Cutlery found herself surrounded by the least feminine group of girls she had ever seen. Rega was an exception, but even she looked like a dork. There were about a dozen girls who had shown up for this meeting.
One-half of the group whispered to each other behind glasses and hooded faces. The other half stood with arms crossed silently waiting. Their crossed arms caused massive biceps to bulge.
"Hello everyone!" Rega said loudly. "I have gathered you all here today so that we can all get on the same page. Who likes who?" Rega asked. There was silence in return.
"What?" Tall said.
"Like who likes who? Who do you want to hang out with?" Rega explained. Details about holding hands, romance, dates, and even kissing were explained by Rega to all the girls. Eight of them were highly interested in the ladder part. Cutlery, Tall, and two other girls were rapidly losing consciousness.
"One simply finds a mate when one is impressed by their feats, they keep them until wound or new mate," Tall responded. Rega thought about that.
"Well, now you can have a forever mate!" Rega told her. Tall thought on this for some time. Cutlery sighed, she knew the boy's version of this would be more like who's hottest from overhearing the Many Home dudes.
Two girls who weren't interested seemed to be on a similar page as Cutlery. The uninterested four all slowly shifted around Tall. Cutlery spoke first.
"This is an ass. The boys are just gonna want to drag us into rooms asap, not romance." Cutlery said.
"Agreed. We should be creating defensive plans." The second girl said. Cutlery had overheard that this girl's name was Angela Chopper. She had tan sailor-like skin and her hair was always braided securely.
"I think we should just be conversing on which boys are bad news and which are safe bets." The last girl said. Cutlery didn't know her. She had pale skin and was only around four feet, must be a halfing or something.
"Are we supposed to mate soon?" Tall asked.
"NO!" All three other girls said. This got the attention of the other group.
"What are you four talking about? You can't take Tall like that! We're all supposed to be on the same side!" Rega whined.
"We are, we're just thinking from a new perspective," Angela said. The other eight looked expectantly.
"We think the boys are evil and we should just watch out for each other." Cutlery said. Rega chewed on this and then stood up.
"Or you just want me to be free! It's alright, we can still be roomies with zoomies together!" Rega said and jumped on Cutlery. Cutlery put her arms up but Rega's smile broke through her defenses. Everyone giggled.
As long as they could laugh together, Cutlery was sure this meeting wasn't necessary. She would keep Rega smiling and Tall from mating. Somehow they would escape. And with their powers, boys, men, and soldiers would never be a problem again.
-
The girls circulated rapid commentary. Rega knew how to loosen them up. The concluding statements had been they would all just date each other until further notice. Cutlery was pretty sure Tall took it seriously. Cutlery was also pretty sure the halfing girl from their four-person meeting was open to Tall as well. What a pair. Cutlery wasn't sure if the halfing knew that Tall was both male and female by human terms like Rega had told her. If she did, she was brave.
Cutlery and Rega spent the rest of their time off talking with Chloe about the future. She was pretty tight-lipped about it. Quest this, quest that. What were the quests gonna be? She wouldn't say a word. Rega was fine with these secrets. There was fun to be found in trying to interrogate Chloe. Cutlery grew more suspicious. Either Chloe didn't know, wasn't allowed to tell them, or she thought they would be better off not knowing. So Cutlery figured she better prepare for more crazy fucked situations.
Chloe cut Rega's interrogation off and said they better get going to lunch. Haze wanted to talk some more. The three of them went to the dining hall in quiet contemplation. It was still odd having all this time off and no real immediate purpose.
At dinner, they collected food from the kitchen window and sat down. After fifteen minutes, Haze burst into the room with two soldiers flanking him. A wild smile lit up his face.
"I had a dismal boring quest for you this evening. Things just got livelier. The second slivers on the floor above you recently went on their first city mission." Haze said. He paused. Murmurs went around the tables. If they got to go when they were second slivers instead of firsts, it wouldn't be long then, right? Haze cleared his throat.
"All was going well until one-second sliver learned of the untimely death of their old partner who lived in the city. They then convinced the others in their group of four to attempt escape. While their babysitters were fourth slivers, three of them got away. The fourth was apprehended and brought back here." Haze said. He let the info sink in. Cutlery's listened carefully.
"The other three have come back, and are now trying to free their comrade from the basement level. We have decided to let them in." Haze said. He grinned wide. "So that you all may try and stop them," He added. Everyone quieted and looked at him, then at each other. Some nervous excitement passed through the group.
"What do you mean capture?" Flavor asked.
"Good question. We mean stop being able to leave. Beat 'em, tie 'em up, put them down for a nap. Whatever it takes." Haze explained. The group murmurs got louder.
"You all will meet at the stairs in here in ten minutes. Please head to the armory to grab our emergency weapons. They are not softened. One last thing, if you capture them, you will be able to meet with one person from the city, or become a second sliver, immediately. This can apply to up to four of you. Due to the size of the castle you all will need to spread out. Make groups of four." Haze said. He dismissed them.
There was a burst of movement. Cutlery rushed to the armory. This was her chance to get ahead. Plus a second sliver couldn't hurt. She didn't give a fuck about seeing anyone out in the trash heap called Zurkonia. Mome could shove it.
-
Everyone crowded the stairwell entrance. Rega cut Cutlery loose to join her new friends. Angela, Tall, and Halfing.
"What's your name shorty?" Cutlery asked the halfing. The short girl looked up at her and narrowed her eyes.
"I'm tall for my kind. You're the short one." She responded. Cutlery snorted.
"I didn't know being the shortest in your group was just a technicality." Cutlery said. A small pause went by. It seemed neither of them was anything like Rega.
"It's Janet," She said. Cutlery nodded. Their plan was to have Cutlery scout ahead of them. The slivers blessing she had made her quite fast and slim. Tall would take point and provide protection for the others.
Angela was some kind of 'half arcane.' She explained that meant she could use some spells but also had some partial physical boosting from her sliver similar to Roddy or Cutlery. She was able to empower her weapon and make allies harder to hit. Useful support stuff for Tall. Janet was a 'dark caster' of some kind. She could deal out damage and redirect it as healing to allies. She told them it wasn't supposed to be useful until her fifth sliver. So she had a while to go but could give some ranged attacks. As for Tall...
Tall had a hunk of metal roughly shaped like a sword. A heap of iron mass. It was good at being two hundred pounds and impossible to block once Tall swung it. So she should hit people. They would hit people. Cutlery wasn't used to Tall culture yet but she liked it. It was simpler and easier to understand. There were just Goliaths. That was it. Humans had made the mistake of splitting into two halves.
Haze stood in front of the group. "Now since you're in groups of four, you'll have the advantage in numbers over the second slivers. But one of them is worth one and a half of you so if it just turns into a brawl they should win out. Call for other groups and we'll figure out how who did the most work. Also since there are three of them, there are three rewards ready for the handout. If one group gets more than one of them, well, double the reward for all four. Groups can't split the rewards with other groups! Catch them in hallways and small rooms where you can corner them. The last thing to know, is they are just trying to get in and out so don't expect them to turn around and give you an honorable duel. But that's all veteran talk. No teacher like the battlefield.
You guys get to use the lift next to the stairs here so they don't have time to make things complicated! Can I get a hoorah!" Haze yelled. This time the whole group yelled back. A real quest, with real stakes and rewards. Real enemies that would be smart, and fight for a goal, maybe even kill.
The lift arrived by the stairs and everyone piled on. The group was crammed on. It descended once Haze gave it an order. They dropped quickly through the tower. The stone turned to dark dense material. Windows stopped appearing in the wall. Dim crystals marked their descent. A few groups planned in whispers. Cutlery watched the crystals go by.
Then they reached the bottom. The lift came to a halt. A barred door was hanging open at one side of the wood platform. Everyone surged through. The space was massive, with fifteen-foot ceilings and ten-foot wide hallways branching in three directions, illuminated by dim red lights that cast an evil glow. he sight was reminiscent of the night of the tentacle massacre, causing Cutlery to shudder
Others seemed to see the similarities. Roddie's group ignored the trauma and charged down the central hallway, as the rest of the group followed suit, driven by the need to run. There were no soldiers. Their shadows formed and fell behind as the lights on the wall went by. Cutlery wasn't sure what was going to happen.
