On the third day of delving, there was a bit more drama.
The first happened when in one of Vesna's carried rifts, the rift dropped a skill shard. They all debated about what to do for quite a while, delaying other delves, as a shard could last as little as a few seconds outside the rift that dropped it.
There was an established protocol for the entire trip for skill shard drops but none of the people were quite sure what the skill was so they didn't want to trade a large portion of their rewards for what could be a dud.
Eventually, Vesna just made a call, grabbing the jagged object and jumping out of the rift. Her guard identified it as a movement skill but couldn't get any closer than that.
It was enough for two people of her delving group of five teams to say they wanted it. When it was all decided, there were still some hard feelings from the person who lost out but that was normal. No fights had actually broken out.
My group of teams had a much different type of situation.
Our group had just finished with a carried delve and I left the rift to let everyone outside know we'd completed it so they wouldn't worry. The three teams who cleared the rift decided to take their lunch break in the rift itself, enjoying the now-peaceful beach after fighting the massive crab.
Appearing in the real world once more, giant crab claw in hand to share with Ileana's team, Inara, Romie, and Sasa, I was greeted with the backsides of fifteen people, all wearing patchwork armor and sporting various rusty weapons.
My AAI informed me recording and messaging were blocked but luckily not anything else.
Glad they always forget to target translation.
I kept translation off most of the time now for listening, at least not providing live translation, but still typically spoke and composed messages in English.
They were yelling animatedly at six people, Sasa nowhere to be found.
"Give us your rewards and be on your way. We'll even let you keep your gear. Well, most of it. No reason to make this nasty," a male voice said, reverberating strangely through a mask.
The fifteen had flared out in a semi-circle with their backs to the rift, presumably to block that off as a potential exit. I saw all six people on my side were currently in armor but not holding weapons, though it didn't look like they'd been disarmed.
I gave Inara a significant look and she threw her eyes meaningfully to a tree off to the side. Sasa Sati quickly ducked his head into view, hanging upside down in the upper canopy.
Using our hand signals, I communicated as best I could that the other teams would be delayed.
I gave Inara a look to ask if I could take the lead and she nodded. I quickly ducked back into the rift – a new instance of course – and donned my armor. Luckily, I had only taken off a few pieces as I left rather than the whole set.
"—not going to ask again!" a woman's voice was shouting as I emerged, silently cursing the noise dampening of the armor so I couldn't make a clanking arrival.
I said calmly, "And what seems to be the problem here?" Two surprised people with bows turned and accidentally loosed, their arrows plinking uselessly against my shield.
The man who had been talking before said, without turning, "These idiots are going to end up dead instead of 'donating to the cause'. We've had enough! I think we'll make an example out of you!" He walked over forcefully to grab at Inara who dodged just out of his grasp before he turned around, shock in his eyes.
I had most of the group still looking at me when Inara gave her signal.
Romie's bow appeared in their hands, three odd-looking arrows nocked in under a second.
Ileana's hammer appeared in her hand, as she rushed the nearest person, smashing in her chest armor with a discordant crunch.
Inara's daggers, turned handle-out, smashed the leader in the back of his head while Roksana cast three consecutive [Ice Spike]s, slashing through an Achilles' tendon each time.
Seeing we were going non-lethal, I took out a backup mace and charged. I thought fighting people would be good practice but my weapon was just a bit too deadly.
Four people split off to engage me in the chaotic fight.
One, Inara's [Restricting Vines] rooted to the spot before they could take a second step.
Romie's strange arrow hit the next, the person crumpling though no blood spilling.
The man with two smaller axes charged, screaming something about my mother.
My quick dash and bash to his chest with my shield while his arms were still above his head sent him sprawling and wheezing.
Maybe this won't be good practice…
The woman was far better, a long spear at the ready.
She used the two handed weapon with far better reach to keep me at bay, waiting for the man to recover. However, I slowly moved her in a half circle, blocking and making a number of probing steps to keep her expecting a similar charge.
I positioned myself ahead and just a bit to the side of the man with two axes. After a hard deflection, I used [Hasty Retreat] to zip backwards a few paces and smashed on the man's ankle.
The crunch and subsequent scream felt vindicating but still made me a bit sick to my stomach.
Necessary but don't lose my humanity.
I gritted my teeth and started moving forwards, pressing my opponent back. A few times, I used a [Hasty Retreat] to move back a foot or two to make her blows miss and unbalance her.
Finally, I pressed my advantage. Her strikes likely couldn't really hurt me much but I was still cautious. Her back suddenly pressed against a tree to her surprise, I used a mistimed jab to heavily deflect her weapon to the side and dashed in, smashing my mace into her right hand.
Before I could follow up, she surrendered. It was then I realized the other fighting had been done for nearly 30 seconds.
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I sent a sheepish smile to Inara for holding everyone else off from interfering. Then I turned to Sasa Sati, who was supposed to be guarding us. "So, didn't feel like doing your job?" There was some venom, but I was half curious since no one else seemed upset.
He smiled brightly. "There were rumors of some kind of extortion group around here. It was in our briefing but specifically removed from yours. Inga and the surrounding villages wanted them eliminated."
That didn't make me happy. "So you, Inga, and some others unnecessarily risked—"
Sasa cut me off. "Nope. I detected them a while ago and asked these fine folks – and you all are very fine, I might add – how they wanted to deal with it."
My annoyed look at Inara set her off. "Hey, you aren't my dad! Hell, you look younger than me. There was a capture bonus and this way we get it."
I sighed. "So you put us all at risk for a bit of coin?"
Sasa laughed. "They were hardly a risk. I also used a buffing skill on those not wearing significant armor."
When I glanced around, I realized everyone was in their battle gear. It wasn't that rare for at least one or two people to wear their gear all day but most preferred simpler clothes when not on a delve.
Ileana smiled. "So, want to know our diabolical plans?"
At that second, there was a muffled yell and gurgle.
Romie was above the body of a man, a dagger dripping onto his chest as the light left his eyes. As his life's blood spilled from his slashed throat, his grip on a small dagger in his right hand let loose.
Ileana and Inara both looked furious. "Any of you other idiots resist and you'll meet a worse fate," Inara snarled.
Ileana hefted her hammer. "Being slowly beaten to death with a hammer is not fun, or so I'm told."
The threats – whether real or simply intimidation – worked and no one else struggled as we tied them up.
Ileana's bright smile didn't fully return but there was still something there as she shared what she wanted to use the newly captured bandits for.
***
The man swung his sword at my face. My dodge to the left exposed a small gap and he expertly stabbed the other sword through my armor and into my shoulder.
"Point Slobodan!"
Groaning, both from the loss of my second point and from the pain of being stabbed, I took my stance again.
Instead of waiting for the dual shortsword wielder to lead the next clash, I pressed forward, using my borrowed Tier 2 shield to deflect his blows while trying to get in close.
It was counterintuitive as my height and longer weapon gave me more reach but my bulk in close made it harder to get in a solid blow.
As he wound up a heavy strike, I used [Hasty Retreat] to try to unbalance him. Unfortunately, as a member of Ileana's team, he knew that trick.
But what he didn't know was the shield had an enchantment that squirted a slippery substance, like a combination between an octopus with a jet of ink and cartoon car that shot out an oil trap behind it.
The dark blue liquid splashed against his face and I quickly closed the distance again.
He cleared his vision in time to react, my wide morningstar swing against his left side blocked by both swords.
The sword in his right hand squirted from his grip, as I planned.
After his two quick points made me look like the amateur I was, his face of resignation and horror was incredibly sweet.
He tried to concede but the follow-up strike for his face was already on its way.
"Point Terry!"
As Slobodan wasn't able to maintain a firm grip on his swords anymore, the liquid surprisingly resistant to being cleaned, he reluctantly conceded the match, grumbling all the while as the pain numbed from his face.
It turned out Ileana had talked with one of the delvers, a woman from far north of The Verdant Kingdom, and she had a portable fighting arena. It had a large number of drawbacks but was a great way to blow off steam.
And to generate some additional business for Ileana she told me as we marched the bandit group to the rest area where they'd be collected. Human on human battles were the worst for weapons and armor, as I could see from the hole in my shoulder.
The portable arena was quite limited, only able to cover a small circle that left the fights pretty cramped. It could also only handle Tier 1 fighters and was a little suspect against 'killing blows'. It was an absolute mana hog too, but we now had a large, free pool to source from.
The captured bandits had generously 'donated' their mana to make the entire thing possible. We dug into the bandits' story a bit and it was some odd local politics, one village trying to screw over another by making their rifts extremely unattractive, using a mix of their own villagers and some hired muscle. It was stranger than I would have guessed but I washed my hands of it immediately.
Technically, we were not supposed to be using mana for skills in the pop-up fighting pit since we were on a strict rationing program but we were heading into the fourth day, when all but Ileana's team would swap out for eleven fresh teams, and each of the teams still had over half their mana left.
With a little bit of pleading from Inara and Ileana, Tiesa gave the go-ahead.
The rest area was in a festival atmosphere after we caught the bandits, the local villages sending out some of their best food and booze. And, since it was only Ileana's and our team's capture, we made the choice to push the decent-sized 25 gold bounty into the pot for everyone to split, generating a lot of goodwill since all teams would get about two extra gold.
Already, three of the teams had hooked us into some of their 'secret contacts' in Pitola for deals and work opportunities so, if even one panned out, it felt worth it.
Many of the delvers seemed eager to lose said free coin by wagering on the fights. One of the bookmakers handed off my winnings of three silver tenpieces for defeating Slobodan and we chatted about the next two fighters for a minute before he took my bet. I had lost more than I won but it was a great way to blow off steam.
I wanted to go help out Ileana and Roksana again but the fights were just too engaging. I recorded them for later study as to how humans fought each other and what I would have done to counter. Risto and Jasna both received copies as well.
After losing another gold betting on underdogs, Inara swung by with a full plate of food for me.
Or a quarter of a plate for me and three quarters for Steve, though he literally fell asleep from eating too much at about halfway through a sandwich that was his size when he'd hatched less than a month ago.
"Does he seem to be getting bigger faster? I think we might actually need to cut back on the food…" I could tell the little bugger was asleep because otherwise there would have been at least some angry chitters.
"So, where's your girlfriend?" Inara asked. At my silence and displeased face, she held up her hands. "Okay, okay, no joking. Actually, did you have a partner back home?"
We chatted while I ate and watched the fights, Inara holding Steve and petting him softly while he slumbered.
After recounting my dating troubles, Inara said, "Wow, so you'd just get about three months in and they'd fall apart? What did you do? I know it was something wrong." She elbowed me in the side but I thought more about the question for a bit.
Before I could respond, something about emotional availability and expectations just on the tip of my tongue, she leapt into the air cheering and waving a now-awake and grumpy sugar glider through the air as the bare-knuckle brawl in the fighting pit got bloodier.
"Sorry, did you say something?"
Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #74: Sometimes, just let the moment go. When the mood is light, let it lift you up.
I smiled and started cheering along.
After a bit more rest, I couldn't help myself, signing up for another battle. I promised myself it would be my last though I did plan to ask the portable arena's owner if I could borrow it when they went back to Pitola.
Rahila had taken over running the pit while the first barker had gone off to grab some food. As I approached, she leaned in conspiratorially. "Terry, Terry, Terry. Finally! You signing up again? Well, you can pick your opponent of course, agree like the standard fights. Or. Or. You can take this 'once in a nighttime' deal. Three to one odds on your money."
She was being extra weird but I was curious. "Consider my interest piqued. What's the deal?"
"Challenger put themselves down only if you signed up. Vetted with your watchdogs that they probably don't mean lethal harm. I'll even tell you no, it's not Inara." She laughed at my face since that was definitely my guess.
Still, I was willing to bet on myself.
Rahila started bellowing, her odd accent ringing throughout the rest area. "Step up, step up! We've got the match of the night for you! It's going to be a doozy! First, we have the challenger. You've seen him, you love his bond, he's okay too, it's Terry!"
There were a smattering of cheers as many people had come back to watch the last few fights before night truly fell.
"And his opponent—" Rahila cut off as a hand rested on my forearm, rough from recent work. I turned to see Ileana, a shit-eating grin plastered across her face.
Rahila started back up. "She's probably repaired your gear and caught your eye. Now watch her smash this guy. It's Ileana!"
A twinkle danced in her eye as her eyebrow twitched just a bit. "So… what do you want to bet?"
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