Angelus greets us upon our arrival at the tent, "Hello. Your business is all taken care of then?"

"Yes," I confirm, cocking my head, "You don't look fantastic, did something happen?"

"An Elite one of those handpeople monsters showed up at the barricade," Jade trots out, "They managed to hold on thanks to birdboy here."

"Oh?" Elites showing up at the barricade is concerning, likely a consequence of nobody making an attempt to go into the city and hunt them, "Nice work. What're your MP levels looking like? Still up for an expedition?"

"Back up to around half, now, so I can handle some low-intensity healing," Angelus estimates, "Trying not to drink too many potions. They're twice as expensive from the quartermaster NPC here."

Half of his pool is perhaps putting a little tightly, "We'll have to make do, then. Having said that, Henna will be joining us, so consider healing her your priority over everyone else unless it'd put her in more danger to do so. We can recover should something go wrong, but we lack the ability to revive her or mend lost limbs should it come to that."

"Got it," Angelus agrees without complaint, "What combat role will she be taking, as a corollary?"

"Same as me, broadly," I clear my throat, and step to the side, "Miss Leovoldt here will also be joining as a melee damage dealer."

"Uhh, hi again," Miss Leovoldt waves, "I'm here to punch monsters."

"Cool," Jade nods with approval, "I can respect that."

"Quite," Angelus bows his head a little in greeting, "Don't take any unnecessary risks and you'll be fine in my book."

She gives him a thumbs up, "I hear ya loud 'n' clear."

I glance around them, "Is Jupiter not back yet?"

Jade grumbles, "Nah. Still as the grave."

Sighing, I half-shrug, "Give'em ten minutes then. If he's still not back after that, we're leaving without him. Just means we'll have to put more effort in to compensate for his absence."

"Is that really wise?" Angelus questions, conscious of his necessity for dealing with groups of enemies.

"We can at the very least kill Desperate Embrace without him. But ideally, we want to take down The Scavenger first," I explain briefly.

"Why's that?" Jade tilts her head.

"You know the suicide bomber enemies?" I query.

"Yeah, the barricade had a couple sneak up on them when the Elite showed up," Angelus nods.

"The Scavenger is what's generating them," I reveal, "According to people that were in the area when it spawned. It takes a weaker mob and converts it into one. Kill it, and the danger level of travelling through the city will decrease dramatically since being nearby when one of them pops is the only thing that can reliably kill us amongst the fodder enemies. With them out of the way, the only things we need to worry about are Elites and getting swarmed by more enemies than we can handle."

As a happy side-effect, it'll also free up City Hall and the Bank, which means after we deal with another one or two minibosses, we can try and register Truthseekers as a Guild then and there.

"Our priority for targets goes, in order: The Scavenger, Desperate Embrace, The Birdcage, and The Brand at dead last. That way we free up the major facilities and remove the barriers blocking off the Cathedral. The Brand is in the southeast, converting any NPC it finds into slaves, but nobody of consequence is liable to be caught, so we can safely ignore it until it's time to deal with it, assuming it's still alive by then," I continue, "So long as we can take down at least two minibosses and Geronil, I'd call it a success."

"So we're taking down a suicide bomber factory first," Jade muses, "Makes sense, I take it the other ones are also cranking out mobs?"

"From what I hear, yes," Angelus nods, "Desperate Embrace is roaming around the Market District shedding handpeople monsters, The Birdcage is outside the Cathedral sucking up the soul of any idiot that gets too close and turning their bodies into Elites."

"Huh. How the hell are we meant to deal with something that instakills you if you go near it?" Jade looks pointedly at me, but I can only shrug in response.

"I don't know, exactly. I would assume you just blast it with magic and so on from a distance, since The Scavenger is something that largely ignores ranged damage. A dichotomy in design," I speculate, calling on my knowledge of boss design tropes.

"Sounds plausible," Windy muses, "Put under that lens, the market district one generates mobs from itself, and the last one makes more out of others. The pattern holds."

We all agree with that evaluation after hearing it pointed out.

"As for specific tactics, I can only claim confidence for dealing with The Scavenger," I caution, "The others we'll have to be a bit more adaptable with, as opposed to following a set plan."

"So, what do we do?" Miss Leovoldt asks curiously.

"Add management," I shrug, "We need to do everything we can to kill the adds as they appear. We'll talk specifics when we're all together."

"Again? Ugh. I'd kill for some variety," Jade complains, throwing her head back and groaning.

"Welcome to the Meteo City early game," I half-joke, "Complexity isn't its strong suit."

Honestly, even WLR isn't really much better in that regard. But I didn't choose Meteo City for entertainment value.

A luxurious yawn interrupts my train of thought before I speak, "Oh, hey, 'sup guys?"

"Oh, you're back," Windy comments blandly, "What took you so long?"

"Well, it's kind of a Monday so..." Jupiter coughs with embarrassment, "I'm meant to be in school right now and my dad may have stopped by home because he forgot his lunch."

"So, getting spanked by Papa?" Jade snarks.

"Yeah-I mean, no. Not literally. Verbally. But fear not, because my GPA is an impeccable 4.6, so after a lot of begging I managed to convince him to let my indiscretion slide. I don't really give a shit about my attendance, it's over 90% anyway so who cares," Jupiter summarises, "If you'd believe it, they got me my capsule for Christmas specifically to get me to study less. Which is pretty fuckin' backward if you ask me since parents are traditionally meant to be pushing their kids to be their best selves and study hard and all that but I guess I went too far on the whole studying thing and their priorities shifted to making me less fantastic academically in case I studied so hard I become an AI or something..."

Ignoring the excess rambling, I clear my throat, "So, in other words, you're good to go?"

He inhales, "Yyyesss?"

"Then stand up, we're going."

---

 

Gatehouse Barricade

With Jupiter, Windy and Miss Leovoldt chatting up a storm as background noise, we make our way over to the entrance to the besieged Meteo City, garnering a moderate amount of interest due to our fame amongst the community. Curious onlookers gossip among themselves as they speculate about what it is we're planning on doing, and a few industrious Quest hunting types are gathered around an irritated Henna as she leans against the wall, trying to wheedle information and requests out of her to no avail.

Pushing the rude Newborn aside, Henna strolls over to us, face set with determination, "Silver."

"Henna. Last chance to back out if you've any doubts remaining," I offer, already knowing her answer.

"No. I'm going," Henna denies flatly, "As for the rest of you, greetings, my name is Henna, please bear with me, as I am still a beginner."

The team introduce themselves in turn - or rather, Angelus, Miss Leovoldt and Jupiter do, as those least familiar with her.

 "Alright, Windy, lead the way, please. We're heading to Tridor Plaza, avoiding the Market District. If you see an Unstable Feathertearer, call it out, and leave dealing with it to either myself or Miss Leovoldt - whichever of us isn't aggroed on," I instruct, "Don't bother shooting anything at them as they'll just absorb it most of the time. Otherwise, proceed as normal."

"Understood, boss," Windy gets her sword and shield at the ready as she walks, the rest of us follow suit.

The barricade, it seems, is currently being manned by a mixture of Rambling Rose personnel and some other team I barely recognise. A group of relative nobodies, essentially. Setting them aside, Hadrian is present, and strutting our way full of unearned swagger.

"Silver Nosster and friends! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" He laughs jovially, "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever leave the forest, your absence from the frontline of the Event is rather odd, after all..."

I recognise the dig at my decision for what it is, but don't respond to the provocation, "Is there something you need, Mr King?"

With a quick glance around, I note Olrica's rather conspicuous absence. As a core member, her presence here should be a given.

Hadrian smiles, "Just curious as to what it is you're doing here after throwing the city into chaos and ignoring the mess for a stroll in the woods. Did you not hear about the negotiations you skipped out on? The barricade is booked out by those who attended, after all."

I stare blankly at the kid, trying so desperately hard to smear my reputation, "We're going to kill a miniboss. Your efforts in containing the demons are commendable, and we're not interested in interrupting your work. If that's all there is, we'll be passing through."

Being dismissed so blatantly, Hadrian grits his teeth, "Are you belittling me - us? You and your two-bit band of misfits?"

Cocking an eyebrow, I sigh, "Mr King, may I recommend redirecting your anger at The Brand if you're bored enough to pick a fight? It would be a far more productive use of your time and energy."

Rambling Rose took it down the first time around, so there's a maybe 50/50 chance they can do it again at their current progression. It'd be a load off my back if he falls for the provocation and actually does it. So long as I get enough Reputation and Fame for the Guild's formation, I could care less about the leftover minibosses. If he wants to take the credit for Geronil away from us, however, then we will definitely be coming to blows. An antagonistic relationship with the Hadrian of this timeline doesn't interest me in the slightest, even if I dislike him greatly.

"Why on earth would we do that?" Hadrian scoffs, "The contribution points from here are plenty enough that such a risk is unnecessary. If you wish to follow this man to your deaths, be my guest."

Jade sniggers, "What, you some kinda chicken?"

Inwardly I wince, Hadrian's eye twitches from restrained anger, "Oh? And who dares mock me?"

Great. Here we go.

"I do, duh. Like, where do you get off on acting all high and mighty when you're just sitting behind a buncha boxes and shit taking potshots at trash mobs?" Jade saunters up, "You wanna talk big? Put your money where your mouth is. Wanna bet on who gets a miniboss downed first? Huh?"

"Jade..." I glare, she raises a hand to stop me.

"Ain't finished, Tour Guide. Point I'm making is, you ain't got no balls," Jade sneers, "Yeah, I see you stealing little glances at the Guard over there. Like none of us'd fuckin' notice you shakin' in your little booties."

Fuming, Hadrian starts shaking, "You overstep, greatly. Greatly."

"Fuckin' try me, bitch," Jade flips him off with both hands, smirking arrogantly, "Not like you have the guts, do ya? Wanna prove me wrong? You know what t'do."

I can practically see his patience snap, "RAMBLING ROSE! FORM UP! WE'RE TAKING DOWN THE BRAND!"

A little reluctantly, the membership of Rambling Rose present form an orderly line and follow Hadrian across the barrier, almost literally marching to the east, leaving their partnered team gobsmacked and understaffed.

Victorious, Jade grins at me, "That's how you motivate a schmuck like that. Limpdick bastards can't handle being reminded how they can't get it up."

"That...was entirely unwarranted," I grit my teeth, "The situation was under control."

"It was certainly effective in getting rid of them," Angelus notes, "Are we not looking to kill all of the minibosses?"

"No," I exhale, frustrated, "There's no need to exhaust ourselves after we get what we need from them. Letting other expeditions take up the burden will make our lives easier. Something I was trying to do a with a little more subtlety, and without scuttling our relationship with Rambling Rose entirely."

"Fuck 'em," Jade shrugs, unrepentant, "Why pussyfoot around and pretend he wasn't trying to start shit?"

"Please refer to our prior conversation about you not being expected to play diplomat," I growl.

"Yeah, I hear ya, but come on, you really just going to let him shit-talk us like that? Have some fuckin' pride man," she snorts, "For someone who cares so much about their public image, and goes out of his fuckin' way to piss off every last asshole in the city - why is that limpdicked twerp where you suddenly decide to draw a line in the sand?"

"Because Rambling Rose, at the very least, could be useful collaborators from time to time if managed properly," I explain, trying to keep cool, "Even if Hadrian's an uppity spoiled brat, doesn't mean I'm ready to burn bridges yet. But it's too late for that now - any chance of reconciliation just got torpedoed."

I take a deep breath, "We'll continue this conversation later. Daylight's burning."