Shin tapped his fingers restlessly against his cheek, mulling over the Wild Son’s report. “So how long until they reach the fortress?”

“If they maintain their pace? The end of the day.” The scruffy kobold pointed in the direction of the western exit from the zone. “Now that they’ve pushed through the more densely populated Oaken Elf zones, there hasn’t been much to distract them.”

It figured. The waystation was still at least two full days of work away from being repaired. So much for being a Sanctuary before the players arrived. Three players. Ugh. “Did you manage to update your scouting report at all?”

“Yeah, actually.” The untamed ranger spat, a lovely habit that every single one of the Wild Children apparently picked up from Higen. “The human’s still up in the air, some sort of rogue or something, but we’ve confirmed the Beastman is a Grappler. He stopped to update his Skills with some hermit trainer at the Quercus outskirts.”

Hm. Grapplers were close combat specialists with a focus on stances and combos. That was both good and bad; if Shin could keep the Players talking, a Grappler wouldn’t pose much of a threat. If talks broke down, though, the chances of him getting put into a headlock and smashed face-first into the ground went substantially up. “What about the Grand Elf?”

“Not exactly sure, but he’s definitely some sort of caster fighter hybrid. He’s got a big damn sword but he uses magic for everything; saw him use an Icy Grasp spell to chill a bottle of wine at one point.”

“Right. So maybe don’t shake that guy’s hand.” Shin drummed his fingers again. “Anything else?”

The Wild Son shrugged. “Only that all three of them are Level Twenty. We heard them talking about it; something about a ‘soft cap’?”

“Oh!” Bex raised her hand. “Yeah, the soft cap for players is Level Twenty! Once you hit that point your Experience gains drop to like nothing until you’ve either gotten an Advanced Class or attached yourself to a Story Arc.”

“Really?” Gero tilted her head. “I’m Level Nineteen. The Players are only one level higher than me?”

“Sure, but One,”–Hilde ticked up a finger–”A Player is much stronger than one of us, even at the same level. And Two,”–He popped up another–”Even if you killed them, wouldn’t they just come back? We’d have to kill them forever, but they only have to kill any of us once.”

Gero huffed, glancing expectantly towards Shin. “You think I could kill those Players forever if I needed to, don’t you?”

Shin himself was Level Twenty; the battle against Wren had been an absolute feast of Experience for him. “No question. Hopefully we’ll find a solution that isn’t quite so unending, but Plan Gero is absolutely just turning them into Player Paste until we get the Sanctuary up.”

The big kobold puffed out her chest, pleased by the vote of confidence. Shin was going to do everything he could to make sure that Plan Gero never came to pass, however. They simply were not positioned to have a hot war with a force as firmly established as the Oaken Elves. If the Alliance was going to survive, they needed to keep this conflict as a series of political maneuverings until a way forward presented itself.

This would be the first true test of their ability to solve problems without arrows and fire. If Shin couldn’t pull this off? He’d have to concede that Higen’s way of doing things was the better path.

Shin turned around to face the ad hoc War Council that had formed, his ears perked up attentively. Higen had vanished back into the unknown wilds, and Momo was overseeing matters at the waystation, but these five represented a solid cross section of the family they had all made together. “Any last thoughts?”

“Not here.” Hilde picked a bit of lint off of her sword hilt, flicking it away. “I’ll just be ready to get my sword between you and a Piledriving Beastman if you accidentally insult his mother or something.”

Gero huffed again. “Not if I get there first.”

Bex clenched her fists, looking completely determined. “I messaged some of my friends; if things really go bad, I can probably get them to come!”

“Well don’t look at me,” Bittercup folded her arms, her bulky robes swishing primly. “I did my part already by writing that letter. Make no mistake: when the Players arrive, I will be hiding in the fortress.”

“Not me!” Mimi cheerfully saluted with his quill. “Don’t worry Shin. Whatever winds up happening, it will definitely be written down and properly annotated.”

“That is certainly a relief.” Shin glanced back over his shoulder towards the suddenly ominous western exit. “Let’s break for two hours. Everyone get your heads straight. After that, we’ll form the welcoming committee and wait for our guests. Sound good?”

As the others began to disperse back to their own devices, Shin noticed the Wild Son motioning him closer. “I was wondering,” He started, his eyes locked on the departing form of Bex even as he spoke to Shin. “Why didn’t you get her to give you another Royal Coin? To immediately repair the waystation?”

Shin frowned. He very nearly said ‘because she’s my friend, and friends don’t use each other like that’. But he was certain the untamed kobold would have had zero respect for that sentiment. And honestly? Shin wasn’t entirely certain he wouldn’t use a friend like that, assuming the stakes were high enough. “She’s a long term investment.”

The Wild Son tilted his head. “Meaning?”

“I’m surprised I have to explain this to you." Shin raised an questioning eyebrow. "Let me ask you: Why didn’t you just Raze the fortress for the experience bonus?”

“Because if we left it up, we could wait for a new target to..,” The Wild Son blinked. “Ah.”

Shin folded his arms behind his back, his ears flicking confidently forward. “You can pressure someone into a favor once, maybe twice. But if you invest in a long term relationship with someone, a one-time favor can be replaced with an infinite string of smaller favors. I don’t need Bex to solve this problem. I need her to help smooth down all of my future problems, forever.”

“Right, I get it.” The Wild Son’s bored eyes had gained a new spark, almost looking impressed. “The Boss was right. You are a sneaky piece of shit.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

The Wild Son nodded, turning around to head back to his lookout at the edge of the zone. That was everyone, then. All that was left to do was gather his thoughts and prepare for what was coming.

That, and pull up his Status Screen in the vain hope that he’d lucked into some new secret weapon. “Status.”

—————————————————————

Name: Shin

Race: Kobold (Monster)

Class: “Tactician” (Lvl 20)

Description: Formerly a meaningless mongrel, now a mostly meaningless kobold, Shin is suspiciously adept at turning lucky breaks into obscene windfalls. A sneaky little git, what Shin lacks in refined strategic sensibilities he nearly makes up for in underhanded cunning and shameless opportunism.

Having overthrown his rightful masters through acts of cowardly deceit, Shin has managed to wheedle and cheat his way to a seat of real (if minimal) power. Whether or not he can maintain this facade will rely entirely on his continued ability to turn straw into gold-painted straw.

Shin is apparently a special Schemer now. Oooo~! Does he want a special little hat? Does he do a special little dance? Shin is still a Schemer, through and through, no matter what anyone else claims. Trash is trash, and a dog in fine clothing is still a damn dog.

Having pulled up his Big Boy Pants and strutted around for everyone to see how big and smart he is, Shin has finally waggled his flea-bitten ass in the face of one foe too many. Surely now he will receive the merciless spanking he so clearly deserves, right? Right?!

Stats:

Str: 10 Agi: 16 Tgh: 20 Int: 22 Wis: 22 Prs: 50

Traits: Enhanced Senses (Kobold), Ranged Expertise, Ranged Specialization (Recurve Bow) Armor Proficiency (Medium), Simple Proficiency

Class Features: Advanced Leadership (Auras Known: Inspiring, Careful, Bold, Crafty), A Certain Low Cunning, Advanced Opportunism, Combat Savant, Ruse de Guerre, Perfidy

—————————————————————

Well, as was now practically tradition: Screw You, Description Section. One thing seemed clear, though: Whoever or whatever it was that added to his Status Screen, it wasn’t either of the Voices. The tone was completely wrong, and Description’s increasingly desperate thirst for Shin’s humiliation didn’t really jive with the borderline blasé demeanor of the entities from his dreams.

Anyways. There had been no time to do much besides hastily assign his attribute points when he actually gained these levels, so he had a handful of new toys to inspect. It seemed as though two of his existing Skills had been upgraded?

—————————————————————

Advanced Leadership: Whether through experience, guile, or just personal magnitude, it’s you that all eyes turn to when battle is begun. Your very presence bolsters your allies, granting continuous bonuses based on your qualities as a leader.

As your experience as a leader has grown, so too has your ability to inspire those who live and die under your banner. One Leadership Aura at a time may be boosted to an Advanced Aura, granting increased boons and/or additional effects

Inspiring: Allies gain a 15% boost to Experience gained Bold: Allies deal increased damage, based on the Schemer’s Intelligence or Presence modifier Careful: If up to one source would cause an ally to take increased damage, they take flat damage instead Crafty: The Traits of allies are increased in efficacy. The Class Cooldowns of allies are modestly decreased.

Advanced Opportunism: They say that a hero never kicks a foe while they’re down. You say that a winner never lets a foe get back up again. You’ve learned that your enemies will defeat themselves, if you let them, and you’re all too happy to oblige.

Whenever an opponent gains Disadvantage, you gain access to a contextual suite of reactions and effects. The strength of these effects scale with your level and three Mental Stats, opposed by your target’s level, Mental Stats and mental state.

At Level 20, the suite of Opportunism effects is expanded to include Advanced Tricks. Activating an Advanced Trick requires the Schemer to have Advantage and the opponent (or opponents) to have Disadvantage, and unless otherwise stated will consume both statuses. Advanced Tricks may only be activated outside of combat, and activating a second Advanced Trick automatically ends the effects of any that are already in effect.

—————————————————————

Ugh, Advanced Opportunism seemed like the perfect place for a tool to use against these Players to be hiding. But Shin couldn’t pick through its options until the chance to actually use one presented itself. Frustrating. Well this was absolutely something to keep in mind, but Shin was going to have to mark this ability down as a question mark for the moment.

At least he could test Advanced Leadership immediately. The Schemer selected his Inspiring Aura, his eyebrows shooting up as all of his attributes increased. Okay wow, apparently the improved version of an Experience Buff was artificially raising his allies Level by one? What did the others do, then?

Crafty seemed to just be the same effect but with all the numbers tuned much higher. A little boring, maybe, but absolutely worth it. It did make him long yet again for a Wizard class in their Tribal Pool; a combat squad supported by Clerics and Wizards, all casting their spells at a significantly increased rate? It was the sort of thing Shin dreamed of.

Careful turned its damage negation into a full-on defense buff, but Bold was the second Aura to bring an entirely new effect to the table. And that effect happened to be a downside.

“Allies deal massively increased damage, based on the Schemer’s Intelligence or Presence…” Shin frowned, reading on. “...Allies also receive increased damage, based on the same chosen stat.”

Okay, so maybe not so much with that one. As much as Shin was a fan of massively increased damage, he was not as big a fan of his allies taking said damage. Under what circumstances would activating that Aura be anything less than using his friends and companions as suicide bombs?

Well, hrm. Maybe if he had a way to negate increased damage. Like, uh, the baseline Careful Aura. Which he got to leave on constantly, for free. Holy Shit.

Yeah, okay. Bold plus Careful. A match made in heaven. Maybe Plan Gero was a little more plausible than he’d originally thought.

Shin gave himself a quick shake, forcing himself out of his Value-based reverie. There was still more sheet to get through.

—————————————————————

Ruse de Guerre: The history books are filled with the victories of peerless generals, outlining their crimson-cut paths through legend, and the taverns are filled with songs of the brave and heroic deeds that created those victories. But the Schemer understands that victories are not always about brave and heroic deeds. And while it seems unlikely that any taverns will be filled with any songs about your conniving, backstabbing, and thoroughly underhanded tactics, the history books will mark them as victories all the same.

By activating this ability, you may invert a single Leadership Aura from an ally-affecting buff to an enemy-affecting debuff. While using Ruse de Guerre, you may not gain the benefits of Advantage.

Perfidy: It is sometimes said that when one chooses the field of battle, one has already won that battle. But a true Schemer doesn’t go to war unless they have chosen not only the field of battle, but also its date and preferably the knowledge that it’s going to happen at all.

When turning hostile against a neutral or friendly foe, or in direct violation of a ceasefire with an otherwise hostile opponent, Ruse de Guerre is automatically activated without its usual costs.

—————————————————————

Woof. If it hadn’t already been made abundantly clear, there was no question now: The System thought Schemers were assholes.

And honestly? That seemed like there might be something to that.

Asshole or not, Shin was certain that these new additions to his toolbox would be put to the test before the day was out. He didn’t want to fight the Players. He didn’t want to fight the Oaken Elves, either. If everything could win, Shin would be perfectly happy.

As long as he, and his family, didn’t lose. And if he had to pull some real deal backstabbing nonsense to make that happen? Shin would be just fine with that.

———————————————————————————————————————

The howl that signaled the arrival of their guests had sounded from the far end of the zone at least ten minutes ago, but they’d as of yet made their appearance. “Seems like they’re taking a scenic route,” Gero mused, her club propped on her shoulder. “Bleh.”

Hilde hummed in agreement, giving her sword a final pass with her honing stone. “They want to see the sights. How whimsical.”

“It’s a power move.” Shin forced himself to stop fidgeting in impatience. “They know we’re waiting, so by dragging their feet they’re putting us off our game.”

“Oh that’s diabolical,” Bex huffed, pounding her fist into her other hand. “Are these guys pros or something?”

Shin shook his head. “I doubt it. If they’re trying to play this type of game, they’ve made it clear that they’re here to talk. Not fight. They’re giving us more than they’ve taken.”

“Oh that’s diabolical, too! Geez, everyone says the diplomacy stuff in Magica is boring, but this is really–” She trailed off, squinting her eyes. “Oh hey, that’s them right?!”

It absolutely was. There were the three players, slowly approaching down the western road. They could take all the time they wanted; Shin was prepared for them. With Gero and Hilde at his either side, a Player of his own, and a fortress visibly lined with soldiers at his back? They could play all the games they wanted. Shin could make a statement without saying a word.

Hell, even Mimasu’s incessant scribbling added to the presence of their group. If these Players had been sent from Quercus expecting a ragtag group of dirty Monsters, they would soon be sorely mistaken.

The Players had come close enough to be made out with some clarity by that point, one of them raising a hand in greeting. Let’s see, he must be the Grand Elf Mage Fighter whatever, unmistakable in with his ornate broadsword and elegant elven garb. The Beastman Grappler was obvious as well, a massively muscled man with the head of a damn tiger dressed in little more than a pair of tights and a giant belt. And the third was…

…Brown hair, weird spit curl. Big, deeply-dimpled chin. Wide frog mouth. Eyes too small, too far apart.

Leathers.