We ended up finishing our training (at least enough of it to get a Minor Skill), within a few hours. Since it was already dark, we decided to camp for the night, and Bethany actually got back a bit earlier with the team she'd been sent to fetch. We all ate together at base camp before settling in, though the literal dozens of people meant we were mostly interacting in cliques. I sat with my own team, as well as Bethany, her thralls, Gabriel, Willow, Archimedes, and the wolves.

Bethany was extremely excited to spend time with the puppies, and particularly liked Jin, who she showered with love and affection, occasionally interrupted by 'Donuts' who in proper cat fashion managed to display his extreme aggravation with being ignored in such a way that implied he didn't NEED to be paid attention to, but that Bethany was failing in her duties as a two leg by not doing so.

The shadow cat was able to take physical form from Bethany's shadow...somehow. Best not question the Vampire. He repeatedly swatted at Jin from relatively far away, but my G-rank puppy ignored him, intent to snuggle with the petite vampire and loll his tongue smugly at the other animal.

"So, you've got an idea where to send us now?" I asked Benny as we chowed down on a surprisingly flavorful stew. One of Gabriel's people had made it, and it was exceptionally well done. Stew is tough because...well most stew is tough. Literally. It's really easy to boil the tenderness out of the meat and end up eating shoe leather. This was pretty well handled though, I wondered how they'd done it.

"Yeah." He said as he ate. Celine looked annoyed at his bad table manners, but I was guessing she recognized his good work enough that she decided not to yell at him. That or she was going to do it later. "Yvette was a huge help, and so was Sierra, we went over the matrices of the ritual and calculated exactly what feedback pattern will default the ritual to the central temple."

He pulled out a rolled up map, not the same one, but something he drew by hand, and flicked it out to unroll on the ground so we could all see it. He used one hand so he could keep eating, and I made a note to force him to have seconds. He was clearly starving.

I looked down at the map and then scowled at him. "Seriously?" I pointed at the circled temple. "How far away is that? I don't want to walk that far. At least it's only a former B-ranker like the last one. I'm dreading having to fight any of the former A or S-rankers. Do we know anything about this one?"

Benny snorted. "Not much, but as for the distance, I had some ideas there. Keep in mind how high up we are. I think with State of Grace as a factor you could probably glide there. Have Callie set up some kind of hang glider. Can't take Jessie though, Randall would be a bad fit for that kind of thing, plus I don't think bears like to fly."

That...I turned to Callie. "Can you do that? Because we're really high up. That might actually be viable."

"What do you mean ACTUALLY you dick." Complained my best friend. "I just spent the better part of a day rehashing math formulas to help point you at a target." He clicked his tongue on disgust. "Actually. I'll actually kick you in the throat while you're sleeping."

He wouldn't. After a particularly vicious prank war as children we'd declared sleeping time sacred and made a pact not to mess with the other when they were unconscious. Waking up with half of your head and both of your eyebrows shaved has a way of motivating you to sue for peace, much less what I'd done to him in retaliation.

Callie rolled her eyes at us. "What is it about your bickering that seems to deflate your brains? Yes, I can make a glider, especially now. And yeah, I would avoid hanging a bear from it. What's the team composition for this going to be? I know I have to go because I'm the ride, I assume Shane will be with me."

Bethy's hand shot in the air as she bounced excitedly like we were in a classroom. "Ooh! ooh! Me! Pick me!" We looked at her and she shrugged. "There's a bunch of us here now, so I don't think we need anyone to watch them. Plus we'll need all the power we can get. Me and crusader cutie over there should be part of the elimination team."

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but I swear I saw his lips twitch a bit. Bethy was a hard person to dislike, apparently even if you were part of a religious organization that considered her an abomination. The big man cleared his throat. "I'd definitely like to come along. We can leave some of my people here to keep the peace. Willow is more than capable of taking care of anyone that becomes a problem."

My body was wracked by shudders as I remembered the stick wielding demoness and her big bright smile. "Agreed. So me,Mel, Abel, Callie, Bethy, Gabriel? Five person team worked ok last time, and six should be fine, but are we sure we don't want to do a full complement of ten? We ARE going after an ancient undead powerhouse. The extra combatants can't hurt."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Yvette chuckled. She'd been so quiet I hadn't even noticed her. "You forgot me. With the seven of us we should be more than sufficient. I don't claim it to be a simple task, but it shouldn't be impossible."

Right, the forty Impact golem made of literal rocks. I wasn't sure if that would effect that hang glider, but I was pretty positive my State of Grace could offset it with enough effort. "So we go tomorrow then?" I asked after a moment of thought. "I'd rather not take to the skies out there with the angry birds without being able to see."

Everyone agreed, and we got back to the business of dinner, digging into our stew as we told stories about our adventures. Bethy was particularly verbose, though Aida consistently cut in to correct her outlandish claims, not seeming to notice that her corrections were only slightly less outlandish. By the time we headed to bed we'd all spent a nice evening laughing and enjoying ourselves, and I felt pretty refreshed.

This whole dungeon run had been much more stressful and dangerous than expected, and as I drove my rock spike into the mountain and our bunker constructed itself, I was forced to admit that the downtime tonight had been much needed. Not just for me, but I could see Callie holding herself a bit less tensely, seeming a bit less primed to snap. It was a good reminder that being leader didn't just mean telling my people when to fight, it also meant telling them when not to. Given my own problems with that concept, it was something I'd definitely need to work on.

"So, am I the only one excited to see Bethany fight?" Said Callie as we laid down in our tent inside the bunker. "Because she scares the shit out of me, and the closest we've come is seeing her little rumble with you, where I'm pretty sure she held back a lot."

I snickered. "You're just interested in how she tamed that shadow cat. You want one of those, don't you?"

"Obviously." She snorted. "I have power over shadows. I SHOULD be able to do the same thing, but I have no clue how the hell she managed that."

I just shrugged. "Vampires. Anyway, we can ask her on the way, it'll be a much shorter trip there with the hang glider. You're going to be key to this mission. I'm sure she'd be willing to talk about it and maybe help you pull off something similar."

"I'd be much more reassured by that if I was at all sure she KNEW how she'd done it." Callie complained. "But I guess you're right."

"I'm always right." I said solemnly. "I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. Now go to sleep, we have a long trip in the morning." She giggled a bit before snuggling up to me and closing her eyes. I let myself drift off peacefully, always happiest when we were together.

In the morning, Callie got up first, squirming free of my arms and waking me up as she rushed to get into costume and get ready to go.

Laughing, I put on my armor and we headed out into the bunker. I'd already pulled the rock spike, so we left the bunker to come apart in its own time as we headed outside. Bethany was already out there, a small decorative umbrella held up to give herself a bit of extra shade. Her skin wasn't burned by the sun or anything, but clearly she wasn't a fan.

Gabriel was sitting at a fire, cooking a skillet full of bacon. When they saw us he waved us over. The cold mountain air nipped at our skin, but I had to admit, something about sleeping in a tent and waking up to cold and the smell of bacon reminded me so much of camping trips with Benny's dad as a kid. There was just something so peaceful about it.

As we approached, I couldn't bring myself to talk. Something about the morning chill and the fact that everyone was still asleep except us just made the silence feel heavier, harder to break. It wasn't anything oppressive though, just the odd feeling that I was waiting for my ability to talk to wake up with the rest of me. I breathed out, letting a cloud of mist fog the air in front of me as I sat down.

Gabriel passed me a plate with some bacon, and for a while, the sound of silverware on dishes was the only sound aside from the crackle of the fire. Even Bethany didn't seem to see a need to talk.

The silence broke as Mel and Abel showed up and my mentor flopped down onto a chair he brought out. "Man that smells good." He groaned. "Remind me why I'm awake this early?"

"Because shut up." Said Mel shortly. She withdrew a thermos from her ring and poured out a cup of black liquid, sniffing it serenely before taking a long pull. She didn't have her mask on, which still felt weird to see. Coffee, based on the smell. Abel grinned at her, holding out his own cup, and she grudgingly poured a small measure into his mug. He looked at it forlornly before shrugging and downing it in a single toss.

We all ate in silence, enjoying the morning, and even Callie seemed almost at peace, though she had a measure of nervous tension that told me she was anxious to get going.

Once we finished and found Yvette, we set out at a brisk walk toward the edge nearest to the temple we were aiming for. I wasn't convinced we could glide the whole way, even from a place this high up, but even if we couldn't we'd cut down the trip by a substantial margin.

Reaching the edge, Callie got to work putting together her construct. She'd consulted Benny a bit the night before on construction, and my best friend had given some notes on what pitfalls to avoid and how to make the whole thing a smoother and more relaxing experience. She created a giant hang glider with a platform at the base we could all stand on, and once it was done I triggered State of Grace. Once I'd done that, we pushed forward, the tiny wheels on the corners rolling us down the steep incline towards the edge of the mountain, then with a stomach dropping yank, we hit the air, and we were flying.