I stared at the letter for a moment, weighing the pros and cons.

Whoever this "Lviyr" was could probably have just killed me suddenly instead of offering me a steaming beverage which smelled like mushroom tea.

I picked up the letter, and when nothing happened, I opened it.

"Hello Andrew, I'm sure the first question on your mind is who I am, so I'll address that first. I am what's known as a 'Gamemaster', which is to say an entity who watches over the proceedings of the Deathworld Game.

"Each champion has a gamemaster who had chosen them before the beginning of the game. The champions act as a sort of surrogate, and the gamemasters support them.

"As you have no doubt guessed at this point in the letter, I am your gamemaster.

"Before you ask, no there isn't any sort of restriction on speaking to your champion other than finding a method to do so... I only happened to think of this method after realizing the horrible fate that would befall you if I didn't tell you how to subvert it. Usually, I am not at liberty to send you things directly due to a lack of a particular resource, but a special exception had been made recently to all of the gamemasters. It's usually used to kill enemy champions, so the thought hadn't even occurred to me.

"I digress, this tea was constructed for you because of the massive amount of radiation poisoning you have suffered due to your proximity to the [Hypernova] blast, I encourage you to drink it as soon as you finish this letter... death by radiation poisoning is immensely painful and not even painkillers will work to numb it.

"While I have your attention, I thought I would offer you some advice as well as my outsider's perspective.

"Firstly, you are by far the most amazing champion I've seen, I applaud your skill and ingenuity. The methods you use to overcome every obstacle in your path never cease to surprise me.

"The sheer fact that you've defeated so many Nemeses, and even raised inhabitants to being Nemeses is likely something you'll be known for for centuries I'd guess.

"My advice to you is this: if you take the sap from one of the trees that look like they're evil, you can cook it to create a pseudo-epoxy that can make your bowstring significantly less likely to snap under extreme force and heat.

"Signed Lviyr The Gamemaster.

"P.S. I'm serious about the radiation poisoning, please drink the tea."

I stared at the letter for a while, not even sure what to make of it in general.

I then decided on a course of action.

I looked up into the sky and screamed at the top of my lungs: "What about the Fifskae you extradimensional prick?! Are they just going to die because of radiation poisoning?! It's not like they were far away from it either!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment before another letter appeared, significantly smaller in size than the last one.

"I don't have access to an infinite supply of the resource necessary to conjure that tea, is it really-"

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I didn't bother reading the rest.

"Listen to me! I will dump this stupid tea out and sit here until my blood boils and my veins melt if you don't! I will sit here and stare up at the sky just to spite you, do you understand?!" I tore the piece of paper in half. "Listen, I know that these people are criminals, fugitives, outcasts... whatever... I don't care! They're my friends damn you! I'm not going to it idly by and watch them die!" A thought occurred to me. "Everybody, check on the other Fifskae! Make sure everyone is accounted for while I deal with this situation!"

The awkward silence suddenly became a bustle as the villagers finally had a task to do.

A few moments later, another letter appeared, this time with a small pencil accompanying it.

"I'd like to apologize to you first of all, I didn't realize that you were so passionate about the inhabitants around you, I suppose I misunderstood your relationship with them. In either case, just use the back side of this letter to compile a list of materials that you want sent to you... I assume you'd give me the same ultimatum again if I don't send you the necessary medical supplies for your friends.

"Signed Lviyr The Gamemaster.

"P.S. please drink the tea, I have no idea how long you can abstain and not suffer permanent side effects.

"P.P.S you don't have to yell, I can hear you fine even if you don't."

"I'm not going to drink it until the supplies are delivered, I know how these things work Lviyr." I scowled, trying to think of everything I needed.

Then I realized that our physiologies were really different, and I ran to find Juohen and Hund.

----------------------------------------

Yuluulth

"Yuluulth, have you ever had a time where you thought you knew what a person would be like when you first talked to them and it was not all like that?" Lviyr asked suddenly.

The question was so odd that I had to take a moment to think about it. "I'm not sure, maybe? Why?"

"I just talked to Andrew for the first time and it was not what I was expecting."

"What were you expecting? Andrew is the most difficult champion of all time to predict."

Lviyr's form shifted slightly. "I'm not sure, but it wasn't admonishing me for not considering the lives of his inhabitants..."

I looked at him in disbelief. "You're joking."

"No, he was serious about it... he even went as far as to give me an ultimatum."

"How strange."

Lviyr said nothing for a long moment, before his form shifted again. "I think I'm beginning to understand where he's coming from... even if his views on other beings are so alien to me... I think I'm starting to get it."

"If you say so..." I dismissed.

After all, what is there to get?

----------------------------------------

The Voracious Stalker

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" I exclaimed.

"We lost very little in that skirmish, it will take a week at worst to replenish our forces." The Pactmaster offered, likely trying to make me feel better.

"I lost even more of my pride!" I snarled, bringing my face up to his. "Not to mention the fact that even if we attacked again as soon as that, the same thing would just happen, except that we'd lose even faster!"

The Pactmaster stared back at me, his fear cleverly hidden behind his stoic mask.

I backed off, moving to an easier position to think about my next action. "No, we need to adapt our strategy... we need to be one step ahead of him, which is to say, three steps ahead of ourselves..."

"You must think very highly of him Stalker." The Punctual said from behind me, just arriving at our rendezvous point.

I spoke as I turned. "It's not like you to- oh." I saw The Punctual's missing limb.

"Yes, please forgive my tardiness, my random teleportation sent me a ways off and it took me this long to get here." He took the pressure off his bleeding shoulder. "[Prodigy, Regeneration]."

His arm reformed after a few moments, he then flexed it and tested its range of motion.

"Why didn't you do that on the way here?" I asked.

"It fails if the target is dead or not within a specific distance of me... I frankly wasn't even sure it would work on Nemesis [Skills]." He summoned his pocketwatch. "The operation was three minutes shorter than expected... curious, I thought it would have been longer if we failed."

I stood upright and cleared my throat to get their attention. "It seems that all of my surviving generals are present, so I suppose it's time to start moving."

"Where?" The Pactmaster asked.

"We're going to steal a tactic from my enemy... you're going to help me increase my Nemesis Stage."

----------------------------------------

Andrew

After a while, all of the Fifska were accounted for.

I prepared myself for the number that I knew would be next.

I swore that I would pay every one back tenfold.

"No casualties, though almost everyone who wasn't a Nemesis is in critical condition." Hund explained.

My eyes widened. "None?"

"None yet... you shouldn't get your hopes up Andrew, it's not like we have the facilities to-"

"What do you need?" I interrupted.

"Andrew, there's no way that-"

I held up my 'shopping list' and Hund stopped talking.

"I've found a method to get some things, I just need to know what you need."