"Welcome to the Cult of the Nameless One! Here, all are welcome in the worship of his nascent divinity!"

"Uhm... I was told there was going to be free food."

"Yes, after the mandatory briefing. Now! We here at the cult, offer a wide variety of goods and services for our members. Anything from training to career advice are all things readily available. Come, let me take you on a tour of our facility! To our left, you'll see our public kitchen area. Just don't drink the punch! Haha! Sorry, a little injoke around here. To our left, you'll see stairs leading down to our subterranean areas..."

"Why did you build underground?"

"Well... in the precepts from our founders, there's a single line of advice at the end. Simply, it reads....

Have hope for the future, but maybe build a bomb shelter anyway."

--Interview with a Recruiter, Cult of the Nameless One. From: "The Layman's guide to Alternative Worship, 5th edition." AC 1320.

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"Let's do an after action review..."

I manage to surpress a groan at the lobster's words. I mean, it was obvious where we messed up. Wilhelm rushed in without a plan, and we were all scrambling to support him. I kept my thoughts to myself though as the drill sergeant's next words caught me off guard.

"Wilhelm, good job taking initiative."

What? We could have come up with a plan!

Wilhelm seems to perk up a bit at the praise. He is then immediately crushed,

"Bad job at everything else."

He turns to the rest of us. "Remember, you are a team. There will be times when you're required to take charge. Maybe someone has fallen, or been separated from the others. But until then, you follow the orders of the person you've been assigned to. Which in this case, was Private Crabby as squad leader."

He turns to me next,

"You're going to have to learn to deal with people rushing ahead, eager to attack. There are some people and classes," he jerks his head towards Wilhelm, "whose only defense is an offense. Their only protection is doing more damage than they're taking. You have to know the people you're working with so you can manage them effectively."

He turned to Mina next,

"You're a bard. What were you doing trying to attack me? You should have been bolstering your allies with your skills, moving randomly to prevent being locked down."

He looks to the [artificer] brother's next.

"You two should have served as close and ranged defense for the party enabler." He waves a claw at Mina. He continues addressing them, "You two can't hit or take a hit as well as a frontliner like Wilhelm or a midliner like Crabby. Your best use is in utility, getting in and supporting where you're needed."

He finishes with Luna,

"You actually did a decent job. In combination with Private Crabby, you fulfilled your role as a mobile skirmisher. If it wasn't for your teammates, you may have actually gotten a hit in on me. Now..." he turns to us as a group,

"Let's talk about how to improve."

He spends the next hour dissecting what we could have done better, and things to improve on. After that, we attack him once more, refining our team work. Each iteration I can see a gradual escalation in our ability, but it's plain to see that it'll take time for our skills to truly mesh.

I'm struggling with my dual role as coordinator and mid range attacker. It's not that I can't do either one separately, but together I'm struggling to see the entire battlefield picture while still applying pressure to the Drill Sergeant. At the end of the day, we're all exhausted... I thought the physical training was hard. But today? Today I discovered that continunally fighting was even worse.

I admit a small amount of relief as the Drill Sergeant says,

"Alright, you're released for the day. Private Mina, you are now squad leader. This is not a reflection on any person's leadership, but each of you will cycle through this position so you can understand the burdens of being in charge. Dismissed."

That night, as we're eating food, I talk to Luna. I ask her,

"So... what do you think of everything so far?"

She seems to take longer to think about her answer than usual. She eventually says, "To be honest... this entire thing makes me a bit sad."

Her response was so totally unexpected that I didn't know what to say. I eventually get myself together and try to get her to clarify. I ask her,

"What do you mean?"

She waves an arm, indicating the surrounding area.

"It's just, millions of sea creatures, with skills and power outside of my imagination... locked in an endless war with corruption. They couldn't even spare a couple of high level people to come help us out. If they could... then maybe Octo or Angus..."

Ah, I see what the problem is now. She's still missing her friends. The friends that we were forced to take down after they had fallen. I can't imagine what she's been going through, keeping a positive spin on things, maybe for my benefit. I pull her aside and let her know she doesn't have to be strong for me. I say,

"Hey, listen here. It's okay to be upset. We went through a terrible time together. When the other's were talking about those briefings we missed, they mentioned that if you want to, there are people available to talk to. Completely confidential."

She awkwardly shrugs, her voice low and responds,

"I know, it just feels kind of weird. Like, "Hey random person I don't know! I know it's your job to listen to my problems, so here I go!""

She says, "I think it will go away with time. I've just been pushing it down and keeping busy and that seems to help."

I wave a claw in admonishment. I say, "I'm not an expert, but that doesn't sound helpful. I remember once when I was a young crab, and I lucked out and got a huge meal. I spent several hours eating it, and even when I felt like I shouldn't continue, I kept on eating; just pushing it down. You know what happened?"

She shakes an arm no, despondantly.

I say, "Well, the more I pushed down, the more it wanted to come back up. I eventually ended up throwing up all the food onto the floor."

A small giggle escapes Luna at my story, and I feel a little better. If she doesn't want to talk to someone else then...

I tell her, "If you don't want to talk to an expert, I'm always here for you as well. That's what friends are for. Would you like to talk to me?"

She hesitates, seeming a bit vulnerable before I can see her visibly relax. Some of the unseen tension she was carrying seems to melt off her body as she says,

"Just you noticing and offering has helped alot Crabby. I know we're both tired but... yeah. I think I'd like to tell you about my old friends."

And so she did.

We sat down and talked long into the evening. I make sure to do more listening than speaking as she told me stories; both sad and funny, of people she had left behind. We fall asleep that night and for the first time since the dungeon... Luna didn't toss and turn at all.

Our conversation brought forth memories of my own... of both new and old friends. I eventually fall asleep with those thoughts, hoping that they are okay.