"Faye’s boots, they’re for comfort and utility. But these right here," Reed said, lifting a different pair from her bag, "these are for utility and for kickin’ a steel toe straight up somebody’s ass. Stats don’t mean shit—steel is steel. And lawd, ain’t nothin’ better for this kinda ground than these."

  "You're putting us in debt." Rustbucket shook his head.

  "Aw, no worries. We a team now, ain’t we?" She waved him off. "You’ll just owe me a favor."

  "My gosh, you sound like a crime boss now with all those 'favors' you're collecting." Faye said, half serious, half joking, while trying on the new boots she'd gotten from Reed. "They fit perfect!"

  "Of course they do." Reed beamed, ignoring the crime boss comment. What was there to say? She definitely wouldn't admit to anything. She'd chosen the plead-the-fifth way of life and she was gonna stick with it. "They SELF-ADJUST! Ain’t that badass!?"

  "Dang, this world looks so backwards but it's so much in the future!" Daniels exclaimed. "You got a pair for me? Tell me you got a pair for me. You gotta have a pair for me."

  "Can you be any more stereotypical, sis?" Boardlord asked, rolling his eyes.

  "Shut up," she snapped. "Just because every shoe fits you doesn't mean all of us have it so easy."

  "Last call, last call!"

  The voice cut through the courtyard chatter, followed by the sharp clang of a brass bell. Each ring punctuated the words like an exclamation point refusing to be ignored.

  "We are leaving this fort! Last call!" The man kept up his steady march through the dusty square, bell swinging with metronomic precision. "If you stay, you're on your own. We are moving out!"

  Reed glanced up, tracking the soldier's progress. Bored didn't begin to cover it - the guy looked like he'd rather be literally anywhere else, mechanically ringing that bell and shouting the same damn thing over and over like a broken toy.

  But wherever his voice reached, NPCs snapped into motion. Merchendise dissapeared in chests and the makeshift stands were being hurriedly taken down as if huricaine was about to hit the fort. The last of the wagons creaked into position, teamsters calling to their horses as soldiers abandoned their posts in organized groups, filing down the ladders with practiced efficiency.

  The evacuation had momentum now. The kind you couldn't stop even if you wanted to.

  "So much for rest." Rustbucket sighed.

  He sat down with Faye on the ground and didn't look like he wanted to get up anytime in the near future.

  "Oh, it ain’t so bad." Reed calmed him down. "Ain’t like this fort gonna be overrun with imps the second they step out. We still got time." She handed another pair of boots to Daniels. "As requested, self?adjustin’ and stylish. And for the fashion?denier," she pulled out sandals, "military?issued pair of sandals. They ain’t worth a damn for protection, but they sturdy, breathable, and they’ll go fine with your apron. Well, kinda—though with your nickname, that ain’t gonna be your biggest problem for a while. And as a bonus, ‘cause I’m generous," she added without mentioning that she had a heavy surplus, "some uncomfortable gray cloaks. Rub some ash on it or wait a spell and you’ll melt right in with the surroundings. Might come in handy at night too, if there’s such a thing as night in this hellhole."

  The military moving out of the fort was finally enough of a wake-up call for the remaining players inside to start making their way to the exit gate as well. A small group stopped by the exit—a woman with a few teenagers on the younger side who were staying close to her. Two girls and a boy. Reed frowned, recognizing the woman. She was a teacher from her high school. Reed never had classes with her, but she'd seen her around. She was in charge of yearbook or something like that?

  They weren't moving with the flow. Instead, they stood there like rocks in a stream, heads turning left and right, scanning the mass of moving people with increasing urgency. The teacher kept rising on her toes to see over shoulders, squinting at faces in the crowd. One of the girls—twins, Reed realized, identical enough that it was obvious even from a distance—was doing the same thing, while her sister had both hands cupped around her mouth like she was about to start shouting names any second now.

  Reed had seen that look before. All damn day, actually. That wasn't the casual "where'd my buddy go" scan. That was the "oh shit, we're about to get separated for real" kind of searching. The desperate kind. She'd watched it play out a dozen times in the last few hours—people reuniting with tears and bone-crushing hugs, or worse, that hollow expression when someone realized the person they were looking for just wasn't here. Wasn't anywhere in this fort. Maybe wasn't even in the same tutorial, if they'd been unlucky enough to be far away from home when everything went to hell.

  The twins were sticking close to the woman like she was their lifeline, not wandering off to help search independently. And the boy—different skin tone, not related—he was scanning faces too, but without the same frantic energy. He was helping, but it wasn't his missing person.

  No, this had that particular flavor of family desperation.

  Reed groaned internally. They were looking for parents. Had to be. This was their last-ditch effort before the fort emptied completely.

  She considered it for a while, then sighed and excused herself from the Henderson family she'd been working with and headed in their direction. Good deeds—she hated them. They never paid gold and they wasted a bunch of time, but if you didn't do them, they started eating at your conscience. That little nagging voice in the back of your skull going "you coulda helped those kids" while you were trying to sleep, do something fun or literally anything else. And then you'd feel like garbage, which made you sloppy, which cost you money anyway.

  Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Might as well get it over with so the guilt gremlin would shut up.

  "Fuck it," she muttered under her breath right before she walked up to the group.

  It was just now that another fact struck her. There were no old people around. Sure there was a lot of gray hair or boldness, but where were the really old folks? She'd managed to learn already that kids below a certain age or competence weren't let in the game, but she'd never thought about the old people. Or the handicapped. Or... shit. There were a bunch of people missing. Was there a mental institution close to her? Who knows. But would patients from such a place be let in? Wonderful time to start thinking about it, right before the place emptied.

  "Looks like you lookin' for somebody," Reed said to the teacher. "Anybody in particular? I done met a whole lotta folks today."

  "We're looking for the parents of these two girls." The teacher looked at Reed briefly. "Does the last name Boudreaux tell you anything?"

  “Oh lawd, you couldn’t have some Eastern European or I don’t know, Filipino name? Somethin’ unpronounceable, somethin’ that’d stick out like a sore thumb.” Reed groaned. "It's like huntin' for somebody named Smith in Louisiana—might as well be lookin' for mosquitoes in a swamp. Lemme check." She gestured at the kids, curious. "All three of 'em?"

  "No, we're looking for the parents of those twins." The teacher went back to scanning all the faces moving out of the fort. "Eduardo is an exchange student. From what I understand, there's no chance his parents are in here."

  "Absolutely not," Reed agreed, then turned to Eduardo with a raised eyebrow. "So why you standin' around like a statue when you could be out there gettin' levels, Ed? Your folks ain't gonna magically appear if you stare hard enough." She pulled up her mental list. "Any of their names Billy?"

  "No, Mary and Etienne, and don't you go anywhere, Eduardo!" The teacher added quickly, looking alarmed. "I'm responsible for you!"

  "Ma'am, with all due respect, you're responsible for keepin' him alive, not turnin' him into decorative furniture." Reed shook her head. "Boy's gonna be level one forever at this rate while everybody else is out there swingin' swords and castin' fireballs. But hey, least Etienne stands out a bit—that's somethin'." She closed her menus with a equivalent of a mental flick. "Nope, sorry, ain't nobody by that name I met here so far. You sure they was in our—"

  A distant sound of a horn cut through their conversation. Faint, barely there—but wrong enough for this place that heads started turning.

  "What was that?" the teacher asked, looking around for the source of the noise.

  It was repeating now, getting ever so slightly louder every time, or so Reed thought.

  "The rest of the military's movin' out, and that horn sure as hell ain't comin' from inside the fort, so I'll venture it ain't nothin' good," Reed sighed. "Goddamn good deeds—always get you in trouble. Fuckin' system." She raised her head to the sky, spreading her arms in an 'oh come on' gesture. "I ain't even done the damn thing yet! Can't y'all wait till I at least help 'em!?"

  Like on a practiced cue, all the soldiers and NPCs started moving more frantically towards the exit.

  "Hurry up, hurry up!" A man yelled, waving at the last cart whose owner was just jumping into his seat. "Move out, move out! We need to get the hell out of here!"

  "God damn it, for fuck’s sake, I fuckin’ knew it," Reed muttered to the teacher’s ever growing and quite apparent dismay at her language. They were standing in a fort styled on some Romans or shit, her father would know, soldiers running around, someone blows the horn like it’s Helm’s Deep, but no, her dirty mouth was the issue here. It’s like people below five feet couldn’t say ‘fuck’. "Lemme check what’s goin’ on."

  One damned good deed. Just one. And of course someone had to blow the fuse.

  "Be right back."

  Reed took off toward the nearest ladder and climbed up, blocking the last soldier from moving down it.

  "Move out, girl!" He yelled at her. "We're under attack. They had to be waiting for us to start withdrawing to make their move. We have to get going!"

  Reed rolled her eyes at the NPC dialog.

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  "Who the hell’s attackin’ us?" she asked, purposefully not climbin’ the last step.

  "Well, the local Sultan, who else?" He asked as if she was stupid not to know it. "Whoever owns this godforsaken place didn't quite like us showing up here and starting to move stuff through their land. They've been mobilizing for a while now to strike at us with force."

  A new window appeared in her vision, flashing quickly before it got moved to her stat sheet. She had to open it to read the whole thing.

  [New Quest Available: Defend the fort!]

  Objective: Defend the fort from the invaders.

  You must hold the stronghold until the last of the inhabitants move out.

  During your defense your side can't lose more than 10 evacuees.

  Evacuees lost: 0/10

  Accept the quest? Yes/No

  Time remaining for quest acceptance: 4 minutes 56 seconds

  She quickly climbed up the rest of the way, but she couldn't see anything since she was on the wrong side of the fortifications.

  [System Notice: Departure from Staging Area]

  What was once a safe harbor is now an arena for military struggle.

  Resuming normal experience processing.

  Processing deferred achievements...

  Total Experience Earned: 1,400 XP

  LEVEL UP! You have advanced from Level 1 to Level 4!

  Current Status:

  Level: 4

  Experience: 200 / 1,789 to Level 5

  +3 Health

  +3 Social Skills

  +3 Leadership

  +3 Persuasiveness

  Stat Points Available: 15

  Skill Selections Available: 0

  Next skill available at level: 6

  Please allocate stat points.

  Note: Experience will now be awarded in real-time for all qualifying actions.

  "Well fucking hallelujah!" she thought as she finally got something to work with. There wasn't even a need to think about it—she already had a plan for how to spend her points. She increased her Carrying Capacity by 4, Melee Damage by 10, and Sagacity by 1. Sagacity wasn't something she thought she needed to increase, but during her consultation she'd learned about the x3 rule that applied to both major and minor stats. You just couldn't voluntarily add more points to a stat if it would bring it above three times the lowest. She smirked. As one sage hunter had said this one time, or a hundred more, "system fuckery."

  She glanced at her stat sheet. And there it was. Beautiful Strength 9 and Melee Damage 12. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She didn't have to go for the good ol' balls kick anymore—she could finally punch a guy in the face and actually make an impact.

  "Sacré bleu, motherfuckers!" ripped out of her mouth before she looked sheepishly at the Henderson family, who must have received the same quest and were also climbing onto the fortifications, carrying the bag with her belongings. They all paused for a second, giving her a weird look.

  "I done got my levels," she explained, slightly embarrassed at her outburst. "I reckon they got blocked off for folks inside the fort back when it was safe."

  "Oh, what level are you now, hun?" Faye asked, curious, stepping next to her.

  "Just four, but you know, I haven't been out yet." Reed grinned, then turned toward the exit—the north gate where the fortification was higher—so she didn't see the look of disbelief exchanged between Faye and the rest of her family.

  She jumped a couple of steps at a time, reaching the top of the battlements in a matter of seconds. This gave her a better vantage point and she scanned the area. The horn sounding periodically made it easier to locate the general direction. Left, so west. Except it was still hard to see that far with little ash flakes falling down.

  Should she accept the quest or bolt along with the others and be one of the evacuees? But the quest. The sweet, sweet experience. She had an option to go to the dungeon—that would give her experience as well—but what if she could do BOTH!? Level 6 was within grasp.

  "Looks like some imps and some gogs, both yellow and red kind," Daniels said, stepping next to her and squinting into the distance. "Kind of hard to see. I don't think there are any hellhounds among them. At least not yet."

  Reed strained her eyes, seeing nothing but gray haze and vague shapes moving in it.

  "How the hell you s'posed to see anythin' in that damn ashfall?" she muttered.

  "Ranger." Daniels grinned at Reed, tapping the side of her head. "Ranger, Farsight and Perception. Mom, Dad, what do you think?"

  "Oh, we should definitely try it," Boardlord said immediately.

  "You'd go for anything that sounds remotely fun." His sister rolled her eyes. "But all our stamina's still not back, and that's a lot of monsters coming at us."

  "Also, lots of experience, slowly walking up the hill toward fireproof walls." He shrugged, gesturing at the fortifications around them. "Do they even have ladders or something? How are they planning to get in?"

  "Good point," Faye admitted, then turned to Reed. "I assume the potion guy you know is already gone?"

  "Yeah, but I'm here," Reed said, making an on-the-spot decision. She patted her bag. "If y'all wanna fight, that can be arranged. Shit, we can probably finish 'em off and go down there and finish this Sultan or whatever." She grinned at them. "Just mind you, them stamina potions are quite expensive, so you'll have to share one. And y'all'll owe me."

  "Just out of curiosity," Daniels looked at her with mock seriousness, "your last name isn't Escobar or Guzmán, is it?"

  "Nah." Reed waved her off dismissively.

  "Good. Then I think we should—"

  "It's Capone." Reed smirked. "So I'm down to stay an’ do that quest if y'all wanna push farmin' time a lil' later."

  "I think this might be a good idea, gain some easy experience on the walls…" Faye mused, then fixed Reed with a calculating look. "But you'll have to throw in a free mana potion for me and a health potion for my husband here. We're spent, and even though he received some healing, he isn't all well yet."

  Free was not something Reed liked to use too often, but she nodded, taking her bag from Rustbucket's hands and rummaging through it. "Deal."

  "Perfect." Faye glanced around at her family, then at Reed. "So if nobody's against it, we accept the quest?"

  Perfect." Faye glanced around at her family, then at Reed. "So if nobody's against it, we accept the quest?"

  There was a pause as everyone exchanged looks. Daniels shrugged. Boardlord grinned like Christmas had come early. Rustbucket just sighed and nodded, one hand resting on his battered shield.

  "Alright then." Faye's eyes went distant for just a second as she focused on her interface. "Everyone hit accept on three. One, two, three."

  Reed had her menu open, so she saw the change happen.

  [Quest “Defend the fort!” has been accepted]

  "Okay, now that we're all in," Faye said, refocusing on her son, "let's make a plan. Boardlord, my dear son, it's time to shine. All those years of rubbing it in how great you are at any games we bring home? Well, this is the biggest one we got for you."

  Boardlord's grin faltered for half a second, eyes going wide. "Wait, what? You want me to—" He looked around at his family's expectant faces. "Mom, that's a little bit more complicated than Settlers of Catan."

  "You said you could beat any strategy game blindfolded," Daniels pointed out helpfully.

  "That was Risk! Against Dad! Who keeps all his armies in Australia!"

  "Hey," Rustbucket protested weakly.

  "Well, now's your chance to prove it wasn't just talk," Faye said sweetly, in that tone that meant the discussion was over.

  Boardlord stared at her for a moment, then let out a long breath and straightened his shoulders. "Fine. Fine. I'm up for the challenge." The grin came back, though it looked slightly manic around the edges. "Let's start with adding our dear Reed Capone to the party."

  "That was a joke." Reed rolled her eyes, taking potions out.

  "Lets drink those potions.” Boardlord said, taking the yellow viale from Reeds hands. He casted quick identify on it, which assured him that it was indeed for stamina. Assured, he uncorked it and took a sip, than said, “Daniels, go down to that teacher and those kids.” He handed her the liquid, “If they don't want to fight, they could maybe help with the evacuation. Perfect for also helping them find their parents if they are still even here. So, get everyone out of here."

  "I want to fight though! I want the experience!" Daniels protested.

  "You will, girl. Ain’t gotta kill nothin’ to get experience in this game. It pays out for all kinda stuff," Reed calmed her.

  "Yeah, what she said," Boardlord confirmed. "You can get more experience running around the fort than dodging fireballs." He smirked. "Plus remember, we got a quest not to defend the wall but to get people safely out of here. So move, sis, move and make sure none of them dies. Oh and if you find anyone who could help, send them to the wall. Dad, you and Mom," he continued when Daniels begrudgingly took off, "you should head to the section where the attack is coming towards. Mom can probably get quite a few of them before they get here."

  "Mana potion," Reed said, lifting a small, corked vial with blue liquid. "I got only a few, so y’all should probably use only as much as you’ll absolutely need, ’cause the mana regeneration times are absurd."

  "Dang, our local plug is running low?" Boardlord smirked.

  “Hey, listen, I’m just a businesswoman givin’ the folks what they want." She rolled her eyes. "So I got all the crime?organization mess handled, you go on an’ focus on smashin’ imps—and what were they? Gogs? Yeah, you go wrangle that, my dear minion."

  "Understood. You handle the family business, I'll make the imps and gogs an offer they can't refuse." Boardlord gave her a mocking salute. "But seriously, tell me what you can do in combat?"

  "I can pretty well disorient folks," Reed answered, then grinned. "An’ with the levels, I can fuck ’em up manual now."

  "Mmmmhm." He said noncommittally. "And I bet you didn't put a single extra point in survivability, right?"

  "I see why you picked him to organize the defense," Reed said to Faye, but under the bravado she did cringe a little. The thought of putting points into surviving stuff didn't really warm a spot in her mind.