CWD: Sewer Skewers ~ Seventeen

Taye quickly organized the other guild members to dig the wagons out of the Oilbark mud. It wasn’t clear what the plan was after the confrontation with the Sunrise Brigade. Still, Nacho wasn’t going to waste time doing only one thing at a time. He motioned for Brie to follow him back to his mobile kitchen, unfolded a grill which fit over the flames that sprang up, and started roasting the Goat Cheese meat.

Right back into Active Cooking.

At least he had gained some of his Mana back, so he could add magic to his meals. He would’ve liked to use the cheesy feta of their hide, but he didn’t have a recipe for any kind of sauce. Besides, the rich sauce might’ve been too much paired with the fatty goat meat… also, the dissolving hide smelled even more like sweat, and cheese with sweat in it wasn’t likely to be well-received at dinner time.

Brie let out a deep sigh, settling back and crossing her arms as she watched her friend organize slabs of meat on the travel grill. “Nacho, I said we needed to talk, and we do, but not while you’re cooking. I want your full attention.”

“Good luck with that.” Reuben blew on the first hunk of grilled goat that Nacho distractedly handed out and took a bite. “Isn’t there goat meat in gyros? We might need to invest in a middle eastern cookbook. These goats are everywhere right now.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Nacho muttered as he eyed the wheelbarrow-load of meat he had managed to collect.

Brie sighed with frustration. “This is too important to be put off, and I feel like it’s not asking a lot to have your full attention for a few minutes.”

“You’re correct, you deserve better.” Nacho used tongs to turn the pieces of goat meat. “But please, let me multitask? If I don't do this now, I have to give up more of my time later. There are only so many hours in each day, and if I devote my full attention to only one thing at a time, I'm going to start getting so far behind that I'll never be able to catch up. Do you want to turn the wagons around?”

“Nope. Stop.” Reuben snapped his fingers, making Nacho blink in surprise at the sudden shift in his otherwise playful tone. “Brie is upset, and I agree that you need to know why. Mainly so I can figure it out as well.”

“Nice,” Brie grumbled at her husband. “Listen, if the only reason he is going to hear what I have to say is because you tell him to pay attention, we’re gonna have a whole new problem on our hands.”

“I’m just trying to make a united front with you!” Reuben desperately waved his hands in front of himself and kicked Nacho.

“‘Kay. Hold on.” Nacho tried to pull thoughts together. He was really scattered, and the reason why was clear to him. He’d known the future, which had allowed him to put together a definite plan. Now that the outcomes had changed, so many options had appeared that he was having trouble deciding what to do next.

On the plus side, it was pretty clear what he needed to do at this moment: listen to Brie's concerns. Nacho wanted to give her his full attention, he truly did, but he couldn't help keeping about a fifth of his attention on the meat grilling and the rice bubbling off to the side. He was trying out his helmet pot for the first time to make the starchy accompaniment. Should he have washed it out first…? Nah, rhetorical question.

“This’ll do.” Brie stood next to his cooking table, still in full armor, leaning on her hammer while she held her helmet under her arm. “I understand that we need credits as fast as possible, and I know you only have so much time to process the meat… but next time, finish the fight before you start on that. You put all of us at risk, and that is unacceptable. I’m glad Kala and her guild were there to take out those last few goats. I was hungry and low on Health Points. Even though you don’t get paid per kill, we could’ve used your help. We were overwhelmed. We almost lost people.”

“I’m… I guess I didn’t think about that. I’m still trying to get used to being in charge of people.” Nacho rubbed at the back of his neck as her chastisement filtered through his own thoughts. “I see myself not as a fighter right now, but as a credit collector. I… it didn’t even cross my mind that some of you were close to death. I could only think about how it’s going to take over thirty-five thousand credits to get you and Reuben to Tier one. Every credit counts at this point, and if we don’t need to buy the food… how is it, Reuben?”

“Stay on track, Dudemeister McCheesy.” The big guy held up some of the grilled meat. “Super good, actually. But do some active listening. Repeat back what Brie said, and it will make the rest of the day less awkward for everyone involved. I’m involved, and I don’t wanna be here.”

Reuben was nearing expert levels in advanced interpersonal communication, claiming that it was the only reason he had been able to hold onto Brie for so long. Frankly, it was surprising he hadn’t earned a Skill for it… but then again, what was marketing beyond making and keeping connections between people?

Nacho went to cross his arms, but remembered at the last second that it would make him look too defensive. Instead, he went to fold his hands, but then that might show him as weak, so he opted to put his hands on a pair of tongs and *clicked* them twice. That seemed okay. “Let me get this straight, Brie. You’re saying I should wait until you guys are finished fighting and then start earning credits.”

Brie’s brow was still furrowed, and she shook her head. “Communication is key on the battlefield. We’ll let you know how we’re doing. You need to make sure that you can join the fight if we need you. How low were you on Hunger and Thirst while Kala was still threatening us? Did you have enough to be active in fighting?”

“I was… very low. Fair point. I will try to be a lot more communicative during a fight. I’m… still used to silence in a fight being my best bet, unless I’m attempting to throw off a target.” Nacho lifted a finger, wanting to voice a bunch of details that may or may not have helped him. Instead, he closed his mouth and used the tongs in his hand to turn his steaks before allowing his thoughts to spill. “I hate that I don’t get credits for fighting. In every fight, I’m in a rush to get to the meat before it spoils.”

“A good start. Now we know where you’re coming from.” Reuben knocked on his wife's armored arm. “Your turn again.”

“Our lives are more important than credits, Nacho. As for you, stop minimalizing this. This is a conversation between two people, and it needs to be said.” Brie scowled and gently shoved Reuben away from her. She inhaled, then let the breath out slowly. “Nacho, I get that you feel like you’re contributing by collecting the meat and the credits. We appreciate it. We do. Also, I have to say, rush-eating that hamburger was a lot easier than I would’ve thought. The bun was soggy, so it was better than pocket pancakes.”

Nacho nodded solemnly as he took her advice to heart. “Biscuits are the worst. Too crumbly and dry to get down easily.”

“Here’s my proposal.” Brie looked the cook dead in the eye. “You’re the Guild Leader. You’re in charge of long-term planning and keeping us alive. From now on, I’m in charge of the battlefield. During combat, you clear plans with me unless you need to make a move. That means you’ll make sure I okay you starting on food gathering. Confirm that I’m fine with you rushing off to kill something on your own and leaving our flank unprotected.”

Nacho’s eyes lit up at that, even as Reuben looked concerned. “Done and done. You want battlefield command? I am all over that. Not going to lie, I have no idea how to position people in a way that is most effective. Clearly, I also had no idea that my actions were going to impact the team as well as morale to such an extent. If I need to override you for some reason, I promise I'll have a good reason for it.”

“Good… enough.”

The Berserker still looked troubled, and Nacho was aware enough to pick up on it. “What else is going on?”

“It's just…” It was Brie’s turn to cross her arms, then drop them back to her sides instantly as she realized her own body language. That made Nacho smile; they were very similar people, and sometimes it was nice to see that in action. “Right after saying that I want battlefield control, I’m going to ask you a favor. I can’t stand the idea that I’m going to be killing anyone. It was pretty clear that Kala and the Sunrise Brigade might’ve gone after our people if we hadn’t shown up. I think when she saw what Abby and I could do, she backed off. If Kala had gone after me, I would’ve killed her without hesitation. If I need to do that, can I count on you to help me? Physically if you can be the one to hold the weapon, and emotionally if you can’t?”

“I'm sorry to say that I have talked dozens of people through their first kill. I will be there for you.” Nacho wasn’t sure what else to say about that. He’d killed hundreds, if not closer to a thousand in his Probability Vision. It had gotten to the point that he had begun to see people only as walking credits. On the positive side, going back to the past seemed to have fixed most of the ingrained structural issues with his brain from living like that for so long.

He attributed his current ability to function in society to that simple fact.

Nacho tried to consider what she needed to hear, then decided on the truth. “You know that I was an Assassin. It got so bad that we were killing people just to feed ourselves. I want you to know, I’m not driven by credits. I’m just extremely motivated for survival, in a way that lets us sleep at night.”

“Yay, cannibalism is back in the conversation.” Reuben winced at his own joke when both of his best friends shot a glare at him. “Sorry.”

Brie didn’t respond, only returning to looking into Nacho’s eyes as he continued forcing his internal struggles aside for the sake of honesty.

“If it comes down to it, I would far prefer to be the one driving the knife home. But if it has to be you, I know how to get you through it.” He didn’t blink, digging deep to find sympathy for the situation. All he had was empathy, having gone through it so many times already. How could he show sympathy to someone who was worried about a sure thing, when they didn't actually know what it would do to them? “We can only hope that we don’t have to play the game like we did before. The Patrons love it when we fight among ourselves, and I don’t want to give them the pleasure. At some point, once people are struggling to stay fed, they’ll see how joining us will help them.”

“You think we can just wait out all the other powerhouses?” Brie swallowed hard, trying not to let the sudden spark of hope shine through too much. It would make life that much worse if she eventually lost that hope. “Or do you think that we will get the Dragon Spear first, and we won't have to worry about them because we will be in control of them? Do you really think we can do that?”

“I know we can. Their choices will shortly be limited to starving to death, starting to eat other people, or coming to us for food and partnerships. Only the worst examples of humanity would willingly go down the darker route if there was another choice. We just have to make our guild more attractive than cannibalism; personally, I feel that's a pretty low bar.”

“I'm going to go ahead and rejoin the conversation now. Feels like a good time to do it.” Reuben scooped up more meat as Nacho set the steaks on trays for the other guildies to eat after the thick-thighed runners got back on the treadmills of the wagons. “Let’s take it a day at a time. We need to figure out where we go from here, so what are you guys thinking? Back to Armor Mountain to make sure the Sunrise Brigade doesn’t mess with the caravan? Or do we press on to Heartbreak Ridge?”

“That depends.” Brie slowly started to relax, now that her concerns had all been addressed and there was a working plan in place. Even if it was pretty basic. “How important is the Dragon Spear? Is it more important than the wagons? Secondly, how sure are we that the Sunrise Brigade will come after us?”

“I think there is a real possibility that Kala isn’t done with us, especially since chances are high that we’ll be able to take control of her and her guild by proxy if we do get the spear. I don't think any of the people placing bets were expecting that knowledge to be made public, and I'm sure it has them more than a little bit nervous. Let’s take the wagons up to the top of Heartbreak Ridge,” Nacho decided while calmly checking on the rice. “We have more people with us than the entire Sunrise Brigade, and I think the wagons will be safe just due to sheer numbers. The rest of our strike team will meet us there, and then we hand pick the team to take along for our UnderFun adventure.”

“As for my thoughts on the spear…” Reuben winced and nodded grimly. “Beyond the obvious win conditions, it’s huge for marketing purposes. The first time the Patrons call out an actual item, let alone showcasing how important it is? If we have that, I think it will be the final tipping point for starting to absorb other guilds. The Chips Guild wins this spear, and suddenly we’re the guild to join. Not that we’d take in Kala or Crave, obviously, but there have to be others that are less… you know, death culty. If someone else gets it, all of our other plans take longer. Long enough that people start dying, not to mention what they would do with Crave and Kala taking them under their wings.”

Nacho fully agreed with the assessment. At this point, they genuinely needed the spear. Their biggest headstart was the fact that Nacho was fairly certain that only the Chips Guild knew about the original Earth under their feet, and he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

The weary caravan guards finally trudged over for their post-battle meal. Nacho had burned the bottom of the rice, so only about half of the pot was edible, even though all of it tasted like sulfur. The System let him know that Active Cooking had ended, and they made fun of his merely-Common rice that didn’t offer stacking bonuses. No mercy at all for the weary cook in their lives.

After they ate, they took the wagons up the hill to the Heartbreak Ridge cabin, happily arriving in time to avoid the clouds rolling in and the pounding rain that immediately followed. Matt used his own credits for an open-room pole shed with some cheap roofing to keep the rain off the caravan and protect the treadmills from getting slick. People stood in the shed, packed themselves into the cabin, or stayed under the eaves to get out of the rain. It was chilly, but warmer weather was definitely on its way.

Scrubz showed up before long with Iron Becky and Colleen, informing the group that he and his people had also encountered Kala. Wiping off his rain-soaked hair by the fire inside the big cabin, he finished his braggadocious narrative, “So anyways, I told Kala that we had gear and food from an actual Costco! We even gave her those salted chocolate caramels she told us she used to love so much. I made it clear that she didn’t need to mess with us; she can have her guild with their terrible Store food, and we’d have our good eats with our cook. She made the wrong decision, but she was always welcome to come back. Did I convince her? Can’t say I did, but I sure set her straight.”

“You just… told her about old Earth hiding just under the surface? Are you out of your…?” Nacho stifled a scream of frustration, unsure if the man had done the right thing or intentionally sabotaged them. Either way, there was no going back. The decision had been made for them.

“I’m sorry for my part in today’s debacle.” Iron Becky sat nearest to the fire with a blanket over her shoulders. “I think encountering me didn’t help the situation. Kala and I never saw things eye to eye.”

“That’s putting it, um, diplomatically.” Colleen smiled at her mother warmly from her seat across from the older woman. “Nacho, we've all been talking, and we think we know the answer to the speed bumps we’ve been hitting. We need to get the wagons back to Armor Mountain. I suggest I act as the escort, along with my mom and a bunch of other people. If Kala does try anything, I pull out an illusion of Brie. I can do a pretty good Brie by now, and I think Kala is at least a little afraid of her.”

Reuben grinned proudly, sneaking a glance at his wife. “Normally, I’d feel hurt that it wasn’t me. But in this instance, I totally get it. Brie-zerker is one tough b-”

Brie raised her hand to stop him. “One tough beauty, thank you very much. You really think Colleen’s illusion would do the trick?”

Colleen’s fist glowed gold. A knock sounded on the door, and one of the other guild members opened the door. In walked a copy of Brie, complete with her chainmail, helm, and a blood-dripping hammer. There was a slight golden sheen to her, but that could easily be attributed to a skill of some kind. Overall, it was nearly impossible to tell the difference. “I can create sounds, and I can generate a single figure, though I have to be relatively close to the target. As long as I have enough to drink, I should be able to keep Brie walking around often enough to trick anyone watching.”

“If they see Brie, they might expect that Reuben and Nacho are around as well. There will be a bunch of us traveling with the wagons.” Iron Becky was nodding her approval as she thought through the germinating plan.

“I got something to say.” Scrubz raised his chin defiantly. “Yeah, I’m gonna say it. I want the Dragon Spear. If I find it first, then I get it. Finders keepers.”

Nacho’s eyes darkened as he studied the man. Though he squirmed with slight discomfort at the stare, Scrubz clearly had no idea how many people Nacho had killed, or that he was willing to remove as many more as needed. The cook barely managed to keep those exact words to himself, but his actions showed his true thoughts. The former Assassin had gone totally still, and he could tell that his dead eyes were making the people around him uncomfortable.

He took a deep breath, and consciously exhaled slowly, forcing himself to release his menacing demeanor along with the dispelled breath. “All I can promise is that we’ll do what’s best for the guild. That decision especially will depend on what makes sense. I’m not saying you won’t get the Dragon Spear in the end, but logic will dictate who gets what. We all have to work together, or we’ll die alone… fighting over scraps.”

Scrubz glanced away, deeply unsure of why his forehead was letting out so much cold sweat. Nacho could only shake his head and sigh. He hated not trusting the people around him, and the implications of the man’s chosen name bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

The Downtown UnderFun was already proving to be dangerous, and they were nowhere near the entrance.