"What do you mean we can't enter the gates?"

An irate Tiesa was staring face-to-face with a guard that had barred our carriage's passage.

"Ma'am, you need to respect the guard and what we do. I know you delvers think you're all hot sodus but—"

"Her husband is vice captain of the Velez city guard. And her brother-in-law works as a guard in Zalano," Jasna said calmly, just watching the altercation. I had wisely stayed in the carriage and was peeking my head out to check the holdup.

Clearly seeing his way of belittling the woman had gone awry, he just paused, looking rather stupid. "Uh, well I know then you understand orders, right? You get I don't have a choice?"

"Yes, and I am asking for a reason. We were assured this was fine by two members of the Velez Council. Are you overruling them?" Tiesa was like a dog with a bone, refusing to let go.

Or like my old yellow lab, refusing to drop the moldy food she found on the ground. Or give me the ball after having chased it during fetch. Better not tell her about those mental pictures.

"I don't know but you are holding up the line. I am going to need you to move your carriage, fancy as it may be, back across the bridge to the holding and inspection area. This isn't a request. Family in other city guard or not." He motioned to the driver and the carriage actually starting backing up without having to turn.

Probably some weird magic that lets the driver move it a bit while the horses are along for the ride?

45 minutes and six Tiesa frustration screams later, there was a knock on the door. Jasna was off doing something so Tiesa put me behind her and opened the door, at the ready.

A late teens to early 20s woman stood there, dressed in studded leather and with two short swords in a scabbard at each side, though her hands were at least a few inches away in a clearly friendly posture. Her short-cropped blonde hair reminded me of the absolute mess still atop my own head but hers was well-kept. Her bloodred eyes scanned us, a quick glance to me but mostly staying on Tiesa.

"Aunty Ruta said you were a twitchy one. Wait, you are Tiesa and not the other one right?" Her confident tone faltered slightly but she hiked a look of satisfaction back on her face. "Nope, got it in one. Aunty says you owe her 3 gold, a new longsword, and a bowl of rat stew."

"That moron and her spilled stew story. I swear, one eensie tiny bar brawl that knocks over her favorite stew and you never hear the end of it. You must be Inara. Sorry but the carriage only holds four so your crew will have to wait."

I leaned around a bit to see three other figures waiting calmly at a respectable difference. All were color-coded, wearing dark greens and blacks, much like their sigil – logo? – of a green bird on a black background ascending to the sky. Simple and got the job done.

Consultant survival tip #39: Branding is hard. Very hard. Don't underestimate the marketing team. In their ability to spew BS, in their ability to be creative, or in their ability to drink you under the table. They can save your bacon or they can sink your project. Buy them booze too, they love that.

Inara climbed into the carriage and gave a low whistle. "Nice digs. I heard you had done okay since you left the military but damn."

"It's the carriage of a Councilor from Velez. How much were you briefed? Do you know much about this one?" She indicated at me like I was an inanimate object.

"Right here you know. Hi, I'm Terry," I said, extending my hand.

She shook it without really looking at me. "Give me an assessment of his capabilities. Is this diaper, papoose, leash, or babysitting? And he really doesn't speak the language, where did you find this guy, space?"

I sent Tiesa a quick message letting her know it was okay to read Inara and team in on the basics of my background and my affinity plus the testing we were doing.

"Actually, yes. Some <redacted> with a weird lab brought his soul from another planet, maybe even galaxy. He is a bit of a political challenge given some other <redacted> in a copy of that body caused a lot of issues for Zalano and I think Pitola bigwigs, right Terry?"

"Yeah, Tilda said he escaped to here and in 'lying low', he slept his way through the Pitolan upper class too. Though not as destructively since I think he was only here for a few weeks. We didn't get into a ton of specifics." I was waiting for a reaction, either horrified or intrigued, but Inara just nodded.

"Back to my question. What are his capabilities in a rift? It's his job – and I guess your job too – to take care of all the political challenges. We are here to train and teach in the rifts and a bit about how to be a teammate, nothing more." She turned to me and looked me in the eye this time. "Nothing more, got it?"

"Uh, yes. That's what you are hired to do. Why would I expect you to do something outside of your contract? That's where you charge extra. Never give them the freebies!" I laughed to myself, knowing I looked weird but it brought up old memories of clients trying to get me to do insane things well beyond the agreed scope.

That look on that CFO's face when he expected me to guarantee margin expansion estimates. What a clown.

Consultant survival tip #25: Never overpromise and never deliver outside the Statement of Work. Painting outside the lines can even invalidate the contract. Know what you are supposed to focus on and if they try to throw in extra requirements, throw in extra invoices.

Inara shrugged and looked back to Tiesa. "Well?"

"God, you really are related to Ruta," she said laughing. "Okay, he literally never fought before coming to this planet." Holding up a hand to forestall an expected outburst, she plowed forward. "Risto, if you know him, has been training him and he already survived an assassination by rift ambush.

"I'll send you the details but the team that delved with him – the members not part of the assassination attempt – all complimented his demeanor and willingness to listen to direction. And yes, he doesn't speak the language but is actually learning it reasonably well. His pronunciation is usually hot garbage but he's picking up the grammar nuances better than I expected. And he's paying for supplies and just got a windfall, so expect nice accommodations when not camping."

I shot Tiesa a dirty look at the last part. She shrugged and said, "Look, if I trust Ruta – and I do – then I trust Inara. I threw out a perk. And now here is a warning for her." Turning back to Inara, she looked at her for a full 10 seconds. "He is not just a friend, he is literally a key strategic Kingdom-level asset. Train him to protect himself."

She paused for dramatic effect. "You might want to prevent any injuries and I will guarantee that is the wrong call. Let him take his non-crippling licks. He wants this and we – you, me, your Aunty, everyone – needs this to work. Are you up for that?"

At a simple nod, Tiesa sat back. "Good, Terry give her some two-day-old pastries. Inara, you call in your guild leader, and let's chat."

***

Apparently, the Guildmaster of the Adventurers Guild branch did not appreciate 'some Podunk little village dictating terms', so we were required to prove our worth before a meeting or even entering Pitola.

That meant clearing a particularly nasty Tier 1 dungeon they thought might break soon. Dungeon breaks were more dangerous than rifts because the monsters often coordinated or were slightly more intelligent. This dungeon was acting very strangely and had managed to kill two teams in the last month, one of which he even deemed 'competent'.

I thought Tiesa and Jasna would be upset by the gate to entry but they both said that was actually easier than expected. By their estimations, Selim Koval was a 'colossal kurac'.

Deep into the afternoon, we arrived at a horrendous-looking cave mouth, almost like it was dripping liquid stone despite nothing moving. I thought a dungeon might be kind of cool but apparently, they varied significantly. I was promised a deep discussion of how they worked 'when there were nerds present' – I took that to mean Ratmir – but the basic goal was to get to the dungeon core and run some scans to see if we could repair it or needed to shatter it because it was too far gone.

"Yeah, usually dungeons are pretty great boons for areas. Take longer to charge up to good rewards but everyone involved in a delve usually gets something from defeating it, not just one thing from a reward distortion. If you shatter the core, the reward is typically pretty amazing, but that's a treason offense in most cases." Tiesa was checking my gear just before we entered.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"So papoose then, got it," Inara called out.

"Har, har, very funny," I replied. Signaling with my head to chat privately, Tiesa briefly stuck her tongue out and Jasna appeared beside us.

"Okay, what did you want?" Tiesa asked, looking slightly worried.

"Did you review the packet Katarina sent? I am way under the sub-Tier for this dungeon – 1.0 versus 1.5-1.6 – so it feels like a pretty good opportunity to use it. But I want your opinions," I said, trying to keep my voice low.

"If this is an infected dungeon, something I had never even thought was a real possibility until today, no. Absolutely not. That would mean it somehow became sapient – something extremely rare I also thought was a myth – and it's now insane; a boon might be something that if you defeat one final, you get an incredible weapon. But the monster's invincible." At an eyebrow from Jasna, she looked a little embarrassed. "That's the point Jazzy, I don't know what it will do so it's not worth the risk."

"You want to get strong. Trust your gut but you need to take risks. This seems like a great place to do so."

Looking at Tiesa, Jasna shrugged. "He wants our advice, not our protection. I am giving him what he asked for not what I think he should have. I would tell him it's too risky but if it were me, I would assess and if it felt right, use it."

She turned back to look at me. "I trust your judgment. I believe in you."

I could feel a flush creeping up my cheeks but tried to keep my eye contact. "Thank you. Both of you. I forgot, I know you are getting paid but here, I wanted to show you I really appreciate everything you do for me." I handed each of them three gold.

Or at least tried to.

Tiesa refused to put out her hand then stared at Jasna who took it right away and put it in her pocket. "What, it is a gift and something I want: money. It is rude to refuse a gift, right? So I didn't." She walked off before either of us could say anything and climbed into the carriage.

"That woman…" Tiesa said.

"Is infuriating sometimes, especially when she's right? That seems like a good person to have around." I held out the money for another 30 seconds before Tiesa snatched it.

"I'm treating you to something amazing in Pitola. I hope this little place I used to go to is still open… damn null… sorry, I know…" she held up a hand.

"Um, I'm not null. I have no actual relationship to null essence other than I can absorb the essence. Like none. It has destroyed so much here. Whoever did this, they should pay."

"You think someone did this?" she asked sharply.

"Let's not get into that right now but someone let something slip that makes me think it's a possibility. Anyway, wish me luck. Usually, you say kiss for luck—"

I fell over backwards to avoid her as Tiesa leaned in for a kiss. From the ground I shouted, "What the hell!" My soon-to-be teammates looked over but quickly went back to chatting like nothing happened.

"Heh, guessed as much. It's not a big deal in our culture but yes, I was messing with you. As much as that idiot adores me, I adore him more. We are both dumb like that."

I shook my head at her wistful look and got up, hoping I hadn't looked too strange to my new team. None of them had batted an eye so I guessed they dealt with weirder.

"You finally ready?" Inara asked.

"Let's lay out a plan before. I have some delve recordings from before it all went to sodus and we can set out contingencies."

Proper planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance. And my death.

"Ha, no sodus. I meant ready for our training."

***

"The rules of this are you follow my instructions. If you don't, first, that invalidates the protection clause. And second, I put my team's lives above yours. If you follow instructions, your life is put above ours, at least according to the contract." Vidas Lysenko was a 6'5 (196cm) gruff drill instructor type, sporting close-cropped dark brown hair, one orange and one green eye, a lot of scars across his face and arms, and a miniature, bright green hat at a jaunty angle.

It was enchanted to protect his entire head but it still ruined the look a bit.

I replied, "Okay, that makes sense—"

"No, Terry. I want you to confirm your agreement. That means military discipline. This was in the notes. You did read them, correct?" He gave me a patronizing look.

"Yes, I did—"

"That's yes, sir."

"Really? You really need this out here? When we are in the thick of it, I get it, we need cohesion, you need to know people are going to do as you say. But really? I'm not a child."

"Barely out of his boy clothes and he's this arrogant," Vidas said to the rest of the group. Turning back to me, he simply replied, "I hope we won't have to tie you up, that always makes things harder."

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #1: Don't take sodus for no reason. Stand up for yourself when it makes sense. Don't make enemies for no reason but don't let people push you around.

"Look, I want us to have a good working relationship. You probably don't know my history – I have no idea what was sent to you. I will trust you and your instructions but I am actually older than any of you."

At their collective scoff, I held up my hand. "No, not full of sarange. I was pulled here from another world. I am actually closer to 36 in your world, at least according to time alive. Basically, don't treat me like a kid, I am not some brash idiot. I need to get stronger but I don't give a rat's… well, backside, I don't remember how to say that one."

Trying to regain my bravado, I soldiered on. "I don't need to prove anything to you. But I am also here to contribute where I can. That means I need to grow from the liability I am to something much more. So cut the sodus. Now. I'm not some stupid kid. I know how to work in a team, been doing it for many years."

Pavel Lysenko, his shorter but handsomer brother, stepped in front of Vidas. The man had long, wavy dirty blonde hair and an air of amusement and mystery about him. I thought he might be a bit of a troublemaker, especially with the ladies, but Tiesa had the lowdown as he was engaged to Inara. She had him wrapped around her finger according to Inara's aunt Ruta.

"Look Vidas, we have two top-tier delvers here vouching that he isn't a moron. Let's go with that assumption." Turning, he gave me a big smile. "We are serious about the contract. Don't be an idiot and we will protect you. Listen to what we say. You claim you can do that? Then do it or die. If the latter, will still get a fair bit of our rewards and can move on to the next client. Fair?"

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #2: When a reasonable deal is presented, especially one for equal footing, take it. Don't look to win every negotiation when only pride is on the line. Gain allies and strength, not ego.

"Sodus yeah, can we get on to the actual training to work together?" I asked.

Vidas looked like he was going to argue but the team's ranged damage specialist, Romie Serva, put a hand on his arm. The unassuming archer wearing hides and sporting a cowl that would make any edgelord jealous simply said, "Look, we have agreement. He's been vouched for. This isn't some bratty noble. He's green as the essence…" They faltered for a second before continuing, "He's new, he knows he's new, he doesn't have bad habits, he is willing to work with us. Accept it. Move forward."

"Sodus Romie, that's the most you've said in a week!" Inara laughed and then punched Vidas in the arm. "My aunt Ruta is a massive pain in the sickna and trusts no one. She will bad-mouth me to my face and treats everyone else the same. She would not shut up about how much she loves Tiesa and trusts her judgement. She says the kid is good, isn't actually a kid, and will behave, I believe her. So put the kuracs away, you can compare and contrast them after the delve. I'll even volunteer as judge!"

I looked to Pavel to see his reaction to his wife-to-be's crass finisher.

He was doubled over laughing silently.

Vidas clearly wasn't happy but finally nodded. "Okay, let's practice some of our formations. I know you want to learn more control-based fighting and Pavel and I do that together rather than having a damage dealer and a damage soaker. Inara is our shot-caller and is focused on quick in-and-out style to distract and debilitate as well as using [Restricting Vines] for battlefield control. Romie is pretty easy, they are an archer and shoot things." He chuckled at his own joke but no one else did. "Going forward, we can snare some monsters for you to safely fight. Let's walk through how that would look."

We spent the next few hours training intensely and I was able to share my simulation programs with them so we could work on additional tactics and how I'd stay out of the way to prevent friendly fire concerns.

The dungeon was usually populated with large insectoids with hard carapaces and sharp cutting blades and pincers/mandibles. They were very hard to simply battle one-on-one but were exceptionally stupid. They essentially tried to swarm but only when you were within the range of an individual creature. So if you worked slowly and didn't let them get bunched up, it was fairly easy to take them down as a group one-by-one.

At least historically.

There were a few whispers of new monster types from the last successful delve but the team didn't submit the AAI recording or a full report. And during the odd delve, like any rift or dungeon, it had produced a wide array of other monsters. Specifically here, there had been wasps, spiders, ants, and more.

"So we know that The Warriors of the Mark were actually competent and the one delve recording of theirs from a different rift showed they used sound tactics and teamwork. Which means we have to expect something to be different in there since it wasn't a particularly hard dungeon historically. I don't think they would have been caught out easily when it killed the previous team to delve. I am guessing enemy swarm tactics are no longer only on proximity." Vidas had a large presentation board that he could project some basic things onto from his AAI and was using a stick he found to point to a list.

I want that program, it would be so helpful! Or do I…? I do not miss giving presentations… I will have to ask him about it later.

"Terry, this means you at the rear at all times but be alert. There are some insectoid monsters – though none that have been found in this dungeon before – with great stealth skills so," Vidas paused to come and look in my eyes, "you need to keep yourself safe. And always follow my directions. I know better than you. We know better than you. I will try to have Romie or Inara near you but if a wave hits, you'll need to be able to fend for yourself for a bit. Understood?"

He had backed off from the drill sergeant routine but was still pushy. That said, it didn't really bother me. I needed to be prepared and, while I could run circles around them on a value streams analysis or financial projections, I had only been in two rifts ever.

And in only one real fight where I very nearly died.

Nonetheless, I'm betting on this team getting me to where I need.

We whiled away the last of the sunlight and then had a quick dinner.

"We'll tackle the dungeon at one bell past first light. I want everyone doing stretches and preparing yourself mentally before that." Vidas came and made eye contact with each of us. "First watch is on—"

"Yeah, we got it," Tiesa said, pointing to herself and Jasna and then the guards from the carriage. "You little munchkins get your beauty sleep." She ruffled Inara's hair and to my surprise, the young woman leaned into it.

"Aunty Ruta said you were really only good for scratching your own sickna but I think your head massages aren't that bad." With a grin, she ran off to the tent with Pavel.

***

NOTES APP

End of Day 8 Needs and Goals

Needs:

Reformat entire list

Reflect on 'drive to thrive' instead of mere survival and update this list

Rename 'drive to thrive'; Loren was right, I shouldn't be allowed to name things

Get to more power and start to build out political, financial, and personal power bases

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