“OK, everyone's back,” Sara said, meeting the team in the center of the shattered parking lot. “Cody, I love your ambition with the wagons, but how are people going to order for us to deliver?”
Cody shrugged, leaning against one of the new wooden carts. “Drop box order kiosks with scheduled pick-ups.”
“That’s genius,” Sara said, scribbling on her clipboard. “We can start by putting one in LIHDZ. Jeffrey McNichol has also extended free hats for the team. Just stop in and see them.”
“Where are we gonna get employees to drive all these wagons?” Mark surveyed the massive fleet, somehow more present and alert than before he and Simone left.
“That’s where you come in,” Raven spoke up from beside Sara. “You made this world. You know who’s in it. Maybe better than me, and I know lots of people.”
Mark squared up on her and folded his arms over his chest. “You have the lived experience. Do you know of any struggling immigrant groups or social groups that we can help by hiring from?”
“I would say maybe the Shafted,” Raven answered.
“The Shafted, then,” Mark replied with a firm nod. “We get them.”
“I am totally on board with having ripped dwarven goth Vikings delivering our shit!” Simone swooned, clapping her hands together.
“Alright,” Sara checked her clipboard. “Raven, you go and take…”
“Me!” Simone threw her hand up dramatically, holding her elbow up with her other hand like a frantic schoolchild. “Meeeeeee!”
“Sara.” Mark interrupted, his tone uncharacteristically serious. “Before you give out assignments, I’ve decided I need to go to the Respec Fairy, so I’m going to be out a while.”
Sara stared him down, trying to read this dark, new energy radiating off him, but she couldn't quite place it. “Anyone else need to go?”
“I’m good,” Simone answered firmly.
“What’s the Respec Fairy?” Chadwick scratched his massive, furry chin.
Sara picked up on a sudden, heavy uneasiness settling over Raven. She noted it internally and pressed on to answer the Minotaur. “If you don’t like your race or class, the Respec Fairy can permanently reset it for you.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Raven said quickly, her eyes darting away. “Rearranging yourself like that doesn’t sound safe.”
“Like the bridge,” Mark lowered his head, a shadow crossing his face. “It’s totally safe.”
Raven backed down, folding her arms. “If you say so. At least you can check out the magma falls when you’re down in Rocksylvania. They’re pretty this time of year.”
Ping. Sara’s mental alarms went off, her lawyer instincts combining with whatever Bardic Insight the game had given her. She catalogued the anomaly immediately: Mark never mentioned where the fairy was. “I need someone to travel with Mark,” Sara said smoothly, not missing a beat. “That’s a dangerous trek.”
“I’ll go,” Raven volunteered. “We can get the Shafted while we’re down there.”
“We have a bigger problem, Sara.” Simone shot a heavy, loaded look at Mark. “The Dairy Queens are active… and they might not be so happy.”
Sara sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Let me guess. You and Mark ran afoul of them in Sunnydale?"
She barely caught Mark almost imperceptibly shaking his head at Simone before Simone replied.
“We ran into them on the way to get supplies.” Simone safely replied, entirely omitting the burning village.
Sara caught the lie of omission but decided to table it. One crisis at a time. “Then we need security as well until we level up. It would be exhausting to close the shop and then have to physically fight them off every night.”
“I can go see Roblethan Marcdonavis,” Cody volunteered. “He usually helps us out with that kind of stuff.”
Sara considered everything, her retail-manager brain perfectly sorting the logistics. “Anyone else have any pressing info before I lock in the schedule?”
“We secured the bridge,” Chadwick added, as if he had just remembered he accomplished a massive geographical milestone.
Sara paused, raising a Tiefling eyebrow. “The Bridge of Guaranteed Death? You secured it?”
“Yeah,” he said, offering absolutely no further context.
“Ok.” She noted it on the clipboard. “Mark and Raven to get the Shafted and respec. Cody and Simone, see Roblethan. And Chadwick, since the road is done, can I have you help me out getting things ready here at base?”
“Absolutely, boss bro.” Chadwick smiled warmly. “I just gotta run out for about an hour for some cardio, then I’ll be back.”
Sara nodded and clapped her hands, dismissing them. “Ok, let’s make some money.”
As the party dispersed to gather their gear, Sara turned to Raven, who had remained silently by her side. “Can we talk, please?”
“Sure,” Raven smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. “What about?”
“In private.” Sara dropped her head to her clipboard and headed toward Mark's old office.
“Is everything okay?” Raven asked as she followed closely behind.
“I don’t know.” Sara kept moving until she pushed open the office door. She stood outside of it, holding it open for Raven to enter first. As soon as the Drow stepped through the threshold, Sara closed and locked the heavy door behind them.
“What was that out there?” Sara asked, her voice dropping the manager cadence and taking on a sharp, legal edge.
Raven turned and acted surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Cut the shit, Raven.” Sara shook her head. “No one said the word Rocksylvania. You just miraculously knew where a highly specific player-character-use item was located?”
Raven’s expression went completely blank, her Plunderdark mask slipping into place. “You’re really good at seeing through things.”
“I have max ranks in bullshit detection,” Sara said. She tossed the clipboard onto the dusty desk, sighed heavily, and faced Raven. “Look. I have a long history of being lied to by partners and blindly believing it. I think this game made it so my brain literally can’t be lied to anymore. My Insight is too high. Handy for business, but goddammit, I’m never going to find a relationship now. I like you, Raven, but I absolutely will not tolerate being lied to.”
Raven paced the small office, then sat heavily on the faded break room couch, resting her forearms on her knees in deep deliberation. “My last name is Muninn. I’m—”
“Next in line for Matron Mother?” Sara shot back, exasperated. She knew her D&D lore well enough to know exactly what that meant. “You’re from the most feared, ruthless Drow house in all of the world, and you didn’t think to tell me?”
“No.” Raven looked up, her blue eyes flashing with sudden, raw pain. “Because I want nothing to do with them! They are killers, Sara. I only kill if I can’t avoid it. They’re… I just couldn't live that life. And if I told a human who essentially helped create this world that I’m from House Muninn, you would have treated me like a monster.”
Sara’s mind raced, her adrenaline rushing as she suddenly realized exactly how powerful Raven really was. “And how did you know about the Respec Fairy?”
“Because I used it,” she said flatly, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I was tired of being an Arachne. I didn’t want to be a half-spider monstrosity serving as a Cleric for some bullshit religion of pain and murder just to survive my family. I went to Rocksylvania. I ripped my own class and biology apart to be free.”
Sara deflated, the anger rushing out of her entirely. The absolute horror of Raven's past hit her like a physical blow. She walked over and plopped down on the couch next to her. “I get that. That’s why we all came here, too. To get away from something worse.”
“Can we not…” Raven paused, looking at the locked door. “Can we not tell the others yet?”
“I gotta be honest with you, Raven.” Sara thought about all the years at the tabletop with the guys and Simone. “Part of why we work so well together is we trust each other. I know what each of my people can do, and what they need, when they’re honest. When people aren’t honest, I might not get what’s needed, or I might say the wrong thing and get someone killed. I can’t do it, Raven. I won’t lie to them.”
“I’m sorry.” Raven slowly raised a hand and placed it gently on Sara’s thigh. “I don’t want to hurt you, Sara. I won’t lie to you again. I just hope you can forgive me.”
Sparks and a deep, empathetic sadness radiated through Sara's chest. She could hardly fault Raven for hiding a trauma that severe, but she was already so exhausted by the weight of this new world. She turned, looked deep into Raven’s icy blue, searching eyes, and was completely swept away.
The kiss just happened.
It was like Sara couldn't contain the swell of emotion anymore. Raven met her lips with a firm but incredibly soft pressure, returning the affection instantly. The kiss was slow, deliberate, and deeply grounding—two women who were clearly damaged by their pasts, silently promising not to hurt each other.
Before the sparks could fully travel south to her loins, Raven gently pulled away. She rested her cool forehead against Sara’s, her hand moving up to caress the Tiefling's reddish cheek. She was breathless.
“That was… awesome,” Raven whispered. “But… I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
A massive wave of relief and wonder coursed through Sara. The pressure was off. “I understand. I… don’t think I’m ready either. Can you just hold me?”
Raven smiled, shifting on the couch and pulling Sara securely against her chest. “Until my arms fall off.”