“Seriously, Thorn? You can’t force someone you just met into a fight.” One of the other two armored figures around the table sighed with an exaggerated shake of their head. Their armor looked the most like typical armor I’d seen so far, as if it were actually made with metal plates and chainmail. Except it was the strange gold-ish colour of burnt steel. “Sorry about him; he’s been getting antsy from all the inaction. You can tell him no, but he’d really appreciate a new sparring partner.”

“Hey. That’s one-hundred percent true.” Thorn agreed. He crossed his arms, his dull grey armor scraping against itself as the spikes on his arms retracted. “I’ve fought you three a hundred times, and even though it isn’t getting old, it’d be nice to spice it up every now and again.”

“Oh, I get it. Believe me.” Burnt steel laughed. “I went from constant training to living in this underground cavern overnight. I’d love a good spar, but we can’t force it on anyone. Skies above, we don’t even know how strong they are; we could do some serious damage if we aren’t careful.”

Okeria snorted at that. Burnt steel, Thorn, and the third whose armor barely looked like it protected them at all turned to look at him.

“You think they’re stronger than us?” Thorn asked incredulously. “You said they’ve only been here a few months. There’s no way that’s possible.”

“Not stat-wise, but combat wise. You ain’t seen what I’ve seen.” Okeria chuckled. “I’m not saying they’ll beat ya till you’re bruised all over, but don’t underestimate ‘em. That’s a non-refundable purchase of one bruised ego.”

Thorn stared at Okeria for a few seconds before bursting into raucous laughter. “Is that supposed to dissuade me, Okeria? If anything, it just makes me want to fight them even more!”

“Not dissuade, but warn. I didn’t want ya ta lose your good time because ya underestimated Juniper or Sebastian.” Okeria explained. “And you’ll get a good chance ta fight ‘em as much as ya want. They know Endra’s here better than anyone else, and the three of ya will be joining us on our little crusade against our Embodiment of endurance.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Okeria revealing Endra’s existence to these three. He seemed to trust them fully, but if they were just city officials, they wouldn’t be able to help us fight. Thorn, maybe, since he was the captain of the guard, but I didn’t know anything about the other two.

“Are you sure about this, Okeria?” I asked aloud, making sure Thorn and the other two could hear me. “We need your contacts if we’re going to fight Endra, but what if she doesn’t come to Rainbow Basin? What’re your friends going to do then?”

“Train ya.” Okeria said simply. “They might not be on someone like Inopsy’s level, but then again, they also might. I didn’t surround myself with weaklings who’d let themselves get captured or driven out just because Scalovera told ‘em ta give up. They stepped down ta protect Rainbow Basin, and if we don’t gotta worry about that, we can use my city ta get everyone ready for the war that’s gotta be brewin’. But I ain’t done with introductions yet.”

Okeria gestured at burnt steel, then gave them a gesture that elicited a groan. “This is Gloriosa. She’s our supply manager, and probably the only reason Scalovera doesn’t have a stranglehold on Rainbow Basin as of yet. She also helps me run my smuggling operation. If ya need anything acquired, she’s the person for it.”

“Aw, butter me up some more why don’t you.” Gloriosa cheerfully laughed. “Right now I’ve got my hands full dealing with cutting the supply lines Scalovera’s putting in while convincing the ones we had in place not to abandon us, but when we get Scalovera out of here, I can get you anything you want. Rare metals, precious gems, bones or blood; you name it.”

That would definitely help us down the line. Some of the rarer hazard materials I’d found in my old life made gear that was so much better than anything else I’d used, and it was so scarce that I’d barely had enough to make a helmet. If we could have an unlimited amount of it, even if it was expensive as hell, then that’d be a huge advantage.

“How expensive do the hazard materials get?” I asked, numbers already dancing in my mind as I tried to put together the cost of a full suit of armor.

Gloriosa shrugged. “Depends on what core mastery you are. If you want a level thirty set, with top-of-the-line materials, it’ll cost you a good amount. If you want a level fifty or higher, then you’re talking trades. Money stops being useful once the things you’re buying are considered priceless.”

“That’s what I figured.” I sighed. “I’ll have to get back to you when I’m not so stuff-poor.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Gloriosa chuckled. “After Scalovera’s gone.”

“Yeah, that’s the big hurdle, isn’t it.” Jun muttered. She turned to Okeria, summoned the pieces of her sword she hadn’t gotten around to throwing out, and gestured at him. “I need a new weapon. Can you make normal guns?”

“Course I can.” Okeria replied. “We’ll get that sorted in a minute. The last one we’ve got down here with us is Ambus. She’s in charge of patrolling the hazards ‘round here checking for breaches. And dealing with ‘em if they show up.”

Ambus, who looked pretty much like a regular old knight, gave a small wave. “Hello. You came from the nexus?”

I nodded in confirmation. “We did.”

“One of the connected hazards is blocked off to me. Was that you as well?” She asked politely.

“That was us.” Jun confirmed.

“Interesting. No further questions.” Ambus said contently. “If you want to train in one of the hazards around here, I can be your guide.”

Okeria walked over and patted Ambus on the shoulder. “She’s cleared all the hazards ‘round here a dozen times over, and she’s trained most’ve the new soldiers we’ve got in hazard combat. Once we get them back on our side, we’ll just have ta deal with Scalovera himself and whatever goons he brought ta rule with him.”

“That sounds fairly simple. Is this ‘Scalovera’ powerful?” Mortician asked innocently. “He must be if he can take the city from you in a matter of days.”

“Don’t know. Never seen him fight.” Okeria shrugged. “He put up a mighty roar when he lost the election, but that’s all he did. Make a big deal outta getting kicked out, and put a whole lotta thoughts into the wrong people’s minds, but no more than that. It’s the entourage he’s got following him now that worries me.”

“Really? I recognize most of ‘em, and they’re not that dangerous.” Thorn said with a huff. “Actually, let me take that back. They’re not overly powerful in a fight, but they could do some irreparable damage to the city on their way out. And that’s what we gotta protect.”

“Exactly.” Okeria said with a vigorous point. “If we lose the city, we lose our one foothold against Endra and whatever other Embodiments she convinces to come join her on the all-world. We can’t lose the city, or any of our captured friends, if we wanna stand a chance at findin’ another endurance Embodiment ta kill Endra with.”

As far as plans went, Okeria’s made good sense. We needed a foothold in this world, and having an entire city with pre established supply routes and spy networks was a damn good foothold. If all it took was a few week detour to clear it up of the rats that had infested it while Okeria was gone, then that was a damn worthy investment. As long as nothing too horrible happened in the meantime, of course.

But it wasn’t just my choice to make. I looked over at Jun and tilted my head at Okeria, then raised my shoulders in what I hoped came across as a question.

“I don’t have any problems if you don’t.” She replied. “Stopping Endra’s all we have to do, then we’ve got the rest of our lives for ourselves. Putting in a few days for a good home base is barely an investment at all.”

I nodded, then looked to Mortician. “Are you in any kind of hurry?”

“No. Not at all.” They answered seriously. “We would like to have a few days to test a few functions of our core, but that can be done while the other preparations for ousting this ‘Scalovera’ are put in place. If Thorn is willing to aid us, we would be ecstatic to learn under him.”

Thorn seemed to stand a little taller with the praise. “Well, I’d be more than happy to help you learn! How much do you know so far? Do you need help with the basics of controlling your armor, or how to get the most out of your core?”

“A little bit of everything, if you’d be willing.” Mortician said eagerly, following Thorn away from the group and towards the cleared sparring grounds. “We’ll be training with Thorn for a little while. Please do not leave without us.”

“We won’t.” Jun assured Mortician. “Have fun fighting.”

“We will! Good luck with all the far more important things!”

We all watched Mortician go, their words of ‘inspiration’ ringing strangely true as we all stared at the map on the table.

“They’ve got a strange way with words, don’t they?” Okeria chuckled.

“Strange is definitely the way to put it.” I agreed with a laugh. “Let’s get to the ‘far more important things’, then. How many people do we need to save, how are we supposed to go about it, and how long will it take?”

“Ten really important people, a few covert operations with serious distractions, and a few weeks if we’re lucky.” Okeria answered. “From what I can tell, only two people have betrayed me by the info Scalovera’s got. All the others stayed ta try and minimize the damage, or were arrested when they refused ta help him. We’re gonna leave the moles in place until we need ta break into jail, but first we go for the barracks. Like I said, most’ve the guards are still loyal ta Thorn; it’s the soldiers we gotta worry about.”

Jun tilted her head to the side and hummed quietly. “Is there a difference between guards and soldiers?”

“There wasn’t under Okeria.” Ambus said with a shake of her head. “The guard was what we called all the people who were hired to protect the city. Scalovera made the distinction between protecting the city, which is still the guard’s jurisdiction, and policing it, which is now the soldier’s designation. Effectively, the guard does all the dangerous work while the soldiers bully citizens in the name of ‘keeping the peace’.”

“So the cronies versus the actually competent people. Do we need to convince the guard to betray Scalovera, or will they attack him on their own?” I asked.

“Scalovera’s sending the entire guard out in two days; that’s when Thorn’ll go talk ta them and we’ll move ta free the two they’ve got locked in the barracks. If we’re lucky, we’ll have almost complete control of the competent fighters in the city in one afternoon.” Okeria leaned over and placed his finger on a square on the map, then traced it over to an X outside of the city limits. “Ambus is goin’ ta free the other two, and if you’re willing, I’d like ta send ya and Jun with her.”