While the people who haven't yet done the quests work in the meditation chamber, I take Clutter and Jumble into Click's chamber. It looks up at us as we step in, then stands up with a shallow nod.

"Are you going to be bringing the others through here?" It asks.

I shake my head. "Not right away. We'll start with the subquests they can do on the other side of the district, then work up towards the door we have open."

Click nods. "Understood. Will you want me hidden when they come through?"

"That's probably a good idea." Pearl pops out of her Shell and sits down on my shoulder. "Even if they don't care, it's better to keep them from wondering about us too much. Suspicion Is probably the first thing that'll break this alliance apart."

"And stagnation is the second." Click agrees. "I will make myself scarce when needed."

"Thanks. So Jumble, Clutter–how do you two want to do this?" I summon my Class Card and swipe over to my map. "We have two main places we need to find; the magic workshop from my vision and wherever Gil is. I could use my skill to point the way, but after what happened a few days ago, I don't want to use it until I'm strong enough."

Jumble nods solemnly. "I had that happen before, too. Upping your stats fixes it for a while, but that's not really an option right now. Oh, wait–there's a third thing we need to find, too!"

She steps forward, then spins on her heel to face Clutter and I. With a flourish of her hands she gestures at me, eyes glimmering with excitement. And they keep glittering in silence while she tries to coax a question out of us.

Clutter breathes in through his nose before he breaks. "What's the third thing?"

A triumphant grin spreads over Jumble's cheeks. "The trials! Shelby can do them for some reason, and they give really good stat rewards! Plus, since that's what gave you the room with doors, the first person to finish each of their related subquests must get good rewards."

"Yes, but there is only one per district." Click cuts in, pulling all our attention to it. "The original trials were also designed to be fairly long. If you want Shelby to be a part of this group, she can't go off and to a long quest on her own."

"Yup, that's right." Jumble agrees readily. "That's why we're not going to do it alone; we just need to find it. Then once we've cleaned this place out we'll go do that next one. Because that's how we'll connect that district to our tower, right?"

I blink in surprise, because… well… yeah, that's pretty damn obvious now that I think about it. Why didn't I think of that? I look to Click for confirmation, but it too seems puzzled by the fact that it didn't put two and two together.

"Sound theory. A very sound theory." Click mumbles to itself. "If there's nothing else new that the quest created, the trials-turned-subquests are definitely the safest option. Honestly, I'm annoyed that I didn't think of that before. No… the fact that I didn't think of it lends further validity to your theory."

Jumble's smile evolves to show teeth. "I know, right? The trials weren't that hard when I did them, but they definitely were long. Like, somehow longer than the spot the difference apartment we did. So who's going to find the trial?"

Nobody volunteers. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest; our district is safe, and every other one isn't. Walking into a new one alone is inviting the horizonguard to ambush whoever's stupid enough to put themselves in danger. Jumble definitely has the best chance of finding it, but Clutter has the best chance of actually getting there thanks to his invisibility. And I definitely shouldn't go because I'm the horizonguard's main target.

I click my teeth and cross my arms. "None of us should leave the district. Not for Gil, not for the construct workshop, and not for the trial. We just don't know what's out there."

Pearl sighs. "I hate that I agree with you."

"So do I." Clutter mutters. "If we're going to be stuck here for months, the best plan of action is to make each district safe one at a time. I can go out and scout around for the trial when everyone else goes quest hunting, but anything more than that doesn't sound safe."

Jumble scrunches her nose to show her disagreement, but she doesn't outright say anything. I get why she'd be annoyed; progress is going to be as slow as molasses, but there's nothing we can do about it with what we have now. Who knows, though? Maybe a quest reward will shake things up.

"I guess there's nothing else we can do." She eventually cedes. "Then Shelby and I will complete quests just like everyone else."

"Unfortunately." I chuckle in confirmation. "If anyone needs anything, just send a message. Oh, and obviously, here."

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I hand out relocation coins, then take them back a moment later. Click raises an eyebrow as I hold them out for it to take, but as understanding washes over it, it accepts them in open palms. All that's left is to get things started.

Work Log Entry One: Day Three. Probably should've started this on day one, but some part of me hoped that we'd be done with this shit way sooner than I expected. Obviously that didn't happen, since we're three days in with nothing but a half-dozen finished quests to show for it. Jumble finished two on her own, neither of which un-greyed anything on my Class Card, and I have one under my belt. The other three were finished by Shatterhand, Dani's group, and much to my surprise, Gnash. Progress is damn slow, but we're still making it. Further updates coming when new shit happens

Work Log Entry Two: Day Eight. Clutter came back for the first time since he set out. He didn't find anything worth reporting, but he gathered enough bones to buy a grocery haul's worth of stuff from the shops. No more heretic hearts or other body parts. Oh yeah, Llaliu almost died yesterday. Her quest is way more dangerous than anything we've seen, so we're getting a group together to go finish it. Good news is she says it un-greyed her stats tab. If all goes well, that's another roadblock down. Progress is still slow as shit, though.

Work Log Entry Three: Day Nine. Llaliu's quest was way more deadly than expected. Not hard at all, but any little mistake meant serious harm. Much to my surprise, Gnash and Sawyer proved dangerously competent in combat. Sawyer seems to be some kind of Mind-based class, and Gnash is definitely Body. No idea where he keeps all those weapons since he doesn't have inventory access, and I'm not going to ask any time soon.

Work Log Entry Four: Day Twenty-two. Dani's group keeps picking away at quests. Everyone else is stuck on a few quests that just refuse to be finished no matter what we do. One's a damn fishing hole where we have twenty minutes to catch a specific fish–but none of us have even managed to see the bastard. Unfortunately, it's also the quest that un-greys our inventory. So screw me, I guess. No new news from Clutter, either, though he's coming back every few days now instead of once a week. And every time he does, the amount of crap in the workshop seems to double somehow. Jumble won't stop clinging to me. Every day I mind it less and less.

Work Log Entry Five: Day Twenty-four. Clutter caught the damn fish on his third attempt. It was delicious and unbelievably cathartic.

Work Log Entry Six: Day Thirty. If I hadn't sent out those messages through Click, Illumisia would definitely be worried about me by now. The thought of that is damn terrifying. Gil still hasn't sent me any messages since we talked, but I have no idea what that means. He could be safe, he could be the horizonguard's prisoner, or he could've found a cute paindne and got extremely distracted. I don't know him well enough to make a guess. If I don't hear from him again by the time we clear out this district, I'll try to initiate contact. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Work Log Entry Seven: Day Seventy-three. Kind of completely forgot about these logs. So, uh, status update; the group's working way better than I thought we would be. Llaliu and Shatterhand have been working as a unit since a month ago, and their progress has more than tripled since. Gnash and Sawyer have been doing the same behind our backs, but their efficiency is good enough that I don't give a shit. Still had to chew them out for not talking to us first, but they've been coming to Jumble more and more as the days go by. They seem to like her. Still scared shitless of me, though. Dani's group is still going at the exact same pace as they have been. If Euro wasn't there with them I'd be suspicious, but apparently they just set a limit of one quest completion per day then relax after. I don't care enough about them to waste energy on it. …Oh, right, Wojkmi's in a medically-induced coma. He–I found that out a few weeks ago–got poisoned in a quest and we couldn't find him for just over a week. Shatterhand says he's going to be fine, and since she's apparently a medical class, I'm inclined to trust her. No new facilities in the tower complex yet, either, so I have a feeling there's a two-per-district limit on that. All goes well, we'll be done with this place in another week or so. Here's hoping.

Work Log Entry Eight: Day Eighty-seven. Last entry for now, since Jumble just cleared the last quest in this district. All of our Class Cards are completely un-greyed, and for the last ten days, most of us have moved to help Clutter scout the next district. There's so much crap in the workshop now that it's hard to move around in it. Wojkmi's still out, but everyone else is in damn good shape all things considered. This shit took way too long. Like, way, way too long. No new announcements from the quest means nobody else has progressed any, either, which is my only source of comfort. Oh, and Gil's fine. I learned the hard way not to ask for too many details, so 'fine' is all I want to say. Hopefully this is the last log entry I'll have to make. Hopefully this'll be enough for Illumisia when I actually manage to relocate her so that she won't corner me and force an entire story out of me. But hey, I have Jumble for that now. As long as she doesn't pass out at the sight of Illumisia.

I finish the last word of my entry with a sigh. Eighty-seven goddamn days. Even with the one-to-ten time dilation, that's over a week of real-time that we've pissed away in this damn place. And we only did two frivolous quests, since the third-to-last one un-greyed the last part of our cards. Feels like I should have a closer bond to all these people, but since we only really did one or two quests together, now I just see them all as work colleagues. Not friends or allies.

"All done, Shelby?" Jumble asks from across the room with doors.

Everyone except for Shatterhand turns to look at me, since she's staying behind to look after Wojkmi. Clutter's already waiting for us behind the door to Click's old nook, and if the way he hops from foot to foot in excitement is any indicator, he's damn confident in his latest discovery. Apparently Click confirmed it, but Clutter hasn't checked it out yet. Just in case it is as long as it could be.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

I walk through the group, including Dani and the rest of Jumble's party, who have been playing nice so far. When I get to the front I turn and survey the entirety of them, and there's barely any weariness to be seen. Most of that is thanks to the tower, but these people are hardy. Not a word of complaint from a single one of them since week two. Even if I still don't know them beyond a surface level, I trust them far more than I did three months ago.

"The horizonguard must be close to something." I grin and nod at the door. "Let's beat him to the punch. Clutter!"

He nods and steps to the side. I fill the space he just made, and everyone else filters through right after. Leaving behind a hidden Click, Wojkmi, and Shatterhand to hold down the fort for hopefully just a few short days. Because, if Clutter's right about this, we'll be the first ones to make quest progress again.

And I'll have a lot more of one stat. Maybe even enough to confidently use twist fate again.

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