Corvayne had discovered very quickly that he marched a lot faster then anyone in the group, and so they took a slow and steady path in a direction that Corvayne plotted away from the trio of stairs, using the time hiking across the rusty industrial docks to try to get to know his new charges. Ayame was very friendly, though a little disappointed that the first floor looked like it could be any of the run down docks in Cascadia aside from now and then peering through the clouds of fog and seeing long line of similar docks and warehouses running off for miles and miles. She had frozen up when they saw the first monster two hours into the walk, a slowly moving urchin creeping down from a pile of shattered crates that had been full of coral, but after seeing Corvayne effortlessly skewer the third one she had been willing to try attacking a monster, but only after Corvayne chopped off some of it's spines to give her a spot to attack without running into a wall of needles.
Considering the aversion to violence and horror Ayame, Curtis, Horton, and Brines seemed to have at these rather small and mostly boring monsters, he might have gotten lucky with his first few companions and how often they just seemed fine with killing monsters. Even the security guards had pretty adverse reactions to the first time he caught a box mimic. Going anywhere on the floor required some bobbing and weaving through stacks of boxes, some piles fresh and smelling of sawdust, while others were more aged and a few reeking of mold. One box near the path he took was a little too... perfect for it's stack and Corvayne held up a hand then approached it, spear ready. The little monster didn't react to Corvayne getting close enough to jab it, so he used [Cross Skill: Nerve Pinch] with his spear to stun it so he could wrap an arm around it before it's jaw could pop open, then wrestled the wood and muscle creature over to the group for them to kill it.
“Okay,” he said calmly after he had tied it's spike tipped tentacles in a bow around it, locking it's foot wide jagged jaw shut and set the angry box down to flop on the ground, “Curtis, Ayame got the Urchin, so you're up. Just take your wrench and give it three good hits and it should die.”
Ayame was looking between Corvayne and the box hopping up and down. “Did you have to be so mean to the monster?”
Corvayne looked at her and nodded. “I want it to be as easy as possible for him to kill it without slowing us with injury. Ideally we do not have any wounds today aside from those associated with sore feet from walking.”
“It's so mean though. I'd feel bad hurting that little guy.” The noodle lady looked down at the box mimic, which was still struggling to undo his knot. From experience, the monster was less upset he was tied up then being unable to get to the humans and attack them.
“I gotta hit that little fucker?” Curtis asked, looking between the box flipping and hopping on it's purple wiggly limbs, a single eye glaring now above it's mouth that was straining to open past it's rows of wood teeth.
“Yes, don't worry. Monsters don't seem to react to injury like people do, from what I've seen they will fight even when given every opportunity to run or surrender.” Corvayne nodded and gestured.
The Plumber took his huge wrench and grabbed it in both hands, then lined up to hit the Mimic and swung, missing the box and hitting his own foot. His face went red and he dropped to the ground, lips shut but groaning anyway. Mosh sighed and walked up to the older man rolling on the ground and after a little mending, Curtis was still red face but standing, and Corvayne had picked up the little box and moved it back away from Lady Blood Claw, whom it had been steadily moving towards.
This time Curtis stood feet apart and swung overhead, hitting the monster and chipping off some wood, sending purple blood flying. The monster hissed but kept bouncing around, so Curtis hit it again, and a third time, and a fourth time, sending bits of wood and gunk flying, horrifying more then a few of the group before Corvayne gently caught the man's upswing and then let the slimy wrench down while calmly nodding.
“Good. That's what you do. Good job killing that Mimic. For monsters like Mimics that we can eat, it helps to not totally destroy them, but it was a good first fight.”
Someone threw up. Then another person did. Ayame was crying for 'Mr. Mimic.' The whole thing had a weird effect on Corvayne, perhaps piggybacking on his previous statement that he was going to go find The Watchers: He slipped into the sort of halfway 'supportive apathy' as many of the masters had shown other pupils as the day wore on.
“Good idea Horton. Puke now so we can keep going, we have a lot of territory to cover today.”
“Reaper-of-Fish, don't worry about stabbing your foot. Once it's healed we'll go through basic footwork.”
“Miss Ayame, don't fret. You are not the first person to stab themselves on an urchin. We'll have that arm patched up in no time.”
Lady Blood Claw had bright banded colors rolling across her skin, meaning that while she looked bored the whole thing was amusing to her, if not as much to Corvayne himself. He did not plead for help from her, as he had a few bright spots in addition to many messes. June clearly was at ease with a spear, as was Varia with her hatchets, and both of them seemed to be happy to kill anything that looked like a monster aside from, of course, Mosh, whom softened Varia's steel personality, and whom June flirted with which caused Horton to complain to both Corvayne (who didn't care) and Brines (who didn't have a clue how to stop them).
Horton himself was dragging a little bit, stopping to take readings then dashing forward to catch up only to fall behind again. As opposed to Curtis, who was just falling behind. They had gone a few miles, though the area still was sparse on monsters, and Corvayne had seen an emptied chest still sitting around. He wasn't too shocked that the first floor would be sparse. He was a little surprised they had yet to run into any other groups, however.
Breaking for water and some packed sandwiches, Corvayne took a moment to scale one of the buildings and try to get a sense of if there were any interesting features around. Far in the distance between pillars of gently drifting fog, he could see what looked to be strands of something emerging from the gray mist, all connected to what looked like a huge arch. So there were probably other features besides the endless squat expanse of warehouses, crates, and concrete piers chewing into the water ways like rocky teeth. Maybe he'd steer them that way, since he didn't have any other pressing concerns besides just getting far enough away from the start that they could start making money and getting supplies.
The floor didn't have a sun, as the sky was layers of rolling clouds and gray and white mist, but the floor was getting darker to a point where looking up at the Sky Corvayne was a little worried it was going to thunderstorm. Given the thought of being caught out in either the dark or bad weather, Corvayne called for a long break once they found a warehouse clear of Mimics and set up watches. Curtis, despite lagging behind the group, had plenty of energy once they started a campfire and told stories his dad had told him about fighting in the war fifty years back. Corvayne was joined by Lady Blood Claw at the edge of their camp, overlooking the door in.
“Shouldn't you be resting Lady?” He asked as she sat on long box he was using to watch the warehouse's entrance. “It's going to be another long day tomorrow.”
Lady Blood Claw snorted. “You mean boring? The first wave cleaned this area out. We'll have to go another few miles before you get fresh Tower.”
“We'll do some more training tomorrow, then start head up to do serious looting and fighting on floor three.”
She gave him a gentle elbow and her stern voice dropped a little. “You doing okay? I'm surprised you left without Wick or Hari here. I think it made you a little meaner then usual. Which is fine, mean drills into them it's not a game...”
“Worried I'll become Nyxion?” Corvayne turned and smiled, and Lady laughed once.
“No. It's just you're the captain here.”
Corvayne considered that. “True. Mosh is a friend but he always refers to me as boss, and most of the others are sort of... rookies.”
“Why are you here, even?” Lady Blood Claw asked, looking right into his eyes.
“I'm going to need to be a leader. I don't know if you know about... well I assume you know about Wick.”
She just nodded, prompting Corvayne to continue.
“I need to become someone who can return to The Watchers and take over, or do something else to cement myself as a power, or Wick can't commit to me.”
Lady Blood Claw stared at him. “That's bullshit.”
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Corvayne nods. “It is but I'll overcome it.”
“No, I mean Wick shouldn't tell you that. You are not the manifest hero from another world, sent to our world to right every wrong. Nor is Wick. You are people, and either you love each other or you don't. I know, it doesn't help me with my goal of getting to The Magus, but...”
She held her hand up and gestured around her. “This seems like it's a sidetrack in every way.”
Corvayne shrugged. “Maybe. I get it, we should be doing this with people we know will help us. I mean, I do know most of the people here, and I feel like you, me, and Mosh's ladies are going to be around a while. I also want to build myself some connections, and try to... pay Cascadia back a little? At the very least... I might get Ayame to stop giving me pine needles.”
Lady Blood Claw nodded. “Before coming here, I would have assumed that someone giving you pine needles was trying to kill you. My advice then is to start getting to know your team.”
She left him to the rest of watch, a duty he shared with Brines who was nervous and constantly asked what the sounds he was hearing were. After a few hours Corvayne tagged Mosh in and went to bed.
Corvayne spent most of the next day focused on teaching people to walk while making less sound, and the general points of how to scan their surroundings for threats actively, what to look out for when facing ambush predators, and the general principal of learning an environment then looking for details that are off to find things like traps or mimics.
They didn't see another group in the morning but by the time they stopped for lunch more and more monsters were present, suggesting they had reached a fresh spot. Urchins were now oozing in packs over crates and slowly crawling between buildings, with hermit crabs the size of volleyballs sometimes trying to dart in to attack those urchins. It wasn't even as much a real ecosystem as near his village, a low bar to pass since he had always been told was 'off' because of the deep desert had an influence on the wild life. Just the same here, he thought the urchin monsters must be living off algae or chewing on the dungeon itself, and the crabs could eat discarded spines while occasionally killing an urchin. He supposed the mimics ate crabs? LBC's question about if it mattered caused him to shrug.
“A spear's most important part was it's point, but a point without a shaft isn't a spear.” He muttered to himself. He saw LBC shake her head at that, then shrugged. Okay, maybe stick to jabbing things and drills.
He, with Lady Blood Claw's help, started identifying details about his group as the gray light brightened. Ayame had issues with hurting urchins and mimics but no problem with crabs. So he got her used to killing crabs, showing her how to [Backstab] with her kitchen knife and [Butchery] with her cleaver. The first time she connected with [Backstab] the noodle lady lit up with joy.
“Huh, can I use that while cooking you think honey?”
Corvayne shrugged. “I don't know why you'd need to kill anyone while making food, but I suppose?”
Ayame laughed, and Corvayne let himself smile a little.
He had Mosh support Curtis, as the goblin could mend whenever the older man got tired. The wrench was an excellent bludgeon but given how tired he was from walking, Corvayne had him practice moving quietly and counter-ambushing mimics rather then fast crabs or knocking spines off urchins until he could hit the body.
The plumber, after successfully spotting a mimic and splattering it, was in a much better mood. He came back to Corvayne, overalls stained with purple, using his wrench to point backwards. “Did you see that? I nailed that little sucker!” He laughed and started coughing a little.
Corvayne nodded and gave the man a multi-functional pat on the back. “Good job unclogging that thing's skull.”
Curtis nodded. “I used to get into fights and win em when I was younger. Soldier with no war and all that, maybe because I wanted to be like my pop, you know?”
Brines was pretty easy. The dagger worked well with his endurance from jogging and while he sometimes winced at the flaming animal remains he left behind, he would be back to smiling a moment later.
He gestured at the smoldering corpse of a monster with his dagger while he grinned at Corvayne. “You think I'll catch up to Grunt soon?”
Corvayne thought about it. “I think the question that most people should ask is if Grunt can catch them.”
“Well, it's good he's our friend, right?” Brines gave him a thumbs up.
“Couldn't ask for better.”
He dropped back with Horton a little later as they neared where the main arched rod connected with the ground to take a break near it. The warehouses had changed a little, picking up an extra story of height and showing slightly more color in their flaking paint. Horton saw him falling back and gave him a wary look, so Corvayne instead of getting in his way, turned to walk the same direction and eased back to him.
“You going for magic, then?”
Horton held up a hand. “I know you are acting as the wise sensei in this little party, but I'm trying to see if I can feel mana in here. Are you here for something important?”
Corvayne shrugged. “I'm trying to determine the answer to that. I noticed you have what looks like a wizard's staff.”
The man moved to hold his staff a little closer, giving him a side eye. “And do you have a problem with that?”
Corvayne wondered if Horton had grown up in an environment like he did: the man certainly seemed sour. “No, I just wanted to help everyone with their weapons. If Wick and Hari were both not busy, they'd probably have been more help for anything related to magic. For what it's worth, Wick cast her first spell after doing a particular meditative stretching exercise, then visualizing what she wanted to do, then trying to swing her wand.”
“You were there.” Horton stated, then thought about it and stopped in his tracks, putting away a device that Corvayne was pretty sure Wick had called a 'gravity wave detector'. “Could you demonstrate the exercise?”
Corvayne started doing the stretches with his spear and poses that helped him loosen up. He was a little surprised to find he had gotten tense just walking briskly between people and talking.
Horton held up a finger when he was done. “I was paying close attention, but could you please repeat what you did and explain why you're doing it?”
Corvayne nodded and flowed into his forms. “The main importance, outside of stretching, is that it's a break for my mind. I start out with both arms extended because that's the first pose I learned and it's the most familiar. I don't have a set pattern, but anything that feels stiff or aches I try to stretch. I suppose it could be anything familiar that lets you feel your body. To start, I was focused on slowly learning the moves while staying at a pace I felt controlled.”
Horton nodded as Corvayne finished a set of stretches, then with his own staff he started moving it in slow rotations that reminded Corvayne of slowed down tricks he could do with his own spear but never had an audience for. Horton didn't really dismiss Corvayne, but stopped a little removed from the space where the party was gathered. Corvayne just walked to the giant steel cable rooted in the ground and moved to the next group he wanted to talk to.
He was sure from watching him dispatch monsters that Mosh had gotten more confident with his spear, perhaps from defending two girls for however long he had been in the first tower. Corvayne figured he wouldn't mind talking shop during the break, seeing that Mosh was jogging in place.
“Mosh, how's the trip been so far?”
The goblin smiled and gestured to his two companions who were speaking with the security guards. Varia looked his way and glared, for some reason. “Great, heh, thanks to my company.”
“They are adjusting okay to the adventuring life?”
Mosh nodded. “Honestly? June lived in a frontier with monsters, and Varia had a few weeks worth of a crash course. I'm more here because Banner's advice.”
Corvayne had to think a moment to pull the name up. “That's the innkeeper who married a Tower-Folk lady?”
Mosh nodded. “He said that if June doesn't get perspective of how people who don't just have roles act, she might go full nympho mode because that's usually how she interacted with people.”
“By that logic she might also open a laundromat.” Corvayne added, his mind drifting to Banner's discussion of Tower-Folk. “I thought Hari had said that you didn't have much of a choice but to take her?”
His ears dropped. “You make it sound like it's bad, but boss you know I'm going to take care of her! I mean, you know, she'd be perfect if she was a teifling, you know I love me some horns and a devil tail, but I like June and I don't want her to sit on the river broken-hearted or worse, to have decided she'd follow me even if I said no, and end up getting torn apart by slugs.”
Corvayne nodded. “Welcome then to the headache of worrying about more then one significant other.”
Mosh tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
He felt killing intent and looked over to meet Varia's eyes burning into him. More out of a desire for harmony in the group then any real thread did he change his reply to Mosh “Your disciple. I'm sure you worry about Varia too.”
Out of the corner of his eye he could see the person in question turning red. Had it been this obvious with Hari as well?
Mosh laughed and slapped his shoulder. “You bet I do! Her and Caala were clueless, tired, wounded, starving. I did what any good goblin would. Helped em out!”
“You didn't want to... date them or anything?”
Mosh waved a hand. “They were both scared of me, I had to literally lure them out of a bush with cooked meat, I mean, I'm not their type.”
Varia put her hand over her face.
“I suppose they both told you, at some point, to not get any ideas?”
Mosh nodded, looking a little sad. “It's the downside of being a goblin outside of civilization, someone twice your size gets scared of you.... I mean I got past that, heck even the monsters lumped me in with them, these kids are okay. Now I'm getting helpers, and they get a boss who knows a thing or two around the work bench.”
Corvayne looked at Varia, who looked ashamed of something. It was likely that Mosh was the cause of these wild mood swings. Perhaps his time around Wick and Lady Blood Claw and Grunt had made him better at picking up stories told by how people held themselves? This would be the sort of problem that he might help Mosh out with as a friend, rather then a leader. “Okay, well I'm sure this arrangement works for everyone then, so let's down some water and-”
He stopped speaking as he caught a wiff of something familiar. He knew decay when he smelled it.
“-And you know what? Take fifteen.” Corvayne undid his spear. He looked over to a crate where Lady Blood Claw was sitting, who shot him a puzzled look, matched by her skin turning dark yellow for just a moment, then started to shift to the color of boxes and walls around her as she became alert.
“Watch the group.” He called to her. “Mosh, come with me? I want another pair of eyes and ears.”
Of the group, the security guards caught the vibe he gave off and instantly fanned out to cover entrances and exits to the broad open area they were in. Corvayne followed the smell as it started to get worse, and he could see flies buzzing. Corvayne motioned for Mosh to stop, and he used gravity to get up to the slanted roof of the surrounding warehouses and check that he wasn't going to walk into an ambush. Checking over the lip of the roof, he saw what he had been dreading.
He hopped back down, stomach queasy. Mosh looked expectant. “Boss, I gotta say I don't like that look.”
“Five people, some with slit throats. Back to the group, we're cutting this short.”