Chương 47: Influencer Marketing

Grensmith and I were on hour five of an eight-hour surveillance shift.

"Has anything like this happened before?" I asked. He wobbled his head.

"This exact scenario, no. Monitoring crawlers who might do something stupid isn't novel. You probably remember the bike path murder a few years back, right?"

"Yeah. College kid was beaten to death."

"College kid had a crawler father. We followed him for two or three months to discourage him from getting payback. Any potential suspect was in danger, we believed."

"I didn't know that part of the story," I admitted.

"Most people don't. Broadcasting how concerned we get about high-level crawlers going rogue isn't great for keeping the peace. That was a pretty ugly case, but it's nothing compared to this. Twelve of their own burned alive, and most of them admin staff? I'm surprised something hasn't happened already, to be honest." We sat outside the sizable home of Lou Jackson, founding member of the Iron Crawlers.

A level 23 druid, his party split from the Allegheny Dungeon Delvers over a contract dispute and launched their own team instead. Unlike indie crawlers, this party already had levels and clout, so attracting investors didn't take long. The crawl team was more than this original party, of course, so they were all on surveillance. We couldn't overpower them–and wouldn't bother to try–but a government witness to a crime was an effective deterrent for successful crawlers with something to lose.

As if to be certain that I had no illusions of standing my ground against Lou Jackson, Grensmith spent the first thirty minutes of our shift making me watch footage of Jackson on crawls. His spirit animal was a coyote, a sort of familiar-summon hybrid, and he specialized in debuff magic. Where some druids became masters of manipulating roots and vines, Jackson could magically blow clouds of pollen and spores. If the enemy was a beast-type monster, he could apply a Charm effect to control their actions.

He could also use druid variations of spells like Sleep, Slow, Weaken, Poison, Confusion, and so on. While his spirit animal launched sneak attacks by shifting between planes of existence, Jackson poured on the debuffs to support the frontline.

"Has the CDM ever had to intervene against a crawler like Jackson?" I asked.

"Arizona, Nevada, and California. In that order. High-level resources within the government exist, but these situations aren't simple arrests. You end up negotiating with the offender to resolve things peacefully, not enforcing the law."

"Their presence holds everyone around them hostage," I said. Grensmith nodded.

"Yeah. That's a good way to put it."

"How about these lawsuits? Is that new?"

"We started enforcing harvester safety inside dungeon gates because of lawsuits. Then the big outfits sued back to try and reverse the new rules. Doomers and crawlers tag-teaming the agency? This is a first from what I know."

"Should we be worried?"

"Not worth the energy to worry," he replied.

"The CDM is absolutely essential, and the courts know that."

"Sorry for all the questions," I said.

"Thank you for answering, though."

"Not much else to do." As we limped into our last hour, I checked my phone. Megan had texted me:"We got a DM a few hours ago. Someone wants to give you a new bow."

"I don't get it."

"That's not a joke. They'll give you a new bow if we agree to mention the maker in a few videos. Nathan thinks we should get a VOIP number to stay anonymous when we talk to sponsors like this." VOIP meant "voice over IP," a phone number that could be used via a PC and didn't require a new phone plan. That was a good idea.

"Unless you're saying no to a free bow. I looked at their website. Their stuff looks nice."

"I am not saying no to a free bow."

"Good, because it would be cool if someone gave me free gear too."

"I can't actually talk to them, though."

"Why not?"

"We're Dungeon Divas, remember?"

"Crap."

"Beth can play me. She'd have fun with that, I think."

"I'm good with whatever. We'll need an address to accept mail, so Nathan's getting us a PO box in the morning."

"That's cool of him."

"Yeah, he's okay." Grensmith suddenly speaking startled me a bit.

"Given any thought to placement yet?" he asked.

"Getting to be close to that time, right? Month five is around the corner for you." By placement, he meant where in the CDM I went after I finished interning. My real answer was that I wanted to earn a place with the Unsung Heroes, but I couldn't say that.

"I'd like to stay in Pittsburgh for my family," I said, "but beyond that, what do you think would give me the best challenge?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Best?"

"So I can keep learning and improving."

"Sorry, but that's going to get you stuck in a corner."

"What do you mean?" He paused to think.

"Once you're on a track in the government, switching to something else just doesn't happen. So if you want to do fieldwork the rest of your life, aim to be that kind of enforcer. If you would rather sit at a desk, aim for one of the analyst roles. Department heads want hires who stay, and if you start squawking about wanting a transfer, then not only will your promotions stop, but you'll also never get transferred."

"Then I guess I'm not entirely sure," I admitted.

"I like enforcer work well enough. Not sure about where I go from there."

"You've got the eye for harvest inspections, and your reports are clean and precise. Like you've seen, that work isn't the most thrilling in the world, but it gets you out of the office, has a steady ladder of responsibility for you to climb, and it's meaningful. Nobody on site will admit it, but inspections save lives."

"What if I wanted to focus on doing culls?" Grensmith wrinkled his face.

"Most captains and guards aren't full-time cullers. There's just not enough work, and you've seen the kind of work they do get. Those 50 XP E gates will drive you mad when you're trying to hit the bigger level-ups. 51, 200 XP to get level 10 with nothing but Es and Ds? That's demoralizing after a while."

"That's fair," I said.

"So harvest inspections are the ticket for me then?"

"I think you'd do well, yeah. Like I said, once you're on a track, you're kind of stuck. Waiting too long to figure it out means someone else chooses for you. You don't want that."

"Thank you for the advice. Really. It means a lot." Megan, Beth, and I sat around my desk in my bedroom, waiting for a call from Steel Town Bows & Arrows. Their website described them as a "boutique bowyer for crawlers who want their gear to be as tough as they are." From what we could gather, the business was owned and operated by a lone bowyer.

According to his website bio, he came from a long line of gunsmiths, oddly enough, but in his late forties he decided to pursue his true passion and started making bows full time. The VOIP number rang on my laptop. Megan answered.

"Hello. This is the Dungeon Divas."

"Uhh yeah, hi," a slightly raspy voice replied.

"This is Frank from Steel Town Bows & Arrows."

"Nice to meet you, Frank. We're both here, by the way." Megan pointed to Beth. Beth said, "Hello. Appreciate you taking the time to talk with us."

"Guess that means you're keeping your real names a secret? Don't blame you. Makes doing business a little odd, but I wouldn't be in a rush to reveal myself if I were in your shoes."

"Thank you for understanding," Megan said.

"We checked out your work and were impressed. We've not done sponsorships before, so maybe we should start with what you have in mind?" Frank chuckled, blowing air in the phone mic when he did.

"I've not done this before either. My grandson is the computer whiz, not me. He sent me your video and said I should get my shop on your channel somehow. I should probably say I'm not made of money, but I'm willing to give this a try."

"We're flexible," Megan answered.

"I'm the brawler of the party, by the way."

"I'm the archer," Beth added. Megan continued, saying, "From what we've seen, basic sponsorship packages for videos like ours include things like product shoutouts, logo placement, links to sponsors in the description, and sometimes content specifically made for the brand. Is that what you were thinking?"

"Sounds about right. I don't know that I can afford all that, though. I've got the budget to give you a bow to use and not much else." Megan and Beth looked at me. I shrugged. A free bow sounded pretty damn good to me, but then again, I didn't know a thing about the business of being an influencer. I didn't even like calling myself that in my own mind, let alone out loud. Before Megan or Beth could speak again, Frank added, "Maybe there's something else I could throw in?

My grandson said I should negotiate for a yearlong commitment to make this worth it. That assumes you stick to doing two or three videos a month." I held up my finger.

"Give us just a second, Frank," Megan said and muted the mic.

"I'd gladly trade a year of product placement for a bow that can survive a dex build, but it sounds like he's expecting that to cost more than he has." Megan nodded that she agreed with me.

"Tell him we'd do it for a bow and an apprenticeship for a young friend of ours," I suggested. Megan grinned, and before Beth could argue, she unmuted the mic.

"Sorry about that, Frank. We've got a weird idea for you: Let's take money out of the discussion completely. Instead, you give us a bow and take on an apprentice. We've got someone we'd like to help out." Frank breathed into the phone again as he thought.

"I've never had an apprentice, and I don't know if I can take on that much extra work. Between time and materials, that could end up costing more than the sponsorship would have in the first place."

"It looks like you've tried to do a little bit with social media," Beth replied.

"Finding the time to do that on top of the actual work sounds like it would be tough."

"Yeah, that's true. That's another thing I know I'm supposed to be doing, but a whole week will go by before I remember I should have taken out my phone and gotten some pictures."

"What if the apprentice also managed your social media and helped out around the shop?" Beth asked.

"She's willing to earn her keep for an opportunity like this."

"Now that's an interesting idea."

"If you don't like working with her, we can figure out something else. We know hiring someone blind like this is a risk, and we don't want you to feel stuck." Seeing and hearing Beth jump on this chance made me smile. I wasn't certain how she would react before I proposed it, but she understood the potential and was willing to fight for it. Megan jumped in.

"That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, Frank. Makes it so we can grow together over the long term instead of this being a flash in the pan." Frank let a long silence pass before finally speaking again.

"Got to be willing to try something new to get new results, I guess. Alright. I'll have to meet this apprentice, but if you promise me they're hard workers and can do what they're told, I'll get the bow in the mail." Megan and Beth both had wide eyes and fought to restrain their excitement. As long as they were quiet, Frank wouldn't know that the two women (and one incognito dude) on the other end of the call were fist-pumping and dancing in their seats.

"Thank you for taking a chance on us," Megan said, sincerely.

"We're doing a hunt this weekend, so we can start right away on promoting Steel Town Bows if you want."

"Sounds good. Send me the details." When the call ended, Beth hugged Megan and then me.

"You guys didn't have to do that, but thank you so, so much."

"I'm glad it worked out," I replied.

"Me too," Megan agreed.

"I feel bad," Beth added.

"That call was supposed to help the two of you. Megan, we didn't get you anything." She shrugged.

"I'm not worried about it. There's not a lot a bowyer could offer me anyhow." Beth bit her lip as she thought.

"Can I try to find you a sponsor?" Megan cocked her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Let me pretend to be your manager, and I'll pitch sponsoring you. If we found one for an archer, it shouldn't be much harder to find something for a brawler, right?"

"That sounds like a lot of work."

"I don't mind," Beth said.

"I want to do it."

"I wouldn't say no to a decent weapon or armor sponsor." Beth smiled.

"I won't let you down."