Back in headquarters, I was sitting in the church at one of the folding tables with our council of war: Grandpa, Arjun, Tall Smith, and Frank.
Juana was pacing back and forth as she messaged people in Threshold. "All right, Veda's confirming it, and Mama backs up. Everything we're hearing says that teams can only challenge these bosses once in a 24-hour period."
“Individual teams?” I asked, "Like, if we go back there in an hour with a full group, would we be able to take on the enchanter? But the dwarves won’t?”
"It sounds that way. The system seems to be limiting it for individual attempts. I've also had a message from a slightly friendlier neighbor. Somebody who says they know Firebrand."
“Yeah?” Grandpa asked, perking up. “What do they say?”
“The team name is Congruent Paths. They are contracted with Alabaster Sky, but have offered neutrality for the next week before the main gates open. They say they're chasing an old woman who has a hut that moves around on chicken legs. They say if we leave her alone, they won't make any attempts on Podaga until we've had our shot."
"Oh, I know that one," Gabriel called from the next table over. "That's Baba Yaga. She's all over mythology in that part of the world."
"So we can only attempt to take down a boss once a day. But can more than one team take him out? Or if we kill him, is he permanently dead?” I asked.
"Nobody seems to know that yet, or if they do, they're not telling," Juana said. "We've got ears all over. Our crafters in Threshold are demanding information whenever they can. We're offering a 15% discount on your order if you have anything we don't already know."
“That’s a great incentive," I said. "Tell Dwight good idea.”
“It was my idea.”
"Well, in that case, tell yourself."
She blushed. I grinned at her and turned back to address the table. "Right, so there are other bosses out there we could go after. Podaga and Baba Yaga for sure. There's probably others. But we already have a ton of information on Podaga. We should concentrate on him. We've got one shot. I don't realistically think we can count on more than that. If we fail, somebody else is going to come in and take him out from under our noses. There's ten other teams out here. There could be someone on him right now."
"Jones still has his drone up," Grandpa reminded me. "If anyone makes a move, we'll see them."
"I'd kind of like it if they did. I have a feeling that guy's got a few more tricks up his sleeves. The dwarves had a good idea," I said. "They were trying to get all of the attention from the earlier mobs focused on their leader. That would have made the job with the healers easier. I think we need a tank. And no," I added quickly before anyone said anything, "not me. I don't have any of the right abilities.”
“You've got the taunt," Grandpa pointed out.
"Yeah, and it's one taunt with a long cooldown, and I don't have the ability to take all that damage they were dishing out. Just because I managed it on old squid face doesn't mean I'm the right man for the job."
"I have a list of possible contenders," Arjun said, "but no one you've worked with previously.”
"That's not true," I said. "Frank's got a lot of the skills already."
Frank looked at me, "What?"
"Between what you already had and those couple upgrades you showed me, I think you could handle it. We need some consumables from you, a few extra taunting devices, and maybe some disposable shields. That new ability you have, Command and Control, you told me how you’ve been using it to keep the heat off your farmers when you’re out in the field protecting them. Plus, you can swap places with anyone with Emergency Responder. If somebody's getting piled on, you can teleport to where they are and teleport them out of trouble."
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"I told you guys I wasn't cut out for this sort of thing," Frank protested.
"Come on, Frank, this is an entirely different kettle of fish. Death isn't permanent here, and it's not fight after fight after fight. This is one fight that we want you for. And after that, we’ll see.”
“What? You're gonna have a different strategy once we're inside the castle?"
"We sure are," I said, "because we're getting that list of people from Arjun, and we're gonna bring them in and start training with them."
He didn’t look convinced. Grandpa leaned across the table. “It would help us out a lot, Frank,” he said quietly.
“How sure are you these first bosses even matter? We can walk right past Podaga’s hut. No need to get anywhere near him.”
Grandpa shook his head. “What's the point in not having the main doors open for a week, but having these other guys out? We're supposed to be fighting over them. Whoever downs them gets buffed in the next stage of the game. I guarantee it."
I chimed in. "I don't know how many of these there are, but at least two. My gut says more than that, but probably not enough for everyone to get one down. So we've got to take somebody. On the other hand, once all of these, uh,” I cast around for a term.
“Outdoor bosses,” Grandpa suggested.
"Right. Once all the outdoor bosses are down, if they really are single kill each, it'll be much safer for your people. You can get back to letting the farmers harvest and the crafters do their work. I have a feeling that's when it's going to get really hairy for the rest of us."
Frank sighed. "I guess I see your point. Besides, you say it's only once a day, so if we try this and it doesn't work, you have time to get some of Arjun’s other candidates in here and up to speed."
"Exactly," I said. "Anyway, there's no limit on how many we can have in our raid. Let's get as many as we can. The space itself was a factor. I feel like it'd be pretty awkward to try to have anyone in the fight who wasn't in the glade, and we gotta have room to work, but we could easily have twice as many as those dwarves have. Let's get everyone who's expressed any possible interest to assemble just outside our own gates. We'll run through some practice formations, see what we can do. Arjun, we need healers, people with tanking abilities, anybody who's willing to listen to you and Juana shotcalling."
"I'm on it," Arjun said. He started rattling off a list of things to look for. I was going to interrupt him, but I got a message. It was from Warren Black, who I had dueled at the end of Phase One. I hadn’t thought about him or his allies in months. He’d taken over what was left of the Free Human League from Major Waters when the Major disappeared in disgrace.
I’ve had a message from a mutual — acquaintance. Someone neither of us want to deal with. He says he’s got to speak to you on neutral grounds. At Threshold. Secretly, without anyone else knowing.
The only man he could mean was Waters. After seeing him the other night, I had been wondering when the other shoe would drop.
I sent Grandpa a quick message. Waters wants to meet me and doesn’t want me to tell you.
Grandpa snorted. He quickly turned it into a cough and I don’t think anyone else noticed. Tell him yes, but make sure you tell me where you’re going. I know there’s no violence allowed in Threshold but that doesn’t mean they can’t find some way to mess with you.
I’ll contact you in a couple hours, I told Black. Got some business to deal with first. Tell him if he tries anything stupid, I will make him regret it.
Understood. I’ll be waiting.
Arjun was still rambling. I stood up and cut him off. "I want your people here in three hours," I said. "So, there's just people who can get here from Threshold. The Hub's too far. Tell 'em we'll take them for the next bit. And they need to sign on to Misfits Guild."
"Oh?" Juana asked. "We'd been saying we'll work with people who aren't in the guild.” She tilted her head. “Actually, Mama just sent me a message. She says she’d got a couple potential recruits who she’d like you to meet with. Sounds like our efforts at locating esports experts have finally born fruit.”
That would be perfect, allowing me to meet with Waters right afterward. “Great! Remember, I have a buff to having everyone in the party be part of my outfit. Increases our number of soul coins dropped. And I'm not the only one with a buff like that," I said. "Sage's Cowgirl Cheer is more effective on coalition members. That’s why they have to join up.”
“That’s right," Juana said. "I'll take a look at synergies like that."
“In the meantime, our creep is heading up toward Podaga’s hut. I dropped some of our flags there to attract them. I think we can use them to help clear out the bannik. Meanwhile," I said, standing up, "I gotta go get something to eat. It's been a long day. Sage, let’s go raid Mama’s kitchen. We’ll do hiring interviews while we’re there.”