put a little trust in her. She had a twisty mind, I could respect that.”

[Why thank you Bill, how nice of you] her voice sparkling and musical again.

Taking that as a hint I set up an open quest, I left everything open to the goddess to add Guild and Settlement quests like she did personal ones. Then I added all my new quests to the settlement.

I added head count quests for defenders killed, and another quest for if we can get out with no bloodshed. I was hoping that last one would be a much bigger reward, because honestly that was my goal. My hands were bloody enough for one day. I had to make a lesson out of Claude, but I didn’t enjoy doing it. It was clear we lived in a hard world. Finally, killing one of his minions, was one more way to gain the enmity of the Merchant, or the Mob boss, whatever we’re calling him these days.

Having covered all the bases is could think of, I dove back into Guild and Settlement perks, I didn’t want to spend the last one of each in haste. But I had 2 more settlement perks to spend within that budget.

I found one that added all magical books, like the Tome of Ancient Knowledge to the settlement as the core of a library, it included Tome based access to all the basic classes and skills, and copied any advanced classes or skills we had join our settlement/guild. It was like a little replicator, soaking up skills, abilities, classes and perks. We had a nice base there already. It also allowed Members to see their character sheets, and spend points there, but only at the library or gathering place. Hedged indeed. People were going to come flocking when they learned about that. I bound guild and settlement membership so joining one automatically made you a member of both. Wasn’t a good long-term strategy, but great for now.

I went ahead and set up the altar as default bind points for the guild and settlement

]

I looked through the guild and settlement for a perk that would allow us to invite folks at a distance, but everything worked line of sight, though you could delegate the ability to recruit.

I assigned myself and Yamina as co-leaders, of both the guild and settlement. I made the rest of our party “Officers” with the power to recruit. Then in a burst of inspiration, I created the rank of Sargent who had all the powers of officers except officer chat. Might as well start working on a chain of command. Next, I made almost everyone including the new members to the level “Recruit” and assigned bind, recall and invite to them. With luck we’d get a little geometric progression going on. I created a level below Recruit, “Probie” and they only got recall. I went ahead and set the worship of Danu as our default religion, but not our exclusive religion. We could deal with that later, but each member would get an invite to join the religion too upon joining.

I looked over everyone I knew in the settlement list I set Granny Gatlin to an officer. And set the Merchant Brother-in-law, who’s name turned out to be Able, if you can believe that, to Probie. I made sure the message looked like a promotion, not a demotion, by leaving “member” as the lowest level with no abilities other than the stone. I didn’t want to risk him pulling a fast one. Not till I was sure of his loyalty. That was going to take bribery, but the goddess had stacked plenty of chips in my corner. That alas was a problem for another day.

I messaged granny [Granny we’re about to go do something either legendary, or immensely stupid. We’re going to try to break Uncle Claud’s pawns out of Miningtown before the Merchant Prince can scoop them up. Can you pick a bunch of apples, up to say 25% of what on the trees. Also, gather whatever other healing supplies you can a set up a staging point at the altar. Check out the skills everyone got in particular Recall, we’re going to invite folks and have them recall enmasse, if things get ugly, people might come in hurt. I want you to take charge and set up healing and triage here just in case.“

I thought longingly of the tools in the forge, wising I had steel reserves, grabbed a big handful of coal and started concentrating iron , looks like my skill had finally upgraded to “Advanced Concentration” more mana efficient, and I could gather, materials up to uncommon rarity. I focused on pulling up all the iron I could from the river, not having time to try out the new stuff. At my first mana rest, I went and cut a huge branch off one of the nearby border oaks, throwing it leaves and all into my inventory.

About then, Yamina and the rest showed up.

“Yamina, what’s your carrying capacity right now?”

“I have to be able to pick it up to put it in my inventory, but once there I can carry several hundred pounds before my regens are affected.”

“Perfect, go pick up as many rocks as you can, the bigger the better, I want you to be able to drop bombs as needed.”

I turned to the others, “Fannon and Jimni, is there anything else on site we can make more Molotov cocktails out of, like the bottles with booze and rags in them like Jimni gave me. If so, run grab it while Yamina load up on rocks.”

“Yamina once you are full, I want you to pick a nice average rock and start practicing dropping it straight down on targets about head sized from a height, both moving, and stationary. Then I want you practicing flying straight at them at full speed and dropping it into their faces. Make sure you pull up outside their ability to hurt you, for now let’s assume that’s about 12 feet. Speed of flight is your best weapon and your best defense, let’s make it count double.” Yamina gave me a firm nod and zipped off. I finally found a way to make her Zoomies work for her.

I then set too on the officer’s channel explain the plan in as much detail as I could, so that Granny would be in the loop. I then told everyone about the library set up in the altar and what it could do. I suggested Granny take a look and pick up any skills she thought were important.

Granny said, “Yamina, you have Heal yes, will that be in the book? With combat coming up, that seems a wise ability for the head of the healing team to pick up.”

“Sure granny, and it’s an easy one to use, but are you at a place to pick up an advanced mage class?”

“I’ll dig into it and find out.”

Once Fannon and Jimni were back, we set out at a slow jog towards Miningtown, Yamina punctuated by the occasional thump, myself rapidly producing spears and simple maces, interspersed with high carbon hardened steel darts, stashing it all in my inventory. Everyone else was working on their stun skill, stunning everything in sight, including trees and small bushes. The sun was going down as we moved, but I had a feeling Yamina’s bombing practice would keep most pests away from us. A few hundred yards out I had Yamina stop her practicing and we all crept up to the crest of the last hill overlooking the town. First we ran crouched over, then crawling the last few feet, so we didn’t silhouette ourselves.

We looked down on the city, our heads just cresting the hill. there were only a few buildings lit up from within and they all had torches out front as well. I recognized the Mercantile as one but not the other two.

I asked Kat to break down the others and point out which buildings had people we needed to save in them. Pretty much everyone was in the Rathole Tavern, unsurprisingly. The Rathole was the lit up building closest to the river, the same building I’d pilfered bits of coal from my first day here. I was back to pilfer again. I wondered if that was fate, or just Irony. “God is an Iron.” I thought and chuckled.

We all crawled back down past the crest of the hill. As stealthily as we could, which for me was still not very, as I -still- needed to learn move silently. I just haven’t had time, I was either neck deep in trouble or flat on my back unconscious so far. I concentrated on moving silently as hard as I could as we worked down the hill and to the back of the Rathole. We waited for someone specific Kat knew to come out the back door. Someone she both knew and trusted.

When a hunched grey figure came out the back door carrying an armload of rubbish, Kat called out to them quietly.

“Orth, it’s me Kat, can you come talk fer a second?”

The figure froze like a scared cat for three heartbeats, then scuttled half way across toward our hiding place, but stayed out of our reach.

Orth spoke, in a surprisingly clear and gentle way, he looked like a beaten beggar, but his voice was beautifully deep and resonant. “How can I be of assistance Miss Kat?”

“You hear Uncle got his ass killed yet?”

“We heard a rumor to that affect, but nothing we can trust yet.”

“Well Trust it as true, my buddy Bill here “she pointed a thumb at me. “He half hacked old Claudes head off. I talked him into a dash here, we plan to break out Ginger, and anyone else we can. Bill here he’s a mage, and in tight with this new river goddess. You join his guild, and you get a spell to teleport your ass straight back to his stronghold. No walking in between here, poof and you are gone”

“That seems a bit fanciful Miss Kat, tall claims require tall proof.” Orths tone carried more humor than actual argument, Like he was playing and old game with Kat.

Kat invited him to the guild herself. He joined, clearly able to read the popups. I added him to our group as well. He accepted. The more he read, the more his eyebrows climbed up his wrinkled forehead. I had the feeling he understood what he was reading.

Orth spoke softly, “Recall eh, I’ve read about that one, that’s a pretty rare skill.”

“Straight from the goddess Danu that one came” I said quietly. “Do you believe us at least as far as poofing out of here?”

“Yes your ‘Poof proof’ does seem sufficiently tall, how long does it take after I hit recall before it ‘poofs’ us out? Is it a second, 30 seconds? Can anyone see it happening? Will I have bright lights on me loud music or something? The tales I read never said.”

Making a sour face at myself I said, “Those are great questions Orth, I’ve got to be honest with you we haven’t used it yet. The time I came to town the guild wasn’t set up yet and we had to walk back with these two”. I pointed a thumb at Thorbjorn and Jimni. “The group you’d be joining is still on the ground floor. Room to grow though.”

Orth nodded and then turned to Thorgard and in perfect lower Hibernian said “I Greet thee Thorbjorn now called Danuson who tales say is a Skald again, may your Gods look upon your deeds with favor.” And then turned to Jimni and spoke in a language I’d never heard before

Orth suddenly made sense “to you as well Jimni once of the Bear Clan, who forsook his people and treads a new path. May your ancestors find your death worthy.”

JImni replied in the same language, suddenly sounding cultured and educated himself. Well cultured and educated for Jimni. “My ancestors can go fuck themselves, they are the ones that got me into that fucking predicament to begin with. They can watch all they want, but I don’t give a rats ass for what they think about it. I do however, thank you for your politeness, Orth. You do your family proud, even sunk as lowly as you have.”

Orth converted back to common, a purer common than I’d heard before. “Ah yes, I am the bottom of the pyramid here, nobody needs an attaché or butler in a mining town.”

Huh what do you know?

I spoke up then in common, “What we want to know is, can you tell us the lay of the land in there? If we give you the ability to invite folks, can you wander in and start inviting those you trust? The idea is to spread to everyone quiet like, and then we all poof together. Nobody should cast Recall until I give the word in Guild Chat.

Bill:Guild:[Like this]

“But we want you and Kat to go in and see if you can invite everybody to the guild. In a perfect world we’d get everyone Claude was holding against their will, and just poof out of here in one go, nobody the wiser. If things get ugly the rest of us will bust in this back door and start breaking heads. You and Kat keep working the crowds. Send me a guild chat when you’ve got everyone. You two can talk silently in party chat as well. Warn us if your people are coming out the back door. Any runners we’re going to stunlock and take down.“

Bill:Party:[Can you hear me Orth]

Orth replied silently in Party chat [Yes this will make things easier.]

Orth continued aloud unruffled, which seemed to be his natural state, “I don’t know if we’ll get any of the heavies, Alejandro came by today and spoke to all of them before he left.”

I jerked up, my eyes wide, “Who’s Alejandro, that’s not ‘The Merchant’ is it?”

“Got in one. He seems to think the titles “Gang Leader” “El Jefe: and “Da boss” are a bit gauche. He talked to all the physical types personally, a few hours ago, then shuffled back with a few of them to his place.”

“Best to leave them for last, even if you trust them implicitly. He might have undue leverage on some of them. When you finish the others and start inviting the bruisers, let me know. Things will probably light off soon after.”

Yamina, I want you in there someplace safe. You are going to work as their eyes and ears. Have an escape route at all times. If the best answer is up in the attic, or outside the windows, you work that way. Safety first, info second and keep bubble shield up.

Orth is going to work his way down, Kat is going to work her way up to the whores and the ones locked in the cribs upstairs.

Orth, Kat and Yamina left and went into the Rathole proper. I watched the Guild membership counts climb slowly.

I pull Up officer chat, and talked to Granny Gatlin.

[Granny you there?]

Soon her tired gravelly voice came back to me. [Sure am boyo, getting aid organized, That book of yours is a miracle, but it takes organizing. What do ya want?]

[Can you have 2 people you trust run outside the zone, and use the recall skill, have a 3rd person watching the altar. I want to know how it works. How long does it take, do you fade out or disappear in a blink, any sound or lights? We may need to use it in a tactical situation here and I need specifics, what happens on the outside is top priority now.]

[Right o boyo, I’ll get 2 of my lads on it, and go watch the altar myself. I’ll let you know what we find out.]

You know I swear I thought I was good at this kind of thing, figuring out the questions to ask ahead of time. Planning, organizing. I was doing waaaay too much playing things by ear. Thank God for system chat, that was my best tool for making up for my shortcomings tonight.

No extra points though Danu, you already got points for System Chat.

Kat then spoke to me on party chat.

[Bill, Ginger isn’t in her crib. I don’t know where she is Bill] her voice was rising in speed and pitch, and cracked on the don’t know. She was losing it.

[Kat, this is Bill, keep calm, she might be elsewhere in the tavern. You keep checking up and Orth will keep checking down. It’s very likely you’ll find her. If not, we’ll get these people out, and then go looking for her. Ok Kat? As long as she’s alive, all we have to do is see her and we can invite her, then she can recall when needed. All we need is eyes on the prize.]

Her voice was still intense and crackling [Ok Bill, I’m staying on target, but don’t you forget, we’re doing this for her. Everyone else is just a bonus.]

I smoothed out my voice and relaxed it before replying [We are on the same page of the same book Kat. We just need to find the page Ginger is on. Got it?]

Her voice steadied even more, [Got it, going back to work].

Pretty damn tough for a 13yr old, boy or girl.

Orth spoke up then [No Sign of Ginger so far here Kat, I’ll start asking as I go. This magic talking of yours, Chat did you call it? It’s remarkably handy. We just spoke to Ms. Gatlin, and then to Kat and myself. Plus you have different conversations going on at once. Remarkable! You’ll have to explain it to me in detail once we get out of here. It’d be a blessing in organizing a Seat]

You could hear the capital ‘s’ in Seat, He meant a seat of power, a nobles house. Where exactly did Orth come from? [Fair trade Orth, I’ll want your story in return.]

Orth voice came back bubbling with humor. [Ha! There’s one thing it can’t do. You can’t shake hands! Consider the deal sealed though Mr. Bill I send you a magical handshake with my mind!]

I stifled a laugh [Please don’t call me Mr. Bill, there is a farcical play back home about a Mr. Bill, you’ll have me screaming “Oh noooo!”non stop, if you keep that up. You call me Bill, or William, or Will, or even Mr. Gardener if you must be formal, though that name slides off my shoulders every time I hear it]

Yamina spoke up brightly, not willing to miss the fun [He’s a Knight twice over Orth, you should call him ‘Sir Billiam’!]

The words clearly burst out of Orth, anxiety audible in his voice, his bubbling humor from before gone [Oh! I’m so sorry Sir Knight! how gauche of me. I’ll never live this down, my how frightfully living in this place has ruined me! Oh! I wasn’t supposed to say that part only think it. This Talking in your head is useful but not without its pitfalls. Sir Billiam, May I ask what order of knighthoods you are graced to hold?]

[I’m KSCA and was long ago a DeMolay, and in this world those are only knighthoods in the most technical of senses, but frankly Orth, you need to focus on your main job right now]

Then Jimni added his 2 centavos? 2 Coppers? I’m going to need to learn currency names. Please be a decimal currency!

Jimni’s voice still gravely and grating, but with mirth instead of anger or sullenness for once. [ I likes ‘Sir Willy’ me self, Or ‘Holy Willy Grand Priestly Poobah of Danu’]. Which then made a snort come from the direction of Thorbjorn.

[Oh no, you’re a High Priest too! Oh my! The embarrassment! Grand Willy was it?] said Orth. Now Thorbjorn was wheezing trying to hold in his laughter making small sputtering noises when he failed. His eyes clearly tearing up and Jimni looked pleased as punch. I suddenly understood what drew these to become friends. A taste for -low- humor. I stuck my tongue out at them both and spoke.

[Focus on the job Orth, Jimni is pulling your leg, as far as I know there no priests of Danu yet. Let alone high priests.]

Thorbjorn piped up [and who do you think is gonna pick them priests? Hmm, You and Yamina that’s who, Grand poo bahs indeed!]

I replied quickly [We only have 1 person in any kind of Holy Orders Thor babe, and that’s you, you should watch your own back when you start sticking daggers places], which made Jimni put both his hands over his face to smother the laughter ineffectually.

Yamina’s voice came then, sounding exactly like her mother, but a higher octave. [Children! focus! I can hear you snorting from up here. Secret mission, remember. Y’all are just lucky Jimni sounds so evil all the time, so nobody’s coming to interrupt.]

Thorbjorn was able to get the last word in [That was a low blow Bill] making us all grin like idiots again.

I quickly contacted Granny [What’s the news Granny?]

[Quick and dirty, no lights, no sound, you just kind of fade out over 10 heartbeats or so. Had the boys throw rocks at each other, You can be hit the whole time, but it hurts less the more you fade out. Reverse here at the altar. More details when you get back if you need them.]

[Thanks Granny, you are a pro, Bill out.]

I relayed the info to Orth, He replied [Sir Billiam, I’ve finished the workers. I’m going to start on the physical types now, just a few of them that I trust. When you see Englebert and Ethlebert join, can you give them invite powers as well please. I’m going to send them off to finish up and pick up folks we trust outside the Rathole, plus a few side errands. Then I’m going to move off and do the riskiest one myself. He’s a sharp and clever one, not honorable precisely, but his word is his law. If he’s still at liberty, I think I can sell him on the advantages of joining our side. If so, that will be no small boon for us. Speaking of Boons, this ‘System Inventory’ of yours is remarkable!]

Startled, I sent back [How do you see that; can you see character sheets already?]

[Already? How delightful! No Sir Billiam, I merely have some powers of discernment from my profession and I’ve been pointing them at myself and everyone I invite, Then I’m testing things out bits from tales and legends most vigorously as I go. I quite look forward to seeing my own character sheet. Remarkable!]

God, I hoped this guy was permanently on our side, powers of discernment indeed. I saw the two Berts popup on my list and promoted them both to recruit giving them powers of invite. The rest were set to probie.

Orth spoke up [My lads shall be coming out the back door.]

Soon after 4 hulking shapes came out the back and all took off in separate directions.

[Um Orth, 4 people just came out and took off when I promoted the Berts, is our cover blown?]

[No indeed, Sir Billiam, just taking advantage of this inventory of yours to do a little clean up as we go. One is heading to Uncle’s house and the other to his secret stash. Both to gather ye rosebuds whilst they may.]

Smirking I sent, [Orth, I’m beginning to be afraid of anyone you call sharp and twisty. You are far from a dullard yourself]

[Why thank you Sir Knight. It’s so nice to stretch one’s mental powers again, being a drudge, I assure you was mind numbing tedium, drudgery indeed!]

[How in the hell did Alejandro pass up recruiting you and make you a drudge?]

[He didn’t pass me up, I refused on moral grounds. The ‘Drudgery’ was literally my punishment. He expected the boredom of it to grind me down till I sighed up under him.]

[Was he right?] I asked.

Chucking in reply, Orth said, [Not in the time he had to apply it. Who knows what forever might have brought us, Sir Knight.]

A few more minutes passed and Kat called back her voice high and tight and fast again [She’s not here, Bill, I’ve looked everywhere, even in Orth’s area. She not in the Rathole anywhere!]

[Deep breaths Kat, that almost certainly means someone guessed you’d be coming back for her. If they moved her, then it’s because they want something. If they were going to hurt her, she’d be dead in her crib right now, for you to find her body. Who other than Alejandro could it be?]

[Alejandro, and Uncles number two Joseph, are the only ones I can think of] said Kat calming down now that she had a plan in front of her. Good Girl.

Orth Spoke up [I think I have Joseph sewn up here, he being the one I endeavored to headhunt just now. but we need to keep him being on our side quiet for now, he may turn out to be an ace up our sleeve. His demands are the ability to recruit 3 people himself personally. Can we do that?]

[We can make that work, Gimme a sec to set it up] I focused and created a rank. ‘Probie+’. And gave it a count of how many it could recruit. Yeah I know the name sucks, I was running out of names for ‘at the bottom’. I modified Recruit so all invited were automatically probies, and the same for Probie+. I spoke to Orth, [Invite him Orth].

As soon as Joseph showed up, I assigned him to Probie+ with a max invite count of 5, and threw him into the party to boot.

[Welcome Joseph, If you need more probies invited, come talk to Myself or my Partner. Orth, vouches for you as one who can see the main chance and grab a good opportunity. If you remain loyal to us, you’ll be in on the ground floor of something impressive. I understand we’re buying that loyalty, but I think you’ll find the Goddess pays in good coin.]

[My deal was with Claudius, but it didn’t include vengeance. Claudius was smart enough not to care what happened after he died. While Claudius lived, for 5 years I ran his dirty little whorehouse, for a cut off the top. Alejandro offered me the same deal on Claudius’s death, but I hadn’t taken him up on it. So I’m going with the better offer. Talk about the constructive power of negotiating. As long as you are square with me, I’ll be square with you. I don’t betray my principle while the agreement is in force. If you break the deal though, anything is on the table again.]

[How long is your deal with us? Orth?]

Orth spoke up [Mr. Joseph has agreed to work for you both for a probationary period of 1 month, after which we need to agree to longer terms. He rightfully thinks that with more information he can get a better deal. Thus, his short timeline. I also informed him that according to legend, if he leaves, all his lovely new powers go with the guild membership. Was I correct in that interpretation?]

[Very much so, Gods are Jealous that way, If I turn on Danu, I lose every dust fleck power I have, and am cursed by her personal enmity. Having been in her service, I can honestly say I’m more afraid of her working against me because of a personal grudge, than of starting at the bottom again. Gods make master tacticians look like kids playing hopscotch.]

Joseph spoke up [Thank you for that vivid mental picture, Sir Billiam, I find it enlightening. The idea of joining a group with an undying and powerful head has repercussions of which I was not aware. Most other religions don’t seem to work so, personally.]

[Call me Bill. I haven’t had time to break Orth of it, but you seem less set in your ways. Maybe when the Goddess has millions of worshipers things will be more impersonal. Right now her religion on this planet is on the ground floor. That makes the stakes way more personal for her. Makes her pony up the rewards on the barrel head though. You seem the type to appreciate the long term implications of that.}

[Yes, Alejandro was saying much the same thing. You are aware he is an avatar of his divine as well?]

[I was operating on that assumption after Claudius was. Tell me, does he have a partner, or a ward. Someone unusually close to him. In who’s Growth he’s taking a personal interest?]

[He has a Nephew, young Rey Pasqual, that he dotes on.]

[Yamina did you hear that?]

[Loud and clear Bill.]

[Joseph, if that’s the case, then both Alejandro and Rey Pasqual will have powers of similar scope to ours, though different in detail. They will both be dangerous and probably more powerful than us as well, having been working here longer. When we take them on, we’re going to have to think twisty, and cheat in every way we can think of.]

I threw a quick prayer upstairs [Am I correct in assuming Nuestro Senrora De La Santa Muerte, is trying to get set up here as well? Similar to how you are? She’s the goddess of Gangsters and Mexican Mafia in my world. Very new less than 50 years.]

Danu replied [ You are correct. She’s new to the game, and doesn’t have the power base I do. So while her people may have a few more levels, they are not going to have some of the other advantages you have.]

[No gifts or Boons?]

[Alejandro almost certainly not. Rey Pasqual, I can’t be certain. He’s already worshiped on his own in parts of Guatamala. Her powers though are mostly about Protection from witchcraft and violence. She’s a Death Goddess, I’m a Birth Goddess. We’re not going to be fast friends. No alliances here. One side walks away, one side dies. ]

[Can you tell if they have Resurrection?]

[Rey Pasqual, almost certainly. Alejandro, I strongly doubt it. Better yet I don’t see a bind point other than yours anywhere near us. So he’ll either start far from here, or start over with a new minder and far away. Santa Muerte is very new to all this; she hasn’t planned her moves out as far ahead as I have.]

[Ah good point, thanks for the reminder. ]

I promoted Granny to CO guild leader, and added her to our shop as well.

[Granny I need about half of your apples and other healing supplies in the inventory of our shop, we can access it from here, Any vessels of river water you can find, or containers of anything flammable too. then I need you to take any points you can scrounge up and start giving the skill Stun to new members of my party. Thorbjorn, Jimni and Kat already have it, So Kat, then Orth, then Joseph if we have points left. In that case look around and put stuff on us you think is a good idea. I don’t expect to have enough points to get very far, but I trust in you. What points you do have, spend them as you see best. I’m good for paying back over time plus interest if that’s needed.]

To Danu [Feel free to spend my points however you think best Danu.]

To the party [If you see the skill Stun show up, it’s a half second of stun on a 60 second timer. Range is 10 feet or so. It casts instantly. Use it to interrupt big attacks or cast spells. It’s also useful for setting up a big attack. Granny is getting it for as many of us as we can afford. If we pass you apples or water it’s blessed, Apples do a small heal on first bite. Water is a buff to drink it and a cures disease and poison if you wash with it.]

Joseph spoke up [I’m going to see if Alejandro will assume I’m on his side, if it goes bad, I’ll recall out. If it works well, I’ll know his plans and be in place if needed. If we can get out of here without blowing my cover I’d greatly appreciate that. I need time to collect my assets. If I have to recall, Orth I need you to pick up my recruits. Can I count on you?]

Orth replied [We discussed that Joseph, and I asked Kat and Granny to sign on as backup for us both, if things go astray. Kat has to get Ginger first, but after that you are next on her list. Granny is Granny, she’ll do it her way, but it will get done.]

[Right, I’m out, I’m going to be silent as much as I can from here.]

A gold Dot appeared next to Orth pic on my party bar.

[Orth, what’s going on]

[Just getting organized here too, I set my self-up as leader of my own party. I think the legends called it “raids” seems to work so far. I’m moving Joseph under me as well.]

God than man was clever and better informed than I am. I started on Guild chat.

[If you are staying to fight, if you get close to death, take a bite of an apple, hit recall and take cover. Granny is set up for healing back at home base. Noncombatants Recall now please.]

Soon after Granny said [Folks are starting show up now. I’ve got it under control here. Check your shop inventory when you have a moment Bill and Yamina.]

I saw a dozen apples and a dozen crude bowls of water. Several Bottles of Spirits showed up as I was watching, more booze kept appearing.

Then weapons and bits of armor showed up as well. [Orth have the fighters who are staying gather on me. Granny got us more weapons to pass out.]

[I know Sir Billiam, I had folks gathering them up in their inventories. I didn’t know Granny would be able to get them back here so quickly, but I wasn’t planning to leave them behind. It turns out quick fingered men and commercial women can rapidly find a use for secret pockets that can hold huge amounts of, well I guess Loot is the best name for it. I swear I saw Anita trying to lift a sofa a moment ago, so she could recall holding it. I had Cookie and her assistants hitting the food stores as well. If there is a portable valuable left in the Rathole when we leave, it will not be because of lack of effort, good Sir Knight. The Berts younger brother Egbert was hugging a safe with his arms and legs when he recalled. That seemed to work, as they are both gone now.]

The three of us chuckled at that, a handful of men and women came out of the back of the Rathole and gathered on us. I passed out weapons and armor as it showed up, A couple lean men took crossbows out of their inventory put them back and, and then climbed up to the roof of the buildings that over looked the central square a quickly as a flash. I handed Fannon my buckler when a proper rectangular shield showed up. I used shape to change it to my preferences. Which got stares from the new recruits. I then resized helmets to fit each of us, and I picked up a skull cap and a pair of greaves (shin armor) to match my chausses (thigh armor). I wished for some knee cops, but the overlap of the greaves gave me some protection. I pulled my langsaex and noticed it was bigger than when I used it last. Curious, I cast ID on it.

Whoa, Scaling and Soulbound, Okay. Definitely going to keep that as my main. I played with shaping it, and while not instant, it changed shapes flowing like water under my will. Made it longer, a bit thinner. I added just a bit of a guard and a pommel to counter balance it nicely. I was looking forward to growing it to a full-sized sword. I tucked it into my inventory with my spear. Which was still just a Crude Blessed Oak spear, alas.

I spoke up on guild chat [Everyone not In my party, stay hidden. We’re going to try to negotiate first, we are here to get Ginger, if we can do that, I’ll willingly leave. If we have to fight, fight smart and dirty. If we can drop Alejandro, that’s goal 1. Goal 2 Is killing Rey Pasqual. Everyone else is Goal 3. Crippling blows if you can. A cut hamstring is as good as dead if they only have a melee weapon, a cut wrist as good if they have a bow. Think smart. Hit hard, Hit dirty, attack from hiding if you can.]

Yamina had shown up as well “I scouted, Alejandro has a couple men on his door, the square is lit with way more torches than 20 min ago. I think he’s expecting us.”

“Spend your points now, I don’t want either of us any more fragile than we need to be.”

“Already done, I also picked up several bottles of whiskey out of the store directly into my inventory to add to my bomb load.”

I spent my points as well. 0ver 500 points, I knew exactly where I was spending it.

“Great idea, I want you to keep an eye out for other stuff there, and I want you running stealth mode. Lights off from now till this I over. I don’t want anyone to know you are there before you attack.”

“That’s going to slow me way down”

“Understood, fair trade for safety and a free surprise shot. After that turn on and off at will. But use the darkness above to your advantage. Good luck and I love you.”

“Aww, I love you too Billiam!”