As we made our way down through our outpost, I took stock of all of the transformed Phase Two buildings that were now becoming the basic structure for our Phase Three push.

The turrets and towers on the wall were as imposing as ever. Veda and Mama Grace were buying up equipment from other teams' failed Phase Two attempts and sending them through so we could bolster our defenses.

I looked up at the sky. The fog had burned off, leaving bright blue above us. A hawk circled lazily. Have we got enough covering the air? I asked in our command chat. That was me, Grandpa, Frank, Juana, and a couple of others. Anything important happened, we'd report it to the command chat and let each, well, department head, I guess, take it down to his or her own staff.

I guess that made me head of the military. Military implied a bit of discipline and coordination that I wasn't sure all of us were up for, so I amended that in my head to "the warriors."

We'll check on it, Juana said.

I passed a knot of five Grignarians standing by our node marker. They were looking around. I couldn't read their expressions at all, and I wasn't sure if any of them were the ones I had had dealings with, either as an ally or way back at the start of Phase Two as an enemy. I stopped anyway and tipped my hat to them, doing a quick Inspect and seeing that one of them was Exalted Skywarden Greenlight the Unreleased, whom I had made the deal with to join forces at the end of Phase Two.

"Good to see you here," I said. “Go on ahead, Frank, I’ll catch up.”

"Human Shad Williams, we were told to report to you,” Greenlight said.

I made a note that the Exalted Skywarden was apparently not their top guy. “What do you need?"

"A task. We are at your disposal now."

The Grignarians' only request in order to secure their aid had been that we take them on as mercenaries in Phase Three. I was certain they had a motive for being here, and we would be keeping an eye on them. For now, they were on our team. "I want you on patrol around our outskirts, looking for weak places in our defenses," I said. "We're new at this. You guys have been playing this game for a while. Anything you spot, let me or Major Twofeather know, and we'll get it shored up."

"Understood.”

“If anyone from the other teams advances to speak, let them pass as long as they're respecting our parley rules. There's some asshole dwarves, though. I'm pretty sure they might try something. If they do, kill 'em hard. Use those nasty, face-melting rounds you guys have."

The Grignarians made a soft, snuffling sound. I wondered if it was laughter. “We also do not like the Akazan. They are very prejudiced and short-sighted.”

“Yeah, I'd love to chat about galactic politics. Really. Let me buy you a beer or whatever it is you fellows drink sometime soon and get some questions answered.” I was starting to wonder about the Grignarians and how they fit in to galactic society. It seems like they were outcasts, and I might be able to use that to get us humans some insider information. “But right now, I'm off to scout. We'll catch up again.”

“We look forward to seeing you. Congratulations on your elevation of status, Captain Williams.” They raised their hands until their rightmost appendage was level with their mouths. I returned a salute and started down for the gate, catching Frank just before he got there.

The rest of our team was already waiting, Sage bouncing up and down with excitement. She spotted Frank and launched herself for him, giving him a big hug. “Deputy Young, it's been ages. You're coming with us? Awesome!"

He patted her head. "You're getting tall, Sage."

She pouted. "I know. And the worst of it is, my clothes are growing with me, so I can't even use it as an excuse to get something new."

"What's wrong with what you've got?" I asked. “You just got that new shirt, too.” The System had awarded her a brand new rodeo shirt with scallops and silvery bits all over it as a reward for doing well at the special Phase Two team challenge. She wore it with a crisp pair of denim jeans, and cowgirl boots with little hearts picked out and rhinestones on the toes.

She rolled her eyes at me. "They're for little girls," she said. "And I'm basically a teenager now. It's like being grown up. Once we're done with this, I'm going to have to talk to Veda and see what she can do for me. I am not going to be stuck in one outfit my entire adolescence."

Jones stood quietly ready. He saluted as I joined the group. Annie smiled at me. "So what's the mission, boss?"

I pulled my All-Seeing Eye that we had used at the end of Phase Two out of my inventory and re-equipped it, slipping the earpiece into my ear. "Anybody on the desk?"

"Kirin here," came the response. "I've got Arjun, but he's busy doing a lot of coordination, and we found a subject matter expert like you asked for."

"Great," I said.

"They're in the loop. I'll let him introduce himself," Kirin said. “We had to do our best guess. We're not 100% sure yet about the origin of this mythos, but hopefully he'll be able to give us some pointers. Say hi, Gabriel.”

A new voice came on. He sounded British. Not that plummy high-class accent from BBC period pieces, but not as rough as the couple British SAS I’d met at a training gig. Kind of middle-of-the-road. “Name’s Gabriel Klement. My folks are from Czechia, and my grandmother raised me on folk stories. Some of the monsters your scouts report seeing match up a bit so I’m here to help.”

“Ok, stand by.” I gathered my team around me.

Frank sent us all details to update our personal maps. “The farming team were about a mile out, north and east of us, along this river.” A blue-colored line appeared on my map, snaking its way out of the hills to the east before joining the main watercourse down the center of the valley. “There’s a little lake here, in the woods. That’s where it happened.”

He sent us a map pin and I checked my bearings. “Let’s get going and you can tell us the details as we walk. Jones, get your drone up and share the video feed with Kirin and Gabriel. Frank, you’re on point, I’ll be rear guard. Let’s move out.”

We set off toward the north, entering the forest quietly as we could. There were occasional bird calls from the trees and a few skittering sounds and rustling of brush, but I didn't see anything as we made our way through the stands of ancient oak.

Stolen novel; please report.

The going was easy. There wasn't much underbrush here with the spreading limbs above blocking out so much light. Mouldering leaves released an earthy, rotting smell as we stepped on them. They muffled our footsteps nicely. The trees bore a heavy coating of moss. Vines ran up many of them, winding bright green tendrils around the dark brown branches.

I took a deep breath. The air felt clear and cool. It was remarkable how sharp the details were. I wondered yet again if any of this was real or if the system was just putting images, scents, feelings into our minds. Was there any way to tell? Did it actually matter? This was my life now.

As we went, Frank filled us in more on what the team had encountered. “They were attacked by a pack of beagle-sized squirrels on the way to the pond. Didn't have too much trouble with those. The squirrels had a nasty rabies debuff, but an ordinary healing potion cleaned that up right away and so did their one healing spell, so Sage can probably take care of it if we run into those. Her Raise Your Spirits removed that undead curse, rabies should be easy.”

"No problem," Sage said. “I actually just got a buff to Raise Your Spirits that specifically says it removes damage over time and poison debuffs. It won’t remove any mind control though. I thought that was odd to specify.”

“So let's hope we don't run into any vampires,” I said, peering around through the dim light. Back at the outpost, it had been a pleasant spring day. Here under the trees, it was at least 10 degrees cooler, maybe more. I was dressed for it, but it made the day a little less pleasant. That was good. I wanted to be on edge and alert.

“Then they reached the pond and were attacked by a giant frog creature. They said it was a toad, but since it popped up out of the water, I'm guessing actually a frog.”

I grinned at Frank's back as we made our way along. “Either way, we know how to squash giant toads, after all.” I remembered the very first encounter we'd had together back about two minutes after being introduced to the reality engine. Frank and I had taken out a giant toad to win our very first Soul Coin.

"Yeah, takes me back," Frank agreed. He really did seem happier and more relaxed now. Maybe we had been too stressful for him. “Toad had some debuffs, sticky frog spawn that reduces the target's movement speed, that sort of thing, and dealt mostly physical and water-based damage. The tongue lash could pull in multiple targets at once.” He paused to duck under a fallen tree branch that blocked our path. “They took it down and then were attacked by something else that came out of the water. It happened fast enough we didn't get much description. Apparently some sort of water goblin, though one of the crafters thought they looked more like dogs on two legs. And then something in the pond unleashed a wave of water that crushed them all.”

"Do we have an analysis on that?" I asked. "Pure water damage? Or was it force-based?"

"Uh," he said. "Let me check."

We relayed our question back to Kirin, who had the answer for us quickly. “Both. About 80 points of straight-up crushing damage and then 20 per second of ongoing water damage. We aren't sure how long the attack could go on for, since everybody died pretty fast.”

"Okay, that's pretty good," I said. "I'm immune to water-based damage right now, remember?"

"Sure." Frank agreed, “but not the crush.”

"I can take one hit as long as I heal back up fast. When we get close, I'll take the lead."

We had been walking for a good twenty minutes without seeing anything. I was relieved when the trees thinned out and the pond came into view beyond.The water stretched away far enough that the far bank was obscured in the light mist rising off of the water. I could hear a stream trickling somewhere nearby.

The near bank of the pond was thick with rushes and water lilies bearing the most brilliantly colored flowers. Bright purple, emerald green, yellow like a first spring daffodil, vibrant crimson red. I could see why our crafters had been interested.

Something broke the surface tension of the water, sending little ripples everywhere. "Everybody freeze," I said. "I'll take the lead."

I approached, my gun in my hand ready to activate an ability if necessary. I could see a pair of bulbous eyes just on the surface of the water and the suggestion of a gray-green head beyond it. The eyes were big, at least a couple of inches across the both of them and about eight feet away. I tried to Inspect but got nothing. "Sage, is it close enough for you to..."

The creature erupted out of the water straight at me. Even having been warned, I was taken aback. It was indeed an enormous frog. Its hind legs were strung out behind it as it leapt for me.

I threw myself to the side and twisted. It landed inches from me, shaking the ground. It was about half my height. It opened its wide mouth, gaping. I could see its coiled tongue ready to lash out.

I fired right down its wide mouth. Not an ability, just straight up shot it from inches away with my stump-nosed revolver, emptying my whole cylinder. The creature shuddered in place as my bullets tore through its gullet. Daylight shone through the three-inch-wide hole I had torn from all of my shots hitting in close succession.

I used my Reload ability as I lurched sideways. "Remain at range!" I shouted to my team. "Hose it down, but don't get closer to the water!"

They added their firepower to my own. Jones using his Army issue M4 while Frank had his service gun out. They both had some of Dwight and Sage's improved rounds. Their shots ripped big chunks of hit points off of the frog.

[-17, -13, -28]. It had started with 265 HP, which was a hell of a lot more than I had, but we'd already knocked it down by half with our initial assault.

The frog kicked out with its back legs, springing right over my head. I whirled on the spot and shot at it as it went over. My Trick Shot took it between its legs, but frogs don't have a particularly vulnerable place on their groin, so it just tore more damage off.

It was heading right at Sage and Annie. I started to trigger Call ‘em Out, but before I could, Annie threw Misdirect Audience and vanished from the spot, leaving an Annie-shaped decoy behind her. Sage disappeared at the same moment, reappearing 10 yards to the west as she engaged Three-Barrel Race to get herself out of trouble.

The frog hit the ground. We converged on it, firing, and tore down the rest of its hit points. It collapsed in a bloody, wet, sticky heap.

It had been easy, even considering that we were better at this than the farming team would be. They weren't helpless, not if they'd spent Phase One doing farming. There had to be more to come.

I turned back to face the pond as the next wave emerged. There were six of them, and they did look like goblin dogs. They were like what would happen if you drowned a wolfhound, then reanimated it, and put the head of an ugly humanoid with pointed dog ears on its body, then sent it shambling forward on two legs.

I raced into the thick of things, casting Call ‘em Out and trusting my team to lay down fire. Meanwhile, I was keeping an eye on the pond, waiting for sign of the next threat.

The goblin wolf creatures lunged at me, slavering with their claws, ready to rip me open from neck to groin. I danced backward. "Okay, we're getting a good picture from Jones's drone," Kirin’s voice said in my ear. "See if you can lure out a few of their abilities.”

“I’m gonna see if I can kill them first," I snapped. I shot the nearest one in the face, blowing away a chunk of its nose. There was no blood. A thick white piste oozed slowly out of the wound.

"They're undead!" Sage shouted back. "System's not giving me any info on them, though on what they are. Just on their health and resistances."

Sage was right. We hadn't received any of the oh-so-helpful system fight start info. Maybe that was a new challenge for phase three.

“I think they are vodnik,” Gabriel said. “It fits the general description anyway. Water spirits, like drowned dogs or very ugly old men.”

"Great, so what's their weakness?" I asked.

"My grandmother's stories were not strong on how to defeat these things. More if you are not a good boy, the vodnik will come and eat you."

"That's helpful," Sage called as she threw a lasso around one of the creatures and ordered it to turn on its fellows. Frank had another one Restrained, and Annie was using her “Now You See It" trick to lure one of the creatures into attacking her, then disappearing and forcing it to turn on one of the others.

The creatures tore themselves to shreds as we helped out with our own firepower. Sage cackled in glee as she managed to get a second monster Tamed, turning them both on the one Frank had Restrained, then ordering them to fight each other when they were the last left. Chunks of fur flew everywhere. The creatures fought and died without making a sound. It was creepy as hell.

The last body hit the ground. I stood back, panting as Sage darted in to loot. "Stay clear!” I warned, just as the pond began to roil.