Stumbling Up: A Loser's Guide to Progression - Chapter 6: Who's Party?

A beefy hand wrapped around the lip of the hatch. Crap, I pulled at the latch and it didn't budge. We were screwed.

"Leo, is that you?" Tandy's shout echoed in my head. I should have recognized his voice, but it still felt like wool had been shoved between my ears.

Leo removed all doubt, however, when he yanked the hatch up. Thankfully, I still had my left arm firmly looped in a rung, or his enthusiasm would have flung me off the ladder. Above, my six-foot-tall, straw-haired giant of a friend grinned down at us.

"Can you believe I found you guys?" He reached down, gave me a hand, and pulled me up like a toddler. Tandy scrambled up, too dignified for the toddler treatment.

"Honestly, I can't. How did you find us?" I asked. I slowly scanned the forest, trying to figure out where we were. The trees blended into anonymity in the evening air, making the spot look like every other part of the Heltenic Forest.

"I'm a [Provisional Adventurer] now, and we're in a party!" Leo stated it as though pointing out the stars in the sky.

I looked at Tandy for an explanation, wondering just how hard I'd hit my head. If we were in a party, why hadn’t I gotten a notification? Even drunk me wouldn’t have agreed to Leo being the [Party Leader]. I'd follow Tandy into the pits of hell, or in the most recent example, an escape tunnel abyss. But Leo? Never. I loved the guy like a brother, but he was missing a few tools from his mental toolbox.

Tandy, thankfully, had answers. "The party functionality didn't trigger for me until I regained my mundane skills. Do you have a water canteen, Leo?" My mouth puckered at the word water.

"I got my mundane skills back, and it didn't trigger for me," I blurted. Tandy took a slow drink, swishing the water in her mouth. My words were thick, as the anticipatory saliva mixed with the dust in my mouth. "I don't see how these things are connected."

Tandy handed me the canteen, and I greedily took a long pull.

"I suspect it's the [Concussed] state. It's impacting you more than I think you suspect. Being in a party allows us to track each other on a mental map. I've followed Leo's progress as he's tracked us away from the city. I mentioned it to you at that first fork." Had she? I couldn't remember Tandy saying anything.

She did, but you were in the middle of your [Monotonous Calm] skill.

I scooped Richard off my shoulders, holding him before me. I stared him right in the tentacle, "Did you know?"

Was I the only one worried about where the tunnel let out? About whether Leo survived the raid? Or if another band of [Raiders] were going to be waiting for us at the exit?

Yes, I'm part of your party too. Richard's tentacles extended with an air of innocence. You didn't ask.

"Uh, Tandy? Why is Cole talking to a slug?" Leo broke in, destroying my moment.

"That's Cole's special friend, Richard."

"He's my animal companion," special friend, who said that? Richard got a dark look as I returned the mollusk to his usual perch on my shoulders. "He's also a complete dick."

Leo looked at me, wide-eyed. Then looked at Tandy, who covered a grin.

"Richard's a dick? That tracks," Leo said with a straight face, before bending over in laughter. Tandy started chuckling, not able to hold it in herself. I tried covering my embarrassment by taking another long drink of water.

I don't get it.

Water shot out of my mouth as I lost it. It was good to laugh. The three of us had pulled each other out of ditches more times than I could count. We'd handled disappointment, change, even first loves together. We stood on the cusp of hell laughing at a dumb joke, and I had no regrets about my company.

Whether it was the laughter or the water, someone thought I'd suffered enough.

[[Concussed] status has ended. All attributed adverse effects have been removed.]

[You have been invited to join [Your Mom's] [Party]. Do you accept the invitation?]

The fog over my mind slowly lifted. I mentally acquiesced to the system’s request. Only one idiot in Woodsten would name our party that.

[Congratulations - You have joined [Your Mom's Party]. [Tandy Selvedge] has been designated [Party Leader] with all additional attributes granted.]

My mind expanded, opening up new tabs on my interface. I could sense that Tandy was hurt, but slowly healing. That Leo was strong. I even had a sense of Richard. Looking inward, I could bring up a map that included a small part of Woodsten and the entirety of the escape tunnel we'd traversed. It showed every place I'd been since becoming a [Probationary Adventurer].

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me about this," I muttered.

Under your [Monotonous Zombie] spell, would you really have listened?

Point made.

My mundane classes and skills were viewable, and I had a vague sense of where my [Adventurer] classes and skills would appear, assuming I passed the [Trial Dungeon]. The sheet gave me a dull impression of having some information filled in. Yet every time I tried to bring it into focus, a notification indicated I had [1 day, 23 hours] to enter a [Trial Dungeon].

"This skill is incredible. It would have saved us so much trouble when we were kids." So many of our plans and pranks had gone sideways, even with the most detailed planning, due to the unforeseen logistical challenges. "So, Leo, tell me about our [Party] name?"

Leo smiled widely, "Like it? I blame the two of you. The system forced me to pick everything since you two were knocked out. I know you're upset about Tandy being our Team Lead, but she's cuter than you." He said the last bit loud, earning an eyeroll from Tandy, who had been hip deep in system notifications.

She was the right choice for [Party Leader]. Already, I could tell she was stitching together our next steps.

"So what's the plan, oh fearless leader?" I picked up my pack, trying to find the bag of granola and berries I'd brought for a snack.

"We need rest," she waved off my protest. "It's late, and we need to sleep. The [Trial Dungeon] looks to be up by the foothills of Bear Ridge, so it's only a day's hike away. Leo, is there a good camping spot nearby? Preferably one with a stream?"

I couldn't argue with her logic. Examining my map, I expanded the view. Off to the west, towards the mountains, was a gold star indicating the position of the local [Trial Dungeon].

Leo was much more familiar with the Heltenic Forest than either Tandy or I. Depending on the season and village needs, he'd been working off and on as a hunter, trapper, and lumberjack. We flipped the tunnel hatch back down and followed him cross-country until he found a deer track that led in the right direction. The conifer forest stretched before us, filled with damp ferns, patches of dogwood, and a rare oak. The moon was full and high in the sky when he pulled us towards a clump of trees I recognized.

It was one of the old forts we camped in as kids. Several trees had woven together to form a barrier of sorts from the rest of the forest. We'd spent hours weaving branches together and placing stones for the fire pit, to make it a fort worthy of our childish adventures. A small brook ran nearby, making it the perfect spot.

Immediately, we set about our chores. I borrowed Leo's axe to break down some wood for the fire. Tandy went to clean up and get a pot of water for dinner. Leo cleaned the site, checked the fire ring, and set the dry kindling. Before I knew it, I sat clean, wrapped in my mom's quilt, watching the fire crackle as dinner cooked.

All was right in the world.

We were close enough to the Ursine wall to hear the evening bells. The deep, mournful toll of the Everbear’s Guardians filled the evening. No one in Woodsten had seen one of the sentinels that guarded the mountains from the wild, corrupted monsters from the east. But on a cold night, we could hear the bells even down in Woodsten.

Some believed the nights the bell tolls signaled the death of one of the guardians.

I gazed into the fire, listening to their tone. I’d always taken comfort in their low tone. Their ancient magic kept the world safe. I stared in the flames, letting my mind drift in the wispy, ethereal lick.

"Are you still meditating? I can't believe you still do that." Leo’s voice was a harsh interruption to my semi-trance. Always ready for a good-natured jab, he kept me grounded.

"I'll stop meditating when I stop leveling it." Maybe I had hit my head harder than I thought. That was a low blow to a man who couldn't level. Leo had never earned a [Mundane] class or skill.

"Sure, like [Self Flagellation] is a specialization worth having." He said it with a smile and a raised eyebrow. I turned beet red at the deserved poke. He might not be able to gain a class, but every time I progressed, I'd end up with the most idiotic specialty.

"It's been a rough enough day, no reason to keep pointing out I'm hanging with two losers." Tandy was carefully braiding her hair, restoring order and tidiness. We'd pulled the remaining splinters out of her face in the moonlight. She looked better, but the scratches would take a while to heal.

"Do either of you remember Leo's birthday? Tandy, I can see how Leo and I got here, but you? Why did you sign up to be an [Adventurer]?" I couldn't understand why we'd signed up to be [Aventurers]. Sure, my life wasn't amazing, but had I hated it that much?

Leo poked at the fire with a stick, causing a fountain of sparks. Tandy pulled another piece of hair into the weave of her braid. It'd been a while since we sat around a campfire. The kids who hunt imaginary goblins and built forts in the trees were long gone. A memory of Tandy catching a frog and chasing Leo around with it surfaced. Man, that guy hated frogs.

Tandy leaned close, "Your cloak has a hole in it."

Leo and I shared a look. Tandy could be stubborn. But we both knew she'd tell the truth if you waited long enough. I stayed silent, the epitome of patience.

Everything you own has holes in it.

She fingered a gash in the weave I'd gotten last year. My cloak had a few holes in it, if I were being honest. She'd given it to me a few years back. "Why didn't you ask me to mend it? It would have been this easy," she muttered [Seamless Fix], and I watched in awe as the cloak glowed a soft golden light as the holes wove themselves whole.

Tandy had slowly been pulled away from Leo and me to do her family’s craft. She had skills and purpose. Leo and I... we were just stumbling through with sweat equity and dumb luck. It's not that we stopped being friends. We just hung out less. Our various jobs and responsibilities didn't allow our off-hours to match.

"I was going to, it's just been a while. And you've got more important things than me." The words were true enough, but they soured my mouth. Tandy just nodded and looked at Leo, shivering in his tunic.

“And you, Leo? Where’s the cloak I gave you last year?”

I winced. Leo looked at her and shrugged. I knew he lost it this past winter logging. It’d been ripped to shreds when a tree fell in the wrong direction, catching him in the aftermath.

"Uh-huh," Tandy stood, walking to her pack leaning against a tree. She muttered, rifling through it. “Here it is,” she held up a woolly sweater, dyed a girlish pink, obviously sized for her. Leo opened his mouth, I’m sure to point this out, when she spoke her second skill of the night, “[Shape the Weave].”

I watched in wonder as the sweater reformed itself to fit our lumberjack friend. He was a head taller than Tandy, with broad shoulders, but it fit perfectly when he pulled it over his head. The sweater was still pink, but the fabric stretched effortlessly over his frame. The color worked with his curly blond hair.

"I bet neither one of you remembers Leo's birthday clearly." Her eyes were glued to Leo, already knowing my answer.

"Sure don't. You know how I get it when I drink that much," Leo said with the dopey grin that made him impossible to hate.

Tandy was unsurprised at his answer, "I wasn't drunk at all. So, Cole, if you want to blame one of us, you should blame me. And if you don't want me to be the [Party Leader], I'll understand why."

Leo and I glanced at each other briefly. It's all it took to know we were of the same mind.

I scooted closer to Tandy, seeing a lone tear trace down her face. I put an arm around her shoulders, ignoring the ache in my back. Leo joined us, leaning into the other side of Tandy.

"You don't think you can get rid of us that easily?" Leo nudged her, getting a small smile.

"Yeah," I squeezed her against me, "Like it or not, you're stuck with these losers. I just want to know why."

Tandy let out the breath she'd been holding, and it was like an emotional dam broke. Tears ran freely for a moment, as we sandwiched her between us, trying to convey our love. We might be doomed, but we were sticking together.

Eventually, her voice soft, she began telling her story.

"I don't know if you two knew this, but I hate sheep."