“Time to wake up!” A man’s voice boomed through the long barracks-like room. CJ snapped awake, sitting up and nearly falling off of the hard wood bed he slept on for the night.

The man was a large Hillman named Kurtys. He stood in the doorway, his wide shoulders and massive neck nearly blocking out the little bit of morning light present. He had a long beard that was purposefully laced with colorful purple and green threads with the occasional piece of branch.

Kurtys stomped into the building, which was mostly a long wooden room with a ceiling that met at a point, a triangle wedge. He walked down the line of wooden beds, flat with a worn down quilt as the only cushion. There were 15 beds going down each side, and then a door at the far end leading into a back area.

“Get dressed and head to the yard, time to prove yourselves!” Kurtys yelled as he approached CJ’s location.

CJ wasn’t the only person in the barracks. Whitetune was there, and seemed like he was already awake since he was putting on his shoes. Welma and Land were there, and seemed to accept the morning disturbance with little fanfare. There were a few strangers that CJ didn’t know in other beds.

He had to get his head straight and remember where he was. The trip was long, it took a few days actually. CJ asked the Akahi survivors at the Goldfeather post if they wanted to come with them, and people like Welma were more than willing. It wasn’t a large group, but that just made it easier to get a ride out of the mountains. They got to an outpost down in the hills, and from there made the rest of their way by wagon.

After days of travel they rolled through a hilly forest and came upon what looked like a village in the center of it. All around the village was downed forest, seemingly leaving more forest as a natural wall. But it wasn’t just any village, it was Cianna’s stronghold.

CJ struggled through getting dressed while he was still groggy. He was back to not really having a wardrobe, but it was a small frustration compared to the reason he didn’t have much to wear. It was fine, wearing the under-clothing for his armor at the battle was more than enough now. It was a little colder here than near Akahi, and he understood he was further East. Technically in Barune’s territory.

Kurtys stopped over CJ, and CJ looked up at the big man.

“Almost ready,” CJ grumbled.

“Stand up.” Kurtys grunted. Before CJ could protest, the big man grabbed CJ at the collar and put him in a standing position. CJ tried to stand straight, keep his chest out, but Kurtys was just that much bigger than him. Trying to stand tall was a waste of effort.

Kurtys didn’t say anything, he just looked CJ over. Then he reached out and grabbed CJ’s eyepatch, yanking it off his head. “Won’t need this.”

“Hey!” CJ reached up, but outside of attacking the guy there wasn’t much else he could do. “What the hell?”

“Boss’s orders,” Kurtys said with a smirk. “Now get out there, your friends are probably waiting.”

CJ blinked his usually covered eye. It felt weird to get light into it, though he wasn’t really ‘seeing’ anything with it. The others were starting to head out the door, so CJ shuffled around Kurtys while the big man watched him with an intense stare.

It was still pre-dawn, the village was lit by a beautiful glow that came between the trees. Out in the ‘yard’, a large cleared and outlined field, there were more people waiting. There was a second barracks across from the one he was in, and they must have been flushed out into the yard first. Alyss, Mae, and Larl, all stood out there talking with a wide-shouldered woman with tanned skin and long tied back braids of brown hair thicker than broom head. She had ram-like horns that curled from her forehead to the side of her head. It was Cianna, their captain.

As CJ got close, Cianna turned to watch his group approach.

“…That sounds good as a thought, but I’ve learned that you can’t count on good feelings to put food in bellies, you must understand that Duchess.”

Mae shook her head. “No, I understand that. I just thought that maybe you could afford us a little leeway here. I’m not trying to cheat you, or take control, I promise you that.”

“Good, because if you were I would have you all chained up and dragged out of my village.” Cianna said with a smile. But by then she was watching CJ, and her eyes narrowed in on his face. “Lets have all of you line up. Except for you Leth, you look like you would die to a hard wind. I want to get a look at all of you.”

Cianna made a strong first impression when they got to the village the day before. When they got there, they were piled out of the wagon by several armed men. This included Kurtys.

Larl raised his hands and asked to speak to their boss. “I’m Leth, she will remember me. Please, just bring her here.”

It didn’t take long. They waited around for Cianna to arrive, and CJ observed the mercenaries loading another wagon full of men and sending it out of the village. They all carried swords, and had on rough leather gear. They laughed as they pulled each other into the bison pulled vehicle, and gawked at their visitors as they left.

Eventually Cianna showed up. She stood in front of them, her arms crossed as she looked at Larl, formerly Leth. She said nothing, just waited for him.

Larl swallowed hard. “Cianna, I know what I did, and I know I don’t deserve anything from you. I’m offering you something. A chance, a job, that could change everything. I’m bringing a man who could lead us to victory, and a woman who could open doors.”

He went down to his knees and bowed down. “And if you need it, my head is here too.”

Cianna stayed silent. She looked them over one by one, let the tension of the moment shake them. Alyss looked annoyed to even be there, she was staring daggers at the woman. Mae seemed uncertain, she was clutching Byr’s sword. CJ tried to keep himself warm, the day was a little chilly. His eye wasn’t giving him much that was useful.

She motioned for one of her men to come close. Kurtys came over and she whispered into his ear as he leaned down. Then he turned to CJ’s group.

“What could you possibly bring us, besides trouble?” Kurtys asked. “Prove yourself, or get back in your wagon and go.”

Larl pulled himself back up, and looked back at CJ.

“We’ll take Leth, for our troubles. But we aren’t taking in the rest of you unless you can prove you’re worth the effort.”

Their group looked between each other. CJ told Mae what the new arrangement was. They had time to discuss it more as they traveled, but the jist was they weren’t joining under her as Duchess. She was just Mae now. He knew it wouldn’t be easy for her to accept, she lived her whole life as a noble. But just as bad, CJ wasn’t used to being a real leader. He didn’t know how to tell people what to do, or negotiate deals, or make grand speeches to win over buff warrior ladies.

He went over Cianna’s entry in the field guide.

|Cianna Unk% to next Milestone Unk of 10 Milestones

|Mountain Attunement Soulstone Tier 2 Human - Hillman

|Allegiance: Unknown

|

|Strength 9 | Control 5

|Stamina 10 | Resilience 6

|Command A.Avg | Health A.Avg | Mov. Spd B.Avg

|

|>Facets

|>Artifacts & Relics

|>Bond

Then he cleared his throat, and stepped forward.

“Ignoring the 6 men you had leave just now in a wagon, there are 10 more of your men watching us have this little talk. Two bonds of two over there, and another over there. I can’t see anyone hiding in buildings, but earlier I saw three folks enter that one there, so I assume they are waiting at the window to spring on us if necessary.” CJ pointed as he talked, but he made bold guesses on her intentions based on stuff he might do.

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

“You are the strongest one here, Cianna,” CJ said, “you’re Mountain attunement, something I haven’t heard of before just now. If you want, I can tell you the exact facets you have.”

Kurtys took a step toward CJ as if he was going to say something, but Cianna raised a hand to stop him.

“Split them up,” Cianna said, her eyes watching CJ as if he might throw a fireball any moment. “Bring Leth to my quarters, I have questions.”

From there they were fed a soup, and put into the barracks for the night. Splitting them was a smart idea, it kept CJ from making any further plans with Larl, Mae, or Alyss. As they lined up now, he looked over them to make sure none of them looked like they were hurt or disturbed over the night.

Mae looked like she didn’t get any sleep. She was still carrying Byr’s sword, but her coat was frazzled, and it looked like she barely got her outfit on before she was shoved out the door. Alyss was still watching Cianna with suspicion, but when she saw CJ she had a new target for her anger for a brief moment. Larl gave CJ a curt nod.

Their bond was back in place, so he could feel the swirl of emotion between them. As a bond they were frazzled and groggy. They were mad, and a little humiliated. But at least they were together, and all being in the same place again created a small sensation of hope.

CJ lined up, as did the others from his barracks.

“Well then,” Cianna said. “Now that you’ve seen some of my little village here, and felt my hospitality overnight, I want to hear about this idea of yours. Leth here convinced me not to throw you in a cage overnight, but you’ll have to do the rest yourself.”

This was the risky part. CJ talked with Larl for hours about Cianna. But there was only so much they could predict about her. There was always the chance she would just say no.

“Our group favored strength above all,” Larl said two days prior as they bumped along a mountain road. “If you couldn’t carry your own weight, you were useless to us. You would be tossed aside like refuse, and replaced by new recruits brought in from the low hills. But…”

“But?” CJ asked.

“Well, that was when I was one of the leaders. Then I convinced so many of our best to leave. Cianna was furious, she thought it was idiotic. It revealed a divide in our group.” Larl seemed deep in thought, his eyes nearly closed. Then he looked at CJ and grinned. “I learned what she prized more than anything.”

“I’ve come here with a deal, a kind of partnership,” CJ said. He stepped forward one step, making sure to put himself at the front of the group.

Cianna shook her head. “I don’t think you get it. Fancy eye or not, we do work here. That’s what mercenaries do. You give us a job, we go and complete it, you pay us. If the job is too big, you pay a certain amount up front.”

CJ waited her out. He let her finish, and then let her sit for a second. She stood there with hands on hips, and he let her words sit in the air. It seemed like the ‘cool’ thing to do. Honestly, he was sweating, but it was still dim enough at this hour that he was sure she couldn’t tell.

“Well if I was offering you a normal job, I wouldn’t need to go through all this effort would I?” CJ asked. “I could have just sent you a letter, send some coin your way. But Larl suggested you might be up for something bigger than that.”

Cianna looked over at Larl beside her. Larl coughed into his hand, and gave her the side eye.

“Did this little traitor say that?” Cianna asked.

“He did.” CJ said. “Hear my pitch, and you can decide for yourself. I promise it’ll at least be interesting.”

Cianna crossed her arms and huffed. “Go ahead, but I better not find myself yawning, or else.”

First event passed successfully.

When Greywind, or whatever their real name is, clued CJ in that they were just another game nerd it made CJ realize exactly why he might be here. Before he was ashamed that the only real strategy he knew was from strategy RPGs, days and days spent beating games about destined lords and ladies fighting against world ending evil by moving set distances turn by turn, battle by battle. His favorite was Dragonlord Wars. It was a long running franchise, five entries in english, a few Japan-only entries. CJ had them all, had collector copies of his favorites, had the guides, the art books, the soundtracks. He was an official speedrunner for Dragonlord Wars EX: Golden Revival, though that was more a summer obsession than his main interest.

If Greywind and CJ were both here because of their skill in strategy games, then it was possible that whatever force summoned him selected him for that. He didn’t think of himself as any master of strategy, most times strategy RPGs just required optimizing runs, making the best use of every unit you had available and combining them in perfect ways, playing the odds on percentage chance story and item events, and resetting runs when the odds didn’t play in your favor. Didn’t seem like he would be able to do that last one.

“We will fight alongside you, and help your mercenary company here do whatever jobs you guys get hired for.” CJ put up one finger, “and we will take a reduced cut for the duration. I’ll use my abilities to the fullest to help your people here at your base or out in the field.”

She scrunched up her nose, “And what ability is that again? I’ve seen men who can read a soulstone before, that ain’t world changing.”

“I can read any person that I or my allies can see,” CJ nodded, “I also have a map of my surroundings in my head that updates with all friendly and enemy positions, I can count off bonds even from a long distance, and precisely gauge attributes in seconds. I can also log any and all facets and attunements of enemies, even see if their equipment is special like relics. It is more than just reading a soulstone.”

She walked up to him, standing just a little taller than CJ. She looked down into his eyes. “Where did you get it?”

“It came here with me,” He said. “Now that you know about it, chances are you’ll either have a chance to turn me over to some sickening bastards for a bounty, or your whole village is one more target. Unless you keep it quiet, of course.”

She seemed uncertain, her mouth went to one side.

“So, what do you get from this, shelter?” she asked. “It don’t add up.”

Second event passed.

One of the common tropes of strategy RPGs was story events. It wasn’t uncommon for every major story battle to be followed by several text prompts that could either help or hurt the player. Opportunities like ‘do you want to help this orphan child’ or ‘which side should we take in the conflict’. Some were obvious, but others were so obscure that it was possible to miss tiny chances to unlock powerful allies by answering the right question at the wrong time with the 2nd worst answer. CJ didn’t know what would truly unlock Cianna as an ally, but he did all the research he could, and he was going to do his best.

“I’m sure you know, you’re the strongest in your mercenary company.” CJ looked around at the other men and women collected there to see his little ‘trial’ before their boss. “You’re Tier 2, which is impressive for sure. The strongest person I’ve seen was Tier 3. The villain we’re facing killed him in cold blood like it was nothing.”

She tried not to respond, but he saw the twitch in her eye.

“None of us are strong enough.” CJ said. “If your mercenary company is going to be useful, I need you all stronger than this. I want to train here, but also train you all.”

CJ looked around. The village was quaint, but he couldn’t help but imagine the place surrounded and overrun by ash walkers, the buildings on fire. It sent a chill up his spine.

He looked back to Cianna. “I want to make you the strongest fighting force in the world, strong enough to actually be useful to me when I need you most.”

“Useful to you?” Cianna asked. She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. Her strength really was impressive. But like he said, he knew Sir Byr. He knew a man that could lift him up like a kitten and put him back down. That man, so strong that others around him were inspired by even seeing him… he fell to Greywind. CJ didn’t plan to lose again. “By the Hero himself, who do you think you are?”

It couldn’t line up better if he set it up himself.

“I’m CJ Eastman, strategy obsessed bookworm, and the last Hero General to arrive.” CJ smiled at her, even as she bared her teeth at him. “I’m here to save the world from Ash. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”

He wasn’t sure he was the last General to arrive. For all he knew he was the second. But it played into the story that Mae believed. The signs were all around them that the world was falling apart. It fit into a hero fantasy, and maybe something like that could help push things over the edge. It was like being a superhero, you have to build some mythos.

Cianna stared him in the face, and snorted. She was able to resist laughing for a few more second, but then she dropped him and let out a resounding laugh as he fell to the dirt.

CJ got up and wiped himself off. He let her laugh it off. He didn’t like being laughed at, but he didn’t think that was what was happening. Hopefully, she was considering.

Eventually she stopped laughing, wiped her eyes, and then looked down at CJ again. “What about the rest of them?”

CJ looked to Mae. “The heir to Akahi. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the place is in turmoil. She is a powerful bargaining chip, and an aspiring revolutionary. I wouldn’t want her anywhere else.”

“Sure,” Cianna said.

He looked to Alyss, “Her loyal bodyguard. A strong warrior, and one of the few remaining people trained as Magmaguard Elite.”

Cianna and Alyss shared a look that spoke of a familiarity with each other. “Meh.”

“Whitetune and Welma are both capable bond leaders,” CJ added. “And resourceful.”

She looked down at the ground, then kicked at the dirt. Everyone stayed still. Their plan was hanging in the balance, her decision would change everything.

“Alright fine,” Cianna said.

CJ’s eyes went wide. Mae cheered, grabbing Alyss in a quick hug. Larl just smiled and nodded.

“But I feel like you’re making this easier than it will be.” She said.

CJ smiled. “Oh we can talk about details if you’d like. For one, the people I brought with me are sworn to me. We’ll lend themselves to you but…”

“But they answer to you in the end,” she said without a second thought. “I figured. But no, we have to talk numbers. I don’t think you know a match under your rump from how mercenary companies work. Before I enter into anything, we have to change that.”

He was trying to contain his excitement, but he let his smile spread. “Of course.”

“I reserve the right to break this when I need to,” Cianna said. She looked over to Larl. “I let one idiot ruin this village before. Him crawling back in priest robes won’t trick me into doing it again. This village is mine, this deal is yours. That means it falls on you when any part of it falls apart. That means the losses are yours. That means when it benefits us, we turn you in and take the profit. You get it?”

CJ chuckled. Cianna was talking tough, but something about this deal grabbed her.