Out of the Cave

I threw the backpack I had looted all the way back on the second day of the first challenge on the ground. The oily leather from Gloach the dead octopus man's study was still mostly filled with his own research material that I hadn't managed to translate yet. Next to it were a few snacks and bottles, along with the Rod of the Depths, but all of that put together didn't nearly fill up my new, canvas backpack. And furthermore, aside from the standard storage, there was also, as advertised, magical storage in there.

When I opened up the second compartment, I could reach into it all the way to the shoulder and more and it felt empty until I thought of one of the items described in the description. I pulled out a pair of solid, thick canvas trousers in exactly my size. Since my own cargo pants were already torn to ribbons, I did not feel particular shame in taking them off then and there and getting into the new trousers and I felt comfort- both social and physical- that I hadn't even really noticed I'd been missing. So encouraged I also retrieved the shirt, which turned out to be a pretty ren-faire white linen shirt, and I put that on too under my ridiculous robe. Thus I achieved a state wherein only about 40 per cent of the fabric on my body was ridiculous instead of the previous near 100 and saw that it was good.

I didn't need anything else at the moment, and the rest of the survivors had properly realized that there was actual value in the things sold by the outlandish pair, and so they formed first into a chaotic throng and then, somewhat reluctantly into a queue. I found the Guild. This was still fairly easy, as Arnold, the British man who hadn't left me with much of an impression other than being well over six feet tall hovered near its edge these days.

"No more chest out Alex. I sigh wistfully," Hannah said, deadpan as ever. "Is that the sort of gear we can expect from the stall? Clothes and basic supplies?" Artemis said. "No, actually, I've got a tower in my pocket," I said. "Or are you just happy to see me?" Hannah said. "You're on top form today," I said. "Found a drug that works for her. From Hell!" Chum said. "You said it was not a drug," Hannah said. "You're undead, doll, everything that makes you feel anything is a drug," Chum said. "Chum, no drugging my friends," I said. "Yes boss!" Chum said. "Even if it's, like, normal Hell tea or whatever," I said. "How did you know it was helltea?" Chum said. "That has got to be a fucking pun," Anna said. "It's a bad one if it is. It's fucking awful for your health," Chum said. "What?" Hannah said. "Especially don't poison my friends," I said. "What, it's just tea. Plus, she's already dead, what harm can it do?" Chum said. "Dude you drank devil tea? Have you been secretly cool this whole time?" Zack said. "Dude, I just wanted to feel something. At all," Hannah said.

"Alright, let's knock off the jokes, rest period is just about over and we're getting back into mission mode," Artemis used the awkward silence that that produced to orate, voice rising above the group so that the whole Guild could hear her if they paid proper attention.

Just as she was talking, a group of about a dozen strangers approached the guild. They didn't look like anything special, a group from one of the more metropolitan areas of the world. A frizzy haired man leading it spoke up.

"Hi, uh, hey, excuse me! My name is Connor, these are my friends, and, uh, we were wondering…"

But he was interrupted by another group of six East Asian people, about college age also waving to get Artemis' attention. Over the next few dozens of minutes more and more people approached us. The reason for their arrival was always the same- the chips were now coming down and they didn't feel as confident about striking out on their own now that we knew we had to venture into monster infested wilderness for our next challenge. They wanted to join up. And Artemis was Artemis. She spoke even louder, as loud as she could without screaming and announced to the room.

"Listen up! Everyone who wants to join the Adventuring Guild is welcome. Please decide amongst yourselves what order you are coming in and who is representing your group. I will add your names to the roster as soon as you give them to me. There is plenty of time for everyone to get signed up," she said.

As more and more people joined, however, I began seeing a look of concern on her face. It was becoming a pretty overwhelming number of people, and I didn't want to be in her place as a leader. Then again, this was Artemis, so the problem was probably…

"Alright, I have two hundred and fifty names here. The time for me organizing by fiat and emergency measures is over," she said. "Check this out, the Anarchist is about to invent government again," Chimo sneered. "Let's split up by class and role for now. Please form lines with ranger types, wizard types, fighter types, administrative types here, here, here and here. If you don't think you fit any of these, please come to me directly," Artemis said.

I took my place in the wizard line. It was the second shortest by far with no more than 25 people in it, including myself, Anna, Mrs. Xiang, Brooke, Arnold, Ajit, Emma and Mrs. Hoxley. Most of the others were new arrivals- our sector had done really poorly in training spellcasters of any sort with the exception of me. In fact, even though the Birmingham sector had been nearly wiped out entirely, they still outnumbered us by number of spellcasters nearly two to one.

There were only a handful of people with administrative or organizational classes, which made up the shortest line, and Artemis stood in front of it, deciding where the people with the classes that didn't fit neatly into her rough categories would go. Eventually, she decided that there were enough of these sorts of guild members that she made a separate line for specialists. The fighters made up the bulk of the Guild, apparently, but the disparities among the other lines weren't as notable.

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Once we were all divided by our class, Artemis spoke up once more.

"Each group will choose a representative among them, and we'll hold council every night resolving daily issues as they come up. The position is voluntary and can be revoked at any time by a simple majority vote. The representative has only two powers- to bring issues to the council and to lead your group in a crisis situation. You may vote for your representative or decide among yourselves in any way you see fit," Artemis said. "Uh, can we vote for you?" A mousy administrator that had sometimes taken over Artemis place at the Guild's front desk on day one spoke up. "I- Yeah, I mean, I didn't really have a proper role before, so now that we have actual organizational structure, I'll only keep doing what I'm doing if I'm made the representative of the administrators," Artemis said. "Oh. Okay, I'll do that then," the woman- Rita, was it?- said. And every single other hand among the administrators went up.

A big, buff gym-bro looking dude spoke up among the fighters. "Who's got the highest level?" he said.

That broke out into incoherent rambling as every single fighter said their level at the same time. Hannah sighed and said:

"Who has a level higher than sixteen?" and only two hands went up.

"I'm Marcus, level 17," Marcus said. "Sloan, also 17," Sloan said. "Can we just have two representatives?" the buff dude said. "Marcus can have it," Sloan said. "Alright, everyone cool with that?" Marcus said, and the fighters actually responded with a sort of a 'huah' chant all at the same time.

Us wizards gathered together to discuss. And I was sort of seeing the stereotypes develop in real time.

"What's happening to us? Three days in and we're already all acting like the classes assigned to us," Brooke said. "Hi, hello, everyone. I'm Alex and some of us already know each other. Anyone have a good idea about how we can decide who's the leader?" I said. "Cshh, yeah. Make Alex do it," Emma said. "That's not a bad idea," Ajit said. "I'm in favor," Anna said, and one by one all of my friends put me forward as the representative. "Wait, wait, hold on a second, no, let's talk this out," I said. "Why are y'all backing this guy?" a Stepford wife looking woman said. "He's our highest level, has the most spells, thinks good in a crisis and, oh yeah, saved all of our lives, like twice," Emma said. "He's got balls for a Yank, though that's not saying much," Mrs. Hoxley said, in a display of relative kindness that I could only explain as an attempt to bring me to a panic attack. "I suppose we can vote him off if he sucks somehow," a hippie looking guy said. "Just so we're clear, you got the actual wizard class?" another mage said. "Yeah. Wizard. Just level 15. Chronomancy school," I said. "Time magic? Shit, dude, when did you get that?" Emma said. "Look, that's fine and everything, but I'm not a leader," I said. "We're wizards. We don't need a leader. Just someone to point us in the right direction when it's time to get blasting," Arnold said. "Alright, let's say if no one's opposed we proceed with the result of this discussion?" Brooke said. "Wait-" I said. "Hey, point of order," Anna said, "It is a voluntary position. If Alex doesn't want it he can just say no." "Thank you!" I said. "So, do you really think you'd suck at this?" Emma said.

I almost said yes! by instinct, before I had time to think about it, but unfortunately with my boosted mind capacity I could indeed think faster than talk. I was forced to admit that, logically, I had some advantages over the other candidates. At the most basic level, while I didn't know shit about tactics, I did have the personal time stop spell, that would always give me time to think and observe when a fight or a crisis broke out if I had time to cast it. With my chronomancy specialization I could cast it faster than anyone here, even if I could share the spell with anyone who could cast from a scroll or a book.

And it was not like I sucked at wilderness survival. I mean, I did, but most folks here were from major cities. I had moved to a city to go to college, but I'd been raised on a farm and was regularly shocked by what basic concepts my friends were unaware of as soon as they were off asphalt.

And I had a good working relationship with Artemis. And I was pretty sure I wouldn't immediately go mad with power.

"Can we make breaking our people out of the Lounge our first priority if I take the job?" I said. "Damn straight," another one of the mages I didn't recognize said. "Shit. Yeah, I guess that'll be on us, won't it," Anna said. "Alright. I can try it. I suppose I know some of the other people that'll end up on the council and I have a few tricks up my sleeve that could help me organize fights. But don't expect me to be your manager or something," I said. "Wizards have no managers. Wizards need no managers," Emma said. "Sounds good," Brooke said. "Any opposed?" Anna said.

Nobody spoke.

"All hail Archmage Vorhal!" Emma said. It was a joke, but both the 'arch' part of the title, and its similarity to the title of our captor made me shiver. "Ahem. We've made a decision!" I said.

And I saw that we were the last among the representatives chosen for the guild. I joined Artemis, and was surprised to find that I didn't know any of the others well. Hannah and Zack were both represented by Marcus, who radiated calm like a stone. Chimo had ended up in the specialist section, who had chosen a woman called Octavia to represent them. Finally, I didn't really know anyone from the ranger unit, but a young man in a long cloak was standing silently among us, and I assumed he was going to be the representative of the archers.

The rest of the preparations were a lot more organized after that point. I only had to worry about what supplies the mage group would need in our discussion about how to best spend our coins. We ended up with another tower, just in case, but also got a library and several more survival items. We also pooled some of our remaining resources- I felt like shit about that, as I had already blown all of my money on my own shit, but everybody insisted they didn't mind- to get a large apartment building that would be large enough to house everyone once we were set on a place to lay it down.

Finally, on the dawn of the fourth day, we took the first steps outside of the hotel, leaving the whole structure of our torment behind us. I looked to my right, and saw Artemis there.

"Mordor, Gandalf. Is it left or right?" Artemis said.

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