“A pub raid?” T asked, his tone shocked. “Are you crazy?”

“Yeah…that seems like a good way to get infiltrated,” Bart added. “If word gets out that Damsels is leading a public Raid, we’ll be flooded with trolls.”

Denise shook her head. “No one said anything about Damsels leading a Raid…”

The four Angels all shared a look. Bart shrugged as if to say that could work. Then Bell spoke up. “That’s gonna have some mixed results. Even if we hit the low-end Raids, we could wipe a shit ton.”

“I’ve healed some pub Raids,” Bart said. “Some have been okay - bordering on good. Others have been…well, clown fiestas, to put it kindly.”

“And what’s the differentiating factor in the good ones versus the clown fiestas?” I asked.

“The shot caller,” Bart said, his tone certain. “You have to have someone that knows the Raid like the back of their hand, knows everyone’s role, and isn’t afraid to step on some toes to make sure everyone is doing what they need to be doing.”

“I’ve merced dozens of Raids,” Denise said. “He’s 100 percent right. A good Raid leader can push new level 60s through with no wipes. A bad leader can get Nefarious Intention’s best Raid squad and wipe twenty times.”

I leaned back, deep in thought. This could work. If we could host a successful low-end Raid, that could be the launching point to recruit some of those raiders into Damsels. There was the possibility that the people we raided with were already in a Guild. But if that were true, then why would they be pubbing? Either they were unaffiliated, their Guild wasn’t letting them in Raids, or their Guilds weren’t Raid capable. Either way, that should be a good launch point for Damsels to grab some level 60s.

“Great idea, Denise,” I said after a moment. “Does anyone know any good pub Raid leaders we could reach out to?”

I looked to Bart who seemed to have the most Raid experience among the players. He shook his head. “All the ones I know are in Raid Guilds now. No way they’d agree to lead a pub.”

“Denise?” I asked.

She bit her lip, a thoughtful expression on her face. After a moment, she said, “I do know a guy…but I don’t like him.”

“What’s his issue?”

“He’s an asshole,” she said without hesitation.

There were chuckles around the table.

“Asshole like SnotPuppy-asshole?” Tear asked. Bell snorted at that. “Or asshole, like hates-woman-asshole?”

“Careful,” Kink said, shooting Tear an annoyed look. “Jeremy may be an asshole - but he’s ourasshole.”

She held up her hands in surrender, not looking to start another fight.

“Oh, he doesn’t discriminate,” Ryan interjected. “He ripped me a new one for missing one of his calls when Denise and I were merc-ing a Raid.”

“Was it a wipe?” Tear asked.

Ryan scoffed. “No, it was a perfect run. I even got third on the damage meters.”

“He runs a tight ship,” Denise said.

I shrugged, looking around the table. “Maybe that’s what we need? We don’t want a sloppy Raid leader with my situation.”

Tear’s face scrunched in confusion. Bart and Bell looked at each other, then both found a point on the table to examine.

“What?” I asked, sensing something unsaid between them.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I’m guessing they assumed you wouldn’t join the Raid,” T interjected. “Kink and I know better, of course.”

“Why wouldn’t I join the Raid?” I asked. “Sure, it’s a risk. But I need to upgrade my gear just as much as you guys - more even.”

“Sure…” Bart said. “But wouldn’t it be smarter to wait until we have a full Damsels Raid? People we know we can trust?”

“And how long will that take?” I asked, waiting expectedly. “A month? Two months? Am I supposed to just sit around the Guildhall and twiddle my thumbs?”

“It would be the prudent thing, yes,” Kink said.

“Ray…” Bell said. “We could wipe…”

“We won’t-”

“But we could!”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure we do things the right way,” I replied. “I can’t just sit on my hands while you guys are out there getting shit done. If I was capable of that, then I wouldn’t have been out there these last couple weeks killing Necks.”

“And you almost died doing that!” Tear said with a shake of her head. “Is that really the best argument?”

I sighed. I understood where they were coming from, but I had resolved myself to taking a more active role in my life. I couldn’t build something great by hiding in the Hall all day.

“Let’s table this discussion,” I eventually said. “Harold? Can you coordinate with Denise and see if this Raid leader is available to lead a pub? What was his name again?” I asked Denise.

“He goes by Mech - MechLord11 is the tag,” she said to Harold.

“Won’t he know this is a Damsels Raid if Harold reaches out to him?” Bart asked.

“That’s probably unavoidable,” Denise said. “He’ll want details before he agrees.”

“Okay, Mech can know, but we’ll ask him to keep that under wraps,” I said.

Harold nodded. “I’m on it,” he said.

“Great. That’s settled then. Now, the other item I had on my agenda. The Skill Path competition has three more days before we pick a winner,” I said. “I want to accelerate that - pick a winner tomorrow, and lock in my stats and skills before the Raid.”

“About time!” Kink said.

T was nodding vigorously. “I can’t believe you made it a three-week deadline to begin with!”

I shrugged. “I wanted to give time for word to spread so we could get the best ideas.”

“Oh, word spread,” Bart said with a chuckle. “A million gold prize attracts a lot of attention.”

“Good,” I said. “Have you guys been following the submissions? I have some favorites, but I wanna hear all your thoughts first.”

Everyone looked around to see who would go first, so I nodded at the Angels.

Himdall was the most outspoken of the four, so it didn’t surprise me that he spoke up first.

“Well, the submission with the most votes is an obvious troll,” he said. “My personal pick would be number 4, the Boon build. It’s the best for large groups and-”

Kink scoffed and T blew a raspberry at that. Himdall turned to the two, his expression annoyed.

“Oh, sorry, did the level 30s have something they wanted to add?”

Kink flipped him the finger. “Yeah, add this,” he said.

“Fuck you, too!” Himdall said, leaning forward to flip Kink and T the finger back.

“You wouldn’t be chattin’ that shit if Jeremy was here,” T said with a smirk. “Awful brave when he ain’t around.”

Himdall barked a short laugh at that. “Fuck I care if SnotFace is here or not. You three noobs don’t know shit about this game-”

I leaned back, closing my eyes as they went back and forth. What was I doing wrong? Was this bickering and infighting because I was a shit leader? I had tried to lead by example. Out there in the thick of it, fighting the Necks without a proper Skill Path, risking my life to show the Angels that I was serious about this Guild and what I had promised we would accomplish.

And it had worked - at first. We had wrecked or routed every group of Necks we had met on the field. Morale had been good for the first week or so. But today’s setback had served as the catalyst for everyone to air their grievances.

And there was an obvious divide in the Council. The Angels felt that they were the most important voices in Damsels. They contributed the most out on the battlefield, so that made them more valuable in their eyes. Denise, Ryan, and Harold were relegated to the administrative work and managing the bureaucracy, which the players looked down upon - even if they didn’t say so. But in my mind, managing the Guild was just as - if not more so - important as physically killing Necks or Raiding.

And then there were my friends. They were the odd group out. Not very familiar with the game - though they were improving every day. Low level and so not able to contribute to the defense of the other Guild members or Raid. But they were my friends, and I valued that more than any Guild. Sure, they’d be level 60 soon, and those complaints would be moot. But I didn’t want this infighting to continue for who knew how long.

The question was: how to bring the three disparate groups together into a single cohesive unit? Then a thought occurred to me. It was silly. It was childish. And it sounded perfect.

The Angels and my friends had continued going at it while I had been thinking. I opened my eyes and sat forward, the movement interrupting Kink who had been ripping into Himdall for some reason or another.

“Guys, listen up,” I said. “We’re not continuing this conversation until we can learn to treat each other with respect.” I paused a beat, looking each of them in the eye as I scanned the table. “We’ll figure out the Skill Comp tomorrow morning. Tonight, we’re gonna do something special.”

They all looked on in either confusion or anticipation.

Once I felt they had stewed enough, I spoke.

“Tonight, Damsels is doing a Game Night!”