The group in red tabards seemed to relax slightly at her question-posed-as-an-answer. “My name is Lenard,” the plated knight introduced himself. “Perhaps I can enlighten you to what our cause leads us toward?”

“Eh, sure,” she glanced at the others, who shrugged their indifference. “Double points if you have anything that can fix the humidity.” She wasn’t even supposed to sweat - she was dead! Out of the five of them, she seemed to be suffering the worst. Perhaps she was just complaining the most.

With a quick glance, Humphrey appeared stoic, but the air surrounding him was wavering as if he was a hot grill. Speaking of that, the pale vampire was doused in as much sweat as she was. Norah looked tired more than anything… but Lucius hadn’t changed or mentioned anything about the heat so far. Maybe he was immune. Her eyes narrowed at him.

“Oh,” Lenard continued, “you didn’t do the Acclimatization Quest? It’s supposed to be on the road you follow through to the first outpost.” His group started walking over closer.

Sally could feel the glares of the Outsiders, except for Lucius, bore into the sides of her head. Which made her just feel warmer. There was no winning with these guys. “No, we took a shortcut because we were being tracked by someone.”

Lenard stopped and was on-guard again. “Are you still being followed?”

“Noooo,” she shook her head. Perhaps not a good idea to explain that Theo was a vampire and drank their blood. That usually got people a bit itchy. Or enamored, she rolled her eyes. “We got rid of them.”

“I don’t think they were wearing a tabard,” Theo murmured from beside her.

“Impressive.” Lenard scratched at the back of his helmet. “There is a small group of assassins that like to prey on those new to the area.”

At first, more Player on Player violence sounded draining - but a third neutral party that could easily fit in her stomach without disturbing the balance of the two main factions was a decent appetizer before she decided on the main course.

“Let me know if you want me to kill them all,” the vampire whispered, now even closer to her.

Maybe the Wastes weren’t so bad. Even the Forest at this point would be a delight. She thought of Jackie and the goblins - it had been a year. Did they even know what had happened? Always having to push forward… she did hate to be left behind the curve. They needed to be powerful to not die. Die again.

She slowly pushed the vampire’s abs away. “How about you five lead us through this Quest and we’ll hear you out. We’ll be much more sympathetic to your cause with being able to breathe here.” Sally gave herself a handful of points for being able to get that sensible thought out of her melted brain.

Lenard shrugged. “Sounds reasonable to me.”

The group then escorted them back the way they came, both sides giving each other glares and odd looks. There was something about the undead that the living had just had a natural inclination to abhor. Likewise, her group had nothing but a dim view of those who would sooner put them back in the ground. Players probably didn’t attack each other that much, but the Outsiders were an exception to this rule more often than not.

It turned out that the Quest had been just around the corner of the path from where they had split off into the wild jungle. Not only that, but it was the simple matter of talking to a System-created guard who remained standing with a smile on his face as if they had vanished as soon as he passed them over the small metal band they had apparently 'earned' just by talking to him.

Sally sighed and grinned as she slipped the ring on, almost instantly feeling a lot cooler. Nice of the System to know that actual jungle conditions would be hell to fight through for days on end. She turned to see the tired glares of her Party, who weren’t too impressed that they had missed the Quest.

“What?” She wrinkled up her nose. “Now you’ll appreciate it more, knowing how terrible it is without it.”

They grumbled some reluctant agreements, and she turned back to the humans.

“We really appreciate your help,” she said with a grin. “If you’d like to give us your sales pitch for consideration now, we’re all ears.”

All of them except Theo, maybe. He hadn’t said anything, but she could sense that he was back on edge again. Even now that they were acclimated to the temperature of the jungle and he had hidden away his sparkling abs, he seemed ready to make a few Players dead in a moment's notice. Currently, he stood leaning against a tree with his hands in his pockets, eyes watching the leader of the group.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Fantastic,” Lenard said with a grin. “I’m sure you have had your share of issues with the System in your time here. It is unfair and expects us to live a life scraping for power against uncaring violence and constant conflict.”

She nodded her head. That would quite succinctly sum up the majority of her experiences since awaking in this body in the sleepy zombie village. Immediately assailed and then it just continued from there.

“Therefore, the goal of our group is to take control of the System and destroy it so that no new Players may arrive and conflict is no longer necessary.”

So this was the ‘destroy’ faction. Handy that they chose a red tabard—that made it easier to remember. She rubbed her right eye. “So, how would conflict be no longer necessary?”

The man shifted in his plated armor. “We intend to remove all System-created, and the Leveling process, so that everyone is equal and there is no danger.”

Sally bit her tongue as some anger began to bubble within her. They had her in the first half, she wasn’t going to lie. No System-created meant no Uniques, surely? She worked her jaw in trying to find a pleasant way of getting the clarifications she sought.

“Isn’t that us?” Theo asked, as he tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t we part of the System?”

Even without the rings, the already tense atmosphere between the two groups had cooled. While she and the vampire were probably Player enough to skirt by on the rules, the rest of the Outsiders weren’t. She gave Theo a few points for the camaraderie.

Lenard scratched at the back of his helmet. “I’m not sure what the stance on Uniques is… ah, you might want to talk to someone higher up the chain.”

Sally could perhaps assume. A dangerous thing, to fill in the gaps of a plot promising violence. If it wasn’t clear that Uniques had a place in their post-System world, then that probably led to the obvious conclusion. Monsters weren’t welcome. She would need to put ice on this potential inferno before something flared up with the others. Points to them for holding steady.

“Well…” Her smile was more of a grimace as she spoke through clenched teeth. “I suppose we should hear the other side’s point of view before making our choice.”

"I’m not sure that-“ Lenard paused as the female spellcaster leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. “Really?” His eyes went back up to Sally. “I suppose that is reasonable, however, I am sure you come around to our way of thinking soon enough. Allow me to give you my contact information?”

Sally rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Humphrey rubbed at his metallic chin, deep in thought. Norah was a mirror of the zombie’s disdain, her arms crossed and yellow eyes glaring at the humans. Lucius had his hands on his hips but a rather blank expression on his face—perhaps not entirely grasping the history behind Sally’s current ire. Theo remained leaning against a tree, glowering at his potential next meals.

All in all, team red wasn’t that great, Sally decided. She waved them off as they thankfully went a different direction than the outpost. As soon as they were out of sight, she deflated and spun around to the gang.

“Thought?”

“Should have killed them,” Theo murmured first.

Norah nodded. “I agree.”

“They seemed okay, but perhaps misguided.” Lucius shrugged. “Maybe they’d see sense if we put the right way of thinking into their heads?”

The vampire exhaled. “Yeah, with my sword.”

Sally waved them to shush. Perhaps it would have been more pragmatic to kill them now, but until they had their feet on solid ground in the new area, it was better to not step on too many toes. A little leveling and a more nuanced understanding of the area, and then they could eat everything in sight.

She frowned. “Everything okay, Humphrey? What’s your take?”

“Hmm? Oh.” He turned his gaze away from his thoughts and over to her. “Whatever Norah said.”

Sally rolled her eyes at Theo as the Mummy grinned. As much as she was happy for the plated ex-Observer, delegating his thoughts was unexceptable, especially when he so obviously had something on his mind. “Humps. I need your thoughts. That’s an order.”

He stood straighter and nodded towards her. She didn’t have to push the tough love button often, but it was helpful to remind them who was the boss around here when they started getting loose with their shared brain cell.

“Apologies. The rogue Observer I had absorbed had some information about the Jungle.”

“Spill it then.” She tapped her foot on the floor. “I’ve no patience for your secrets now, tin-can.”

The Death Knight opened and closed his skeletal mouth, slightly taken aback by the sudden dress down. “In honesty… I find it odd that they are so focused on this issue in area three. By my understanding, I would have assumed Players would wait until the last Level and sort things out at the end.”

Sally wrinkled up her nose. “So you’re saying they are jumping the gun, but there might also be something pressuring them to act?”

“Astute, as always.” Humphrey grinned.

She sighed and waved him away. “Get down that to the outpost, guys. I’m already tired of this place. I just want a word with Mr Brooding over there and I’ll catch you up.”

The three nodded and started off down the road, as she walked over to the tree-leaning vampire.

“What’s up, pup? You look like you’re ready to run off and solo the whole area.” She crossed her arms as she stood in front of him.

He raised his eyebrows and gave her a slight smile. “If only. There was something I wanted to tell you, but not while the others were here.”

“Oh, yeah?” She beamed at him.

“No, nothing like that.” He shuffled and stood up straight, looking out to the surrounding jungle. “The ranger I killed, she had a… a strange STAR.”

“Strange STAR,” she repeated. “Like…?”

“Like the Marius, the Cleric.” His eyes shined with a red glow. “Yes.”