Dauven took longer than she thought to send his response, but he was busy navigating his team through the records room. She didn’t know the trials he was faced with.

  To: Keylynn

  From: Dauven

  Subject: Fungal loss

  Thank you for your update on your team's progress.

  Have you found anything in the paperwork?

  I will be filing a quest employee behaviour and decorum complaint on your team's behalf. I think form P34T-V2 covers transformative magic without provocation. If you have proof of intended violence, please forward it. I will also be taking her veiled threats into account and adding a supplementary R41-C to my complaint. Despite the clear potential for quester termination, we need to follow proper protocol.

  I have reached out to the onsite HR representative about means to expedite your portion of the assessment or accommodations to help you.

  Is there something you need to tell me? I’ve had five different complaints filed, all regarding your business activities during work hours. Last I checked, you were not in the office, nor were you running a business during work hours. I'd appreciate some enlightenment on this subject. Thus far I’ve replied to every complaint explaining that you are in the field conducting an assessment.

  Dauven, Team Lead, Team Five

  Floor seven, Royal Assessment Department and Adventurer Welfare Council

  Keylynn was relieved that he would handle the employee decorum complaint. To determine which forms to use for a behavioural complaint, a series of predetermined statements are used to define and quantify the offending behaviour. Keylynn found the whole process so bothersome she rarely went through with it. It frustrated her to end when two actions with the same outcome are treated differently. It shouldn't matter if a spell was cast on an employee or if a spell happened to affect an employee. In the end the employee suffered the effects of the spell.

  She didn’t know how she was capable of running a business in person while she was out of the office in the field. The complaints must be related to Tiv and her coffee cart. Somehow someone discovered her investment in Tiv’s business.

  To: Dauven

  From: Keylynn

  Subject: Coffee Cart

  The files were loosely organized by date, so it has taken time to sort through them. She is the only employee on Holy Moly since the quest's inception. Turns out she’s a high-level druid and employee who should be running a quest by now. From what I’ve read, her island is the only one not curated and managed by Ody. She managed the island herself. Serce and the storymancer have a contemptuous relationship. I noticed a similar trend in Vlahd's paperwork. There is a constant stream of requests to simplify the quest. Instead of refusing the requests, she chose to comply, which resulted in her quest becoming what it is today: a walk through a jungle that ends with a brief transformation into a pig. Her quest used to be an ordeal starting with a long, treacherous trek through a dangerous jungle that led the party to her doorstep. To rescue the lost heroes, the adventurers had to make a deal with her. More often than not, these deals required a sacrifice.

  My team has decided they wish to go forward with the assessment of Siren’s Call and so forth. We expect the quest to begin soon enough. We don't know what to expect from Siren's Call, but we are doubtful that it will stray from the prior quests.

  As for the complaints regarding my 'business ventures,' as far as I am aware, I don't possess one. We both know I have been out of the office conducting this frustrating assessment. They could be stemming from the coffee cart I played a role in organizing prior to our departure. I thought it would be a benefit to the office, allowing our coworkers to return to their previous levels of coffee consumption. With the continued escalation of the break room dispute, I think it was the correct move.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Keylynn, titles, and nonsense.

  Worried that the complaints against her have trickled down to Tiv, she pulled out her comms device to message her. She must remember to get Tiv’s email when she gets the chance because she found it easier to manage her correspondence when they are all in one spot.

  Keylynn: Hello Tiv, it’s Keylynn. Apologies for my silence. Have you had any problems?

  Tiv: I know you’re working. The only problem I have is complaints about the long line in the morning and at lunch. Why do you ask?

  Keylynn: Hello Tiv, it’s Keylynn. I’ll have to explain later when I know more. But I’m glad you aren’t having any complaints. If you do receive any, let me know.

  Tiv: Will do. Good luck with your work.

  At least Tiv hasn't received complaints or worse. Keylynn would feel terrible if the orc received fines for setting up her cart near the entrance of the office. With that taken care of, she returned to her stack of paperwork. Serce was exceptionally thorough when it came to her files. Yes, everything was filed by approximate date, and that was irritating, but aside from that, everything was up to date, and every form was filled out perfectly in neat and legible handwriting. She even went so far as to print all of her correspondence with Ody.

  The next couple of days were filled with working on her leadership training, working through Serce’s files, and connecting to nature. Her slime moulds haven't grown in size, making her fear their loss. She knew her chitinous slime mould was resilient and would return should she lose it again, but she feared losing her brown slime mould. She added it to the sample jar holding a sample of slime Eugene. That way she can regrow them far easier.

  She was starting to think the quest was never going to start when she heard soft singing coming from her window. She looked outside, and the sea around them looked relatively calm. The ship was no longer moving.

  Her head started to mildly ache as she ascended the stairs and joined her team on deck. She rubbed her temples gently. Only spells that attempt to manipulate her mind or emotions can cause her head to ache. She shook her head and looked around her. She could see both Demetra and Ragna fighting with invisible creatures. In both of their ears were large wads of cotton. Tsunami and Inferno were both dangling half of the ship and struggling to remain onboard. Zukyov was nowhere to be seen, but she did hear a frustrated bear growl from below decks.

  She couldn’t see them, but she knew the sirens were here.

  A quick look told her that both Ragna and Demetra were more or less intact. The worst wounds they had were minor scrapes, and neither seemed to be under the siren's control. She can tend to their wounds later. Right now Inferno and Tsunami needed help. She ran over to them and saw that they were both holding onto a bulging fishing net. She couldn’t see what was inside, but she assumed it was filled with sirens.

  She tried to reach down and reach the net. “What kind of sirens are these?”

  “The ‘eat your face off’ kind,” Tsunami ground out between clenched teeth.

  “Scaly, people-shaped fish with razor fangs and claws. They screech too.” Inferno added.

  She reached for the nets to no avail. The rope at the top of the net was out of reach, and they weren’t going to be able to hold on to it long.

  “Think your mushrooms can reach down there?” Tsunami asked, giving her a hopeful look.

  “Digesting is a good solution,” she agreed and looked towards the net again. With her fungal colonies in the state they are in, she will have to get closer. “Please do not drop me into the sea,” she told them as she climbed over the edge of the ship.

  Hanging from the ship, she reached her feet out gingerly for the top of the net. Once she was sure she had a good footing and had a tendril of water ready to catch her, just in case, she dropped down. The tendril of water ensured she didn't fall into the sea but didn't stop her from falling into the net with the sirens. The moment she landed on the writhing mass of creatures, they began to slash their claws out and screech with the promise of a meal.

  She tried to climb the net, but invisible hands had wrapped their fingers around her ankles in an iron-clad grasp. She wasn’t strong enough to break free. The combination of her panicking heart and the constant pain from their claws and teeth made it impossible for her to think.

  Right when she accepted that her careless mistake had culminated in her timely demise, her corpse flower mushrooms began to swell. Their hyphae reached down her neck, arms, and chest and bloomed into a meaty mushroom stalk covering her. Her chitinous slime mould oozed over top of the corpse flower mushroom flesh, forming dense protective armour protecting her from the sirens. On her head a large corpse flower mushroom cap bloomed with delicate petal-like structures reaching out towards the sky, revealing the gills underneath. From the centre of the cap stood a stamen-like structure that released a strong enticing scent of rotting flesh. As she moved, spores rained down around her, covering and revealing shapes of sirens underneath her.

  “The Mushroom Boss is a mushroom!” Inferno cheered from overhead.

  Keylynn barely heard him over the sounds of screeching, ravenous merfolk. She sent as many hyphae as she could down towards the mass of writhing creatures. They began to digest and absorb all that they came into contact with.

  As she sank lower and lower in the net, the net was raised higher and higher above the sea until she was all that remained in the net, and she was being brought back onto the deck of the ship.

  “Mushroom Boss, are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m feeling well, thank you,” she answered as she stepped out of the net carefully. Both Tsunami and Inferno looked unharmed and kept their distance from her.

  She looked over across the deck and saw what she couldn’t see before: the sirens. There was sickly green blood smeared all over the deck, and there were several bodies sprawled all over. Both Ragna and Demetra were covered in a combination of green and red blood.

  “Is that all of them?” She asked, failing to see any remaining sirens.

  Ragna kept his distance, and he looked her over. “I think so.”

  Keylynn nodded and felt her chitinous slime mould and her corpse flower fungus slowly recede. Her fungal armour disappeared, leaving behind only a small collection of blooming corpse flower mushrooms. “Where is Zukyov?”

  “Below, in the holding cells. It was his idea; he was worried about having a rabid bear on the ship. He was the only one who kept cotton out of his ears. I’ll go get him.” Ragna explained with a nod.

  “Thank you, I am feeling better, not as I was. I don’t think that will happen until I leave the quest for an extended period of time. The various environmental spells that are in use are damaging to my fungal colonies, and I can maintain very few,” Keylynn explained to Demetra. She was proud of Demetra taking charge over the past few days. She took it upon herself to make a plan for how to deal with the sirens and lead the team. She did a wonderful job.

  “I—didn’t do it for you,”

  “I know. You’ve done a wonderful job. If you like, you can continue to lead your team until we reach Ithika,” Keylynn offered.

  Demetra’s face became sickly pale. “Please, no.” She shook her head.

  Keylynn chuckled. “Very well.”