Azure: Gunner

One interesting thing about wedges is that they do NOT work on stable dungeons. A wedge is designed to stabilize an unstable dungeon. The only time someone tried to use one on a stable dungeon, the resulting explosion vaporized an entire town.

That’s the rumor I heard, anyway. Possibly the dungeon just collapsed, which I’m sure the owners would claim is even worse. Either way, no one has ever tried again since.

The thing about most stable dungeons is that almost no one ever dies in them. Fuck, they’re hardly ever even injured. Keep in mind that the Families run their dungeons like a business. If the dungeon’s nominal Level is 15, then they’ll practically never send anyone below Tier 2 into it.

Why should they? They don’t give a shit about excitement, danger, or fun. Their goal is for people to go in and bring out something that they can sell at a profit. As often as they can, with as little risk as possible. There’s a reason we call it ‘farming’ the dungeon.

It’s about as fucking exciting as watching a plant grow.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 10.6 – “Wedges and Dungeon Technology”

I flipped PAST the bird – mentally and literally, for good measure – and then touched the shaping stone to my helmet and willed it to activate. Nothing happened, so I tried channeling mana into it. The stone crumbled to dust in my hand, and I felt a slow, steady drain on my mana. I realized I was operating under a time limit, and quickly got to work. It was a strange sensation, willing my helm to change and watching the material flow in response.

OK, let’s bring the right side back, just under my ear. Now the aventail is hanging over my jaw, that feels weird. Can I? Yes, that worked. All right, now the mask. I want it to fit my face better, with bigger eyeholes, and I need to cut off the right side. Hmm, maybe I can change that part to soft leather? It won’t be much protection, but better than nothing.

I tried aiming my gun, then made a few adjustments. Finally I had to stop when my focus ran low and I started to feel dizzy. The result was interesting, if not perfect. Overall, I’d had to reduce the protection the helm offered, but compared to my old composite helmet, it was far superior in both coverage and Level.

I’d even been able to adjust the padding on the inside so that it was thicker on my right, where my hair was short, and a bit thinner on my left. I’d grown to really like my haircut, which was different from anything I’d seen on anyone outside of LA. I thought it made me look tough and dangerous. Which was good, because I was definitely both of those things.

Back in my room, I felt the excitement of playing with the shaping stone fade. I lay in my bed, staring at the stone ceiling, playing idly with my still-purple hair. I’d been doing my best to distract myself from the brutal assessment of my performance by Thompson, but now I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

‘I would be within my rights to give you an F’... Fuck, I hate to admit it, but she was right. The only thing I did right in that entire Wasted dungeon was to go looking for Jayce! And we could have done that much earlier if I hadn’t fucked around with G’hala. Then we would have had more time at the end. We could have figured out a way to lure the titan away from the portal that didn’t require H’ruk to sacrifice himself! Maybe there was something in the other direction that would have helped…

FUCK! How am I going to face everyone after this?! They must be so pissed at me!

I lay there, miserable and feeling sorry for myself, for quite a while. I eventually forced myself to take some deep breaths, trying to calm my racing thoughts. Blaming myself wasn’t going to do any good, I finally realized. The point of the debrief, as Mason had originally told us, was to learn from our experiences and improve. We couldn’t be expected to be perfect right away.

I have to do better next time. That’s what I’m going to tell everyone tomorrow – I’ll promise that I’ll do better, that I’ll never put myself before the team again! I won’t let anyone push me that way, either. I can do that. I’ll get better at leading the team each time, just like I get better every time I spar or work on a Spell. I swear it!

With my promise firmly in mind, I finally relaxed. Just as I was starting to drift off to sleep, PAST’s voice shocked me awake.

[Congratulations Gunner, you have learned the General Skill Leadership!]

After grumbling some complaints at PAST about his volume, I fell asleep with a small smile on my face. The next morning I awoke at my usual time, aka early. We didn’t have a regular class schedule these days, so I had to go around getting everyone up for breakfast. Except for the orcs, who always rose with the sun.

We gathered around a table in the dining hall, eating a thick breakfast stew – basically last night’s leftover meat and vegetables thrown into a pot. I looked around at everyone, working up my courage to speak.

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<I just want to say that I’m sorry for what happened in the dungeon,> I told the team over the Comms. The dining hall was quiet, with only a few others there, and I didn’t want everyone listening to what I was going to say.

<I know that I fucked up, and I’m going to do better next time. I promise it won’t happen again!>

<I take full responsibility, Azure, as it was my suggestion that led you astray,> G’hala added, and I gave her a nod of thanks.

<You suggested it, but I didn’t have to listen. Shouldn’t have listened. Thompson was right, I put our – my – benefit ahead of the team’s. Maybe if we’d gotten to the outside area faster, it wouldn’t have been so hot. Maybe we could have found a better way to deal with the titan. I don’t know.>

Raylan started to say something, but I raised my hand to cut him off.

<Hang on, there’s one other thing I need to say.> I turned to look at H’ruk. The big orc still seemed unusually contemplative as he looked up from his bowl to meet my eyes. <Thank you, H’ruk. I know mere words can never repay you for what you did, but they’re still worth saying. Thank you, thank you so much. You saved us all. Without your bravery, we wouldn’t all be sitting here right now! We owe you our lives. I don’t know how to repay you, other than to promise to you and to everyone that I’m going to keep getting better, so that I can be a leader worthy of this team!>

[Inspiring sentiment, Gunner! Your Leadership – ]

“Shut it, PAST!” I cut the System off as H’ruk swallowed his food. Even though you could talk over the Comms perfectly fine while chewing, it still felt weird. Everyone else around the table was nodding and joining in with their own thanks. When they finally quieted down, the Fire Mage spoke.

<A Chieftain leads by example, Az. If I am to become Chieftain of our Clan someday, I must act now as a Chieftain would, so that it becomes ingrained in my very nature. That is how I was raised – how we were raised. My father would have done the same thing I did.

<Only he might have thrown himself at the titan in single combat in a desperate attempt to slay it. I must confess that such thoughts crossed my own mind at that moment. In fact, had it not been for your order, I might have followed that instinct and perished for good. So, I thank you for reminding me that there was a way out, however… unpleasant… it proved to be.>

G’hala gave her brother a fanged smile as the rest of us saluted with our glasses, though we were all drinking water. I looked around carefully before continuing, trying to read everyone’s mood.

<So… what do we think about what Wolf told us? Is anyone thinking about leaving?> I asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

<I will stay as long as you and Fighter Raylan do, Gunner Az,> Zaire proclaimed, and I gave him a grateful smile.

“Kiss ass,” Tara muttered out loud. I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, and she flushed slightly.

<Fine, I’ll say it! That dungeon was Wasted insane! I would love to fucking leave right now, but I can’t! If I go back now, my parents will just marry me off to fucking Yuri, so I guess I’m shit out of luck either way!>

<I’m sorry, Tara, I really am! The heat must have been even worse for you with your armor… I wish none of us had to go through that. Like I said, I promise – >

<You promise!> she cut me off with a sneer. <How about doing something instead of promising? Let someone else lead!>

<And who would you suggest that be, Tara?> Raylan asked before I could say anything. I held back my instinctive response, trusting my friend’s judgement. He was always better in social situations than me anyway.

Tara looked around, finding little encouragement from everyone else. She had to know that no one would back her to lead, not after she just said she would leave if she could. Finally, her eyes landed on Jayce.

<Jayce, you wanted to lead before, and you took Leadership too,> she pointed out, but the cyborg immediately shook their head.

<Azure saved our life, we stand with her,> they responded. Tara looked at the orcs next, but I knew before she spoke that that idea was hopeless.

<No,> H’ruk stated before Tara could say anything. G’hala nodded in agreement as her brother continued. <The Black Razor– >

“ISN’T FUCKING HERE!” Tara shouted out loud, then flushed as everyone in the room turned to look at her sudden outburst. She flushed bright red and continued over the Comms.

<He isn’t here, H’ruk! Why should he choose our leader in the first place? I never asked his opinion!>

<Be careful how you speak of him!> H’ruk growled. <The Black Razor gave our father his life, when he could have snatched it away in a moment! He showed respect to our father and our Clan!>

<We owe him more than you know!> G’hala added, her own voice stern.

Tara looked away with a huff, crossing her arms. I mentally sighed in relief. I doubted the Squad would let a trainee run things, not that I thought Arlo even wanted to, and I knew for sure that Raylan and Zaire had my back. The Defender wasn’t quite done, however.

<Arlo? What about you?> she asked, but I didn’t hear much hope in her voice.

<I am satisfied by Az’s promise,> he responded gently. <I’m not sure I’ll be included in Thompson’s secret plans, or even if I want to be, but until then, I will follow Az. None of us is perfect, Tara, it’s unfair to expect her to be either!>

<Tara, you know that leaving the Squad isn’t the same thing as leaving the Guild, right? If you’re really not happy, you can talk to Thompson and maybe change teams.> I tried to give her an alternate option.

<Maybe I will!> she responded, shoving back from the table and storming out.

[Well done, Gunner! Your Leadership Skill has increased by one Level!]

“What?! Again?!” I questioned PAST in confusion as Arlo pushed his own chair back and headed off to keep an eye on Tara.

[Indeed, two Levels in a single conversation, very impressive!]

“But… why?”

[First, you made an inspiring speech to your team, lifting their morale! Then you survived an attempt to unseat you in favor of another! Are these not signs of a strong leader, Gunner Zimmerman?!]

By this point, my teammates understood what it meant when I randomly buried my face in my hands and groaned.

Fucking PAST… Although, this time they might think it’s because of Tara. Whatever. They’re both idiots.