《Caravan of Blades (A LITRPG Deckbuilder)》 One and Two
You have been granted the title Tinker King. Your tinker card has upgraded to Epic rarity.
Finley continued down the road. The messages from his soul deck were a distraction at best. It wasn''t that he cared that much. It was just that he hadn''t been on the road in so long. He wanted to savor the ride. Staying put felt odd to him. But this? The open road? This was familiar. This was home. It was a bit quieter than he thought it would be but it would probably pick up. He hadn''t seen hide nor hair of any travelers approaching the mountains, but he had left early in the morning and the closest village was a days travel away. He breathed in and then checked his active deck. He always kept two cards in. He had to. Those two had bonded to his spirit and his body for so long that to take them out would mean death. Other cards he swapped around as needed.
Epic Class Card: Tinker Level 3 Skills: Appraisal Level 3 Identify Level 3 Animal Handling Level 3 Storage Level 3 King Level 1 As the last remaining Tinker you have the ability to induct new people into the family. This is a soul card and cannot be removed.
Rare Class Card: Spore Druid Level 5 Skills: Wild shape Level 2 Plant and Fungal Control Level 5 Elemental Magic Level 1 Survival Level 4 Medicine Level 3 This card grants mana. As a spore druid you have enhanced control over plants and Fungi. This is a soul card and cannot be removed.
His Tinker card showed the classic design of a tinker covered wagon camping. With the upgrade to Tinker King a little crown had adorned the hut. He was confused by the message as he didn''t understand the prompt. The card displayed itself in front of him showed a three dimensional representation of the actual magical artifact inside of his body. Getting an epic card was a dream come true as those were quite few and far between. How his legendary Tinker card had upgraded was troubling but there wasn''t anything that he could do about it. For him to receive the Tinker King title meant that every other suitable tinker had to have died. That was a chilling amount of deaths if the last tinker summit was correct on the census of living tinkers. The title passed on between members of the family through some arcane method that had never been adequately explained to him. It wasn''t his original soul card, which made him even more concerned. He had traded several of his cards recently and realized that he only had a few left in his stock that were all common or uncommon skills or abilities. He had plenty of card pieces that he could use to make a new card if he wanted to spend the five minutes to make another but he didn''t feel the need. With forty two pieces he could make up to six or seven common or uncommon cards, or perhaps a rare if he spent some mana. His druid powers would defend him and he didn''t fear anything wild. The mares trotted on. Two hours after he departed, he decided that it would be time to stretch his legs. He also for the first time that day saw another person. A stout human with a beard and a top knot was walking down the cleared path. When they saw each other, he gave the normal wave. Having not spoken to anyone by choice for days, Finley relished the opportunity to talk to someone and perhaps take on a passenger for the price of their fare. "Whoa there, human you are far from Home and hearth stone. Are you headed to the Irumi Kingdom on foot? You''re three days by riding away." The man held up a hand, his expression uncertain. Finley reminded himself that humans were a generally fast talking bunch that lived on a timescale that elves didn''t understand. "Irumi? I''m sorry are you an elf?" The cleared dirt road between the pine trees was as good a space to stop as any. Finley bade his mares to slow down. "I am indeed good sir. Tree elf and Tinker by trade at your service. Should you need rations or a ride to the city, all can be bought for a price." "Ah you see. I don''t have any money on me." Finley immediately suspected a trap and looked around for a pack of hiding bandits. He called upon his natural affinity skills to search the trees and grass for intruders but found none. All this happened in a short time while he kept his eyes locked on the man. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "No money? How did you end up here, then?" "I''m not actually sure. I was doing a case report on my latest patient and all of a sudden a goddess yanked me into wherever here is and gave me this magical card and asked me to kill some zombies? Does that sound familiar?" "Ah. You have been summoned. When the world needs heroes, sometimes the gods summon a hero to do the job. Usually they summon one or two. I know several stories about those types of events. I don''t run a charity though, so I presume she gave you a class card of some kind?" The man wavered. His odd clothes with their bright blue colors looked both regal and like a high grade textile. "This is normal? I guess that makes sense. She gave me a choice and I picked the cleric of Yil class. Do you know anything about it?" "It''s got several skills on it?" "Yes?" Finley sighed audibly. "A tinker can''t turn down a hero. Get on. Next to me here," he said, patting the bench, "And tell me all about exactly what she said to you. If a god is going to show up with a hero on my doorstep this had been be a good story for me to tell the family. I''m Finley." "Anthony." --- "So back in Brooklyn where I was a midwife with my son, I delivered babies for mothers." "Human mothers?" "Yes. There were no other enlightened races there so...anyway we had a catchy name. Father and Son Midwives. You wouldn''t think of a man as a midwife but I am a nurturer. Had to go back to school to get my masters degree in midwifery, that was a trip but worth it. There''s just something about helping deliver life into the world. Plus babies are cute." "I imagine they are," Finley said. "Not a fan?" "Not particularly." The evergreen pines nearly ended up ahead when Finley saw someone in a woodsman''s outfit walking down the road. The man was shambling ahead of them, facing away. "He looks like the walking dead, I should try to heal him." Finley held up a hand. The two bay mares whinnied giving off a sense that they wanted to be anywhere but here. "Something is wrong. This might be a bandit attack. Stay vigilant." "Oh crap," Anthony said, "I never even got a weapon." "There''s a club. On your left. Anthony you''re brandishing the club all wrong. Two hands. Strong hand on top. I''m going to try to steer wide. Hold on." "To what?" Finley moved the reins pushing his horses to go right around the shambling man. On his left, the man began to turn. His skin looked off, but not far from what Finley considered the normal hues for humans. "Those eyes," Anthony hissed, "that''s not human." "If you have any offensive spells, this is the time to use them," Finley said, his voice cracking, "Yah!" He let his animal handling skill take the forefront as he spurred the beasts into motion. The trot became a fast gallop as the man lunged towards them. "Take this!" Anthony said, whipping the club at the mans head. The club and the man both went down, much to Finley''s consternation. That had been a nice club and he wasn''t likely to turn around for a lost item. He gripped the reins harder. The caravan passed it picking up speed as the horses drew themselves towards the center. "Head through the caravan-don''t touch anything-and see if you can get a shot at him," Finley yelled over the sound of the hooves. "Got it! Shit shit shit..." Anthony clambered back through the neatly stacked rows of general goods before opening the flap that lead to the back. "Finley! He''s running after us!" "What do you mean, he''s running after us? YAH!" "I mean- HE IS RUNNING AFTER US!" "SO USE A SPELL, HERO!" "I''M TRYING! Holy bolt!" The already bright day turned to a half shadow, half blindingly bright as Anthony''s spell rocked the path. Both bay mares whinnied, but continued on. Finley waited a tense five seconds before turning to look through the caravan. Anthony was standing there, blinking as he turned away from the light. It had died down by that point. Finley suspected that the after effects were going to last far longer than intended. That heroes started with a strong class card when the gods called them up was a boon that couldn''t be denied. Finley felt a twinge of jealousy, before a hand touched his shoulder. Anthony''s head dipped out as he too looked towards the crater they had left in their wake. "That was a little bit much don''t you think?" "Yeah ow I can''t see anything. Did I get him?" A puff of smoke from the blast obscured their view. "I can''t tell from here." "Well, I can''t see," Anthony said. Finley turned his head to look at the road. Whatever was behind him wouldn''t immediately kill them. What was in front of him, could. "There''s more of them!" Four more men shambled along the pines, limping like they had broken ankles. The tell tale sign of a drunken student or toddler, Finley found out at that moment, also applied to zombies. "I hope you have some mana left!" "What?" "Try to heal your eyes! There''s more of them!" Holy light seeped out of the caravan as Anthony cast something. Finley hoped that it was a heal spell, but he had known humans to be a bit stupid. Humans were the only enlightened race that were not born with a card in their core. As such they had to acquire or make their own. This made them a hungry enemy, but nothing near the rapidly approaching zombies. "This is insane. I''m going to die here," he whispered. "Oh, come on. It''s not all bad. Those four are out of our path on the road. They probably won''t get in..." The lead zombie lunged, stepping into a run. "Shit!" Anthony''s head ducked back into the caravan. "Oh no you don''t, you come back here with your healing spells!" The three behind it were still behind the treeline as the lead zombie went to intercept the horses. Finley wondered if his mares tasted good briefly before tugging on the reins to alter their course. Horse meat wouldn''t taste right no matter what he did to it. The road which had been clear cut to be wide enough for three horse drawn wagons at a time, wasn''t big enough for the two of them. Finley sighed and began casting a spell to entangle the zombie. Mushrooms grew rapidly in front of it to trip the monster. Then the fungi held onto it, not letting it move forward. It fell, still ahead of them. The horses ran straight over the body and a loud crack sounded. They passed by the other three, who had finally broken through the trees. Finley stole a glance behind him to see Anthony retching out of the back of the caravan. At least he had the decency to relieve his stomach pressure outside of his method of conveyance. If there was one thing that Finley detested, it was an unclean caravan. It made him itch. "Uh, Finley? Problem." "Yes?" "Do people usually rise up after their bodies have been crushed by a horse and cart in your world?" "Not really. Why?" "Also do you remember the first guy I hit with my magic?" "That guy I remember." Finley shuck a look back after making sure that the road was clear ahead. Four undead men were running after them. A fifth that was missing a third of his torso was behind them. "Shit." "Shit." "Hold the reins," Finley said, pulling the man out to take his place. Finley pulled on his mana reserves to grow a wall of vines behind the caravan. He focused on a spot that was moving and...there. A four foot tall plant wall popped up, growing with incredible speed. It wouldn''t last long. He just needed to slow them down so they could make their escape. The zombies slammed into the wall as it entangled them, pulling their bodies to the ground. It wouldn''t kill them, just incapacitate them for long enough that they would be out of range. Finley slumped in the back of the caravan. He hadn''t even had the time to give the stranger instructions on how to handle the horses, though the man seemed to be doing just fine. He counted to three and then made his way back to the front. If the human couldn''t see then he was probably driving blind and they were too far from the next town to have a breakdown. Anthony was still breathing heavily when he arrived. Finley almost reached for his animal handling skill to calm the man before realizing it wouldn''t do nearly as much as he wanted it to do. Or really anything, unless the man identified as a domesticated pack animal. That was a question that he hadn''t gotten around to asking in the half hour they had known each other. "I''ll take it from here, human," he said, slipping back into his comfortable seat. "Yeah. Please do." Three Finley flexed his storage power trying to push it to the limit. It was about all he could do to keep from thinking about how such a brazen monster attack could occur on well traveled lands inside of the dwarfish kingdom. The Irumian guard was well known for being fastidious about their work to a fault. On his way to the Yilish mountains, Finley had seen patrols nearly twice a day everyday. That all depended on how close they had been to the local towns. Many of the roads he traveled were next to a rail line. The Yilish line had been under construction for nearly two years with no end in sight. They would see it at the end of the day when they reached the first town at the pace they kept. Finley had been spending all of his energy into looking for more bandits, who though rare, were known to not harm a tinker. It was well known that tinkers weren''t violent so long as people obeyed their customs and courtesies. It had been one of the reasons that Finley had joined the family. You see, the tinkers accepted not just the enlightened races into their family, but any monsters that swore an oath of nonviolence against all tinkers. There was a second path that many tinkers took to be nonviolent against all, but that was a step too far for Finley. His upbringing made him uncomfortable around strangers and made it hard to trust anyone. That they had grown to trust him was a point of pride for the spore druid. "We''re about an hour''s ride from the next village. If you hadn''t been summoned exactly where I had been, you probably would have died out there. As is, I can probably hand you off to the local government there to aid you in your quest or you can pay for your passage further by helping me with those kinds of incidents," he said, "What do you say?" Anthony stared out into the distance. "You don''t have to talk now. Monsters here- I''ve heard that heroes sometimes come from lands where there are no such things. I couldn''t imagine it." Anthony continued his vacant stare. Finley activated his animal handling skill to check on his animals. They felt fresh still. Good enough to trot all the way till nightfall. They went on that way for a long time as the evergreen forests finally gave way to rolling hills. The breadbasket of the kingdom, field after field of grain provided food for the millions that lived in the kingdom. The first farmhouses started up, those still a long walk from the center of the next town. Normally, Finley would feel safer, but today he felt nothing upon passing the dividing line between all forest and mostly farmland. "I expected to find another traveler but today must be cursed. Found myself a hero and now, oh wait what is that?" Up ahead, a plume of smoke carried up from close enough to the road that it was concerning. Then as they approached Finley draw upon his natural affinity to try and see if the plants could tell him anything that his eyes could not. A wagon, loaded down with what looked like it had been a bale of hay was on its side. His natural affinity told him that aside from the surprising wagon, nothing was out of place. Except for the suspicious lack of farmhands in the fields. This put him even more on edge, as he looked for pack animals. The direction of travel had been the same as his and the cart. Any horses would have been on the far side, if they were still tied up. Then, he felt it. The wheat was all crushed under something the size of a horse. Seeing no one moving, Finley decided to risk it and rolled to a stop. It would be a good distance away. Now he just needed Anthony to watch his back. "Watch my back. I''m checking this out," he said,"There might be someone there." Anthony nodded, taking a few deep breaths. Finley slowly dismounted. He slowly approached the cart. If the rider had been thrown off he would be able to see it. He could see the legs of the horse, still and unmoving. It might had been the horse. Giant claw marks along the side of the horse indicated the reason that it had bled out on the side of the road. Finley searched for a rider. He came up on the side of the cart next to the horse. It was clearly dead, but hadn''t been for long. The cart was clearly just for hauling grain over short distances. There were no side compartments or secondary storage anywhere. The grey body of a dwarf, was stuck halfway under the horse. The eyes were vacant as dead arms reached out away from him. Even in his death, the stupid dwarf looked strong. When he got to within a short distance of the dead dwarf, it started moving. It''s arms reached out for him and were it not for being trapped underneath a horse he might have been in danger. He narrowly missed being grabbed as he stepped backwards. His ankle flared up, nearly rolling on an unexpected lump. That lump that just happened to be a severed leg. Finley jumped back in alarm as the dwarf swung it''s arms at him ineffectually. Then he realized that he could become the zombie dwarfs next meal. He ran back to the cart at a slow jog. It was time to see if the hero was able to earn his passage. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "Hey! Anthony! I''m going to need your help. Earn your keep. Can you help me kill this zombie I found?" Anthony nodded. "Just use a weaker version of your spell while it''s pinned down. Don''t hit the horse." "I can do that," he said weakly. Humans were not Finley''s forte or even his flavor of the week but even he thought that Anthony looked a bit pale. "Also, why should I do that?" "For the card fragments?" "Oh right. Uh what are those?" "I''ll explain in a minute. Just kill it, please. Aim for the head." "Uh, okay." Anthony walked around the horse, blanched and then cast his spell. A bright light where his holy light appeared flashed and then disappeared just as quick. A bright golden light flashed over the corpse of the zombie. A card floated above it in the air, a few card fragments dropping onto the ground. "Grab the card and those shiny fragments. I need to tend to this briefly," Finley said. Anthony nodded plucking the card out of air and then placing it in his hand. Finley would have to show to man how to put a card into his body later. Then Anthony grabbed the fragments off the corpse and slowly walked backwards. Finley attempted to commune with his patron diety, dropping to his knees. He closed his eyes, reaching out for the familiar warmth of his goatish self. Then he tapped into his natural affinity, pulling nutrients from the dense farmland around to grow a circle of yellow flowers around the horses body. "In his name-" Finley bleated. "I''m not even going to ask about that," Anthony said settling beside him, "and this is a card? Like the one I have in my soul?" "It''s how we harness magic here. May I see the fragments?" "Here," Anthony said, dumping the fragments unceremoniously into the waiting hands. The little pieces appeared like glass. The fragments gave off a bit of natural shine as he held them out. "Five fragments. That''s nearly enough for a card. And they''re all rare. This is quite curious. You may be truly blessed by the gods however cruel they must have been to send you here." "Fragments? As in I can make a card with these?" "I have another rare fragment somewhere in my caravan," Finley said feeling the space with his storage skill, "once we make camp for the night I can help you forge a card." "The card I have has helped so much, I cannot imagine the-hold on- what''s that?" Anthony pointed down the road back towards where they had come. One of the first farmhouses that they had passed stood out against the rolling fields of grains and grasses. Had it been the first? Finley couldn''t recall. Anthony wasn''t pointing to that, however. His gaze was locked on a group of about five stout humans who were walking with a now familiar gait. Finley shook the man by the shoulder. "Into the caravan, hero. I said, into the caravan hero!" Finley nearly had to pull the man onto the seat as he gave the horses the command to stop eating grains and to start to move. Every step that the horses took away from whatever was happening in the fields would be another step closer to safety. Every minute they stayed was another minute that they could end up as a zombies next meal. "What the hell is going on?" Anthony said once the horses finally agreed to move. "Whatever is happening, keeps happening. If I didn''t know better, I would say that we''re being tracked or followed." "I can''t believe that I left my son and wife back home and came here to this. I would throw up more, but I don''t have any food left," Anthony said, leaning back against the caravan. Finley concentrated on pushing the bay mares to a trot. All he wanted to see was brown movement. "I purchased some jerky today from the dwarves," Finley said, "hold on to the reins and I''ll grab you something to eat. I have water too." "Thanks," Anthony said, switching seats with him, "you''re quite kind for an elf who just had me kill an undead monster." "You''ve got to level your class skills otherwise you won''t make it far here fighting monsters." "Oh? How do I do that?" "You probably kill monsters. Look I have a merchant class and a druid class, I''m not a card expert." The sounds of the mares hooves trotting was a loud respite for their talk. "Who was it that you prayed to back there? For a moment it felt like I was a kid back in mass. Back before I was a midwife with a packed schedule. Back before the back pain and the hernia...hey are you listening?" A green tinged forearm held out a thin salted cut of meat, offering it to the human. "It will have to do," Finley said. Finley looked out that back. They hadn''t stopped running in their direction and the open road let him see far up the slow slope. They weren''t the only group behind the caravan. Another group of five followed along behind them. Finley needed a good trip over a bridge where they could all fall to a glorious death. Not him of course, as he valued his new life,and not Anthony, but definitely the growing mass behind them. He considered if making another wall with the grain around them would be beneficial. Their pursuers seemed to have a single minded interest in them and probably wouldn''t be deferred for long. What he didn''t know was what kind of card the man had received. "Hey, hero, what was the card you got from killing the zombie?" Anthony held the card up. Finley squinted. It did look familiar. He should probably have asked more questions, unfortunately they kept getting interrupted. The silvered design of the card displayed an axe. It was either a class card for a lumber jack or an axe skill. Either way he couldn''t see much worth in it. Unless it was a woodworking skill, then he could really use it. "Alright I would normally not attempt to form a card in a moving caravan, but do you consent to-" "Will it increase my chances of not dying on my first day here?" "Yes-" "Then do it." Finley grunted. He had expected that type of answer. When forging a card the situation one was in affected the card produced. All he could think of was that he would need some of his tools to complete the job. He grabbed his slate and then pulled out his bag of card fragments. Dozens of common and uncommon fragments in a uniform size filled a small bag. He''d been saving them for a rainy day or a day like today. First was the slate. He placed five of the rare fragments from the human together. Then he started the last fragment that he found at the bottom of his common and uncommon pieces. The slate was designed to house exactly six pieces. When forming a card he joined six pieces of the same rarity together: common, uncommon or rare. He''d never seen an epic or higher piece. Cards with a higher rarity like Epic level cards and higher could only be found by taking them from others, soul decks or by merging cards of lower level. Merging lower level cards in a set of five created a class card, so long as the abilities worked together. Upon placement of all six of the pieces, the slate began to glow and then the pieces turned into one card the size of his palm. There was a flash of light from the effect creating a new card. Four
Rare Skill Card: Refresh Skill: The user of this card can push someone far beyond their limit. People can run farther and longer. Animals feel rejuvenated. Effect lasts for four hours. There is a corresponding time period after where subjects of the ability will be at reduced endurance. Cool down: Thirty Minutes
"Now that is something," Anthony said, after getting the explanation of the skill. "Right?" "It should be helpful. My horses have been at it all morning, so they''re going to need a break eventually, but..." Behind them the small group of zombies hadn''t slowed down. If anything they had picked up more on the way. "We''re probably going to have to deal with that. If we ever want to rest that is," Finley said, patting the human on the shoulder. "You humans are good at killing things right?" Anthony shrugged. "I guess that is something we are good at. If the humans in this world are the same as the ones in mine." Without a basis for comparison, Finley didn''t know whether to agree or not. Either way, he was stuck out here with one of the humans while the dwarvish zombies behind them continued to mass. They were about twelve zombies behind them, and they were two span away. The bay mares had continued to increase the gap between them the longer they had gone on but neither group had stopped. Finley had estimated that it would be ten more span before they arrived at the next town. "Got any bright ideas?" "Are there any guns here? Not that I know how to shoot any but..." "I''m not carrying any. You''re talking about muskets right?" "Well that answers that question. Thank you. Do you have any arrows? A bow?" "I have a ceremonial spear from on top of the caravan, it''s only used to pick fruit from high branches though. We''re going to have to rely on Magic. Especially if you have a class that lets you cast a spell like that. Do you know how far your range is?" "How would I know that?" "In some skills its listed. And others you have to kind of play around with it. It sounds like this is the kind of skill you had to play around with. And good thing we have so many targets for you to do so with." "My dear caravan driver, what exactly are you suggesting?" Finley turned on his customer service voice and smiled before he decided to answer the human. "Have you ever speared fish in a barrel?" --- Ten minutes later, and all of Anthony''s youth playing at the arcade down the street finally paid off. Finley had slowed the caravan down enough to allow their pursuers to close the distance. He was giving the horses a chance to rest all at the same time giving Anthony some target practice. As a young lad, the games that had interested Anthony had involved using a plastic gun to shoot at fake zombies. With a careful application of his finger to be where his magic came from his holy bolt spell, he was doing much the same. He took shot after shot as they closed in trying to get a handle on how accurate he could be. As they got to within half a league, he was hitting at target every five shots. When the horses started noticing that the zombies were closing in, that was when he was hitting one every other shot. Then he made the unfortunate discovery that they kept getting up unless he hit them in the head. That was when he got tired. "Finley, it''s getting harder to hit them now," the human said. "You''re probably getting tired. If you overdo it with magic, you''re going to get a headache. I think the goddess gave you that card on purpose. If you need me to use it on you, I can. I have a side deck that I can stow it in. If you put it in your soul deck then you''ll be in withdrawal if you ever take it out, in fact, just give me that card so I can use it on you." Anthony debated for a second if he could trust the single elvenoid being that he had met since arriving in this strange forsaken world before taking it out of his pocket and giving it over. A glow covered Finley as he used an ability on Anthony. Suddenly, it felt like he had taken pre-workout and viagra. His neck itched and he felt erect. "These side effects are... Have you tried this card out before because-" Anthony trailed off as he focused on on the lead one. One of the zombies had broken from the pack and he fired off a holy bolt right at the mans head, finally bringing his second down. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Two of the ones behind it stumbled, much to his amusement. That short amount of time almost immediately went away as he realized that he had to head shot ten more to stop them. At least, his headache had gone away. "Finley! They''re dropping cards when they die!" "Shit." Some of the magic here had seemed odd, like having class powers tied to a card that had bonded to his soul, but he was rolling with the punches so far. He remembered what Yil had offered him. His soul card felt like so much of a part of him that it had always been there. It had a picture of a man holding up a hand against a horde of zombies and truly felt a lot better than he did about this whole situation. He checked it quickly to see if anything had changed.
Rare Class Card: Cleric Level 1 Skills: Divine Spellcasting Level 2 Divine Rituals Level 1 Heal Level 1 Survival Level 1 Medicine Level 1 This card grants mana. As a cleric you must have a patron deity. This is a soul card cannot be removed.
"Ah yes! I leveled up one of my skills!" To celebrate he hit a zombie in the knee, making it stumble and slow half of the horde. Then with the acuity and hardness he had gotten from the refresh skill, he hit two more in the head. Then he felt a little tug, a gentle pull towards the zombies. He jumped out the back of the caravan to go grab the gorgeous shiny cards. "Finley! I think the goddess wants us to gather up these cards!" "Shit. Well my deity is telling me nothing of the sort so, just let me know when you''re done with target practice so we can turn around," Finley said from the front. It took four more minutes but Anthony finally got the last of the zombies down and all of sudden they weren''t getting chased anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief. "We gotta go back for all those... Look it''s a short jog, do you mind it if I?" Finley looked around, then closed his eyes. "The trees and the grasses here tell me that we are relatively safe so, go. Be quick. I''m going to give the horses some rest." Anthony started running back down the road, the closest one was just fifty meters behind them. He kept jogging until he was able to scoop up the card and the card pieces that the zombies had dropped. The furthest downed zombie was almost half a mile away and he realized that he would have to carry the pieces in something and he hadn''t brought a backpack or a sack to carry anything. The first bloated corpse gave him an idea as its former owner had worn what he assumed passed for as a backpack. Anthony rolled the dwarf''s arms out of it and then tested its integrity. It held up well and he thought it could hold the pieces he would need. He looked up, checking around him, quickly ascertaining that the caravan hadn''t moved. If anything, Finley was doing some magic in the back that gave off a golden glow. Rather than leave the cards there and return, Anthony scooped it up and put it into the bag and then added the pieces. Then he jogged to the furthest one, making it in record time. The bad parts of the refresh skill had worn off by that time and he was able to jog normally. He grabbed the card without checking it, stuffing it in, then grabbing the pieces as well. Then he went down the line, gathering up twelve cards and enough pieces to make his pack feel heavy.
Finley finished pushing his mana into the six pieces, making another uncommon card. He put it on the pile. The horses were getting a bit restless. It was well into the afternoon, despite seeing the last couple of hills before the next tavern, a little voice in the back of his head was telling him that he should probably stay. That was when Anthony woke up from his nap. The ache from using mana to make two cards in one day felt a bit much. If the new reality they lived in was going to continue like this then he would need to do something to increase his mana pool. There were enough options now that both of them could choose something to augment their current decks. Finley had sorted them into piles and was prepared to give a little lecture on what the cards all were and meant when Anthony woke up. Of course the first thing the human did was to go relieve himself on the side of the road. Then he scanned the horizon. Then and only then did he sit down next to the elf. "No immediate threat?" "No. I wanted to talk to you about adding some of these to your deck. Especially if you''re going to try to pull a move like that again. That was reckless. And since we''re close to town, I wanted to give you the best shot I could. I don''t know what''s ahead of us but I don''t- I don''t have a good feeling about this." "I don''t have a good feeling about anything. This whole experience has made me rethink a lot of how I just don''t want to kill things. So I would greatly appreciate it if we could fix that little issue." "Well," Finley''s customer service voice said, " you came to the right Tinker. Because I have a vested interest in fixing this issue. I would like to level my merchant class skill. And if I don''t have the customers, that''s going to prove to be difficult." "That''s rather pragmatic." "I got a message that I had been elevated to Tinker King because I was last remaining Tinker. At the very least, I would like to to continue the traditions of the Tinker family and pass on our customs and courtesies to the next generation no matter what. They are yet to be found." "Tinker King?" "It''s the title for the head of the tinkers. He who sets down the law and administer the justice. Tinkers roam the continent Noverra; or they did. I have never known a card power to lie." He knew people that lied about their powers , but never powers that lied. "Alright. So you''re like merchant royalty, then?" "Yes. I guess I can now add people to the family? It''s something that a caravan chief can do. I was never a caravan chief." Anthony got up, standing on the back of the caravan. There was a space where he could step up to get more height. He looked around. "Sun''s going down. Or getting lower. I presume that means we only have a few hours to get someplace safe?" "If the town is safe. Honestly it might be safer to just hole up here. If I had an earth moving power, I would feel a lot safer. As none of the cards we got have an earth skill, I don''t know." "Do we have anything useful at least?" "Of the twelve you got, none are class cards, but three skill cards- tracking, survival, and hunting all could be combined with two other skill cards to make the ranger class card. That would be useful if we got a good bow. I might be able to get one at the next town." "On to the town? As your duly appointed security detail, at least we''ll be able to hole up if there are any walls." "If." Anthony brought up a shaking forearm. "I wasn''t ready for that. If there''s more zombies in the next town, I don''t know what the goddess is doing to us. This situation is so fucked." "Ah... Speaking of which." The elvenoid held up two arms and a row of yellow flowers popped up around each of the zombies behind them. "It''s the least I can do." "That''s out of control. That far out. That''s like what half a span?" "It''s not a combat spell unfortunately. More like a death ritual. Which reminds me-" Finley bleated twice, "Gotta let the goat lord know he is going to have visitors." Five Of all the things that Finley had in stock, space was not one of them. He was taking on as much as he could from the dwarves. There was one free corridor down the center of the caravan that allowed him to walk from the front to the back. He generally kept that area pristine. It was just enough room for him to lay down a bed roll at night. At least for him, that was his little slice of heaven. And so long as his bay mares had a nice cover over them, he was happy. He hadn''t bought the little horse port that other tinkerers had raved about. At that exact moment he was regretting that decision. "I can make a tripwire with local Flora. It will give us a head start if some zombies decide to attack at night." "Will that be enough?" "I honestly don''t know. You said that you saw the goddess, right? Did she say anything special about how you were supposed to proceed?" Anthony''s blank stare told him all he needed to know. "I honestly don''t recall. The last few hours have been traumatic. Can we talk about something else? If I remember something I''ll tell you." "So do you want to take a vote? About what to do next? I assume you want to stay with me. I''m still heading to the kingdom. If anyone is alive and holding the line, that''s where they will be." Anthony sat in a reclined position against the caravan, propping himself against the wheel. The sky was a gorgeous blue and the fields were so pastoral that he couldn''t help but wish he had time for a nap. "What are the options? Hole up in the middle of nowhere, or head down to the nearest village? Are we going to sleep in shifts?" "I don''t need as much sleep as a human so I can do most of the watch. The darkness though, I''m not sure I can ease the horses in the full dark that it will be. We can make out way back to one of those farmhouses, and clear it out. If the zombies can''t see us, then we should be safe... If there are any more of them."
The chosen ranger snuck past the patrols outside Dunnamore. The walls were fortified and there were bonfires raging inside. He was uncertain of how the undead had arranged patrols and kept fires going, but it was just his luck to be stuck with such an assignment. He popped his head out over a gaping crack in the wall to see a group of them sitting around the fire. Next to them he saw about a dozen men and women, tied up to posts. Beyond that was a cluster of three buildings. One of them must hold the controller of the undead around the area, and if he took that one down then the rest would be more mindless, easier to kill and perhaps help him to get the second class that his deity promised him. Only one guard on top of the wall actually did his job with the patience only the dead possess. He''ll be the first one, then. Tucking his crossbow into a sling, he pushed it up his back, thanking whomever that dead shop owner was that had left his door open when he became undead. Mork bless his house and send him to a better place. Hand by hand, he climbed, getting to where he can take a shot. He lined up a shot on his favored enemy and then loosed the bolt from his light crossbow. Twelve bolts left. The undead knight fell, silently slipping forward over the wall. The flash of the card in his soul was nothing against the bonfire behind the wall. The ranger gathered the card and the pieces he dropped. Another bow ability. Excellent. He didn''t have time to read the card right now but it was going to be the next thing he did in downtime. A sound from some of the horses kept inside the walls, alerted him of their direction . If he had known that they were keeping horses, then he might have brought one. It would be how he left, either way. A quick glance told him there were about twenty horses. He sees a chance to cause some mischief and pulled out a vial of grease. *These horses will provide a good distraction.* He spread some of the grease evenly across the rope connecting to the stables. He made a quick snare trap that wouldn''t last long. It only had to work once, and then badly. Using his woodsman skill he primed a torch attached to the snare. Then he adds the one thing he hadn''t thought he would get some use out of-candle wire. Having not found any dynamite, he would have to content himself with homemade explosives. Then he looked down, discerning which of the three targets to go for. The three tents looked similar in size of shape and any one of them could hold a death knight. If he was able to think like them he might hazard a guess, but with all that he knew, any one of them was good enough. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. It was the old Monty Hall problem that his granddad had explained quickly to him as a youth. Now if only he could remove one of the options. He had to think that Mork had chose him because he knew about the Monty Hall problem, as the rest of his life dealt little with the things that the god of death and mathematics cared for. It stung. He picked one at random after deciding which would be the hardest to sneak up on. There was no reason to hide. He would sneak in, decapitate the head of the undead here and then make off with one or more of their horses. Probably. The middle tent looked to be the hardest to reach, but would top brass want a longer walk to the exit? Either way, he found his way to the interior of the wall''s edge. He leaned into his ranger stealth skill, which had already reached fifth level. It helped him to find a pathway in the dark, avoiding the bright light of the two bonfires. He briefly wondered what they were burning before he saw a bony protrusion and his curiosity went away. If he''d had a team for backup he probably wouldn''t be so nervous. But then again, if he had a team he probably wouldn''t be on a suicide mission from Mork to complete this damn quest. If Mork would have given him more details than he would be rewarded once he killed the death knight, then he would be happier, but then again? He was at the rear of the tent, where the shadows were the darkest. The courtyard of Dunnamore had a lot of nooks and crannies around it''s single story shops. *Ranger class skill Stealth has advanced to level six.* It was jarring that he got confirmation that he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. He paused before gently opening the flap with a bolt. If he had more bolts, then he could slowly whittle them down. But he needed a good blade and the death knight would have one of those in top of whatever card was in it''s soul. Mork hated the corruption of the zombie rot that turned humanoids and elvenoids into mindless beasts. If he could get an unlimited ammunition skill, he would be laying waste to the zombies with hit and run tactics. But he wasn''t there yet. The flap opened to a half naked knight. "Who are you and why are you here?" The gravelly voice said. "Paulie, here with a special delivery, bada bing, bada-" *Thwip!* He looked a bolt into the knights face, blowing the head clean off at that range. "-boom." On the side of the officers tent, a large sword in a special stand leaked dark power. Paulie hesitated for a second before grabbing it and then thrusting it through the death knights chest. The glow of a card popped up.
Epic Skill Card: Pathfinder Level 1 Find a friend or foe within five miles unerringly. As this card advances, the range advances.
He looked at it briefly before putting it directly into his soul. This would complement his existing skills immensely and Mork had intended for him to take this card. He had just met the deity, but he hadn''t been steered wrong yet. It was about this time that the rope he had greased up finally lit on fire. As he ventured out behind the tent for any guards, one of the other tents caught fire. Every single undead head in the place had turned to look directly at him. *At least they weren''t looking at the poor prisoners.*
"The next town over-" "Dunnamore. It''s a dwarvish holding. Very rural. It supports the Irumian kingdom by providing them with all their food needs. Even farms this far out." "Dunnamore. Ah. And you say that there''s a walled courtyard we could use if we need to hole ourselves in there?" "This is where the earth skills would come in handy." "Interesting," Anthony said, "Like shaping the earth to form a part of the wall?" "To patch it up, yes. I could do so with plants, but that would be difficult. And I wouldn''t want to spend all that effort for them to just gnaw through the vines anyway." "Ah. I see." "Well if we wait for dark, at least we''ll have some advantage. I''m sure that they''re more dormant at night," Finley said, gulping. "Are you sure about that?" Darkness approached and then they could see two bonfires poking over a large wall. "I''m certain that those were made on purpose. There has to be humans there. They''re probably using them to incinerate the undead." "That makes sense," Anthony said. "Is this a common thing?" "I have never heard of it happening in my lifetime." They continue on in silence then for a bit. "We can still turn around you know. This close to the town, there are more roads than just the one that leads in. We can just go around it." Finley''s sense of the place did not extend inside of the city. He had expected some plant life to give him an idea of what was going on but he could barely see the town with his eyes from a span away. The sun dipped below one of the western mountains and the bonfires became even more pronounced. "Hey, hero-Is that light getting brighter?" "That... Can''t be possible. Two bonfires and it''s getting brighter?" Finley reached to the horses, reading them to move. "There''s a road that goes around the town in a circle. We''ll take that one," the elvenoid said, getting up. "It''s going to be a hot night." --- As soon as he activated the Pathfinder ability, he could feel it. Mork was pushing him to follow, in a very specific way. It wasn''t just taking him to the right horse, it was pushing him away from the now mindless horde. Next time, he would plan more ahead. Mork had promised him that there were more people that would fight against the undead. He needed to lead them away from the twelve that had thankfully been put into cages, even as some of the mindless undead scraped at the bar. The horses would need to go first. His pathfinder skill was telling him to pick one of the closest steeds, a white horse. Had he been a ranger for any longer, he might know the first thing about horses. His animal handling skill assured him that he would at the very least not fall off his horse. He ran along the side of the wall as the zombies charged him. With no one directing their actions, they were far less effective. The half door to the stable was easily dealt with. Then all the doorways were quickly opened. He ran up to the white steed, pulling on his animal handling skill. If nothing else he was going to ride out of here like a hero with a sword and a horse. After making sure every horse was free to go, he pushed open the barn doors. The undead behind him hammered the entrance. They can''t get all of us, can they? He could hear a familiar laugh as the barn doors opened and the horses made their way out. For a moment the chosen ranger felt like they were doing what he wanted, as they attempted to trample the first line of zombies. "Quit horsing around guys," he said, spurring his steed onward, "I have someone to meet." Six He could feel Morks hand, empowering his skill in animal handling. These odd card Powers combined with the holy card he had been given had worked in so many strange ways. The caravans front axle had turned enough that they could see the area clearly. "Is that a man riding a horse in our direction, followed by a herd of horses and-" Finley squinted. "a horde of zombies?" "As I have never seen such a thing and I don''t think that zombies ride horses, or that horse zombies exist in this world, I''ll accept your assessment. Now, what are we going to do about it?" Finley pushed the bay mares to turn onto the beltway around Dunnamore. Without any rivers, it was simple to ride around the bluff that the city occupied. "We ride. Can you get some of those zombies from here with your holy bolt skill?" "We can-whoever that is-is coming towards us. If he changes course then..." "If he can ride a horse then he is among the living. If zombies are chasing him out of Dunnamore, then it''s overrun." Finley left his thoughts about how the town had to have been before they had arrived. He had to live in the here and now if he was going to survive, and the cloaked rider was approaching. their direction has changed. As they moved towards the beltway, the rider changed to an intercept direction, looking to cut them off or join them ahead. That at least made him intelligent. "Finley! He is waving! Maybe he''s not undead!" "Well, save him for last, then. Do what you can with the horde behind him." The horses had clearly changed direction as well as the horde behind them, who moved as a noticably slower pace. "Do they have any weapons?" Finley said, eyes glued to the dirt. "That seems super relevant right now." "What? Who? The horses? The zombies?" "The lone rider." "He is slinging a crossbow and-" Thwap "-is close enough to hear the action of the bow string being snapped." --- The chosen ranger closed in on the caravan. One elf and one human sat in front of it. He could see the elf, spurring their horses on. Three horses had paid the ultimate sacrifice to get him out there. It was a very light push to his skill that had allowed him to pull off that maneuver. It had driven the horses to become shields against the zombies and he would find a way to honor their sacrifice later. Using the horses to push off the zombies and trample them, he was able to ride to the north of Dunnamore. That was when he realized it had finally become Twilight, and that he wasn''t alone. The bonfires lit up the area for nearly half a mile away, much of it a flat grassland. His pathfinding skill was paying hard dividends as it showed a beeline towards the approaching caravan. He could feel the caravan move and he felt a strong prediction for which direction it was going and how far it could go. Shortly after he emerged from the interior, the caravan changed direction, he followed suit. He pushed his horse to catch up. Instead of coming straight at him, they had turned, away from the last remnants of light from the sun. They waved at him, he waved back. He wasn''t sure exactly what they knew but when one of them started firing light bolts into the Horde, he knew he had made the right decision. He finally pulled up his horse alongside them. He kept pace with caravan blowing slightly. With two mares pulling, they kept good speed but he did not know for how long. Once again, he wished that he had leveled some of his ranger skills, rather than having to lean on a temporary boost. "Are you boys looking for some help? Because I definitely could use some right about now. I''ll even make it worth your while." "What do you need, Stranger?" A man with a bronx accent said. "Just a bit of help. I think the thing they need to understand is that I''m working here. I have things to do and these guys are just raining on my parade." "Well we''re trying to avoid being eaten by that horde over there. So long as you''re not on their side, what do you need?" "I''m planning on leading the horde around the city a few times in order to give me a chance to whittle them down. Without a death knight to control their movements, they are all mindless. They''ll seek out the closest form of sustenance in front of them. Or at least the closest one available to them. That would be you guys, me and all of our horses." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He hadn''t failed to notice that the wild horses were now congregating around the caravan in a pack. All the horses and he hadn''t known what to do with them. The horses, it seemed, had the right idea already. The ran behind the path that the caravan was taking, with a single minded focus. The beltway around the city had been built to carry large loads of rock around. Able to afford a wide berth to dozens of travelers at a time, it was wide. The ranger found that the caravan was now pushing to keep up with the horse he was riding bareback. "I see you have a crossbow," the man with the Bronx accent said, "are you any good with it?" The ranger smiled. "I only have so many bolts, but I have not missed a shot all day." He left out the part where he''d only shot once. "Impressive. My friend here is whispering that he has more bolts for you. Would you like to be part of a friendly wager?" "Why my good sir, what are your terms?" "Let''s see who can take down more of the horde." "You''re on." --- Anthony scrambled into the back of the caravan. The quiver of crossbow bolts was exactly where Finley had told him it would be. He wondered if he would be able to toss it to the cloaked man. Finley reached a hand to hold it. With one hand on the reins and the other on the quiver, he directed Anthony to resume his post at the back of the caravan. That was when he really understood how many horses were following them. If he had time he would have counted them but he didn''t. Behind the horses, the zombies ran. "Finley, I need a shot. Make the horses do something so they''re not in the way." A loud grunt from the front later, and the horses split like someone had dropped a bomb in the center of the herd. And now Anthony had a clear shot. If you''ve never seen the parting of a horse herd, you''re probably not missing out on much. As far as animal movements go, it''s not very noteworthy. But when they do it as one as if controlled by hive mind, that feeling in the back of your brain that something is slightly wrong goes on Red Alert. So the itchy feeling that Anthony had when he sat down was entirely normal. He just had no idea that it was supposed to be normal. He took aim at the first zombie with his finger, close his left eye and shot.
If there was any question in the ranger''s mind if there was another death knight in the area, it was put to ease when the zombies did not react to being shot in the face. Oh sure, the ones that got shot fell down. They were gone. There was no return policy in the world that was going to account for this kind of normal everyday wear. No shopkeeper would accept a facsimile of a dwarf, except maybe an Undertaker, and return any amount of money. Zombies gave you store credit. The chosen ranger had decided that he was going to get as much zombie cash as he could. And to do so, he would need to use all the bolts that his new friends had just given him. There had to be at least thirty zombies in a horde behind them. Feeling the quiver he had at least that many bolts. It was too bad that he didn''t have a mounted archery skill to work on. That would have come in clutch just about now. Then he saw one of the humanoids go to the back of the caravan and begin to shoot pulley bolts out of a finger gun. "Is he slaying zombies with the power of finger guns? Mork, why didn''t you give me that power? Don''t answer that." He could hear chuckling from the ether. At least his God had a sense of humor. He strung the first bolt. Time to work on his archery skill. He pulled away from the caravan trying to get the zombies. If nothing else, split their attention. The bonfire on the other side of, gave him a proper sight picture. He could see the faint glow then marked a card appearing from a corpse. It was enough to give him a clear picture of a zombie he was tracking and he make his first shot. The glow made him smile as he nudged the horse back in the direction of the caravan. This horse was used to mounted combat, or at least archery. Three corpses dotted the ground. Did he have enough time to swoop in and grab their cards? Surely not their card pieces. If they were going to lead the zombies around the town, he would have a chance to reclaim those cards. That was a big if. He wouldn''t have the glow to mark their location. His horse picked up speed as it trotted towards the herd. The mage in the back of the caravan kept firing, hitting something every third or fourth attack. He was going to have to pick up the pace if he wanted bragging rights. --- Finley kept to the well lit path. The moon rose over them with its green glow, the red of the bon mixing with it. The rider that had appeared with a herd of horses seemed impressive enough initially. Then he saw how the man had to load each crossbow shot and it looked like he was getting more and more tired. He was also missing two out of three shots. By that time they had circled the city once. Finley kept checking in on him as he scored it after hit, but he too was getting tired. He was missing more and more and there were still more zombies. About a dozen or so still chased them, their movements slower in the dark. If only Finley could give him another hit of that refresh, he might be able to pull it together. Or if he had any skills in riding horses, he might do so. He didn''t want to leave the safety of the caravan come hell or high water. It was the only thing between him and certain death in the dark. And he aimed to keep it that way. The rider came within talking distance. "I might be able to start grabbing some of the cards. I can go ahead and grab some." "There''s still too many of them. I can hit them for sure but they have to be close now. And without the fire we would be shit out of luck," Anthony said. "Why don''t you go to the front and ask the elf if he has any bright ideas?" "Will do." Then the Rider was gone once again. --- Swinging around the front of the caravan, Finley and the rider got close enough to talk. "There''s only about a dozen of them left. I''m out of crossbow bolts but if we go around Dunnamore once again we should get all of them. Then we can harvest their cards. Oh and the guy in the back asked if you had any bright ideas." "I have a few ideas. Once I don''t have to hold her to the horses so tightly, I can make a mage light to help us see." "I''m less worried about finding these things. I have a skill that points me in the direction of things that I''m trying to find. Mork actually helped me find that card as part of a quest." "First Yil, now Mork? I suppose you''ve just been summoned here recently then. Hmmm." Behind them, the other man booted and yelled. "Eight more!" "Also, seriously I am out of crossbow bolts. I don''t have any other ranged skills so I don''t know what I can do to help you out here." "Can you be the bait?" "I''m not sure if they''ll follow me instead of you and the horses. They''re just looking for something warm that they can gnaw on. Let''s try to avoid that being you." Seven In his role as the bait, the chosen ranger did not feel like he was being utilized to his full capacity. It was like he was an espresso machine with all these fine knobs that had only been used once. It was hit or miss if he got the zombies to follow him or not. He would look out to see the mage light, judge the distance and then try to pull them in. He wanted to give what had to be a cleric the best shot he could. This meant he had to pull them away from the direction travel more than once. While the caravan continued on, he steered in a line then zigged and zagged back and forth. Their numbers dwindled, until only one was left. He wasn''t mad that he had lost a wager about the amount of kills. He was mad that he would have to go back and pick up all of his bolts if he wanted to shoot again. It''s just that they had proven so useful in the past couple hours and he was very reluctant part with them. That was when he remembered that there still might be humanoids stuck in cages. If the zombies didn''t get to them. --- The herd in the caravan were moving in a very slow trot. The two bay mares that had been constant companions to Finley looked like they were about to quit. Finley himself wanted to quit. When Anthony killed the last of the zombies, he didn''t have enough energy for a cheer. He allowed the horses to slow down. Pretty soon they were going to have to rest. Or they would all be the walking dead. He released his hold on the herd of horses. Though they were free, they didn''t begin to run. He looked for two fresh horses to swap in for his bay mares. If they were going to move again tonight, he wanted to be ready Tinkers always took care of their horses. When one spent their time moving from place to place, they could easily be sold a bad horse. Thus, they had to learn how animal husbandry from an early age. Elder tinkers took pride in the care of the animals, passing on their knowledge to the youths in their caravans. He cast another mage light, letting it float up. He tied it off to the center of the caravan so it would show everything around. "Anthony, do you want to come up here?" "On my way, boss. If I could get another one of those..." Anthony scrambled to the front. "You''re good." Finley did not want to spend any more mana casting refresh. He had heard horror stories about people being addicted to card effects. They had, he judged, more important things to do right now. "We''ll do one more loop with my mage light on. I need you to gather up the cards. Either that or or you can handle the reins while I do that. Your choice. Then I want to teach you that-" He pointed his hand up to show the mage light spell. "It''s something that you should be able to cast." "That would be very convenient. Are you sure that I can''t have one more for old times sake?" "No." He was too tired. Not to mention it would take all of his mana to use the spell. They needed actual rest at this point in time. Finley was going to need some sleep even it wasn''t that much. Anthony was going to crash very soon. They needed to find a way to get some rest. --- The two humanoids that had been working with him slowed. One dropped down to pick up cards, but stayed very close. He would walk ahead, staying within the brightest part of the mage light. The chosen ranger did the same. That spell was hopefully something that he could learn. The herd loosened, moving around the caravan, towards green fields north of the town. He considered letting his horse loose, but they had already been through so much and it still felt restless. His animal handling skill had leveled up. It had felt useless before, but now it was doing a lot of heavy lifting for him. He patted the horse''s mane. Did it have a name before him? It didn''t matter. "I think you need a new name after that baptism in fire. What do you think?" It neighed, leading him towards the caravan. The elf with the pointed ears looked back to him. "Human, thank you for your help," he intoned, brushing a hand against the horse''s side, "This one too is grateful for your help. It saw some of its siblings die due to a knight? That can''t be right. I am Finley, Tinker and traveling trader elf." "My name is Bob," he said, pulling back his hood to reveal a half bald head, "It''s a pleasure to meet you. I''m a bit new to the area and would appreciate a map or some direction." "Maps I have, but I don''t know that I''ll be accepting any gold pieces at this time. The times are a bit too uncertain. I would trade for some uncommon card pieces." "Is that what these are? They seemed valuable," Bob patted a pack on the side of his belt. They jingled briefly, the metallic card sound a familiar one. Mork had told him to keep them. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "They''re less useful without the tools to make a card, unless you picked up a card making skill." Something told Bob to trust the elf. Perhaps it was the blood on the ground that they had shed together. Or it could be his smile or some charisma skill. "I have not. Is that a thing?" "It''s a thing." "If you had a card like that, would you trade for it?" The elf couldn''t hide his grimace. "Oh, they''re valuable then, I see." "Usually it''s reserved for trained craftsman. But you can kinda see what''s going on right now. Luckily for you I have just the thing to turn those card pieces into cards, if we have some time. You could do it without a frame, but it would be a lot easier with one." The horses in front of the cart both bent down to eat grass. Bob, the chosen ranger of Mork, dismounted. "Shit." "What?" "I forgot about the people in cages in this rush." The elf sucked in a breath. "People in cages. Where?" --- Twelve people sat in a wrought iron cage. Their only saving grace from the two zombies that remained were two inches of iron. That was enough to keep the zombies out. They struggled against it. The same undead who had been their jailers before suddenly turned mindless. The pounding became increasingly incessant as their maws drooled more and more. Sonya huddled in the back with the rest of them. Ever since being summoned to this world two days prior she had been in a living hell. She cursed the trickster god which had given her the cursed card she got her powers from. How was she supposed to know that picking the warlock class would make her useless against them. But that stranger had cut off the head of the snake and now, she had rested enough to try another eldritch blast. The damn contract card made it so she didn''t have a choice to try to survive here. It had taken everything she had to just wriggle out of the magic sapping cuffs. It helped that her hyperhydrosis had made it to this new world. Another curse. She had just gotten the cuffs off when the two zombies changed their behavior. She wasn''t looking at them when the scraping stopped. "Holy bolt!" Then a flood light lit up the entire cage and the rest of the humans and dwarves that had been thrown in with her. And for a brief moment, hope welled up inside of her. She might get out of this place intact. She quashed that feeling. There had been too much hope and she needed that part to die. Cara, god of drug deals and overland transportation, was probably smiling at her indecision. There was a chance that the archer had returned, whether to kill them or not, she didn''t know. She was prepared to die again. She didn''t want to, but the thought not longer bothered her. "Hey! Dwarves of Dunnamore are you okay in there? Oh a human!" The cloak hid the man''s face, but the voice was distinctly an accent she knew, but just couldn''t place. "Not just dwarves," she said weakly, her lips cracking with the exertion to talk. How she thought that she would be able to pull off some more magic was beyond her. She settled back down as the man fiddled with the lock. "The guard over there has the key. The one you just decapitated," a dwarf next to her said, "Free us and we shall thank you, stranger." The dwarf put a hand on her shoulder, she could feel that he needed a push to get up. She might have been tossed into the large cage, but she was sure as Cara going to walk out. The dwarf probably felt the same. The man had the keys out and they could hear him fiddling with the lock. "Hey can you shine that light a little closer? The locks are not on the side that the bonfire would help." The cloaked figure dropped his hood to show off a sweaty half bald pate. Behind him a second figure appeared. This one, a tall green tinted elvenoid was clearly casting the magic light. Sonya was jealous. That would have been a nice talent. The bonfire''s heat and light had been the only thing keeping her from shivering in the cool breeze wherever they were. "There it is. You''re all welcome to come out now. We have a healer outside that can help you. He is on guard duty right now or we would all be there," the elf said. "Does anyone need immediate healing? If not, is anyone here from Dunnamore?" "We''re thirsty and hungry," Sonya said, "if anything. I''m not from here." "Ah. Another human. And so far into Irumian territory as well," the elf said, glancing at the balding man in the cloak. "Bob can you lead them out? Can everyone walk?" Sonya stood up and held the dwarf''s hand. She stepped through, then pulled him through. "I thought we would die in there," she said. "Aye lass, that''s what we all thought." They followed Bob out. Sonya idly wondered how many heroes were named Bob. Every step away from the cage felt like a step towards freedom. That combined with the feeling of her magic returning to her made her feel nigh invincible. Arriving behind a caravan, and seeing that she had made it, she promptly passed out as her legs gave out on her. --- "She''s just exhausted," Anthony said, "She needs rest. Now we have enough horses for everyone, if they were all able to ride, but we can only fit what, four people on the back? And even then they''re packed in." It was hours later after all of the former prisoners had collapsed in the relative safety of the caravan. Six slept underneath the caravan, three were in it and the final three just couldn''t sleep and had joined the sleepy council. They sat around a small bonfire. This one was outside of the town. One of the former prisoners had an earth power which led them shape a sitting structure around the circle. Combined with the druid''s powers, they were able to stoke a good flame. "Bob you went through and ransacked the interior? Besides the houses outside of the inner courtyard, do you think that we might find anything in any of the houses? I can''t believe that none of these people are from here. I''ve heard of one or two heroes summoned from beyond, but fourteen in two days? What the hell happened, exactly?" "Mork summoned me. He gave me a class card. Told me that I was his chosen ranger. This is of course after I selected ranger from the options he gave me. He said that I was needed." "Mork? As in the god of death? The one who hates necromancy with a passion?" "Mork said that they''re also the god of fertility, mathematics and scouting? That just seems to be a lot." "How many things are the gods in your world responsible for?" "That''s a bit of a loaded question." One of the men around the camp that hadn''t spoken yet looked up. "Everything and anything. But there aren''t so many." "I think we can talk about this while we decide what our next steps are. We still have all the cards from our raid. And I''ll go through the town when the sun goes up again." "Were there by chance, any class cards in that pile?" Finley said, leaning in. "I see several artisan class cards. There were a lot of skill cards as well." "I think we''re going to need to use them all. As much as I want to hold up in here, I don''t think this is going to be good for long-term. We need to get as much food as possible into the caravan," Anthony said. "What are we going to do about the people?" Bob said. "I honestly don''t know. If we have enough animal handling cards we can get those out. It''s a good skill-" Finley said. "Yeah I love that skill. I thought it would be a dud but it saved my life back there. It''s one of the reasons I chose ranger." "Alright let''s make a plan then. We''re helping them, I take it?" "As much as we can," Bob said. Eight "Before we can even ask them if they can come with us, we need to see if we can support them. We can''t slow down if there are zombies all over like they were tonight. They would have to be fast, or mounted. We could-" Anthony said. "We could what? Find another cart? A caravan? Hitch up some more horses? My girls are already half dead and it has been a day since this started." Finley reached out to feel both of them contentedly sleeping next to the herd. They needed this. This down time was a boon for them all. "If only we had somebody with a skill that could make more wagons," Finley said."Unless there''s another caravan around?" "I haven''t seen one, but if the undead here were intelligent, they probably had a few. Otherwise..." "That still shocks me to the core. I''ve never heard of undead being intelligent unless they''re a wraith or a lich or-" "Or a death knight." It was the first time that Bob had spoken in a while. Anthony was almost certain that the ranger had been sleeping. "A death knight?" Finley said, his tone quiet. "I killed a death knight. The quest that Mork gave me here was to kill the knight and if possible to save these people," Bob said, "And I did it." "If there''s a death knight, then something has gone terribly wrong. They''re like heroes of the undead. They fables tell about one taking down a city and..." The flames flickered. "And what?" Anthony said. "And I just realized that none of you would know any of the stories. None of you are from here," Finley said, slumping down against the rucksack he had prepared for his back support. "That''s... something," Anthony muttered. "I''m going to have to tell you all the stories one day. This will not stand." "I''d be down for that especially if there''s a brew involved," Anthony said. "Mork, what I wouldn''t do for a good stout right now. And some eggs," Bob said, "There''s eggs here, right?" "There are eggs. I saw some in the caravan. Finley, with dawn approaching, do you mind if I make some breakfast for the crew? Then we can decide what to do on a full stomach?" "I''ve got pans next to the cryomancer enhanced chest in the back. It''s the one that looks like it''s leaking vapor. I can''t think of a better time than now to use what I have." Anthony got up to rummage around the back of the caravan, returning shortly with a pan and some supplies. "Was anyone a cook before this?" He asked the crowd. "I was a chef," Bob said, "Allow me." Together the two men were able to slowly work out a system using the fire and pan to cook food for the ravenous crowd that all woke up to the smell just as the sun peeled over the horizon. Finley passed out plates and wooden forks to them as they waited. "Don''t eat too quickly," Bob said. "You were starving. Take your time eating. You might be ravenous, but pay attention to how your body feels. There is no rush. You''re safe now." Anthony felt warm from sitting next to the fire. He''d broken out a mitt to handle the cast iron pan. If only there were running water he could use to clean it, then he would be happy. But there was more work to do. He had slept in shifts with Bob in fits and starts but hadn''t felt at ease. Maybe getting started on something, anything would help. "So, you''re a local, Finley. What do you think of this situation?" Bob said. "I don''t know. I generally ride about trading at various posts along the Irumian line to the Icecloak Mountains, all the way down to the human lands in the south. Sometimes I venture East? I haven''t been to the elven kingdom recently." "There''s this kingdom, the Irumian one, correct? And south is some Human Kingdom?" "They call it the Alliance. It''s not exactly the way that the gnomes and dwarves run their business either, though they were the largest kingdom. You humans have a lot of children." "No offense taken," Anthony said, "Well with all of that, can you think of a place where we could hole up for a while?" "Better than here?" Finley pursed his lips, "That''s difficult because so much of this land is farmland and with so many mouths to feed... I would need to know what''s going on in the rest of the Kingdom. Because there''s only so much farming we can do here before winter sets in and I would want to be south of the capital then. Did I mention the Icecloak Mountains? Yeah they''re just north of here." Finley waved behind himself, northward as if the mountains would just make themselves known. Their height reached some of the lower clouds. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "So we can''t stay here long term. But we... We probably should talk to everyone here and ask if they would be okay on their own here," Anthony said. "Or if we want to even head out with you strangers," a woman''s voice said. Sonya stood behind Anthony. "That''s also a consideration," he squeaked out. He hadn''t seen her show up and how she immediately had him gulping at the sight of her gave him pause. Why was he afraid of her? "Well we can help you saddle up a horse and you can take your chances out in the wild but if what our traveling Tinker here is saying is true, then we need to consider that staying here long term won''t work out too well. How long is it until winter hits?" Finley stirred from his thoughts. "Three weeks. It''ll take most of one week to make our way down to center of the Kingdom. I don''t know how I''ll feed everybody." "Does anybody have a card power that lets them create food?" Anthony said. Anthony looked around. All of the former prisoners were now all sitting around the embers of the cook fire. It looked like he had a quorum. There was some grumbling but no one raised a hand or said anything. "I thought so. I only have so many provisions though what I have is yours. I would appreciate getting paid but what use do I have for gold? I can''t eat gold. Card pieces and cards I could use but they would probably better off in the hands of somebody who could actually use them to fight the Zombie horde." "I propose," Bob said, "That we band together. We all have strength in numbers. We should be able to work something out with all those horses. If we find a cart or wagon then it would be a lot simpler. There''s no telling when or if another group of zombies comes down on us. I would feel safer with a group of you watching my back. Who else feels the same?" There were a few more positive grumblings from the crowd. "Are you trying to conscript us into into a small army?" Sonya asked. "I wouldn''t call it an army. Maybe like a cartel?" Bob said. "What did you say you did back on Earth? What exactly?" "I ran a successful cake shop in Hoboken. You probably saw it. It was featured on Cake and Bake." "Oh I saw that one!" One of the younger humans said. Anthony hadn''t gotten the boys name. "Wasn''t yours the one shut down for all of the health code violations?" "No, uh and this is not about me. We should all probably do introductions as well." "Hi, I''m Anthony. I am originally from the Bronx. I used to be a midwife back on Earth. I ran a small company called Father and Son Midwives. Yes, it''s real. No, don''t laugh. Sonya. Come on." "Did you want to mention what card or card Powers you have?" "I chose a class card. I''m a cleric. I have skills involve healing and yeah brand new," Anthony replied, waving his hands and throwing up a weak mage light. "Well I am Bob, the chosen ranger of Mork. Mork gave me the ranger class card that has saved my ass so many times already." Bob held up a tankard of water. "I''m Sonya, the epitome of a warlock. I was a social worker on earth. I can cast eldritch blast as well as other spells, though they are mostly offensive. I fully intend to tag along with you boys." Sonya flipped her curly blonde highlighted hair. Of the eleven saved, all had a class card. One was a dwarf with the artificer class who had chosen it because it looked cool. Three other humans had chosen to be fighters. Three had chosen to be monks. Two were rogues. One was a wizard and the last a different type of druid than Finley. Six women, five men and one dwarf. None of them had any particular skills that Anthony was looking for. He was really looking for a card power to help create a second wagon. Or at the very least, fix the one they had. They had, of course all been summoned as heroes to this world. Anthony was speechless. He hadn''t expected to be reborn into a fantasy world. He definitely hadn''t expected to be only one of a few that was born to this world. "All right, with introductions out of the way, let''s see if we can find some common ground. Is every one looking to help us survive the zombie apocalypse?" Anthony said. "A better question might be," Sonya said, "does anyone else have a quest from their god to get through this problem?" Bob raised his hand. Sonya put hers up as well. "What''s with the raised hands?" Finley said. "Oh! Sorry Finley. Back on Earth when we have big meetings like this, sometimes we raise our hand to indicate that we want to speak or that we agree with the speaker or something very contextual. Like for example, who here likes Star Wars?" Every hand except for Finley''s went up. "Oh good! At least I''m in good company, then," Bob said. "I have never heard of the Star War. Is it something that is common in your culture?" There was light chuckle. A little something to take the edge off. Anthony, let himself laugh a little bit. There had been so much killing and he just needed to release a little steam. He could feel his mana returning to him. "It''s a pretty common cultural touch point. I wouldn''t worry about it too much though. You''re going to tell us stories about this world? That should be enough." "Well now that the introductions are over," Bob said, "let''s talk about next steps. It''s just dawning on us now. I think we''re relatively safe if we take some prudent measures, to ransack this town. Safe to say the former residents will not fight us for any of their old belongings. This is assuming that every one wants in. If you want to do your own thing we understand. We will take stock of what we have and try to..." Bob nodded to Finley. "I''ll do my best to give you a good chance to survive out there. I can''t guarantee you anything," Finley said, playing with his hair. "So having said that, and understanding that my guess is a lot of you got caught and shoved into that cage because you were on your own, do all of you want to form a party?" Bob said, trying his best to look heroic. But there was only so much heroism that one could exude without a full beard. "And if so," Anthony said. "Do we need elect a leader?" "I think that there is a clear and obvious choice," Bob said puffing up his chest. "There clearly is," Sonya said, standing behind Anthony and patting him on the shoulders. "And I vote for this guy." Bob shook his head and Anthony turned to see Sonya had impressive full sleeve tattoos. How had he not noticed that before? They looked amazing and he chalked it up to the darkness of the night prior as to why he hadn''t appreciated those beautiful drawings yet. "Clearly you''re mistaken-" Anthony said, shocked. "Uh, what?" Bob said, reeling. "What? Just because you saved our lives doesn''t mean that we''re going to follow you blindly. You are both smart, but you''re an idiot if you think we''re going to jump into certain danger like you did last night. What you did was reckless. You could have died. This guy? And this guy?" Sonya pointed to Anthony, then Finley, "They had the right idea. Now anybody else voting for midwife Anthony?" Anthony covered his eyes with his hands. He did not want to be in charge. He hated being in charge. He hated paperwork. He hated filling out forms. Heck, the only good thing about delivering babies was the practical work itself and the golden hour. But he damn well would do it to the utmost if those fuckers wanted him in charge. "You''re serious? Sonya?" Anthony said, " I mean I''ll do it but..." "Then do it." Anthony opened his eyes to see all but one person had a hand in the air. Even the elf had one here. And he was waving it like he just didn''t care. "Alright." Nine "So what we should do is see what we can get from the town and then go from there. Salvage what we can, trying to get as much food as possible. Cards would be good, but we''ll need food more," Anthony said. "Before we start, we''ll probably need to pair up, or move in groups of three-for safety-and then someone will need to stay with the caravan, to keep that safe." "I''ll stay with the caravan. The horses will follow us to the south as well. We can get a good look at the road to the next town and since we camped out here on the north side. It would be a good chance to work out the kinks," Finley said. "Do you rogues want to come with me?" The two female rogues nodded. "Good. Also anyone wounded? Well, if you get injured head to the caravan. It''ll be by the horses. Sonya, do you want to go inside the courtyard walls or head to the houses east of the town?" Finley could see that Anthony was looking to delegate everything he could. He gathered up the supplies, using a cold spell to ensure that the cast iron pan wouldn''t burn his hand as he placed it in the back of the caravan. The two rogues followed him the few steps away. One had introduced herself as Stella, and she had beautiful brown curls that made it appear as if she''d just gotten out of a shower. The other, Sophie, had been through the wringer, though she had a faint smile underneath her wrinkled face. Sophie was a bit older than Stella. Finley pulled out two double length daggers and passed them to the women as he waited for Anthony to finish giving out assignments. Of course, he would give himself the cooking job once he''d surveyed the interior of the courtyard with Bob. Bob was going to do a sweep of the perimeter first before they delved into the walled off part of the city. He was taking the monks as they had an unnatural speed ability that made them excellent go betweens. Also their unarmed abilities meant that they didn''t need any weapons, something that Finley thought he would find more of. Two of the monks were with him, and the other one had volunteered to be a runner and stick by the caravan, in case something happened. Finley walked his bay mares behind Bob''s group. They went counterclockwise around the city, taking the Western courtyard wall. A few houses sprung up on the south side, but it was clear that most of the people that lived in the town had lived on the Eastern side. The wall did not cover the entire town as it had been a strategic trade post, not a regular garrison. Over time, more people had moved in and expanded outwards. Finley paused next to the southernmost building that could be still be called part of the town. A two-story Inn with a broken sign looked like it had been in constant use for years. Bob held up a hand. Finley calmed the horses. Bob briefly talked to the monks with him and then both of them took off. They ran to the door of the Inn. Finley motioned for one of the rogues to follow. Stella took his cue. Her hair bobbed as she ran after them. When Bob opened the door, one of the monks rushed in. Finley took the opportunity to position the caravan towards the road leading away from Dunnamore. After two tense minutes, Bob re-emerged from the Inn. A smile lit up his face. He ran over to where Finley had stopped the caravan. "It''s fully stocked! Or, at least I think it is," he said, "But no zombies are inside and there are real beds! Oh and there''s a stables on the side?" "Anything else of note? Sophie, do you want to see the stables with me? We might be able to find something useful." She nodded, brushing back her hair. It immediately went right back to in front of her. She huffed, following behind Finley. There wasn''t a full cart in the stables, but there were enough parts that Finley thought he might be able to assemble one. Stella arrived, fist bumping Sophie. "Oh. This is good," He said, "Stella? We''re going to need that artificer. I think we can make a second cart with what we have here. I see two axles and six wheels." "I can get him, or swap places with him. He was... I forget what he was doing but do you want me to go grab him?" Finley rolled his shoulders. "Let''s take stock of what we have here and now. Bob and his monks can get him if they see him. We should look around for a workshop and then I''m going to craft a few cards with the pieces I have. Hopefully I''ll get a woodworking card." "You sure we shouldn''t get him now?" Sophie said. "Let''s stick together. They''re going to be clearing the town house by house and it would only take one zombie to kill and potentially turn one of us. I for one would not like to die in a brave but fruitless endeavor. That''s not for me." Bob walked around the stable area to join them. "I''m going to mark the doors of the houses we have searched. Is there anything I could use to do that?" Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Stella grabbed something from the ground and hefted it. "You could put a rock in front of the door?" She said, "Plenty of rocks here. You can put a bigger one if there''s stuff for us to salvage? Or work out some system." "That''s a great idea!" Bob said, grabbing the rock, "Well you all know that this one is zombie free so long as they don''t sneak in when we''re not looking." "I''ll pasture the horses around here so if they are scared then we''ll be alerted," Finley said, reaching out to handle their emotions and pull them towards the inn. "Did he used to be so green?" Stella said. "I''m sure that''s just some of the magic of his card powers. I mean it''s just his forearms." His forearms indeed were turning green, giving away something that he hadn''t wanted to admit to all of the people around him. Underneath that beating heart, lay something that wasn''t entirely an elf. However, Finley wasn''t ready to explain his past to the women in front of him just at that moment so he just gave them the shopkeeper look. Then he growled a bit. Stella stepped back. "Should I lead the caravan over here? What do you need to do to set up?" Stella said, "And I''m going to need you to not do that. Sophie might get the wrong idea." Sophie indeed had probably gotten the wrong idea as the smile plastered on her face was unmistakable. She was looking for elf in all the wrong places. "Ah. Sophie. Sorry about that, uh let''s just say that using so much of my card powers taps me into my druidic nature. I''m using it to move the horses around, but now I need to save some to put these card pieces together." "Let''s check out the inn, then," Stella said, "If the horses are an early warning for us, then we can look for some tools and food. Maybe start on lunch if there is a kitchen." "Gods, I would love a kitchen," Sophie moaned as the two left Finley. With the two humans out of his hair, Finley grabbed his sack of card pieces out of the caravan and his frame. With great care, he assembled the six parts of the frame at the workbench in the stables. Each piece clicked into place as the runes inside itched with power. Finley pulled back from the urge to push power into it as he grabbed six common pieces, putting them down one by one. He breathed in his intent to make a new card. He breathed out his mana. Drips of mana felt from his hands joining the seams along the edges. It didn''t have to be perfectly aligned. His mana would bridge any gaps, as it pulled the pieces together to form a full card. As the final piece connected fully, the frame flashed. The shine of a new card lit up his smile. An image of a camper sitting by a fire dominated the silvered copper surface.
Common Skill Card:Survival Level 1 Survive harsh conditions instinctively. Improves field craft and related abilities. As this card advances, the wielder will become more hearty.
Stella poked her head out of the Inn just then. There was a servants door that led to the stables. "Oh hey, you did it boss! Good work! What kind of card is it?" "I made a survival skill card." "I''m kind of scratching my head here, is that good?" "We could use it and four others like it to make a class card, so this is very good." Stella checked something, and Finley knew that she was looking into her soul deck. "That''s not one of my rogue skills. If I equip it will it make me stronger? Wait, let me see. I have....expertise, sneak attack, dodge, use magic relic and perception?" "Well we should probably wait but you would have room in your soul deck for this. It would be rough to take it back out, but you wouldn''t have much of a problem. So long as your Soul card is uncommon or rarer, taking this out and putting it back in won''t be a problem. But uh...we should probably wait for a bit," Finley said. "Alright," she said, strongly and slowly winking in his direction, "I''m a girl who can wait for a good thing." "Also," he said shaking his bag, "I''ll be making a bunch more cards so we can see how this shakes out. Not like any of the gold pieces that I have been saving up are worth anything now. Damn zombies." --- Anthony passed by the inn after he saw the horses there. The two story structure sat behind a large town sign. He had thought that it was a quaint little bed and breakfast that he would have gone to in another life. Here, it just looked like another place without a good shower. He was beginning to stink, and the fact that Dunnamore had to rely on rain water and melting snow to keep it''s easterly river in business meant that the water was frigid. He found out almost by accident as the river had been close enough to warrant checking it. He didn''t regret the cold. No, even as his shivered in what had to be a late fall gust of wind, he was glad to be able to wash himself. He had gone over in scrubs and his dadliest New Balance shoes. Those items did not agree with the muddying roads and walkways that this world loved. The muck remained a constant reminder that he wasn''t back home. It stuck to everything. The houses were generally four or five rooms and single floor. All were made from a combination of masonry and wood that he hoped would keep the heat in. What little heat there was. Every time they cleared a house, they placed a stone in front of the door. It was a reminder that they had finished it as well as something close to a grave marker. They didn''t encounter anyone living, making him think that either they had run away when this all happened, or been turned. He didn''t know which outcome wold be good for them. It all stunk. On his second house, at least, he found a set of cards that looked like some sort of heirloom inheritance. He pocketed them for later. The metallic copper cards clinked in is pocket. They were all skill cards. One was a magical skill, the only Iron card of the bunch. It granted the user Divine Magic.
Uncommon Skill Card:Divine Spellcasting Level 1 This card grants mana. This card allows the user to learn and cast divine spells.
He checked his own soul card and found that this mirrored the same skill he already possessed. This could be useful, but as he already had one, it wasn''t going to be useful for him. That didn''t mean that he was going to give it up though. He wondered what Finley would trade for this? Probably something really good. A better question was if the elf would trade anything. He would definitely do something for food. It was about that time when he realized that all of this search was making him both hungry and thirsty. He found a clean bucket that had clearly been used for water and waved to one of the warriors with him, pointing to the bucket and then the stream. It was time for a break. Ten "You know what. We all need to drink water," Anthony said, carrying another full load of two buckets on the yoke he found scavenging. "Yes. But you can let some of us help you bring water to the inn," Stella said. "You''re a strong guy, but you don''t need to go it alone. And this isn''t me yelling at you because Sonya said to." "Right," Anthony said, draining the second bucket into the clean glass pitchers. "You have magic," Finley said, "Why don''t you use it?" He took the pitcher out from the inn''s common room, where he set it by the door, returning with a rag. He passed a clean rag to Stella. "As I said before to someone, who won''t dignify me with showing her face right now," Anthony said, "I want to carry it." "I heard that," Sonya''s muffled voice came from outside of the kitchen. "I''m not an old fart. I''m barely forty five." "Says the man who has a father-son business," the muffled voice said. Stella and Finley amped up their cleaning. "Her snark knows no bounds," Anthony muttered. "I like it." Humans were strange. Especially these chosen heroes. Finley wanted to be content to let them pass arguments back and forth. But while he worked but he needed to make sure that they were making some progress. He didn''t want to be in charge, but he did want a say. The tables were all done, so Finley stretched a bit. The benches and chairs would be next. He grabbed one of the many chairs and began to clean off the dust and dirt. "Is this a common mating thing among humans?" Finley said to Stella. "No," Stella said, "they''re both on edge because of last night. When you get that close to death, your priorities change. I could die tomorrow. Heck, I could have already died. Sonya was talking about how that made her feel and then she saw him brooding and also working and well here we are." "Ah. I see. Then they''ll do some customary mating dance, correct?" "Gods no. Whatever would give you that- oh you''re really funny," Stella said. "It''s totally what I hear humans do here. They have these big balls and for some reason they all need to dance with them? It has never made sense to me." Anthony loaded up his equipment to return to the river. Finley and Stella placed a bucket on each side of the yoke, making it easier for him to carry on. "Anyway, with Sonya and Sophie started on lunch have you got any idea if we can make something out of that pile of wood? There''s two good axles and enough wheels if we can figure it out." Finley shuffled in his pockets. He pulled out an iron card, passing it to her. "I''ll do you one better. This one? It''s uncommon, making it slightly stronger, though it would be strong as a common. But, see the effect." Stella looked into the card. "Wood crafting? Oh this is great! And what does level one mean? I mean all of my skills are level one right now but... How high does it go?" "This one can go up to level ten. But since it''s uncommon, we can find four other skills and turn it into a class card, giving it extra bonuses. I haven''t merged a card in a while but if we get this to the artificer, maybe he''ll be able to use both sets of skills together." "What kind of class would have a woodworking skill?" Finley paused his work on one of the better chairs. "An artisan class? Martial class cards like yours are rare. It''s far more common for someone to have a heirloom class card that their parent passes down. Something like a farmer or a laborer that works with their hands. Try not to think so much about combat classes. They''re a rarity, or at least they were." "I didn''t think about that. It''s good to know that we can do more than just stab things here. Although the current situation kind of makes it necessary," Stella said, holding up the cleaning bucket, "Do you think that our friend would mind taking this back with him and cleaning it out?" She tossed the dirty water out the front of the inn, narrowly missing Bob. "Oh hey Bob! I almost sneak attacked you there. You should probably watch out." "Sorry, Stella. I could announce myself. It just sounds like a lot of work, when I could just dodge." "I''ll aim better next time because my sneak attack leveled up from that." "Stella!" Bob said, taking off his cloak to make absolutely certain that it was dry. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "What? I wanted to see if it would work and it does!" Finley chuckled. He had heard of skills leveling unintentionally. He hadn''t heard of someone leveling a combat skill through tomfoolery. Not that it was impossible. "If you can do that with him," Finley said. "And it has to be a sneak attack, there''s a few more people coming. What level is your skill?" "Level two." "Let''s see if we can get it to level three." --- Bob, former chef and current chosen ranger of Mork, apparently did have time for tomfoolery. As people arrived for lunch, he waved them over to come in through the exact doorway that would provide for an ambush. Stella for her part got almost half of people that returned, though she used an empty bucket. It wasn''t until the artificer threatened violence that she stopped. The part about him ending her line hit particularly close. "Why is it that you think I''m even going to have a line? My mom is back on another planet. Also we''re no contact because fuck that bitch." "Stella!" Bob said, "Language!" "And you are not my dad." "You both probably need to go blow some steam off," Finley said eyeing Bob and Stella Bob had never experienced what Stella had gone through and was having difficulty relating to her experience. Mork only knew that he would never let himself be captured alive. At least after seeing all of the people in cages, he knew that he would rather die fighting. "Yeah probably," Bob conceded, "This has been a wild two days." The meal that Stella had prepared was about the tastiest thing that she had eaten in what felt like ages. "Hey guys. Not to get too existential on you, but are these the same bodies that we had on Earth? Because, like, I died. I was just thinking about how good this meal was," Bob said. "That''s a little heavy for lunch, Bob. We can trade death stories when we get to know each other a bit better." "Sorry Stella. Maybe after a brew. If we ever find a brewery." Stella patted him on the shoulder after she got up. "Hey, so since I cooked you guys got the cleanup right?" Stella said. The group grumbled but eventually when they finish eating started cleaning up. Then a few of them picked rooms upstairs. Bob didn''t feel like he was ready for that kind of commitment. They still had half the town to search. With a full stomach they might even get it done by night. Especially if they pushed it. --- It was late afternoon by the time they had gone through all of the houses. Finley hadn''t expected much, but to find nothing? It was as if the families had gotten notice-that stood out the most. Things were missing, most notably people. If any of the families had a card library, those were gone as well, though shelving was still there. They had decided to stay the night. It was about that time that Finley found that there was another cart. It was serviceable though not covered. It even had all the important pieces to harness up a horse or two. He slotted the woodworking card into his side deck. The artificer had been working on all of the moving pieces while he made more benches. Once the benches were done, he would move on to some sort of covering. There was enough tarp material to do so and he would make a fully enclosed space for sleeping and storage. His storage skill pinged, letting him know that it would be easy to add some storage under the bench. If only he had a cryomancer skill or a spatial storage skill. He''d heard about wizards that kept items in containers that were larger on the inside than the outside, and he wanted that for himself. He wasn''t sure if it was a card power or skill, but he had been dreaming of the idea when he made all of the cards he could. All of the cards he had made that morning had been useful up to a point, but there was only so much that he could get out of a group of commons and uncommons. He had about half of the pieces needed to make a rare card. Making a rare or epic card would do a lot to help his situation. Whatever he needed to survive, he wanted to do. Even if it meant listening to Stella and Bob talked back and forth about the right way to wash the dishes. As if there was a wrong way. "Hey, Finley was it?" The dwarf came up to Finleys chest. Finley didn''t consider himself tall. His thin elvenoid body taller than most humans but still, only by a little bit. This dwarf for some reason, didn''t have a long beard. Finley reminded himself that it took all types. He also had lighter skin and straight black hair. It reminded Finley of the mane of a horse with how straight it was. "Yes. Andrew, wasn''t it?" "Yeah. Stella gave me some stuff to work on with you and said that you were turning the stables into your workshop?" He walked in, standing next to the wheel that just needed some tender love and care. "Oh, this one is good. Just looking at it makes me itch to give it an enhancement. Hey, since I know you have a druid class card, I was wondering if I could lean on your mana." "Ah, yeah that would be fine. Just don''t take too much." The dwarf walked over, holding out one hand, palm up. "I haven''t done this before so uh please bear with me." Finley held a hand over the dwarf''s, concentrating mana in that area. It took a few seconds, but a small green crystal formed between the two of their hands. "Oh! That''s pretty neat! I wonder what I can do with it?" "Well, try and use it on one of the hinges maybe?" Finley said, "Isn''t experimentation one of your skills?" The dwarf frowned. "It isn''t? But I''ll do just that and see what happens." "Hey, uh did you get a woodworking skill?" Finley asked, "Because I made up a card with it. I can give it to you. I got it to level two already. That should help you out." "Well if you''re leveling it now, then keep it up. I can take it later. Maybe you''ll make another?" "I''ll try. I''m out of pieces, though Bob has some that he is holding back." "Yeah. He''s a funny guy, that Bob." "So, all the humans were talking about some place called Earth. I uh... noticed that you''ve been quiet especially at lunch. I thought I was the only one from here. I was just up at the Yilish mountain foothills and I didn''t see you there. Are you from... here?" The word ''here'' carried a lot of weight in Finleys view. If the artificer was from this world, then he might know more about Dunnamore and the Irumian kingdom. So far he had been pretty quiet, and his lack of words said a lot. It was indeed a plethora of information that Finley had gathered from his being withdrawn from the conversation, though that could easily be explained by his being from another world. "I-uh... Finley you''re not going to say anything to anyone are you?" "Of course not. If you want to keep a secret, well the Tinker code prevents me from spilling it." The Tinker code prevented no such thing. What it did was outline how Tinkers were never to lie to each other, kill each other and how to greet another member of the family when out and about. There was a second set of codes that prevented Tinkers from killing enlightened beings to include all races they traded with, which was part of the reason that they didn''t tread to the orcish lands far to the south. This second set gave the tinker a bonus to charisma at the expense of defending themselves, and also a skill that helped in money laundering. Only those that swore the second set of oaths knew about the specifics. "I''m not from Earth. I''m also not from here," Andrew said. "Oh. OH!" Eleven
Rare Class Card: Artificer Level 2 Skills: Simple Crafting and Forging Level 2 Enchantment Level 1 Blueprinting Level 1 Tinkering Level 1 Alchemy Level 1 As an Artificer, you may use others mana for enchantments, and while in range casters with mana can turn mana into crystals for your use in artificer works. This card allows the user to imbue spells known by nearby casters. This is a soul card and cannot be removed.
This strange world held many mysteries for Andrew. The first of which was the magical card system. As with everything he had seen, all the horrors, he had just accepted it. It was the way. His way. He''d worked on the carriage assembly, checking out the differences between the Tinker caravan that Finley traveled in and the spare parts that they''d found around town. In the process, his simple crafting and forging skill had continually lead him in the right direction. That had given him the first skill leveling notification and increased his Artificer class level. Now with two similar shaped wagons, he looked to make a blueprint from the working wagon. There were a lot of similarities between the two. He''d readily accepted that there was a right way and a wrong way. The two wagons differed more than different shades of grey. Barring the covering that was part canvas, part load bearing wooden cross beams, they could have been made from the same place at different times. The main problem he needed to solve was how to attach the load bearing portion that connected to the wheels to the wagon itself. This was a worthy problem in a test of mostly easy questions. He tackled it with a smile. The wagon was helpful in keeping him from thinking about how he''d been ripped from home and taken here. Before, he''d lived a quiet life, keeping to himself and tending his clockwork shop. His world hadn''t been too different from this one, though it lacked so many things that he had really thought he would see.
It was getting close to dinnertime. The sun, as it does, of course threatened that time was about up. That was the first time that Bob''s Quest card pinged since the night prior.
Rare Meta Card: Quest Level 1 This card creates quests for the wielder and generates rewards for quest completion. Quests may also be given by a patron deity. The more this levels, the more information about the quest and quest rewards you will receive.
***New Quest: Survive. Reward: Five common cards.***
"Fuck," said Bob, chosen ranger of Mork. "Hey guys look alive. I got a quest." "Finley," Stella said. "Wake up." The elvenoid had been sleeping trying to get a short nap in before dinner. After a full day of work, Bob could understand the impulse. No one knew when another attack would come and there was little that they could do in the meantime except rest and prepare. If one was to fight zombies, it would be best to do it on a full stomach. Bob walked outside to check the horizon and see what exactly was happening. "What''s the quest say?" Stella asked. Bob pushed a window open. "All it says is, Survive. If I survive then I get five common cards," he said, scanning the outskirts of the town, "Now where the heck would they be coming from? Does anyone see Anthony anywhere?" "I''ll get him," Sophie said, heading to the stables. "Wait! Bring a friend. I don''t like this," Bob said. "Alright. Stella?" Stella and Sophie slipped out the side entrance. Bob turned back to see who else was there. Finley was getting up. Sonya was snoring loudly. Bob gently nudged her. The snoring stopped as she slumped off her bench seating onto the floor. "Hey, you asshole, what the heck?" she said. The rest of the survivors all started moving around, getting up. Bob still didn''t see anything, and he wanted more than anything to go do a sweep of the perimeter. He would need Anthony to help out. The monks split to opposite corners, checking every direction. None of the horses had moved yet, or done anything but graze next to the inn. Bob regretted not saddling every horse. There were more horses than people to ride them. "Finley, we might need to move quickly," he said once the elf joined him by the window. "Can you make the horses ready?" "They''re in a state of rest but... alright, now they''re all looking with us. They don''t see anything either." Bob and Finley shifted to the side of the Inn with the stables. The dwarf was still working hard on what appeared to be a half done third wagon. The second was set up next to the bay mares, just lacking horses hitched up to pull it. Anthony ran in. "What did I miss?" He said. "Ranger Bob''s Quest skill? It pinged. Something about: survival. We''re checking out if there are any zombies on the way," Stella said, "I''m going to load up what I have been prepping into the second wagon. Thanks to that one cryomancer card we should be good if we can make a fire." "I''ll get two of the horses hitched up," Finley said, "Can I get some help loading? And if anyone has a saddle this will be a hell of a lot easier. Also I made three animal handling skill cards so I can pass those out. I can''t get any benefit from multiples of the same card skill." He handed the cards to Anthony to deal out before leaving. Bob wished that they had more time to construct their decks, and learn a bit more about the cards, but the Elf was both overstimulated and overtired by the afternoon. So what if he only had to take a power nap everyday, if he needed to do it every time his mana went low that would be a big blow. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. "Thanks. Warriors?" Anthony said, "Help the elf and dwarf load up everything. Monks? Make sure everyone is up. If we have to move, we have to move. We''ll decide where we''re going next on the road if needed." "Yes boss!" The monks said, sprinting ahead of the warriors. The warriors followed along. The groups wizard, still sleeping was being carried by the only male Rogue in the group. It was as if they had all made terrible decisions based on their own choices, and Bob had to pay the bill. Each one had to pick a class when they had been summoned, if the other gods were like Mork, so having all of them as melee focused classes was sub optimal. Bob rotated to the western facing wall, looking for anything and hoping for nothing. Then he could see plants moving in the grasslands west of the town. "From the west! There''s a lot of them!" Behind him, Anthony crowded the window. Bob showed him the figures emerging from the grass. "Mount up!" Anthony said, "We can''t stay here right now. I know we were going to practice this but we don''t have time. Grab whatever you can carry. Stack it all in the open wagon. Is everyone here?" "What''s going on? One second I was talking to my patron and the next," Sonya said, her voice groggy and low to the ground. "And somebody get the warlock into the wagon. We''re going to need her ranged attacks. Sonya can you fire from here?" "Anthony? Why are you yelling?" "Because-fuck these zombies- I don''t want to die, Sonya. And I don''t want any of you to die." Bob put a hand underneath her arm pit. He helped her up. She had a lot of the firepower. The reason that she was sleeping was her practice. Stella had given her some of the glasses to use as target practice. She shot blast after blast until she tapped herself out. Bob wasn''t sure yet how much range she had. Not needing to have arrows was a big boon. Bob was jealous. He didn''t have time for it, though. With Anthony and Sonya as their ranged support, it fell to him to get the horses set up on the second wagon. When he left the confines of the Inn he had expected to spend the night at, he paused, checking to see if he had left anything. He felt his bow around his cloak, and with his full water skin at his side, he moved to calm the horses. He''d retrieved several of his used bolts, much to the dismay of the monks with him. Those bloodied bolts all sat on the back of the wagon, next to the pile of wagon parts. Finley''s tips had helped advance his animal handling skill. He was grateful for the new ability to push the horses in a direction. Sure it felt like pushing rope a bit, but it didn''t take mana. *Quest Updated: Survive: Survive for the next twenty minutes. Quest Reward: Five Common Cards, One Uncommon Card, Ten Rare card pieces.* "Fuck. Guys!" --- The caravan was ready to go. The wagon finally had two horses tied up and in position. Anthony scrambled to get people into the carts. The four people that had animal handling as a skill card had coaxed some of the horses into letting them ride along. They had saddles, salvaged from the interior courtyard. What use zombies would have for saddles, Anthony would never know. He never wanted to know. The idea of an intelligent undead, using animals to further their own interests scared him. "Is everybody here?" Anthony said, testing the reins of the wagon, "We don''t have time to sit here." It hadn''t been a minute since the dwarven zombies all came out of the grassy plains on the western side of the city. Now they were crossing the open area that marked the southern half of the city. Ahead of him, Finley had his Caravan pointed South toward the direct route to the Capital. According to the tinker, there was another town only a day away. That town would have a fully fledged card shop, as well as a few other things that would help them on their journey. He didn''t want to leave Dunnamore. By the way the grass was shaking, they didn''t have a choice. Finley''s cart and the herd of horses around them began with a jolt as the screaming started. It wasn''t the zombies that chased them, as their vocal cords had stopped working some time ago. Neither was it the Stella and Sophie, who sat on the back of his wagon, guarding the wizard. That scream came from Bob himself. "Get him down!" Anthony yelled., "He''s losing his cool!" "I''m trying," Stella said. She slapped Bob several times before he snapped out of it. "Bob! Was that another quest update? Or did something else happen?" "Their gaze. I wasn''t paying attention. Those red eyes..." He said. Anthony turned his attention towards the horses that were just now getting up to speed, keeping pace with the riders next to him. The three on horseback were riding ahead, though without weapons all they could do is be a distraction. All they needed to do was to stay ahead of the horde. And if they survived for 20 minutes, then maybe Bob would get a good card? Anthony wasn''t entirely sure how it worked. He just knew that if the gods were going to give them something then it better be damn good.
Stella''s perception skill leveled up and she cursed. "There''s got to be at least two hundred of them. That explains where all the towns people went. Do you think we could take down all of them?" "I honestly don''t know," Sophie said. "But that ice spell you got, right? Is that going to help us out?" "It kind of feels like I can do a bunch of things with but I have to, like, focus on it. Besides making the ice chest for all the meats and food. The power wants to be called? I don''t know how well this will go. I''m really hoping that we can just outrun them." The cart rattle as they moved. Stella instinctively reached out for Bob. In between them. She found herself holding his hand, their arms pressed together. "All the things I said earlier," she whispered. "I''m really sorry." "I know how it is." "What you''re not going to apologize too? We could die!" "I''m really sorry. And we can continue this discussion later when we live," Bob said, winking at her. "You''re damn right." "Ahem," Sophie said from the far side of the wagon as it jolted. She held onto one of the spare wheels with one hand. "Sorry, Sophie!" Stella said. From the front of the cart, Andrew briefly flew several feet into the air as they hit another bump. Anthony stayed on the ground. Everyone else but the five of them was either riding a horse or in the caravan. "They''re speeding up!" Bob yelled. "Well shit. The warlock and the wizard are in the next caravan," Stella said, "Let''s see what we can do." Stella tapped into her ice magic. If the zombies were moving, and they needed their legs to get from here to there. How would they do it if all the sudden the area was impassable? The road they were on had a gentle downward slope. It was so gentle that you wouldn''t notice it unless you looked far to the south. Stella tapped into her mana drawing on the water that was loose in the air. "How much time do we have? Bob?" Sophie said. "The quest is giving me ten minutes." "If you see a rider, tell them to get ahead of us. Don''t let them drop back." Stella concentrated on the ambient magic and humidity. That would do well. Blue Sparks flew out of her hands as she spread them to the side. The thick packed dirt gave way all of a sudden to a thin sheet of ice. The spell drank up mana. As they moved, the road behind them turned into ice more and more. "Don''t burn yourself out," Anthony yelled. "What?" Sophie yelled back. "He said don''t burn yourself out," Bob said. "I can handle myself. Do not tell me what I can and cannot do," Stella yelled back as the mana dropped out of her and into the air behind the cart. As they moved, the cart looked like it was grading the ground and covering it with a clear glaze. The now flat ground was about to meet with its first and probably last enemy.
There''s not a lot said about zombie foot care. There are no zombie podiatrists. In fact, there''s no zombie primary Care and definitely no zombie orthopedists. That said, the compulsion to eat the flesh of the living drives one to do silly things. Silly things like not wear shoes or boots when one is searching for a warm body to eat. Such is the case for many of the zombies that found themselves starving and chasing down two caravans full of tasty morsels. For those zombies, none of them had thought to bring winter boots on this occasion. To be fair, most zombies don''t think much at all, but in this particular circumstance, they were all made from fresh local non-GMO corpses, though not cruelty-free in the slightest. These ecologically friendly zombies who did not build fires or contribute towards society in any way go of or bad only wanted to satisfy their base instincts. So, one could imagine that the gibberish that they screamed while they chased down their prey could come out as garbled screams, even when the zombish phrase, ''Welcome to Dunnamore, please stay forever and ever'' didn''t penetrate any thick skulls. So it was rather unfortunate when the first barefoot Undead dwarf met with a very elaborate icy slide. Unfortunate in a sense that they didn''t have a natural inclination in how to deal with such a problem. Fortunate for them in that several were able to propel themselves on the slight decline just by virtue of slipping on the zombies in front of them. Said zombies turned into a one dwarf bobsled team almost by accident. It wasn''t everyday that zombies worked together. And today wasn''t going to change that fact. But if all the zombies cared about was getting closer to dinner, and in doing so they didn''t have to move, then they were happy. Really it was just thanks to one person who had misjudged a card ability. If the zombies could have prayed to their God, they would have thanked them profusely at that time. And so it was that most of the horde of zombies got caught up on the ice. About a dozen were able to continue down unhindered, no thanks to their foot hygiene Of those, several were using other zombies as makeshift sleds. Were they doing this intentionally? No. Were they picking up speed? Yes.
"Stella?" "Yes, Sophie" "Are those fucking zombies bobsledding?" "It would appear so, Sophie." "And are they going faster now than they were before?" "It would appear so, Sophie." "Stella?" "Yes, Sophie?" "How do you kill a zombie who is bobsledding?" Forty The first sign that something had changed was that the scouts weren''t heading back at normal speed. The second sign was that they were keeping pace with, and probably talking to two large green creatures. They weren''t running, which was enough for the watch to wait until they had something to report. "Really? Big green guys walking with them and it took you five minutes to come down and tell me what''s going on?" He found himself saying. Anthony was a bit irritated. Several days of traveling together on the edge of conflict with the zombies gave them a singular purpose. It had not ironed out their differences. "Look here, guy," Brandon said. "We didn''t think it needed to be addressed but they''re all heading here. We''re all tired. We made a decision to observe a bit longer." Anthony deflated. He hadn''t realized how high strung he had been. Brandon was telling him something important. The bald monk in dwarven robes waited patiently for him. "I''m sorry I snapped at you. That wasn''t me. That was this whole situation." "Sonya said something to you, didn''t she?" Brandon said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She''s just exhausted and I think I pushed her too hard." "You didn''t ask for your scrub top back did you?" Anthony shook his head. A loud clunk sounded from behind the house. Both men studiously ignored it. "Even I''m not that stupid. She can keep it. The pants are mine though. It looks silly with a gambeson, but they''re designer. Plus I''m not getting a new pair out here. Maybe there''s a mending card that will help in case it gets ripped." "You guys need to work it out. You''re both too important to our survival," Brandon said. He held up his water skin and drained it. "Having the glass cannon and the leader date is a pretty big conflict of interest." "That it is. But there''s pretty slim pickings on this continent and dating should be the last thing on everyone''s mind." They both let that stand there. Anthony didn''t want to go too deep into the weeds. Her whole situation was a bit traumatic in many regards and there hadn''t been any space or time in which to heal. Plainsmount might give them the chance to actually rest instead of constantly shifting from more to less watchful. He had a dream that they might be able to actually stay somewhere for long enough that they could stop the horde, but there would be no resupply. No one was coming to save them. No one was coming to save him. Brandon tapped him on the shoulder. "So, do you want to send out a party to meet them?" "Brandon, three of our people are out scouting. Six are on enforced rest-" Anthony said. "You can''t make me!" Andrew said. He was clearly tinkering with something behind the house, and definitely close enough to eavesdrop. "-three are on watch of which you are one. The other three are myself, Finley and Zan, and we''ll be taking over for you around dinnertime. Who do you want me to send?" Anthony said. "That''s an excellent point. We can just greet them at the wall." A wall of flame extended from behind the house. "Let''s go to the wall; post haste," Anthony said. "I couldn''t agree with you more." They scrambled to get away from Andrew''s experiments.
"That one is supposed to be a flame flinger. I do hope that he changes the name," Anthony said, safely from on top of the wall. "Flame flinger? I mean it sounds unique because he has never heard of a flame thrower?" Brandon replied. "Like he is scaring the horses and that''s as close as we can get to a sacred rule: you don''t fuck with the horses." "Yeah, that sounds about right. They are the reason that we''re not dead after all. And here they are now." The two tall orcs reached nearly the top of the wall. It was designed to stop human and dwarven zombies from breaking it. Finley had even shown up to observe after he realized that Anthony wasn''t coming down. "So you have some history with the orcs, do any of their markings on their face or their leather armor mean anything?" Anthony said. "That''s not any configuration I have ever seen. They are far afield of where I have seen any orc. They might be part of a migrating tribe. Not every orc is part of their meritocracy," Finley said. "I have a suspicion that one or both have an epic tier card based on how strong they feel at this distance." "You can tell that from here?" Anthony hissed. They were nearly within talking distance. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "Yes. It takes some time but if they were to unleash their power, you would certainly feel it as a sort of pressure. The situation would be a lot worse if they wanted to fight you. I suspect that whatever they have to say is going to be informative at the very least." Anthony looked at him with new eyes. Perhaps Sadie needed to ask more questions about which questions to ask the elf. He hadn''t expected such a specific detail to come up. "We''re going to have to talk about this later. But for now, treat them like our guests," he said, descending the ladder. Anthony approached the group. Bob had already dismounted and was helping Stella down as well. She looks determined to do it on her own, and he is equally ready to help. Even the orcs are watching the display with a fair bit of amusement. Hopefully, their smiles meant the same thing that a human would. "Hey Bob, what''s going on?" Anthony said, extending a hand to Bob. Bob readily shook it. If something was afoot this would be where Bob would pass the safe word or some kind of message. "Well we met Borgan and Song out there and they have an interesting story to tell, but first we need to show them a zombie. They have been walking cross country for the past two weeks, and they''re finding it hard to believe that what we''re saying is true," Bob said. "It''s a pleasure to meet anyone who is still among the living," Anthony said. "We can show you some of the corpses that have been decomposing since yesterday. Would that be sufficient?" "That will do," The one called Borgan said. His companion nodded. In short order, Finley walked them around to the southern side of the city. Several short unmarked graves lay there with sunflowers peeking up. It didn''t take long for the orcs to realize what had happened. Borgan took a knee, retching at the sight of it. Next to him, Song just stared off into space for a long time. Eventually someone brought water for them and they were ushered to the staging area. The two orcs readily ate whatever was served to them. Stella was happier than a clam to feed them after talking their ears off on their walk. By this time it was late afternoon and Anthony was still reeling from the discovery of living enlightened beings. He had fully expected to never see any until they got off of the continent. The fact that two were in front of them right now, gave him hope. "What do you think they want to do now? Stella, you seem to have the best read on their situation," he said, inspecting the stew. It wasn''t the worst one she had made. They stood back away from the orcs, leaving them to discuss things with their sign language. "They probably want to warn their clan about what''s going on. Chances are that most of their clan has been turned, killed or eaten," she whispered. "The way that they know how to go there is something that their clan taught them? Or at best is a card skill?" It was eerie how quiet they were. "They didn''t say and we didn''t ask. Don''t promise something stupid right now. There''s no way that we can take down a tribe of zombie orcs. There''s nothing-I mean, just look at them. Borgan is like two meters tall. He could definitely outun one of our horses if he had to. Not for long maybe but he could. Do you really want to wade into a forest and fight a tribe of those?" Anthony gave her the dad face. He wasn''t mad, just disappointed. "We have a duty to-" "Anthony." "-to this world." Anthony realized that he was brandishing a soup spoon to her and had gone far into the fight part of fight or flight for the second time that day. Stella was also holding a slatted soup spoon out like it was a knife. This was exactly the time that Anthony realized that he was facing down a rogue. "Fuck." "I can assure you that we can both lose this fight. Or I can win. Your choice," she said, holding the spoon like she meant it. "Stella, I''m so sorry. This is not my day at all," he said. He tried to unclench himself, but the threat of her even in the abstract made him hold onto the spoon even harder. "You both need to take a chill pill," Sophie said, as the air suddenly dropped significantly in temperature. The cold air combined with the ridiculousness of fighting his head cook and scout finally got to him. "Stella, this whole situation is getting to me. I didn''t mean anything." Stella gave him a full body hug. Anthony let himself be held. Then he dropped the spoon. Stella put her spoon to his neck as she stepped back. "You''re a dead man now," she said, giggling. "I need a vacation." From around the campfire, they heard clapping. The two orcs had apparently been watching them and were enjoying the show. Anthony took a deep breath, inhaling the odor of a teenager ready for date night. Then he exhaled the expectation that he wouldn''t lash out unexpectedly. It would happen again and he would do his best in the moment. It was all he could do. "That was an impressive show. Do you humans often fight with your cookware?" Borgan said, standing up. "If not, it would do well. There was just enough angst there for us to think that we might want you for part of our troupe." "Your troupe?" Anthony said. "We''re traveling bards as well as members of the clan," the orc replied. "You may or may not have noticed our large weapons cases. It''s not only weapons but also selected instruments as well." Borgan went on to explain how it was part of their travels to learn more about other cultures and bring back stories. It was something they had been trained for by the clan since they were younger. They loved traveling to the Irumian kingdom. This gathering was one of the few chances to see the entire clan gathered in one place. It was held every second year. Part of their duties were to spread the information about when the gathering would take place. That was why they had been so late, they had been trying to find some of the further flung Green Fang. "Guys, I have to be honest right now. There is a real chance that if you go to that gathering, not only will you die but every story about your clan will die with you. We strongly believe that the death knights have marched on this gathering for a reason. None of us are sure of how they know what they know, but we have a good feeling of where they are," Anthony said. "I will assemble my war council but I can''t guarantee anything." "Either way, we must know the fate of our clan," Borgan said. Anthony waved Finley over. Bob had never left. Anthony explained the situation to them as best as he could. Bob added some flavor to the discussion based on his trek out. Bob called in a few more people to sit in on the discussion. Anthony was pleased when Sonya arrived. She had been sleeping. Without saying anything, she sidled up next to him and kissed him. It was the last thing that he was expecting. It didn''t activate his fight or flight response but he did a little happy dance. Having her around made him feel so much better that he wasn''t even aware that he was being watched by most of the camp at that time. Of course when he did they were all smiling and he knew that they just wanted to back him up. So he smiled back. Sonya grabbed his hand and sat down next to him. "So I hear we''re going to war?" Forty One "We''re already in a war. We''ve been discussing potential battle plans. Wait, what did you hear?" The care with which Sonya approached Anthony looked genuine. Finley had seen that kind of look before. It was something shared between family members or long-time friends. Perhaps she would be able to help him with his outbursts. Although walking up and surprising him like that, probably wouldn''t have gotten the same reaction that she wanted. "I heard that you got into a fight with Stella with spoons? Or was it a food fight? If you''re two timing me with that rogue then I don''t even want to hear about it." Anthony raised a hand, blinked several times and then settle down into a seat. "What is a food fight? Unless you are tossing potatoes at each other, I don''t really want to hear about it," Finley said. "Guys, it was nothing like that I swear," Anthony said, potentially realizing that he was the center of everyone''s attention. Even the orcs were watching him. The two people standing watch on the walls had turned, facing inside. "Right. You''re going to say this in front of our new friends?" Sonya said. "They just got here and you''re already making up lies about me? Maybe I should join up with them instead!" Anthony looked horrified. Sonya stepped back. Finley needed them all to concentrate on the current problem. Humans, like their salvage piles, were all over the place. "You called a meeting, do you want to begin talks with them?" Finley said. "If I might interject, I know orcs are big on hospitality and formality so let us discuss what we have to discuss with them." Stella and Sophie brought out tables from one of the houses. As they did so the orcs looked at the wall, examining how it was made. Every so often, Song would sign excitedly to Borgan. Borgan would sign back with far less enthusiasm, or say something low an inaudible. They returned to sit on the ground around the fire pit. Finley watched as Stella put another pot of something on before returning to them. The tables next to them had dozens of refreshments, another human thing that Finley was beginning to understand. Elves made eating its own thing, a special time for them to be with family and guests. Humans attacked piles of jerked meats and cheeses like they were vultures. It was cute in a way, and thankfully quiet. "Pardon me, but my brother wants to know about the walls. He has never seen such a design. Were they always like this?" "This was card magic, combining the work of two different casters," Finley said. It wouldn''t do to give away his trade secrets. Or rather, their trade secrets. Nothing more needed to be said unless they wanted to pay a retainer for such privileged information. Though what he would do with any money at this point in his career stumped him. "The work is quite thorough. We appreciate fine craftsmanship, and now that we know that it was made, it has an even more interesting background. Shall we begin?" Borgan said, raising an unlit torch. He passed it to Anthony. It was an orc thing to give the speaker the floor. To represent that the clan worked with unity, they passed around the torch one at a time. Anthony wouldn''t know any of this, what with being human and from another world and all. Anthony raised the torch. "First, thank you for coming to see the devastation that has been happening. We understand that you wish to go find out what has become of your clan." Anthony passed the torch back to Borgan. "That is correct. If it is as bad as you say, we would request your help." Finley expected somebody else would reach out for the torch but Borgan passed it back to Anthony. Anthony looked about to see if anybody else wanted to speak. "I have to be very honest with you right now. All of us believe in our hearts that if you go there,, it will mean certain death. All of us, save for Finley, have a purpose here. It would do no good for any of us to be captured or killed. Most of the people you see here were either hours or days away from being turned. We have a very strong reason to believe that a death knight, an intelligent Undead, is leading an attack on your clan''s gathering. If he has not killed them all by now, he will have turned most of them. Any stragglers will be hard to find for us but a lot easier for the death knight and his horde." The orcs nodded. Borgan held out his hand for the torch. It was passed back once again. He held it up high with one arm, before lowering it to the ground. "What we were asking for is some help. We wouldn''t be able to make it on our own, if this is the case but-" Song lowered his hand on Borgan''s shoulder. The slap of the meat meeting meat made Finley shudder. "-we have to know if this has happened. If they are under siege or dead, we need to know." Finley felt a knot in his gut. It wasn''t a familiar feeling. He raised a hand, palm up and chest height to request the speaker role. The torch made it''s way through two pairs of hands to get to him. "This is too big of a problem for us to fight. Orc clans are large and we have seen so much death. The near certainty that you are walking into a trap gives me pause. Would your client have wanted you to throw yourself away for them? If they are dead, they will still be there tomorrow and the day after that." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Song signed to Borgan. The torch was moved back quickly. Both brothers held on as Borgan spoke. "I speak for my brother in this. Even if we have to get closer and then find out far what''s going on, we need to know. And so, we request your help. In exchange, we will do our best to help you." Anthony leaned forward, waiting for them to send the stick his way. By now, everyone was used to this and they passed it back to him. "If we did this, we would have to have the whole group agree. We cannot go alone and I would never break us up. So it has to be volunteers. If you want to do this, and potentially take down this death knight, this is the time," Anthony said. "We need to all be on the same page." Sonya held up a hand, then Andrew. Bob slowly raised his hand. Stella and Sophie raised theirs as well. The rest of the humans raised their hands. "Well?" Anthony said, turning to Finley. "What is this whole hand raising business?" --- "Alright we are going to establish a bounty system," Anthony said. "One kill is one card piece. Some of you are in support roles and might not get that same opportunity, so we''ll give a card piece for an assist. If we do this, then we need to think tactically. Whoever this undead chosen is, they''re also newly summoned to this world, or at least we assume. They don''t know that we have what we have." Anthony wasn''t going to give up their status as chosen to the orcs so easily. They would keep their secrets close to the chest. But when sharing intelligence, he had to make sure that they were on the same page. "You both have a bard class?" Bob asked, clearly knowing the answer. "Anything we can use in a fight?" "Song and I can perform music to increase your speed, strength or magical control. There are also some offensive songs that we know," Borgan said. "Alright. So we go in and our worse case scenario is that the entire clan and then some has been turned. If that happens then we do a slow retreat, trying to get the death knight to play his cards," Anthony said, sketching on the ground. "Our mages will create a corridor of death, funneling the zombies towards us. Sonya, you can make strong looking walls, right?" "That won''t be a problem, Anthony. You want them funneling towards the monks and warriors?" "Yes. Those we will keep as our small frontline, swapping them in and out as needed. However, and I say this because Bob and I lived it, once the death knight is dead and the undead legion becomes brainless once again, the plan changes. Once that happens we beat a hasty retreat, and play tower defense. Make them spread out coming here so we can take them out one at a time. This may require the orcs to leave faster. Can you both run?" The orcs nodded empathetically. "We can speed up significantly. Song is also skilled at animal husbandry if needed and can steer a caravan," Borgan said. "Weeks of traveling made us fast and strong. You won''t need to worry about clan Green fang." Anthony''s sketch was getting more and more complicated. The funnel began to take shape. "This is beginning to look like a pyramid scheme," Sonya whispered into his ear. "How many people do I need to sign up to make double diamond rank?" Anthony couldn''t help but laugh. He considered the whole thing a tactical role playing game or real time strategy game because otherwise would have been too real. Sonya obviously considered their lives here to be a tower defense game. Meanwhile, Bob was playing Assassin''s creed, and Finley? Finley was playing Stardew Valley. "All right, I''m going to ask the question here now. Does everyone understand the plan?" Anthony said. A chorus of nods and yeses greeted him. His team understood what was going to happen. "All right everybody. Let''s get ready. Mount up in five minutes," he said.
"This is going to have to be quick," She said. "There''s no way that we have time for anything long. Maybe later. Can I give you something extra this time and you do the same next time?" "I''m impressed that you came to me like this. I''ll agree to this. A little extra sugar this time for mommy and you''ll get your treat." "That is a terrible way to put it, but sure."
Bob, Mork''s point man, was out front. The caravan, including their new orcish allies followed closely behind. They were approaching what he generally thought of as their top speed. It was dinnertime, or at least his stomach said so. Stella had insisted on feeding everyone something, but most of them were too jittery to eat. The pastoral scene of waving fields of tall yellow grass did nothing to calm his nerves. Andrew had continued to work away at his flame flinger the entire time and as the cart had come up front, he had mounted the weapon on the back of it. As they crested the last mile before the plains gave way to the evergreen forest, the wind whipped up a near storm around them. His horse for this journey was still the strong stoic bay mare from the morning. This was where the orcs had encounter them. He checked his card, hoping for something.
Epic Skill Card: Pathfinder Level 2 Find a friend or foe within six spans unerringly. As this card advances, the range advances.
It was then that he realized that it had finally advanced to level two. This came with another problem.
Rare Class Card: Ranger Level 3 Skills: Divine Spellcasting Level 2 Animal Handling Level 2 Favored Enemy Level 2 Field Craft Level 3 Weapon Proficiency Level 3 This is a soul card and cannot be removed. This card grants mana. As a ranger, you may pick another favored enemy at each level.
He had the ability to pick another favored enemy and had considered picking orc to see if they stacked. A doubly favored enemy would potentially give some bonuses. Not that he had any idea what that would change. Monkeying around with the magic of this world had seemed like something that he was not going to touch with the eleven foot pole. He was going to take the advantages when he could take them and avoid the bad parts. It was then that his Pathfinder skill pinged. His concentration on the death knight was pulled completely onto focus. He knew more than anything else that it was within six span of where he was. He wasn''t sure exactly how much six span was, but he thought it was close to a kilometer. Bob generally dealt only with freedom units except when baking. As such, he figured it was about two to four miles away the most. He also had a good lock on the direction of the death knight. His pathfinder skill worked a lot better at the expansive distance and he felt ready to rumble. He sent up his little signal flag to let everyone know that they were finally within range. Forty Two "Well that''s pretty fucked," Anthony said looking down at the scene. "Sonya, you''re up." Right as they got closer to the forest, several dozen undead made their appearance. They arrived in pairs and squads. They marched with a purpose. Between them, the field went up and down so the zombies would be going down into the valley first before they could approach them at the top of their small hill. It was a good place to defend or at least pretend to defend. The hope was that it would slow them down before they got to the first trench. All the zombies needed to do was to play their part. Monks were on both sides of their formation, piles of rocks at the ready as they loaded up sling after sling. Their job was just to keep the zombies from wheeling around them and attacking from the flank. Sonya might have overdid it a bit, shaping the earth around the hill, but she hadn''t fully encircled them. The project was about to begin in earnest. Sonya had told him that she would definitely have the mana needed to pull out an ace. "Sonya?" "It would be my pleasure," She said, before turning to kiss him. "Wish me luck!" Sonya had created what had to be her Magnum Opus. Anthony swelled with pride. For as put together and intimidating and intelligent enemy force could be, gravity was still a bitch. Sonya was going to be a badder bitch.
Zan and Bob took turns firing magic missiles on some of the larger targets. She, having studied the skill extensively, had added it as a magic spell to her own arsenal. Hers didn''t have the same range as him but as they were closing in, it mattered, less and less. From a few dozen, the dwarf zombies began to mass into nearly a hundred or more. They continue to pound the enemy, picking off more of them as they got closer. Even as they picked more off and got better, the horde continued to pour out of the trees. Anthony checked out the fortifications as he got the caravan turned around. It would do no good to not have an exit plan. Then he heard the lilting melody of two guitars. He looks to see two lutes being played by the orcs. They held their lutes like they were in a rock concert. Anthony was very interested by this development as everything went into sharp focus. He checked his active deck, pleased to see that his cleric card had finally reached level three. The control that the bards gave made him feel like he could really finely apply his skills.
Rare Class Card: Cleric Level 3 Skills: Divine Spellcasting Level 2 Divine Rituals Level 1 Heal Level 2 Survival Level 4 Medicine Level 4 This is a soul card and cannot be removed. This card grants mana. As a cleric, you must have a patron deity.
He was pretty happy with the changes. He went back to check on Sonya. In the short time that they had been there, she had designed an entire series of trenches and walls that would give the zombies endless problems. She had moved earth around so that there were three walls next to three trenches so the trenches were twice as deep as they would otherwise be. What she had done next was add a bit of flair, making parts of the trenches closer to a pit trap. The walls were also twice as high where they were adjacent to the trenches. At the same time, she expanded the walls to both sides so the zombie horde couldn''t just run around it. If they were the tower, it was well defended. When she finally took a knee, the zombies were nearly at their figurative front gates. That was when Sophie began her work in earnest. Sophie and Stella took turns. From the very first of the walls they rained down ice and lightning. The ice luge that they created began to pull zombies as they climbed. Those that would have otherwise made it did not, falling backwards to trip others. Anthony looked around counting his people one by one. Then he looked down. Of the hundred zombies that had charged them, running up the hill, several dozen had already fallen prey to their problems. A few had made it into the first trench and were stuck there. It would have been a nice time for him to have an overview of the map. If there was a drone card, one where he could have an overhead flying picture of the battle, he would have chosen that card. It would have shown his battle plan in a way that he could really dig into. He had to trust the process and his people. "I can''t see the death knight anywhere. I''m going to make it their problem," he whispered. The big question on Anthony''s mind was this: was a death knight was tougher than a regular zombie? He supposed that it probably was. He also knew how laser focused Bob had been on defeating the death knights before. Bob was not going to let them have the chance to escape. There was a lull in the horde''s charge. Glints of gold revealed a small black cat sorting through bodies. Two ladders extended from the first wall up to the second. Sophie headed up the ladder to the second level as the horde threatened to pile up onto the wall. Behind her, two of the monks ran up the ladders and then removed them. Zombie dwarves swarmed up over the wall, their hands scrambling for purchase. Sophie spent her mana like water. Next to her, the monks used slings to launch rocks over and over again. Brandon scored a hit. For a long moment, Anthony held his breath. Finley was in the back line waiting to use refresh on whoever needed it. "Sophie looks like she is flagging," Anthony said. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "On it," Finley said. The elf ran over to tag her with a refresh. "Thanks!" She said, "Can you check on Stella? She''s pushing as hard as she can as well." Finley ran over and tagged her with a refresh. The jolt of the mana leaving his body made him shiver. He just needed some time to reset himself. He wasn''t going to get it here though. Any more and he was going to lose more than he wanted to. The green nearly overcame him in that moment. He pushed it back. A white firework fizzled over the horde. Instantly, Finley lay down to scope out what had happened. The music stopped as an orc appeared from the trees. Its large frame was a grayish green. His first thought was that it was a dreadful change to a terrible day. The fizzle had to have been one of the casters spotting the target. "Orcs are coming!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He tapped into the green, massing mana where he would need it. More wouldn''t destroy him. The flow of dwarves zombies halted as orcs began to filter in behind them. Either there were no more left or the orcs had been held back. The mass of orcs smashed through the lines, moving through the dwarves like a teacher pushing aside a tour group of rowdy children. The dwarves went everywhere, pushed or kicked aside. Of course it was orcs. Even in his wildest dreams, Finley knew that it was going to end with orcs. If it had to have been an accountant, he would have been found out in the capital. He didn''t even know what crime he would have committed but the accountants would have found something. Then they would have pinned it on him and his whole facade would have dropped. Something about their accounting practices would have revealed the truth about him. Tinkers weren''t known to be violent. Inside the community, violence was not only unheard of but beyond a last resort. No one ever killed anyone. Though it might have been rumored to be otherwise and people tended to stay away because of unfounded stories. So when he was brought in and joined the Tinker community, it was something that he hadn''t even considered. Despite how he was, they took him in. Despite the green. Finley watched in horror as another group of orcs ran around their right flank trying to overrun Sonya''s walls. Zan and Sonya began firing off spells rapidly. They might be glass cannons, but they were definitely cannons. Attacks flew with a ferocity that he had never seen before. He was proud of the human for growing so fast in such a short amount of time and hoped that she wouldn''t burn out before he was able to refresh her again. She had been one of the kindest ones. Sophia and Stella had been worked to the bone, their mana depleted. They had been slumped over on the highest wall when the orcs broke out. When the orcs showed up in the battlefield they got themselves back up. In short order. Finley wished that he had a bow to give them. And some arrows. They got up and began throwing rocks with the monks. Every so often one of them would loose an ice or electric bolt. Sonya even stopped attacking to raise a two meter tall wall to stop the attack. The tall orcs were nearly large enough to get over the walls without having to work for it. Once one of them went down though they would climb on the back of the next stepping up. They shouldn''t be this fast was what he thought as he tapped into the green. Five orcs charged him as he pulsed magic. If they had been any other creatures he might have fallen back, but they were orcs. Finley knew how to deal with orcs. Behind him, the bardic tunes reached a crescendo as he extended himself. The green flowed as he tapped into his Spore powers. He stood on both feet facing the flanking horde, both hands extended. He let it free. Mama poured out of him. He was the green, nothing more and nothing less. He said a silent prayer to the Goat Lord. If there ever was a time for the Goat Lord to show up, this will be the time. He just hoped it wasn''t too little too late. His entire body turned green. Skin hardened, turned into a hard mossy covering. The Orcs slowed to a crawl and then miraculously, stopped. Finley took a knee, his entire flesh a distinctly different color than he remembered. "Thank you, Finley," he said.
The dozens of undead orcs that had charged, flanking from the right had all been consumed by a wall of green plant life. Most of them were now covered in mushrooms. Anthony wasn''t sure if they were going to continue moving or not. Finley''s push into the green had to have activated some magic that he''d never seen before for the briefest moment. Anthony remembered that he''d never taken a good look at the druids card. Sure, Finley had complained about it, but with how strong it was, he had expected less. Anthony was more than happy to start casting a healing spell on Finley. When he directed his healing touch towards him though everything felt off and jumbled. Finley didn''t look like he was entirely healing so Anthony broke it off. "Finley, are you okay?" Anthony didn''t notice the aperture opening behind him. He didn''t see the death knight walking out, sword at the ready. He didn''t notice a bloody fast death coming towards him. What he did notice was Finley looking beyond him in shock horror. Before Anthony could turn around, Finley''s arm shot past him. The long green arm extended at least two or three times his body length to catch a sword. The death knight cleaved Finley''s arm into two pieces. Green ooze dripped out of the vine like inhuman arm. Anthony turned to face the death knight. Half of Finley''s severed arm, more plant than muscle, lay their quivering on the ground beyond it. The rest of it had extended and tried to wrap around the death knight''s sword holding it to the ground. Finley looked like he was losing a considerable amount of the green blood. Anthony was going to have to make this time count. "I''ll kill you!" Anthony said, getting his first view of the death knight. A tall woman with a bastard sword greeted him by pulling the sword up and out of Finley''s grip. She looked him dead in the eyes. Aside from some of her grating skin, she looked like a model. Her red eyes bore into him, and Anthony realized that he was going to have to fight for his life. Anthony pulled out the only weapons he had. A hammer and a short sword made their appearance as he dodged a savage blow. This time the death knight wasn''t going to wait for anything. She was full on trying to get Anthony off of the wall. Finley looked like he was moving further away, Anthony knew that he was going to have to protect their best chance of survival. Blade met blade as he stopped the bastard sword with his short sword and hammer together. The cross block that he made illustrated the point that the death knight was far stronger than he was. He gritted his teeth and took one step back. He was going to have to inch his way back and give his party a chance to take her down. "Bob! Stella! Some help here!" He said, taking another step further back. He took a glancing blow to the shoulder and black Mist poured out of the spot. The death knight didn''t even have the decency to be an ugly person. In another life he could see himself getting with her. He nearly dropped his weapons until he realized that she was trying to distract him. "Oh you''re going to get it now. Daddy''s here and he is going to protect all of his kids," Anthony said. The death knight missed and Anthony tried to take a stab at it. Because the bastard sword was long, he got within her guard and then smashed its right hand with his hammer while keeping his sword arm unencumbered to block. The immediate effect of the smashing was that it now held the bastard sword in one hand. He stepped back, putting some more distance between them. If it was truly so easy, then he might be able to live through this. Of course! The death knight might have some sort of magic but Anthony suspected that it was gate aligned magic based on how it arrived here. That was when he saw Sonya, Stella, and Bob closing in on his location. Bob fired up a Magic Missile destroying the death knight''s right hand. Sonya and Bob looked determined to be the first one to kill it. Anthony wanted to risk a glance at Finley as he knew that the elf was behind him. He couldn''t risk it. Finley was a big elf and he would be able to take care of himself. Anthony ducked underneath a bastard sword swing. The death knight, it seemed, was not accustomed to fighting with only one of its arms working. Then his heel touched the edge of the wall. It charged at him. Forty Three Anthony was so surprised that he took the tackle head on. Unfortunately for Anthony, they had reached the end of the wall. Finley had gotten clear as the death knight pushed Anthony. Both of them fell. There was a second in which they were in free fall and Anthony questioned everything in his life. His life didn''t flash behind his eyes but he did get the feeling that someone was preparing a slide show for his benefit. "Fuck this shit!" They fell for at least ten feet, both crunching against the ground. Anthony could feel something breaking in his back. He cursed again, crying out in pain. She was upon him. The death knight was now sitting on his stomach, trying to pull her unwieldy bastard sword up for another swing. Everything slowed down around Anthony as the sword went up. Somewhere along the fall, the death knight had lost her grip and only the need to adjust had saved Anthony a small respite. The little voice in Anthony''s head that sounded a lot like Finley pulled at his mana reserves. It was now time for him to act like a cleric. And if there was one thing that Anthony wanted to do ever since he got into this world, ever since he went to nursing school it was to heal himself. And if there was a way to heal the death knight? Anthony would be the first one to figure it out. "Heal!" He said placing one hand on himself and one hand on her. Where his bare hand contacted the death knight''s body, it burned. Blue flames shot up from his outstretched hand as it went deeper, sinking into her torso. She stopped short, nearly dropping her sword. Unfortunately for him, at this time she flashed a smile. She was a predator, and he was her prey. She punched him in the face with her broken hand, then adjusted her grip. Anthony knew that she wouldn''t stop next time. "Fuck! Take that!" He yelled. Blue smoke poured out, obscuring her face. This was probably the only time in the recorded history of this world where someone had tried to heal a death knight. It did not go well for either the undead or the person trying to heal it. As her visage shuddered, she began to bring its bastard sword up with her one full remaining hand. If he died right here, he could accept this trade. His friends would be along to finish it off, shortly, even if his death was just a distraction. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he might rise again as a death knight. That little bit kept him going, kept the spark alive. He might die, but he would be damn sure that he would take her down with him. She breathed down upon him, icy breath that spoke of the need for regular dental checkups. Anthony struggled against the weight of the tall thick woman. He had a quick flashback to his night with Sonya. He realized in a panic that it wasn''t going to workout nearly as well for him. There wasn''t much else for him to do except dump all of his mana in a final Hail Mary attack. His tunnel vision narrowed on her, mana focusing on one final push. She raised her arm up to take a swing. For some reason Anthony remembered his days playing at the arcades. He raised his right hand to her neck. It had never felt so heavy and at the same time, so light. "Holy Bolt!" A white bolt of mana blew a basketball sized hole in her shoulder. The holy bolt continued on arcing into the sky as it lit up the battlefield. Her head hung limply on the opposite side. The bastard sword did not stop moving. Anthony embraced his death. He had always wanted to die a good death and- He was interrupted by part of the wall coming out to grab the death knight''s arm. The wall enveloped the bastard sword and then began to pull. The red eyes of the death knight opened wide with alarm. She began to scramble to get up. "Stay away from my fucking boyfriend," the most beautiful voice he had ever heard said. "Because I don''t want to be that girl but this isn''t the time to be playing ''Pick me'' girl. Because I just took a DNA test-" The earth next to Anthony crunched. The death knight was far too late. "And I''m one hundred percent that bitch!" Anthony relaxed into the ground. He was going to have to get up, but perhaps he had a minute? Satisfied that he had done enough. His hand dropped onto the ground and came up wet. "Oh. Yeah I did hit the ground pretty hard," he said, slipping into unconsciousness.
The effect after she had crushed the death knight was immediate. Most of the zombies slowed down significantly and lost their direction. A few kept moving towards them, but without a coordinated effort, then instead began to walk around, looking for their next meal. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Mount up!" Sonya said, drawing her dagger. "Hey! Just because uh-" Bob said peering down. "Just fucking do it, Bob," She said. "And get Finley. I''ll get Anthony. We''re going to need you to heal them." Bob went to grab the quivering green mass that had been an elf earlier that day. Stella was already getting people to the escape route. Sophie, now behind the front lines, was counting people and horses. "Sophie! Two wounded!" Sonya yelled. "Make room!" Sonya tapped into her warlock powers, feeling the well nearly dry. She would have nothing left soon, but Zan could take her place. "Zan! Wide area defense! I''m getting our wounded out of here!" She yelled. "On it! Zappity zap!" Zan yelled back. Electric lightning sparks raced out of her hands towards the few orcs that had remained on the walls. Sonya used the earth as an elevator, taking her magic from an eighth of a tank to nearly empty. She pulled the corpse of the death knight out of the earth using the remainder of her power. Using her dagger, she quickly cut the soul card out of the death knight. The dark black card looked ominous, and she quickly tucked it away. The black card pieces right next to it glowed, and she put them away as well. More than anything, she wanted to make sure that the death knight really had been crushed. That she was easily able to harvest its soul card meant that it was done. If nothing else, the magic behind the death knights required the magic of a card in its soul deck. "I know I''m a queen, I don''t need no crown," she muttered, picking up Anthony. His back was dripping wet, possibly with blood. She stiffened. Sonya pulled on her warlock powers, pulling his gambeson as close as possible to his skin. It was the best she could do to shrink it, turning Anthony into a shrink wrapped sandwich from his torso down. She lifted him up, then slung him over her shoulder.
Andrew thought that everything that the humans did was odd. This whole world with its odd magic was reason enough for him to stick with them for the long term though. That and the ability to make his flame flinger. Only heathens would call such a beautiful instrument of destruction a flamethrower. One didn''t just throw flames. One flung them. Flames were meant to be flung. As the sun began to set though, he finally got his wish. Andrew, one of the first to reach the caravan, got to set up everything. There was a reason that his cart, the uncovered wagon, was the last one in the line. Sparkling brass lifted off the final rays of sunshine as he came close to touching it. It was the closest thing he''d ever had to a religious experience when he created it. And now, he would deliver hot Justice. "Mount up!" Bob yelled again. The horses began to run. "Everyone is on board!" Sophie yelled back. "Or mounted!" Brandon added, from atop the horse next to him. He nodded to Andrew. "Hold on, then!" Stella said from the front of his cart. The horses began to move in earnest. There would be time to go back for the bodies and the loot. Hundreds of mindless orcs were following them, and they needed to create space. "Zan, are you ready, lass?" He said. Zan began forming mana in her hand, passing them to him. He didn''t need much, but without one of them holding it, they would quickly dissolve into motes of mana that he couldn''t use. That wouldn''t help much for his experimental gee shooter. "Can I have the second fling?" She said. "Lass with you," he said, letting a flame loose at the zombies, "It ain''t nothing but a gee fling!" The flames flew, arcing over the ground towards the closest enemies. It looked like a small meteor hated the orc that it came into contact with. "I got next. Also, that only counts for one," Zan said, passing mana to him. "Aye, that will work," Andrew said, passing the controls to her. "Now aim with-" She took the controls, her eyes alight. Her shot hit two orcs and a dwarf. "Four!" She squealed. Andrew wasn''t afraid for himself. He feared what she could do with his tools. After all, he has made the tool, but she supplied the ammunition. The flames began to spark into a wildfire behind them. Andrew turned his attention to their surroundings. He didn''t know how dry the tall grass was, but it wouldn''t take much. "Three!" Andrew said. "Well, this is going to be something, Andrew. I think that this is going to save us," Zan said, swapping out with him. Neither one of them was certain how long that the gee thing would last. The testing was supposed to go on the following day, and barring some initial test runs that day, the pair had run out of time. His gee thing was getting its field test today. "I hope that we can get Sonya back to full working strength, because this might spread into a larger fire if we''re not careful," Andrew said. Aiming at the nearest set of orcs. He flung another volley of flame, hitting their legs. "Two more!" "We need to worry about getting out of here first. That and are we finally getting further away from them? Did the horses pick up the pace?" "Perhaps the fire did something? I would want to trot my arse off if I saw that behind me. I know that they had a vague sense of what was going on," he said.
Bob, Mork''s best in show pony, knelt in the back of the first caravan. An unconscious Anthony was there. He was probably going to make it through. Bob had spent all of his mana, then waited two full minutes before doing it again. He knew that he was going to have to go out there. His work wasn''t done, but without Anthony himself acting as the cleric, he was going to have to fill in. Their backup healer, Finley, was in the next wagon-his original wagon laying prostrate. Bob had given the green man one look before stepping to deal with Sonya''s stoic face. She had sat next to Bob, and without saying anything, they both had an understanding of how important Anthony was to their survival. Both of them would do their damned best to destroy their enemies. Bob began to keep pace with the rear caravan. The uncovered wagon, the group''s first new set of wheels, had served them well. It now looked like it had a grenade gun mounted on the back. At least that was how the brass instrument looked to Bob. The caravan started to put distance between themselves and the horde. The two living orcs sat huddled in the last cart as Zan and Andrew went at it. Sophie and Stella, he had ordered to take the front, leading the caravan back to Arva. Forty Four "I''m just wondering what man fumbled the play so bad that you''re out here running without a boyfriend?" He said, looking up at her. Sonya loomed over the wounded midwife. Inside the first house, a makeshift infirmary housed the wounded. It was cleared out except for the cot on which Anthony lay. Finley, he had been told, was in the master bedroom. "Aw, you''re sweet, but you are a bit too old for me. You need to be resting, Anthony," Sonya said. "I thought you said that age wasn''t a barrier the last two times?" He replied, holding her hand from the cot. "Just because my back was broken, doesn''t mean that we can''t do the thing we did at Arva that one time." "You need to rest, alright?" Sonya replied. "You''ve done enough for the rest of us and we need you at full strength when we determine our next route." "How is Finley?" Anthony said. "Much the same. Everything tells us that he is alive, but no one''s medicine skill is giving any helpful hints on what to do. It''s like he is in a coma." Anthony really wanted to sit up, but the orders were to stay put for at least a day. Then they would use a full torso cast until he was recovered. It wasn''t going to be something that he was excited for, but he had given enough sets of post delivery instructions to at least listen to his medical provider and spymaster. "You want Bob to come talk to me don''t you? Or is it Bob that wants to talk to me?" "He wants to make sure you''re okay. I don''t know if he even wants to be in charge. He feels terrible about what happened to Finley and you. He has been beating himself up. Thankfully Stella is with him. She''ll set him straight." Anthony winced. "Has she been hitting the stein hard?" Anthony said. "Finley and I were worried about her before." "She''s an adult. She can do what she wants," Sonya said. "That said, I think she understands." Anthony was worried about Stella. He was worried about the whole group, but in particular Stella seemed to have been hit pretty hard. Sonya had felt like the classic Canadian stoic who wouldn''t say a bad thing about her neighbor. "Alright. How are you doing?" He said. "Has anyone asked you that yet?" "I mean, I''m not the one with the broken back," she said. "It''s just a bone wound. Probably. If we didn''t have magic, I would have already died." "I would have died a long time ago. I might have already died," she said. "This is a really crappy afterlife if so." Anthony gripped her hand, as she leaned in. Her touch had him focused on how good it felt that he didn''t have to think about the group''s safety and security, at least for the moment. The worry that they would be attacked or overrun had been a constant problem. Now that one of the death knights had been dealt with, they could rest for at least a short time. "You know I just met you a few days ago and it''s been a while since I went on a date, but uh, do you think that we might try?" He said. "I think we can go on a date," she said, squeezing his hand. "That would be quite nice." "It will give me something to look forward to." Kissing his forehead, she let him know that she would also be looking forward to it.
Bob, current commander of Mork''s last caravan, was excited at the prospect of a lighter watch schedule. Borgan and Song had volunteered to take the night shift for some time. "Are you both certain that you''re okay with that?" He said. "Your feline creature saved us from having to carve up our relatives. That, in itself, feels blessed," Borgan said. "The night will soon be upon us and we need to repay our debts to you. Both of us have a night vision skill and Song thinks that we need time to mourn. I understand if this is strange to you." The orc had applied black paint in between some of the cracks in his tattoo. His brother''s entire face was covered in black ink. "If you want to take your time, we understand. I think we are going to spend some time here while we figure out where to go next. I think that I speak for all of us when I say that I appreciate your help out there. You might not think that you did much, but I felt it," Bob said, extending his arm. Borgan accepted the hand and turned the handshake into a bro hug. Bob, unused to being the little one in the hug equation, gracefully accepted it. Borgan left him to return to his brother. The night after their victory, nearly the entire caravan stayed up the whole night. It hadn''t turned into a party, as there had still been orcs that they had to kill on their way back to Arva. It had become a watch session where people were allowed to drink from time to time. Anthony, as keeper of the watch schedule, hadn''t designated who would take it, so everyone volunteered. Bob had made half of them sleep at around midnight to make sure that someone would be there to guard them during the day. The horses were only so good at early warnings. Bob turned to watch the herd as it peacefully grazed around the house that had become an infirmary. The horses had kept their own vigil. After they had arrived, Brandon had let them all free to roam inside their staging grounds. The horses had accepted water when it was presented, but had really clung to the house where Anthony and Finley were. He wanted to talk to them but knew that he could only go so far. They could accept simple commands when he used animal handling. All but two were trained war beasts with the exception of the tinker trained mares. Sonya had let him know that Anthony was getting his strength back, which was enough for him. If Finley was able to break out of his coma, then they would be in a better place. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Bob saw that Stella was setting up dinner. His stomach grumbled loudly, asking why it hadn''t been satiated. He made his way over to the pot. It was time to tend to his needs. He couldn''t wait to hand back the reins to Anthony. The fire pit was equidistant from the two houses, roughly in the center of their walls. It really wasn''t far but he didn''t want to be asked another question. Too many questions about what the group of them would do next has risen up. With Anthony, they had a leader with a vision. With Finley, they had the best and only local guide. Without either? It was going to be tough.
"He is taking this hard, huh?" Sophie said. Bob was working his way to them slowly. Apparently he wanted to make sure that all of the horses were still aligned. Stella and Sophie saw him talking with Sonya. "At least we will get the update from Sonya," Stella said. "Anthony might be doing better, but Finley-" Both women shuddered. Seeing the person they had trusted so much in such pain; his arm had been cut off above the elbow. Sophie didn''t have any idea what he was going through but she really felt for the elf. "Do you think that he is going to be alright? Nobody really has any idea. I mean we used to see cases in the hospital where people got injured or they hurt themselves but, like, it was a mental hospital. If they had real problems, they would go to the real hospital." Stella stirred the pot a few times. Sophie had been handing her vegetables every now and then once they were done being cut up. She had really perfected her chopping. It was a shame that they didn''t have any onions. The little stock they did have had been quickly eaten as they gave the potatoes flavor. "Sophie, do you know what I would do for a fucking bottle of ketchup right now?" "I don''t know, what?" "Terrible, terrible things," Stella said, waving her spoon in the air. "But I can''t have any ketchup. And I sure as heck can''t fix Anthony myself or you know I will be out there fixing him. And the same of course goes for Finley." "You know Stella, if we had some sugar and some tomatoes, then I could probably make some ketchup. It would only have to be refrigerated," Sophie said. "I am willing to bet that your boyfriend over there knows exactly how to make ketchup. So if you don''t ask him, what I''m saying is that I will." Bob finally arrived, as if summoned. "Well here is the man in question. Bob. Do you think that you could make some ketchup if we had tomatoes?" "Do we have tomatoes? Because if so then heck yes," he said, pulling his hood down. He warmed his hands on the fire. A few seconds later, Stella grabbed him around the waist from behind. Sophie decided that that was about the time for her to go check on some of her other interests. "I''m going to take a break," she said, stepping back. "Heading to the clubhouse." "Stop trying to make ''clubhouse'' happen," Stella said. "It''s not happening." No matter what her side kick said, Sophie was going to call the house that wasn''t the infirmary the clubhouse. It was too bad that Stella would be the last one to call it that. She flicked up the set of cards that had caught her eye. Without Finley to distribute the loot equitably, she took it upon herself to organize their haul. She held six cards that had the power to change the course of someone''s life.
Uncommon Skill Card: Eldritch Spellcasting Level 1 This card grants mana. This card grants access to eldritch spells.
Uncommon Skill Card: Ritual Casting Level 2 This card grants mana. This card gives knowledge about how to cast prepared and ritual spells.
Common Skill Card: Enchantment Level 1 This card allows the user to imbue objects with mana. Effects depend on the related spell.
Common Skill Card: Survival Level 5 The wielder is more hearty and knows how to make the best of a bad situation.
Common Skill Card: Medicine Level 1 The wielder knows how to do basic first aid and some secondary aid.
Common Skill Card: Patron Pact Level 1 The wielder may arrange one pact bond through ritual magic. Benefits of the bond will be defined by the pact.
With the five she had, she was certain to make a warlock card. Sonya had been exceedingly strong with her warlock class and Sophie wanted to make one for herself. She hadn''t envisioned turning herself into a Rogue, much less adding wilderness druid and Warlock to the mix, but the group needed more firepower. Anthony had wanted a monk card, because he foolishly wanted to be on the front lines. Sophie wanted to be safe in the back with the ammunition. She grabbed the parts that she needed and the frame. If what Finley had said was correct then she was about to add to her already large arsenal. Sophie smiled and began to assemble her next card.
Stella and Bob finished cooking all of the dinner. "Hey Bob, do you think you can do the cleanup?" Stella said. "I think I''m going to go have a bit of a nap before my night shift. You''re joining me on that one, right?" "Oh I forgot to tell you. Borgan and Song asked if they could take the night shift. Since we helped him out so much and they wanted some time to themselves. Also, they have dark vision which is something that none of us have without using magic. I figured that one of us would check on them every few hours to make sure they''re all right but other than that, you are free for the night." Stella paused, staying in place. All the energy she put into getting up disappeared into the ether. "I am free? Huh. You''re still cleaning up, though?" "Yes, I am. Now I was thinking that we could go on a little moonlit stroll tonight and celebrate," he said. "Is that something you would be interested in?" "That sounds lovely. Let me go to the powder room and freshen up," Stella said, accepting Bob''s hand to get up. "Oh Bob, did I tell you what Sophie named her spear?" Bob looked up from the cleaning bin. "No, you didn''t? What did she name her spear?" "She named it Bob." "Probably because Bob is a great name," Bob said, smiling back at her. Stella went back to the clubhouse. She was not going to give Sophie the pleasure of letting her know that was what she also called it. She would hold out for as long as possible. Sophie had already vacated their team room, so Stella was alone. It was a perfect time to look into her deck. Stella brought out her newest prize, looking at the obsidian glint. "Aww, yeah that''s the good stuff," she said. "This world is going to be mine." Forty Five "I''m going to call this meeting to order. It has come to my attention that some of you fuck-ups, and I say that in the most generous loving way, need to have some sort of therapy in your lives. So being the experts that we are, Sonya and I have decided to help you all out. We''re going to call this group therapy. I want to say that it''s mandatory, but you all showed up, so good on you." Sophie said, locking eyes with a dozen people at the same time. "We just went through a lot. We''re going to go through some more. Now we''re going to talk about what we''re doing. I''m going to give this an hour, though we may take more or less time." A chorus of groans greeted her. Sonya had been good enough to give them an elevation from which to conduct this meeting. Each person had an earthen seat exactly molded to their specifications. "Your enthusiasm is noted. This is something I did a lot in the hospital. You can share as much or as little as you want to. The point of this is that you are able to speak freely about this and not let it weigh you down over time. Some of the things we experienced out there, no one should ever have to experience in your life," Sophie continued, talking to the crowd. The elevated therapy room was reachable only by ladder. Its dual purpose was to allow them to see in all directions, while they were effectively a tower in the middle of Arva. Sophie continued. "Shit, I used to have people that had PTSD just from normal activities. I had people come in because the parents had tortured them throughout the life acting as narcissists. We don''t have the luxury of not being a functional team. And with that, our social worker wants to facilitate this discussion," Sophie said, before turning to Sonya. "What we have to do is work together, and if we have to process our feelings, we need to do it away from all of the zombies," Sonya said. "This isn''t some tough love situation. In fact, I would like to go first. If no one has any objections? Nobody? Okay. This last week has been something of a rush for me. I feel like I never really got a break between the working and the spell casting to make our defenses and, well, the time I spent with Anthony. We all had a lot going on. We all had very important roles, very specific roles that kept us alive." Sonya paused to drink water. "Therapy isn''t a punishment. It''s a journey. You get to go to therapy, precisely because you survived. You shouldn''t feel guilty about surviving. But you don''t need to feel elated either. In fact, any emotion you feel about that is valid and we understand. Killing one death knight took a lot out of most of us. Though I don''t know what we''re going to be doing next, three more exist. Each one is a crime against humanity." Sophie, let the silence permeate the group. Having fifteen people agree on anything was difficult. Having all of them agree to be a party to this was nothing entirely. Keeping them all in tune for that entire week, that was all thanks to Anthony and Bob. Finley also played a big role in that as well. The fact that he wasn''t doing so well right now really made her sad . Stella had helped out by being everyone''s lunch. The fact that the lookout was three stories up, felt pretty damn good as well. Not having any balconies or railings though? That felt like quoting death. It wasn''t like they were recording us in our normal life though, or really rather it was just her feeling that she was courting death. Mork, for their part, had not sent her any notes about their upcoming courtship. She would rather it be that way. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sophie drank a big drink of her water. Sonya was explaining her experiences to a rapt audience. Whatever happened after the first death knight had been taken down, they had all grown closer.
In the five since Sonya had been summoned to this world she had learned a ton about the people she had come with. She learned a bit about the world as well but places alone didn''t make her passionate. She loved a good beach day like every girl and for how far Regina was from any beach, she really loved her trips to Cancun. The one person, besides Anthony, that had been a wealth of information had been Finley. His comatose state would hopefully be resolved when Anthony was back to full strength. Just because someone was strong at healing others didn''t mean that it came for free. There was one person, or at least one patron, who might be able to tip the scales in her favor. She found a quiet space in the room that had either belonged to an accountant or a dwarven child who needed such services. Setting the tone of the ritual, she moved slowly and deliberately. It was the third time that she would be speaking directly to her patron and she had the insight to do it more simply. It took two minutes to align herself. The tie dye shirt popped with color that didn''t quite align with reality, as Cara popped into existence. She still looked like a teenager who had been in detention for far too long and was thinking of creative ways to get into trouble. "Took you long enough, then?" She said. "Great work on the death knight. Mork is displeased with our meddling, but his own chosen decided to not rush in." "Cara, apologies that I do not have anything for you to toke," Sonya said, sitting down cross legged. "I''m not even sure how the dwarves did it, to be honest." "Well now that we know each other a bit better, I was thinking about what boon you would want from me?" "What exactly is on the table here? I know that I''m basically some mortal instrument to clean up whatever this mess is, but I don''t know what I''m allowed to ask for. Can I ask for a special card? So you know what other cards the three death knights that remain have?" "You got the gate spell, one of the more powerful cards. The other three, they are shrouded from me. It is rather unfortunate, however none of them have a gate card so you can rest assured that you are safe, unless one of the others finds a gate card." Sonya blinked several times. "Is-is that likely?" "Not very. As the card itself is Epic class, its use was tightly controlled. Others similar to it had drawbacks. Whoever had them in their soul decks has not joined one of the other three in any form yet. You can imagine how valuable such a card would be, and how easily stolen." "That''s good, right? Epic cards are rare but... There are others and they''re not in use?" "I would prefer that you travel by Cara-van but sometimes a little jaunt here and there can shore up your stores. That information was free, by the by. You can still choose a boon." "Can you do anything about Finley?" Sonya said, her voice lowering. She clenched her fists. She was going to ask for unspeakable cosmic powers, but would settle for getting her friend and tour guide back. "The green?" "The elf?" "Oh my dear. That being you call Finley? He was never an elf." End Book One. Prologue It was a perfect day for meditation when the silent retreat ended. A cool crisp breeze rolled in over the participants as the afternoon sun warmed them up. For thirteen days, the distinctive taste of the salt mountain had been a constant presence for all involved. A mix of people all sat together in calm silence for the entire time, attended to by the dwarvish clan that sponsored the event. It was made to be something that brought all of the races together. Finley, the traveling wood elf trader, had used it as an excuse to reset himself after two years of traversing the four kingdoms. Tall and thin, his wood elf heritage made his skin slightly green hued. He felt eyes following him as he returned outside to the storage area where everyone had changed. They had spent most of their time in fellowship on that courtyard. The garish garb conflicted with his skin tone as he swapped the tanned robes of the faithful of Yil for his Tinker clothes. Reds, purples and pastel colors joined ribbons that were meant to catch the eye of an observer and then keep it. He wrestled with his belt as the few dozen who had attended the event with him got their own clothing on. It wasn''t hard for Finley to see the stares, but as usual, he ignored them. While he had been in the silent retreat, the Yil aligned dwarvish clan had been hard at work on his caravan and he was ready to see the result. "Heading anywhere good, Tinker?" A weak voice spoke. The dwarf was still in his robes. Finley nodded to the dwarf, clearing his own throat. "Back to the Irumi kingdom, I imagine," he replied, his voice low. Neither of them had spoken for any reason for their entire time, Finley had expected the Dwarfs voice to be a bit more deep, with the salt and pepper hair looking to be more of a stylistic choice than a product of aging. "Ah. Perhaps I might send a package to one of my cousins there. Would you have space in your caravan?" Finley took a moment to take stock of the current situation. He shifted into his tried and true customer service persona. Then pushed on his storage skill to see exactly how much he could store. There was room in the back somewhere. That skill that he got from his Tinker job was paying dividends. "I absolutely have the space. And since you helped during the retreat, this one is on the house. Of course if you want to sell me anything else, I had my eye on some of the salt here, I would give you the family price." "Ah, you tinkers and your family. As a matter of fact I might just take you up on that. There''s a lot more food here that we made for the other races, but it was mostly dwarves for this retreat so..." "You salted any of the meat and kept the rest cold?" "It''s why we keep a cryomancer on staff." "I''ll be just down by the Yils Mount stables checking my pack horses. Bring whatever you have to sell down there and I''ll sort it out." The dwarf nodded and then turned on his heels and moved back towards the common area and the kitchens. Finley stretched his jaw. It had been quite some time since he had talked to anyone. He grabbed his water skin and drained it before filling up. There would be time before he checked everything and he wasn''t in any rush. Before long, Finley was walking down from the assembly area towards the little village that house the families that ran the retreat. The dwarfish huts all had a combination of stone masonry and thatched roofs. That gave them a uniform look and a generally planned aesthetic. In the center of the town on the South side was the Yils Mount tavern. Several dwarves and gnomes fussed over animals in the stables. Finley went directly to his two bay mares, the large beasts stirring at his touch. He rubbed the two animals down tapping into his druidic animal handling skills. They were instantly alert and ready to go, having spent the time in the small pasture that fed all of the goats and cows that the dwarves kept. He checked their coats and their hooves, going over each beast thoroughly. A dwarf attendant dropped off two water buckets for them. The only problem with the height was the availability of water. Finley would be out, but he could fill up when he reached the lower lands at around midday. All of his travel through the four kingdoms was never too far from a place where he could bring his horses to drink. A gnome with a riding crop and coveralls approached Finley. "Ah Master Tinker, what a good morning. Your horses have both been such wonderful tenants. They are always welcome whenever you wish to return," the gnome in charge of the stables said, "and the lacquered paint has been redone on your caravan, none too soon. We replaced one wheel that was set to go within the short term and your whole fee for everything is ten gold pieces. Let me check my records; it says here that you''ve paid in advance?" "A tinker is nothing without his cart or horses." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "Or family," the gnome said, "Shame that I cannae join you. But I-" Finley clasped his arm. The gnome clasped back. "Family forever. No matter if we stop for good." "Tis good to hear, lad." The gnome choked up, taking one look at the caravan and then attending to other matters. The standard Tinker wagon badly needed repairs. With a potential war on the horizon, Finley had done the prudent thing and found a place to lay low and do repairs. He had been happy to find a tavern bearing the marks of the family-one that a tinker would always recognize. When he asked about if they could fix his cart, he hadn''t expected much. They had far exceeded his expectations. Finley checked the doors on the back. They had even changed one of the hinges that had been a problem. He was a bit light on goods now since he had intended to unload a lot on his way, but the ratio of gold pieces to saleable merchandise had been off kilter towards the working capital side for his entire trip to the mountains. Not that he minded, as he could fend for himself, but it was difficult to eat gold pieces, if not impossible. "They got the rear door to stop squeaking when opened?" He muttered to himself. He then checked the wheels. The proper tinker procedure was to kick them once and see if they moved. His were solid. The replacement wheel was painted the same color as the other ones. The rear right corner of the caravan held the secret markings that gave other tinkers notice. They had, of course not disturbed it. He felt it over with his hands making sure that all the runes were in place. When he touched them, they sang to his inner spirit. Only family could hear that sound. Only family could make more family. When you hear the noise you knew that wherever you were, you were home. With the wheels done, he inspected the undercarriage. All of his axles looked in order. On the front of the caravan, his seat had been freshly lacquered. The wood looked like it had just been done up but he knew better. That was an effect made by a master artisan. He had seen the kind of effect before, and even sold a few Master work pieces. They all came with certificates of validity and a story. Sometimes you only had the story to go off of. They still sold. High-end knick-knacks were the candy of the cousins of royalty and members of the Court. Finley had played the role of Candyman more than once. He briefly considered tracking down whoever had done that particular portion and seeing if they had anything that he could buy. He started to spin up a story in his mind of a dwarfish outcast who had left to seek redemption up in the Yil Foothills. The dwarf would then have lots of drama surrounding leaving a dwarf hold that had supported him into becoming a master worker, and then as is custom, he would have left to seek his fortune. There would also be a bit there about how he turned down a princess, after something valorous happened. Finley was confident that he could workshop that piece on his long ride. The dwarf from the retreat had showed up when he was done working with his axles. He had brought two wheelbarrows and an assistant. Both dwarves sat down to watch as Finley inspected the first wheelbarrow. "This is the package for my cousin. You''ll see his address on right there. I greatly appreciate the assist. I brought some other goods that I think you might be able to sell down there. Salt, salted meats, an ice block that my cryomancer swears will last for at least two weeks. That part is on the house, mind you because I''ve also brought some deer and goat that you should be able to pass off as well. We had a good season as of recently, and since we haven''t had a lot of guests, we''re fully stocked. Honestly you''re helping us out a bit here just by taking this off our hands. We really expected more people in the tourist season, but it''s been quiet." "I''ll buy the lot of it." Finley inspected the two wheelbarrows that have been brought down. All the meat looked good, and the salt, though heavy would not spoil. There was enough meat there to last Finley six to ten months on his own. "Do you need any help loading up, elf?" "No, just unload there and I''ll have at it. Thirty gold pieces good for the lot?" "How about thirty five? Since you''re already loading it up and all." "Everybody wants the friends and family discount. Thirty two?" "You''ve got a deal." Finley pulled out his purse and began counting coins. He was hoping to get a rank up for his Tinker job anytime soon, but this wasn''t enough to cover it. It was so close that he could almost touch it. They quickly and methodically put everything into the back of the caravan. The dwarf and his assistant placed everything in neat piles. Finley checked that the piles wouldn''t collapse under normal wear, then checked that they were there in his storage skill. He could see all the items there. Everything seemed to be in order. "Thank you for your business. I appreciate it." "This gold will go a long way towards helping the upkeep of the retreat." The two clasped hands. The taller, lanky elf having to reach down to do so. "May you find safety upon your route," The dwarf said. "May you find happiness in your time," Finley replied. Once again Finley found himself alone. He pulled himself into the driver''s seat and found it to be as comfortable as he had expected. His elvish throw pillow was underneath the bench that made up his seat. He packed some water and unloaded all of his personal effects save his coin purse into the ornate storage unit. He grabbed the harnesses for the horses and went over them, looking for any problem areas. Then he turned them around and grabbed the first of his two horses. The first mare accepted the harness readily and he walked the horse over to hook her up. The harness attached to her chest and looped up and around. The network of straps connecting the horse with it''s many buckles of loops and lines fitted the mare perfectly and he took care in it''s placement. Then he grabbed the second mare and did the same. "Ready, girls?" He said, upon connecting the last loop. Both horses snorted approval. The caravan was out of the tavern, his repairs were paid for and he was ready to go. With a gentle pull on the reins, he spurred the mares into movement, steering them towards the gently sloping downhill that led out of town. The dwarves and gnomes in the village waved as he passed them, his horses going at a steady clip. With the downward slope he would be able to move a lot faster towards the Dwarvish Kingdom. The retreat leaders words sounded in his head. ''Let this small moment of peace ripple forward in your life.'' --- Five hours after he had left the town it became one of the final outposts of the enlightened to be taken by the zombie horde. 2 - One There are so many ways to skin a cat and only one way to skin a potato. According to his head chef, Anthony was always doing it the same wrong way. "I''m just happy that I can use my arms," he said from the makeshift wheelchair. Really it was a modified, dwarf sized wheelbarrow with an attached chair that he had stolen, but the dwarf wouldn''t care. Being dead made that part difficult. "You really should not be trying to help us," Bob, head scout and baker of the group, said. "Or finding more of those hair ties. The girls are going to flip when they see you found another one." Anthony''s back had been nearly broken in half when he was kicked off a ten foot tall wall, and a six foot tall undead muscle mommy jumped on him. It had been the most trying time of his new life. He didn''t go down without a fight. Someone had dragged him out of the action and saved him and he was forever grateful. But two days in the infirmary had been enough. The entire caravan had dropped by once he was awake, one at a time. More than anything, the show of solidarity felt like the caravan was turning into a team. Someone had even made him a new hair tie, which he had put to good use. His top bun, a classic style for the modern man, complemented his beard. He wasn''t so much a hipster as someone who knew his way around product. Anthony wore a loose green gambeson over gray workman''s pants, a custom order that had been made by one of his many new friends. Bob wore a similar one with brown stripes, though he often had a dark cloak to cover up his entirely bald head. Bob was the only person in the caravan that shaved, aside from the monks. Anthony felt his lower back where he was certain that a disc had slipped or skipped. It had taken the better part of two days to get up from laying down and he had earned every bit of progress. The scrubs that he had come to this world in had been ripped and replaced by more contemporary wear. His girlfriend would get a chance to sew his pants together, using his scrub bottom for her pajamas. She had already stolen his scrub top, but she looked damn good in it and he wasn''t going to argue. "Are you feeling good, Anthony? Almost ready for the council meeting?" "I think it''s time. I''ll need your support, and if Finley is still out we''ll need to make a decision soon." Anthony had worked too hard on getting his patients up and moving to ever fall into the trap of being afraid to get up and out. Sure he missed midwifery, and delivering babies with his son from time to time, but out here? He had a chance to make a difference in a way that he hadn''t expected. No babies though, which was a bit of a let down. Half of the fun of delivering babies was seeing them safely hanging out with their tired, grumpy mothers. Every delivery was a lot of preparation work and then a few bouts of absolute concentration. His business on earth, Father and Sons Midwives- it had been a family affair that he had groomed his two sons to take over. There were not many midwifery outfits in the city, and fewer still that were all male. Anthony had wanted a daughter but his ex-wife had seen fit to not honor that request. "I know that I''m bad at this, but you don''t have a lot of options. I''m not going to have someone who is fully able-bodied do this when I can," Anthony said. "Everyone needs to contribute." Bob gave him a bit of a side eye. As his second in command, Anthony was willing to entertain Bob''s ideas up to a point. Bob had wanted to change several things in their organizational structure, to which Anthony had to let him down softly. He wasn''t going to change anything major right at the moment. Perhaps it was his entrepreneurial spirit clashing with Bob''s, but neither man really wanted to be the other one''s boss. Fifteen people were a bit unwieldy. Thanks to their experience running from zombies, they were about as close as a trauma bond could bring a group to be. "I''m just saying that you don''t need to be doing this. You can rest. Weren''t you a nurse before? Aren''t they all about listening to medical advice? Well as your field medic, you damn well need to rest." Anthony wouldn''t give in so easily. "You got your medical advice from a card skill. I got mine in nursing school," Anthony said, smiling. "This isn''t a bakery, Bob. I am not any type of cake." "You probably would be like a chocolate cake. You are dependable, sweet and classic." Bob had been a D-list celebrity chef before he had been summoned as the chosen ranger of Mork, the god of death, math and scouting. Anthony had been chosen to be a cleric of Yil, goddess of crafters. Anthony wasn''t sure exactly what had happened between this world and the previous one for Bob, but he was a bit wrapped up in his role. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Twelve other people had been summoned around the same time. Bob and Anthony had rescued them from an intelligent zombie overlord- a death knight. It was the first encounter between the two of them and it went so well that they had banded together. Of course they did it in Finley''s ride. Finley the elf had picked up Anthony when he had been summoned and been his faithful companion since then. Finley had been the only member of the caravan who had been born on Noverra. That was until they had met two orcs at their last stop in Arva. "Do you think that the scouts are ready to salvage the Green fang tribe area?" Anthony said. "We can talk about that at the council meeting." "They''re ready, but we will probably need an empty cart. Andrew is nearly done with our fourth cart. Borgan said that the orcs should have a suitable caravan to bring back so we''ll be bringing extra horses with us." "You might also find out if the zombies can turn horses. Assuming that the orcs used horses to move their tents and caravans. If we pick up a few more caravans this road trip will be a lot easier. Harder on the horses, for sure though," Anthony said. His eye twitched as he put the final potato down. The seat in his makeshift wheelchair wasn''t nearly as comfortable as he wanted it to be. "Did you hear anything about that cane that Andrew was making?" "I would ask Stella to check but since you took her place peeling potatoes, I can''t," Bob said. "You are going to need some help, aren''t you?" "If you''re offering, I''ll take it." "I guess this is fine, the soup needs to be cooked a little bit. You want me to wheel you over to Andrew?" Bob said, moving to the back of the wheelchair. "Absolutely." Bob wheeled Anthony around the back of the infirmary where a tent covering draped over a large salvage pile of metal. It wasn''t that he couldn''t walk. He could, with some assistance. But for the sake of saving face, Anthony was willing to listen to his field medic and head chef. Andrew was a four and half foot tall dwarf. Of the caravan, he was the only one to have been summoned from a different world than Earth. He hadn''t spoken much about his home world and from what Anthony picked up, they didn''t have magic the same way that there was magic here. "Oh hey, Anthony. The wheelbarrow looks good. Or maybe we should give it a better name like the chair barrow? You holding up okay, lad?" Bob slowed down the wheelchair, getting close enough to the artificer''s area to inhale the fumes. Brass and smoke permeated the area. "How is your flame flinger? Thanks Bob," Anthony said, fist bumping Bob as he returned to the fire pit. "Council meeting tonight, Anthony. Don''t forget!" Bob said. "Yeah I''ll be there. I run the meeting anyways," Anthony said, turning to the dwarf. "So the flinger?" "If you must know, lad, it survived several tests but we may need a complete overhaul before we use it again. I was going to see if I could get Zan to help me do some target practice later today. Just test it out. Did you want to be a target?" "Probably not this time, Andrew. I think that I''ll sit this one out. Plus where are you going to do the testing? I don''t want a big fire in here and we have a fair amount of grass left inside of the walls." Two meter tall thick earthen walls surrounded the two acres that their staging grounds occupied. This wasn''t a natural occurrence, Sonya the warlock had an affinity for earth magic. She had been the woman behind their best defense, creating a tower defense system that would be a nightmare for their enemies if the zombies had any intelligence. Arva, the rural dwarven town that they had occupied had been forcibly depopulated. "We''ll be setting up in the center of town. It''s got the least amount of long grass. The band had gone through and finally finished salvage operations here. Anything we could get use out of is here now. That also means that if I burn down a building or two that nobody''s going to care." "That... Should be fine then. Just have someone nearby that can put out flames," Anthony said, narrowing his eyes. "We don''t want a repeat of the goat incident." "How was I supposed to know about the-" Andrew began, taken aback. "We don''t talk about it. He works in mysterious ways." The man and the dwarf shuddered. "Anyway, is that cane ready? I think I need to get out of this wheelbarrow before my back mutinies." "Are you supposing that you are a pirate ship and your bones are the pirates?" Andrew said, diving into his pile of salvaged wooden planks and metal. "You humans and your life on the seas. I would never choose to be on a boat unless it was entirely necessary. I barely want to be in a caravan." A goat behind them bleated. "Jeez!" Anthony said, nearly jumping out of his chair. "I got it here. Weird that so many goats showed up, right?" They took a second to look at the goat which, according to its face, had decided to grant them the dubious honor of its presence. The goat wasn''t put upon by them watching but it looked like it was trying to get into Andrew''s area. "Back, foul goat! Try again later!" Andrew said. "Pardon, me sir, but did you get a chance to look at the loot we got? There are a lot of cards and card pieces. Some of us wanted to start sifting through the cards. If nothing else, we would see if there is a card that helps grow food. That seems to be something that virtually every card has lacked- the ability to grow food." "When Finley wakes up, we''re going to ask him about that. I can add that to the list of questions that are burning me up inside. I feel like once I''m able to stop using all the healing powers by myself then I can trade a lot closer to fixing him." Andrew was elbow deep into a pile that looked like it was going to suck him in. "Do you think you''re going to get him back up to speed? He''s been down for two days. Isn''t he still missing one of his arms?" Andrew said, holding out a long metal shaft. "He''s coming back. He has to," Anthony said, gingerly accepting Andrew''s hand and standing up. "I think that I can make this work." Anthony tested out the cane, realizing that one side was far worse than the other. He quickly changed sides. Now the cane felt more natural. He took a few exploratory steps. "You think you can make the cane work out or Finley?" "Har har," Anthony said, attempting a swagger walk. Predictably, it ended as bad as it could with him tweaking his knee. Of course, he was not going to wince or let Andrew know anything about this current situation. "Lad, you''re young so maybe you haven''t seen a lot of death but if he doesn''t make it, we need to have a plan." Anthony paused his promenade. "I just want you to know that I haven''t been in contact with the people that can affect this change so he will be back. That''s just a fact. That''s not hyperbole or me doing some positive thinking business. I have a feeling that all of these goats have something to do with our elf friend''s recovery." "All right then." 2- Two Anthony left the wheelbarrow with Andrew. Even walking just a bit, he was feeling a lot better. Being able to walk without having someone holding his hand was doing wonders for his confidence. It was only a short walk from the gate at the north of their compound. The compound was designed with a single entrance and exit. It was covered on three sides by a thick wall of Earth, interlaced with roots. He longed to walk outside. There were only so many times that he could look at the same three and a half walls. He had had enough for that particular day. So when he got to the bank shift gate, he asked one of the warriors to let him pass. It took him about ten minutes to walk around the entire place. It was about the size of a city block. Opposite of the exit and entrance, the rest of the town of Arva lay. "Hey there boss man, how is it going?" Sonya said from atop the wall. Her long brown hair waved in the wind. She was, of course, wearing the scrub top he had been wearing when he came over and she looked damn good in it. "Oh, boss man is it?" He said the whole thing next to the wall, and peered up. "I like that one." "Don''t let it go to your head. I have a boyfriend, after all." Sonya waved one hand, turning packed earth and stone into a walkway between the two of them. She began to descend the stairs. "So this is new," she said, pointing to his cane. "How''s it working out for you? I''ll admit it gives you a bit of a silver fox look. A girl could get used to this." She sidled up next to him, kissed him on the cheek and put one arm around his waist. He was going to go walk around the wall but he got stopped. He fully expected to be stopped more than once. But what he did not expect was for someone to just do that. "Do you mind going for a walk with me? Is all your work done? I sure could use the company. And you could tell me about Cara." "That sounds good. I need to stretch my legs anyway, so let''s go. We can go at your pace so let me know if I''m going too fast." "Please take your time walking around. We haven''t even seen neither hide nor hair of a zombie,¡± Sonya pointed out some of the closer buildings. This town was very small by their standards. With only about 40 houses and one governmental building, there wasn''t much to it. Unless you work on a farm somewhere, you live in the center of a very rural community. There wasn''t much else for dwarves to do in the grasslands. The main industry of Arva had a lot to do with being a logical stopping point for caravans headed north. Aside from that, they were roving nomadic tribes of Orcs that sometimes made it this far north. One such tribe, the Green Fang tribe, had held their jamboree just north of the town. As they walked they passed by two orcs who were napping on top of the wall. Neither one got up or said anything. "Bob said that they were working the night shift? Is that true? We haven''t had any problems with them have we?" One of them snorted loudly. "That has to be a good sleep. They are working the night shifts. Just the two of them. We had Brandon around the first night just in case something happened, but it was completely unnecessary. I like how remote we are right now from just about anything because otherwise we would be overwhelmed with zombies. And you know how much I hate that." "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," he said. "I swear to God Anthony, if you''re about to go on a Robin Hood tangent, then this might not work out," Sonya said. A goat came up and barred their path. They took a short route around it. If his life was going to be a part of so many goats, he should probably learn how to distinguish between male and female goats. The first step was looking. "This one here has got an udder so it''s a she?" Sonya nodded. She kept a wide berth from all the goats. Two nights ago, they had confronted the death knight that had broken Anthony''s back. She had an army of undead dwarves and Orcs with it. After they had escaped from their situation, a lot of the Orcs and some of the dwarves were trying to get goats. Or at least that''s what everyone thought it happened. Because there were no goats before, and there was no other explanation. Nobody thought that the goats would have shown up on their own. Anthony was willing to bet just about anything that this was not a card effect. It was more likely that the effect was something from one of the gods. He had a good idea of which one. It was hard to miss the signature. Whether it was a gift or a curse he wasn''t sure yet. Either way, the amount of goats was a hassle. It was only when the goats started irritating the horses that they had to start managing them in earnest. Anthony had him worried that they might have a problem with other zombies, but none had turned up in the past 2 days. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Better the devil they knew though. Unless the zombies began to stealth through the tall grass, they would be seen long before the caravan would need to mount a defense. "So all the houses are clear. Finally? We can go have a party anywhere?" Anthony said. "Because I have brought a bottle of water if you want to celebrate. I figured everyone had drank enough of our beer already." They were just beginning their journey and had a lot to figure out if they were not going to have enough beer to go off of. Potatoes were one thing, but it was doubtful if they would be able to get anything done without a good supply of alcohol. "Settle down Romeo. We''re going to be low on water soon. I''m glad that you''re feeling frisky, but let''s keep that inside the compound. There''s no telling what kind of things we might find in there," Sonya said, smiling at him. "So about that thing you told me about. You''re one hundred percent sure about it?" He said. "Did you want to keep one around the walls, or do you want to stroll through downtown?" "Do you want to see the one shop they have? We can do that and turn around. That sounds good. Nice and slow with you," she said. "It''ll give me time to talk about us." He gulped, but he had made his bed. The dwarven general store had been the only commercial building in town. It looked like it pulled dual duty as the municipal center. The building had been stripped of any useful goods. It wasn''t even large enough to sell cards. "The shelves are bare. I feel like we need to do something to memorialize the town." "Did you ever get any training on grief? Or how to handle dying patients?" Sonya said. "One of the nursing instructors said that she would always adopt whatever religion that their patients were going through. Especially if they wanted to pray together. I thought that wasn''t right. But also I don''t know how I would feel if I was dying. I mean then there are the cultural norms, like burying people according to their wishes. None of the dwarves here got to choose a burial of their own. Yil hasn''t given me any guidance on what to do for them," Anthony said. "Cara didn''t speak to me about that. I guess that I could smoke some dwarvish kush in their memory? Do you think that would help?" She said, gesturing to the shop. A large painted sign showed a pipe being loaded with something dank. "I think-If it was me, that''s exactly how I would want it to be. I would like you guys to have a barbecue and drink something in my honor. Or maybe smoke something up. I wouldn''t want you guys to be sad that I died. I have had two lives now and this second one is proving to be a lot different than what I had expected." "A barbecue? We could arrange that." Andrew would have no problem making a barbecue grill. Perhaps there was one more thing that they could do. "Now let''s see if we can figure out how to make a memorial."
"All right, let''s call this meeting at the council to order. I would like to acknowledge that we are being joined by Borgan and song and that we thank them for their efforts," Anthony said to the assembled crowd. He passed the stick to Sonya, as she had asked to speak shortly after they started. It was the first time that they had all met up since the battle. After they were all clear, they went back onto a rotating shift of watch duties. This meeting was held about and hour before dark, an optimal time for the changing of the guard. No one was on the walls for this brief time. "Thank you both," Sonya said. "We know that you''re both going through a lot right now and we are all doing our best." The two tall orcs nodded in unison. Sonya returned the stick to Anthony. "Thanks, Sonya. We appreciate you both. I think I speak for all of us when we say that," Anthony said. "Now I want to move on to more pressing matters. We''ve all had two days to recover from the death knight and her legion. I don''t doubt that we''ve all gotten stronger, but the question at hand is do we think that we can take another one on? Or should we figure out a way to get off this continent, then return with a larger force?" Bob raised his hand to speak. Anthony handed it over. "Everyone that thinks that we should take on another death knight, raise a hand," Bob said. The group had sat in the circle, hopefully to represent that they were all equals. Bob sat to Anthony''s right, as he was in charge of the day-to-day missions and scouting. If Finley was awake he would have been sitting on the other side. Instead, Sophie was there, having volunteered to fill in for the quartermaster role. A few people raise their hands, sheepishly. Most notably, Bob and Sonya stood out. Both Orcs looked on in amusement. "Pardon this humble orc, but a death knight is one of those things that appeared behind our lines and nearly killed two of us?" Borgan said. "We have killed two so far," Bob said flatly. "Neither one was simple." Song began to sign something complex to his brother orc. Borgan nodded along as the signing got wilder. "My brother has reason to believe that some of you are chosen. If this is true, then we would like it to be known," Borgan said. Bob and Anthony shared a knowing glance. "It''s true. We are all chosen," Anthony said. Borgan gasped. Song began to gesture even more wildly. Anthony was happy that no one was trying to interject over the mute orc. "Really? This-Song is telling me that there has never been more than two chosen summoned at once. This explains much," the orc said. "We should have known when all of you returned from that battle. I believe that he will want to follow along if only to learn of your adventures." Anthony blinked several times. "Our adventures? We are fighting for our lives here," Sonya said. "We can think of no better way to honor the clan," Borgan said. Anthony wished that he could put a hand on the orcs shoulder but he was too far away. "That said," Anthony said. "It seems like we have a mixed decision here. Perhaps clan Green Fang can help us decide where we should take our next steps." "If you are all chosen then shouldn''t you be taking out the undead?" Borgan said. A goat bleated behind him. The two meter tall orc nearly jumped out of his seat. Song began to sign again, this time pointing at the goat then at the ground. "Green...goat?" Borgan said, confused. "Apologies, but my brother is making little sense right now. We can return to his comments." "We should be. But you have seen how few resources we have. Almost immediately upon being summoned, twelve of us were captured by the first death knight. That we were able to free and save them was a stroke of luck," Bob said. They all knew that Bob was the reason that most of them were alive. He might have glossed over his own part there, but he didn''t need to tell the orcs everything. "Can you explain the part about no more than two chosen being summoned, though?" Sonya said. 2- Three A goat bleated. Finley sat up with a gasp. He remembered losing a lot of blood. He then remembered losing an arm. He looked down to his left arm. It had been severed just below the elbow. Then he gasped. The rest of his body was entirely green. Green and drenched in a cold sweat. He cursed, raging against the world. His perfect visage had been destroyed. He couldn''t hide anymore. The form that he had adopted had taken so much use and abuse over the years that now he was barely able to hold on. He spent a long time disassociating. Even though he could fully tell that he was alive, it felt surreal to be back and awake. One didn''t think about one''s debts if one was dead, for instance. That had to be Mork''s influence, the god of death playing a trick on him. Finley didn''t know where he was. He blinked several times, bringing the world into focus. They left him somewhere in a bed, sprawled out. He had expected someone to be there when he woke but he only saw a goat. It took him a long time to connect the dots between the goat and reality. When he realized that it was an actual goat that actually existed, he looked at it again a little bit harder. He finally snapped back into it. The goat was wearing a small party hat, a bit off center. The tiny triangular hat was purple with a little poof at the end. He realized with a growing horror that perhaps he was sitting in front of the Goat Lord. He could just as easily have been sitting in front of a tinker chief for how out of it he was. The goat was a singular focus point that helped him fully wake. Whether real or not, when a goat came to invite you to a party, you attended. He rolled off of his cot and took a knee in front of it. He silently thought about all the things that he did that led up this moment. Perhaps the Goat Lord would bless him with something. Perhaps it was just there to experience the moment. Either way, the look that it gave him felt warm. He really wanted to say something but knew that it was useless. The Lord worked in mysterious ways and he was not about to change that today. If it wanted to give him something or if it wanted to just observe he would let it do what it wanted to do. He couldn''t stand its way and more importantly he wouldn''t. The Goat Lord bleated once and Finley felt like he was at peace with the universe. He could get used to that. He had lost so much after all the tinkers had died. It wasn''t that he knew every single one. It was just that every one of them had been so welcoming to him. They had never questioned why he was the way he was. They just accepted him. They were so good to him and now they were all gone. It fell to him to remember their legacy. It fell to him to continue on. The room had to be in one of their houses. If so he would just need to walk out. He was reluctant to leave it, especially when he was being stared down. The goat, whether Lord or not, watched him impassively as he moved about. He wondered what the protocol would be in this instance. Did he pet the goat? Feed it? What do you get a god when it comes to visit? "I think you might like some of the stew that Stella surely has going." The goat with the party hat bleated. --- Sophie was getting bored of the debate that raged around her. With a group of kids easily split into two factions, the first wanted to head straight to the death knights one by one and take them all down. The second wanted to do Anthony''s plan of escaping toward the south of the continent and returning with an overwhelming force. Both plans seemed terrible to Sophie as it would require her to do actual work. Sophie did not want to do work. She wanted to do theater, children''s theater, or puppetry. If she got summoned to this world just to do someone else''s job and that''s all that she got a chance to do, she would be pissed. They had already killed two death knights. Perhaps it was time for them to take a long extended break, instead of hitting it hard everyday. It was about that time. Sophie rubbed her eyes. She had seen a goat walk out of the infirmary with a party hat on. Behind the goat, a six foot tall green elvenoid walked with a slow deliberate pace. Neither the elf nor the goat walked with any particular speed. They had a destination of mine clearly as they walked closer to the circle. Finley moved like he was a very careful drunk across the yard. Sophie took a second to nudge the people on the left and right of her. Both quieted down when they saw the goat. It made its way towards them. In the center of the circle, there was a large pot that had been used for cooking. They still had some stew in it, if Sophie remembered correctly. The circle got quieter the closer they got as everyone turned to see Finley. Sophie briefly expected a slow clap to start and would have volunteered to be the one to start it. By the time the goat arrived next to the circle, everyone was silent. The people that were in his way moved, leaving a gap for the goat to go through. It continued to walk forward as if nothing in particular was going on. The goat approached the stew pot carefully. The implements to feed anyone or not right there but then Finley showed up behind them with two bowls and a giant serving spoon. The shocked onlookers gasped as he made a serving for not just himself but for the goat. Stella held out a large wooden spoon for the goat. The goat looked at the spoon briefly and then shook its head. The perfect purple party hat stayed put. The act of spooning out soup made Sophie want to chuckle. She didn''t because she felt power emanating from the goat. There was just something about that goat that you couldn''t put her finger on. Finley lowered its soup bowl to the ground and it began to eat. He sat down crossed legged. He used the same spoon that he had used to serve himself. For a long minute nothing happened except for the goat and the elf chewing. They were not particularly loud. Then all hell broke and everyone started speaking at once. The cacophony of noise was so loud that Sophie could not make out a single voice from the thread. It was just a loud hum of yelling and talking all at once. She really appreciated the time that they had a stick. In fact, she realized that it was in her hands. She held it up. Finley eyed her cautiously as the group once again got quiet. "Finley, I feel like I speak for the group here when I tell you that I have no fucking idea what just happened and where this goat came from. We are all really glad to see you again. But also where the hell did this goat come from? And did you make the hat for it?" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Finley raised his eyes towards her. They were clearly bloodshot and dry. He lifted his spoon to his mouth and made the loudest slurping sound that she had ever heard. Sophie reached out to touch him. He was not far from them but the snark that came out of him was otherworldly. She shrank back. "Don''t touch my spoon," he said, the low growl emphasizing his aura. Sophie wanted to go and take a long break. This was not what she expected at all. At his insistent gesticulating, she handed the stick to Anthony. "I believe that we can adjourn this meeting for today. Shall we call it? I think that we will do nothing productive for the rest of our time today. Let''s leave Finley to recover. After all, he hasn''t eaten in 2 days. Let''s give him some space, and if you need me I''ll be hobbling over to the water barrels," Anthony said. The group took a moment to pick themselves up and disperse. The night was coming soon and if there was no meeting then Sophie wanted to take care of some things. She just couldn''t take her eyes off of the goat. There was just something about it. She had never been one to avoid dealing with hard topics. There were a lot of those in the hospital and in her plays. But this goat? This weird situation she found herself in? This felt different. It was like the goat was considering her. The majestic creature regarded her with a casual, easy indifference. It wasn''t just the indifference of a normal animal though. This goat was intentionally avoiding her. Or was it? The three of them were occupying the same general area. It didn''t want her to leave. It didn''t particularly want her to stay. Without thinking, she drew out the cards that she had held onto for two days. Her ambivalence about the decision to make another class card had reached its zenith. She didn''t have the frame. She didn''t need the frame. She laid the five cards out between them. Finley raised an eyebrow, briefly nodding to her. She placed the cards out in front of herself, making two rows of two cards, pacing the pact bond in the center.
Uncommon Skill Card: Eldritch Spellcasting Level 1 This card grants mana. This card grants access to eldritch spells.
Uncommon Skill Card: Ritual Casting Level 2 This card grants mana. This card gives knowledge about how to cast prepared and ritual spells.
Common Skill Card: Enchantment Level 1 This card allows the user to imbue objects with mana. Effects depend on the related spell.
Common Skill Card: Survival Level 5 The wielder is more hearty and knows how to make the best of a bad situation.
Common Skill Card: Patron Pact Level 1 The wielder may arrange one pact bond through ritual magic. Benefits of the bond will be defined by the pact.
Wisps of energy passed up from the ground around her cards. The copper and iron cards glowed. Sophie looked up to see that she now had earned the goats undivided attention. The goat had moved over to the cards. It bleated. The goat breathed out purple mist, enveloping her cards. She could feel it''s intent. The mist was a palpable thing. A question that she had to answer. *The Goat Lord will grant you patronage. Do you accept it?* The voice in her mind was anything but subtle. She accepted and the cards flashed copper, iron into gold with an obsidian background. The image of a goat flickered across the card. Half of the goat was brown and normal, the other half looked like a pinata.
Obsidian Class Card: Warlock Level 1 Skills: Eldritch Spell Casting Level 3 Ritual Casting Level 1 Enchantment Level 1 Survival Level 5 Medicine Level 1 Patron Pact Level 1 This card grants mana. As a warlock you may have a patron. The Goat Lord has chosen you. Removing this card from your soul deck will result in losing this patron bond.
"What in the world?" She said, accepting it, noting that the class card had created the medicine skill out of whole cloth. Power flooded into her as she accepted the card. She now knew everything about the Goat Lord. She also had a desire to eat grass. She pushed that deep down, instead moving to eat some stew with Finley and the goat.
Anthony hobbled over to the two wooden barrels that held the water supply. They were propped up on top of one wagon, in case they needed to move fast. No one wants to be without water for that long, and the group had really honed in on being able to leave within five minutes. Because of that, everything that could be put into storage on their three wagons was. It might have been a pain in the ass to live out of a suitcase but it was beneficial when one considered how much notice a zombie was willing to give. "We need to talk about strategy, Bob. The more time we spend here, the more I think that this is going to be a much larger problem than I thought," Anthony said, pouring a tankard of water for the bald man. Bob readily accepted the water, gulping it down. Anthony waited for him to speak. They didn''t have to stick with them but they needed to have a good working relationship. If nothing else, they had been stuck with leadership roles because everybody else decided that they didn''t want it. It was a clear vote of confidence in them and a clear vote of no confidence in their own skills, or perhaps more than likely they all had terminal imposter syndrome. "Based on just how little the other death knights have moved, I have a reason to believe that they are very, very far away. Whatever caused this hit most of this continent in one go. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if all magic on this planet was tied to card powers then whatever card made this happen is very strong. The only other option I say is if one of the gods directly intervened." Both men sipped from their drinks studiously avoiding the goats in the general vicinity. "So are you on my side now? We need to present a united front. I''m all for good debate and all but we have fifteen. They are millions. None of us except perhaps Borgan, Song and Finley know what''s out there," Anthony replied. "That is if the orcs decide to join us." "I guess I am on your side now. Now that Finley is awake, I guess we can discuss plans to get that inland sea and make an airship. What maps that I have found here don''t show me the outside of the Irumian kingdom," Bob said. "So next step is let''s talk to Borgan and Song about what they''ve been through. They might have some insight that we can take advantage of. I don''t suppose you have an opinion on whether we let them join or not?" Bob shook his head. Anthony knew that most of the people in the caravan wouldn''t mind fresh blood. It was just that no one had expected to meet anyone living out in the middle of nowhere. Anthony couldn''t completely discount that. When he was summoned to this world, Finley had actually been right there smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps, they might find some others. 2- Four Stella left at what had to be the third or fourth sign that there was something afoot with the elf and the goat. She bravely noped out, retreating to the uncovered wagon. She took up a spot next to the water barrel and handed out water while she watched. Stella was not going to get between a goat and her best friend. There was a list of things that she would do for Sophie. Those things included lying about her location, lying about her activities, and if necessary, denying her entire existence. There were other things but those were the most serious ones. It wasn''t that Sophie had a boyfriend problem. She didn''t. Sophie probably didn''t have a goat problem, for how many goats had just shown up in Arva? Stella, in fact, was convinced that Sophie was still getting the lay of the land before she made any moves. Perhaps it was because of her new body? Stella had felt like a new woman upon her arrival here. Then she had promptly been knocked out and captured by a death knight. She had been held for two days, expecting to die at any moment. She never wanted to feel that way again. She wanted to have a clean slate and move on as if none of it had ever happened. Except that she started dating the guy that saved them and things got a little complicated and now they had an official title. They were dating. Whatever that meant in a post-apocalyptic society that had been overrun by zombies, Stella didn''t know. She wasn''t going to get a wedding. Anything like she wanted. She damn sure was not going to have any children with him anytime soon. So in essence, she was having a bit of fun. It just sucked that her best friend was a bit absorbed by a goat while her boyfriend was talking to the Caravan Commander. Stella walked over to their ice cooler chest. It was one of the heavier things on the wagon. They had lovingly crafted that chest out of a barrel and a whole lot of elbow grease. All she had to do was touch it every so often and check on the temperature. If it was too hot their food was spoiling so she kept it at a nice cool low temperature. As the resident cryomancer she had the job of getting in there and keeping their box cold. There was several hundred pounds of meat in there that she was sure would make it only so far. She had taken some food safety classes way back when but she really had to rely on Bob''s background as a chef. She didn''t trust him on everything. This was especially true in their battle plans because she was a scout with him. She had picked the rogue class when she was summoned because she wanted to be a trickster. So much for that idea, though. Zombies were pretty much immune to trickery. Tomfoolery, they might not be. Stella had several happy memories of zombies slipping on a luge she had made of ice. Ankles had been broken, world records had been established and a good time was had by all. Except for the zombies of Dunnamore. They had it coming. Stella really loved being the go to freezer girl. Really, anything she could do to support the mission made her feel all warm and cozy inside, like she could enjoy a nice graze of the nearby grasslands in the morning sun. Stella snapped out of it. Wanting to eat grass has to be an effect of seeing all the goats who could eat anything. She could blame the goat that had straight up came to steal her soup, but she didn''t think that it would show any sort of sympathy towards her or anyone. She wanted to say something to it, but she decided that discretion was the better part of not arguing. Instead she spent some time sorting through the stocks that they had, making sure that everything was tied down. She got a bit engrossed in the work, losing her sense of time until she realized that the water cooler chat had chilled. She popped out of the wagon to see if anyone was done. She was itching to try her new spell. She had seen a few cards that were a single spell, and a few cards that had a spell blast template. She had never seen a card of that level be just a single spell. Sophie appeared to be wrapping things up with Finley and the Goat so she waved her best friend over. Stella had a lot of questions. Sophie had some explaining to do. She fully expected the zero answers though based on how little talk had gone on over there. Sophie was absolutely glowing when she got to the water barrel. "Care to tell me what the hell that was about?" "I got a new card!" Sophie said excitedly. She was moving around, shifting as if she had to use the ladies room. "Yeah I saw that, what is it?" Stella said, taking her water skin to fill it up. It was too bad that the beer wasn''t in this one. "It''s a third class card. The Goat Lord is now my warlock patron. Isn''t this exciting?" Sophie said, extending her water skin to Stella. Stella took it and began to refill it. The water skin branding, which had said ''Property of Mork'' earlier that day, now had a goat branding in its place. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. That was new. Stella checked her own water skin, a gift from Mork and hers was unchanged. "Sophie, I''m excited if you''re excited," Stella said. "But I didn''t know you wanted that. Was that what you were aiming for? A warlock job on top of your druid and rogue jobs?" "I mean, I didn''t know either, but it was just so persuasive." Stella looked back over and it appeared that the goat had left. She hadn''t remembered it leaving but the bowl that it was eating out of was definitely still there. Finley was still eating, next to the empty bowl. The urge to clean up came to her and she immediately slapped it down. "That goat," Stella said, "he just shows up and eats our food. He''s like a teenager." "Or an older brother," Sophie said. They both drank down some of the water. "Well now that he is here, we can give him my job back. I know it''s a bit early for that but it was his wagon that we started this trip off with." The Tinker wagon was a work of art. It most closely resembled an art car that someone who had spent a lot of time at Burning Man had designed. It had so many little details that potentially told a story of its previous owners. There was a small painting of an elderly woman, with a child nearby the front. The painting itself was no bigger than her palm. However, it was one of many. Little pieces dotted the structure. There was clearly room for more as well, only a third was covered. She might begin painting later. There were only so many ways to remember such a memorable visit, and this probably was worth the paint. "Stella, we should get some paint and think about doing another one of these squares on the other wagon. Make that one ours. I mean, especially if we''re going to be together for a long time, if we want to live, then we should record our adventures." "I mean I''m shit at painting but I can learn. There''s not much else going on right now," Stella said. "Paint was not one of the things we grabbed on our salvage run. I don''t even know if they have paint or if we would need to make some. And if we needed to make some I''m not even sure what we would need to make it. I''m sure we can figure it out." "Maybe there''s a card," Sophie said, looking at the artwork closely. "I mean it looks good but I couldn''t tell you if it was professional or not. It was probably made by whoever owned this caravan." "Oh that would be nice. Finley probably didn''t think that any painting powers would be useful. Or maybe it''s a part of his Tinker class card." Sophie wondered what else he had thought would be useless. They probably had about three hundred odd cards to sort through and some of them were new and hadn''t been sorted by Finley. This made her think about what the Orcs had as their powers. They definitely had some sort of musicality to it but she couldn''t really put it finger down on what they actually did. She felt stronger and her Mana came back to her pastor when they were around and making music. They also said that they had several effects that they could imbue with their magic. She would have to ask them later. "Oh hey, Finley''s getting up," Sophie said. "Let''s give him his space." "I think he is coming this way." "He looks like an elf on a mission," Stella said, grabbing a large dwarven stein the size of her forearm. She filled it to the brim with water. Finley made a beeline for her. She presented the tall green gangly elf with the stein. He accepted it with both hands and then drank the entire thing in one go. He wiped his lips then returned it to her. "When you''re ready to talk, we are all willing to be the one you talk to. In fact, we should probably set up the betting market for who you want to do that with. Feel free to let me set the wagers," Sophie said quietly.
For the first time since he woke up, Finley smiled. There wasn''t much currency to play games with and any currency that they had would be worthless. It would just weigh them down on their trip. Finley decided that he wanted to go for a walk. There was something new about Sophie and he didn''t know how to put his finger on it, but she felt like she was a member of the family. He hadn''t asked her before if she wanted to join. But now, they''d all travel together for about a week. Week he could begin to question if some of them wanted to be part of his family. But first, he would want to go clear his head. He was going to walk around the entire interior of their staging grounds several times. It wasn''t that he felt like he needed to exercise. It was that he had spent two days lying down and he needed to do anything except for that right now. Also, he needed to find a spot to relieve himself. He nodded to Sophie then began his walk. He would tell them later. First he needed to take care of himself.
The next morning, the caravan woke up to defy the day. Anthony watched as the group formed up once again, this time with Finley present. It was about time that he spoke with the group. Everyone knew that if they were going to head out, that the caravan mounted up at first light or before. Having their council meeting in the morning with the potential to leave for the day meant that everyone was up and ready. "Alright. I expected that last night''s news about Finley really made us all happy. It''s good to see you back with us," Anthony said, "Probably none of us would be here today without you, so thank you." Finley nodded. Anthony handed him the stick. Finley tossed it over his right shoulder. Anthony faked mock indignation. "I suppose you guys want to know about the next couple of towns on the way, correct?" Finley said. It was a chorus of yesses and nodding. "All right. Well that''s good. Are we still going south towards the inland lake? Because if not, we need to make a decision soon. The next town on our way is a bit bigger than this," Finley said, "I''m curious if our Bards passed by or through it. Have either of you guys seen Heirisburg?" Finley said. "We haven''t. We''ve been traveling through the wilderness for the past two weeks. We just stalked through the woods, hunting along the way. It''s not that we disliked dwarves. It''s just that the average worker out here doesn''t know or didn''t know. We did see some traders that had passed through Heirisburg." "And nothing that they said now seems relevant in retrospect?" Anthony said. Finley held out a hand. "Do you recall getting close enough to see the gates? This is the important part," Finley said. "Because if we need to get over a closed gate that might be difficult. We would have to take our time and potentially siege the town." "Oh? Why is that?" Anthony asked. "Because Heirisburg was the staging grounds for one of the Dwarven legions." 2- Five "As you''re all aware, we''ve been here for several days. I think that we''ve taken this place down to its bare studs. But I think we''re all aware that there''s nothing else we can get here and we need to start moving on to our next objective. So Bob and I had a talk with Borgan and Song. As you''re probably aware, they had been traveling from the same direction that we now intend to go. So we''re going to take a small stop on our way there. But we''re going to be heading south again. Someone is telling me that winter is coming and their voices have become very insistent, so let''s Mount up and any business you have here, let''s clean it up before we head out." There was a general murmur of agreement and as most people had already figured out that today was a day they went into heading out there wasn''t much packing left to do. The pile of scrap salvage that wasn''t usable had to be left. There wasn''t enough room for all of it to come with them. Andrew had raided the entire town for any usable wagons or pieces that could be turned into wagons. They had given their back wagon specifically to the Orcs as they were newcomers and needed their own space. It was slightly larger than their other uncovered wagon, and customized for their larger frames. The orcs were very pleased with this. All that they had, they carried with them including their packs and musical instruments. While they were in Arva, they too had grabbed bedrolls and pillows for themselves. Anthony helped them hook up their horses. Accompanying the caravan were twenty horses. Eighteen war horses and two Tinker trained bay mares. Finley had taken the lead on their care and feeding. Now that he was awake, all the horses seemed much more bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Anthony couldn''t help but notice that they seemed to want to get moving now more ever. Perhaps it was two days of doing nothing or perhaps the horses had a bit of wanderlust inside of them. Either way, it was good to know that the horses were on their side. With four wagons now instead of three, eight horses had to pull wagons. This left twelve that could be ridden or followed along. Not every single person was able to ride a horse confidently but even so each one now had an animal handling card. Thanks to Finley, the horses generally stayed with them. The only surprise this time was the amount of goats milling about. Anthony inspected their water supply. They had about three days of water and this by no means allowed anyone a single shower. Every drop they had was for drinking or for their soups and stews. Finley and Stella with the help of Sophie were in charge of rations, leaving one less headache off of his to do list. Everyone in the Caravan drank water including the horses. With seventeen travelers, food and water was a big concern. One of the covered wagons, Finley''s original wagon, was stuffed to the gills with food. The wagon had the most effective storage and now was able to hold more weight easier thanks to Finley''s storage powers. The first of the uncovered wagons was where all the cooking equipment and water was kept. Their second covered wagon held all of the personal effects which is to say their clothing and bed rolls as well as weapons that weren''t in use and any other knick-knacks. The newest wagon, having just been completed that morning, just had empty space as they anticipated that they would need to fill up at their first stop. Empty space and three fully empty barrels that had previously held dwarven beer. Anthony didn''t mind beer for breakfast. In fact he loved it. However, keeping beer around took a lot. Stella, their resident cryomancer, had to frequently check on and modulate the temperature of their supply. She was really good at keeping it consistent. She also knew her way around a beer tap exactly the normal amount one should be. Sure everyone knew how to use the tap once it was installed, but her installation was a sight to behold. With every keg able to serve them for 2 or 3 days at a time. It was an ideal solution to their problems with water. Beer didn''t have that problem of microscopic organisms trying to kill you. Sure, Sonya had the kind of spell that let them cleanse things but really she shouldn''t have to be cleaning everything. They needed her to use that cleanse spell where they did their business, a sad reality of the medieval technology around them. Anthony didn''t want the women in his life to be cleaning up after him, before him or around him in general. He wanted them to be happy, well fed and kept away from his sharp blades when not on mission. "Hey big guy," Sonya said, squeezing his arm. "I know you want to inspect every single aspect of every wagon we have, but I think it''s time we get a move on." "What? Oh yes, that makes sense. Mount up!" He said to the people that had already either gotten into their seat or onto their horse. Finley had saved him a spot in the front. Sonya escorted him there and then sat right behind their seats. Finley pulled the reins and then they were off. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Bob, Mork''s long back scratcher, put his wagon behind the first. They circled up nearby their first objective. It hadn''t been a long drive to the edge of the woods. There was a large pit filled with pork corpses and dwarf corpses right before the woods began. Bob called upon his favorite card power to summon a small animal. Wisps of dark magic rose up from a small feline It began a quick run, taking his time to sniff each cadaver. Several times it smelled something and then in a flash It would cut through the chest of whatever it was looking at, revealing cards or card pieces. Bob really hoped that They would get something good out of this. He knew Murphy well. Murphy always showed up at his bakery. Out here in the wild, fighting against monsters that had no remorse? This was where a gentleman might find Murphy. Safe to say, he stayed clear as the feline did its work. Finley and Sophie stepped forward. He knew what they were about to do, having seen them do it many times before. One by one, they turned each corpse into fertilizer, quickly, decomposing it and growing mushrooms and yellow flowers on top of the dirt that remained. Bob had been in the room when Finley had asked the orcs if they had anything they wanted to do for the rest of their tribe. They had indicated that this would be appropriate. More orcs followed the Goat Lord than Bob had ever expected. With their nomadic lifestyle and desire to live off of the land wherever they went, clan Green Fang was a classic place for the Goat Lord. Ca''at, his eldritch summon returned to him. This was the part that he disliked the most. The animal that his summon most looked like was a common black cat. A single extra eye, combined with wisps of dark magic gave it a witchy look that any cat would envy. He didn''t remember the third eye, but perhaps it had been closed before. There was a nonstandard amount of goats around the site. Perhaps the cat had opened its third eye because it was wary of the amount of goats. A few goats had tried to follow them from Arva. They lagged behind, but Bob knew that they were still there. Ca''at began yacking up a hairball. This was the worst part of having an otherworldly summon. All of the cards and card pieces that it had taken from the zombies were covered in wet hair, and presented to him. Ca''at even meowed, which was his sign to give head pats. One always gave the eldritch feline head pats. "I''m just thankful that we don''t have to do that manually," Stella said from a safe distance away. "We''re all glad. I can deal with this," Bob said, picking up and cleaning off the cards. There were several copper and iron cards as well as one or golden cards. He was still looking for whatever card the death knight had. He had a sneaking suspicion that someone had grabbed it. He had a sense that the cards degraded over time inside the zombies. He didn''t have any proof. He just had a theory that he would be run by Stella later. "The way they came here is pretty clear. It should be easy to track back to where the green Fang Clan was. Do you think they''re going to want to go?" Stella said. "I think I would want to go. And since we''re right here anyway there''s no reason not to. Anthony and I talked about this. Because it''s inside the forest, We were thinking that there was a road in and apparently there is one. However it doesn''t connect anywhere near here, we would need to go around. That''s not something we planned to do. We both want to get far from here today but we understand that they may need to pay their respects." Bob and Stella got down. Around them, everyone was stretching their legs. A few people wandered closer to see what Sonya and Finley were doing, firsthand. "Do you want to hand out snacks? Probably won''t be stopping after this for a while. We will be here for some time, especially if Borgan and Song decide they want to go and see." The two Orcs that attached themselves to the Caravan had been on the way to a clan gathering.. Their Clan had been thoroughly overrun and save for them turned into zombies. When the Caravan took them to investigate, they were attacked by a wave of dwarves and then a wave of Orcs, all Undead zombies under the thrall of a death knight. The ground around them looked like it had been through a pitched battle, but all they cared about was to lay siege to the horde and then slowly fall back, killing as many as they could. Bob had considered going with them. When Borgan got down, Bob realized that they were going to go through with it. Better to give him a snack for the road. Bob and Stella cracked open their water barrel and then pulled out a box of snacks that they had made. They had a lot of jerky that needed to go to Good Home. Song accepted the dry meat, gratefully, bowing and scraping. Combination of Bob skills let him know that there were no zombies that still were a threat nearby. This is to say that all the zombies were dead. Not Undead, just dead. Otherwise a combination of his skills would tell him where they were. It wasn''t hard to see the giant tents that the Orcs had set up well within the Horus. So they just sat there waiting for the Orcs to go and say their piece at maturity. "What do you think? Stella? Could you imagine losing your entire clan? They''re the only ones left from their culture. Whatever culture the Orcs have on this continent," Bob said. "It''s like just another Twist in the knife." "This whole fucking continent is just a Twist of the knife. They had it the worst. We had it terrible we''re going to pick ourselves up and we''re going find a way to get some help so I can fix this.¡± By the time the Orcs were at the tree line, they had walked around the little plateau Hill a few times. I was thinking about what kind of day he was going to take her on. They''re officially, but now he wanted to figure out a way to get her attention from the Stark reality of this world. That stark reality being that there''s no hope now. We''re going to come for them They were the best chance that this continent had. Bob might not have liked it, but the truth of the matter was that they were able to "We need to get a map. Bob. I have no idea how far anything is for anything else and I really feel like I should know that." "I mean we have three local guides now, and Anthony has been filling in the map as we go. I still wouldn''t mind a bit of a local touch though." They stood there over the network of trenches looking over the inevitable end of conflict. There was only one way that this would end for Bob. There was only one way that it could end. 2- Six The orcs returned from the forest quietly. Finley knew what they were going through. Every time he looked back at the tinker wagon he was reminded that his entire family had died or been turned. True, they had adopted him but that had been so long ago. They had taken enough time. Drawing deep, Finley thought about how to honor the dead. He used some of his mana to grow a tree. It would take some time, but eventually it would flower. All he had energy for was a sapling, but with Sonya''s help the barrow of their fallen clan would be marked. It was clearly visible from a distance. The tree would grow with a distinct evergreen leaf. Perhaps one day, when this was all over, they could return. If they stayed, then eventually the zombies would find them. Finley returned to his wagon. As his was the first to leave, he spent some time turning it back in the direction that they had come. Behind him, Bob''s wagon lined up. The orcs arrived and then the other two wagons mounted and turned around. Then they were off once again.
"Hey Anthony?" Sonya said. "If we didn''t have to stay in Arva for two days to recover, do you think we would have?" "What do you mean?" He said, turning to her from the front of the wagon. Finley was napping right behind them. "Like if there is no pressing need for us to move and the next closest death knight is months away, then could we have stayed longer? Like a week to recover? Or more?" Anthony appeared to consider her words. The sounds of the horses moving filled the silence. He turned back to the front. "I mean I guess we could have? We have a long way to go but a few days here or there won''t do much." Anthony shrugged. "I mean think about it. This continent, based on what we have seen so far, is huge. It''s going to take some time to traverse it. Six hours of hitting it hard and we''re still on the road," Sonya said. "The scours come up and help adjust our direction every so often but yeah. I''m glad that I haven''t been in the saddle that whole time." Anthony patted her thigh. He probably felt the same way. "You swapped out with the riders two hours ago when we ran out of stories about the American healthcare system. Those, by the way, were terrible and it was scaring Finley," Anthony said. "I think that he has seen through enough horrors for two lifetimes." The wagon was continuing on through a well traveled road. Besides Arva, there hadn''t been much of note on their route so far. Sonya had expected as least one of two groups of zombies but her anticipation of another fight soon turned into boredom. Her boredom had turned into her wishing that they were there yet, but they were all adults and they were all looking for a good spot for the night. "You don''t think that we will get to the next town, Heirisburg,today?" Sonya said. "If we don''t see it soon, I''m going to call for a halt. I wonder if the scouts have seen anything yet," Anthony raised his hand to shade his eyes. His long flowing locks moved like they had just been to the salon. Sonya had activated the cleanse card several times that day, trying to keep everyone fresh. When they had swapped around she had asked the people in the other wagons if they wanted a cleanse. It removed sweat, dirt and smells but it wasn''t exactly the same as a shower. The only problem with it was the side effect of it smelling like a teenage boy on a date. Most of the group had gotten used to it. Most, but not all. "Ah! Here comes the scouts!" Anthony said. Ahead of them, three riders approached. The sun glinted off of the bald head of the man in the center. The two riders on either side were both women with long flowing hair. As they got closer, they were all smiles. The serious demeanor they had when they departed was now gone. "We found a spot!" Sophie yelled once they were within earshot. "Is her hair wet?" Anthony said. "It looks wet to me." Sonya squinted. It did look a bit like she had slicked it back. The combination with his scrub top gave her the appearance of a model on a fashion line for nurses. "I guess? That would have to be a lot of sweat if not." Stella slowed her horse to a trot by them. Bob and Sophie continued on to pass the word. "This ought to be good," Anthony said. "We found a spot for tonight. You''re going to love it," Stella said. "You can see it after this next ridge." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"This is probably the best place you could have picked. Well done. The only question is who gets to jump in first?" Anthony said to Bob as they crested the final ridge. Below them was a valley with a large lake in it. The river ran from the north to the lake and southwards where a large town could be seen. The town in question was downhill which meant this lake fed into it. Anthony had been worried the lake would be uphill or down river meaning that it would be suspect. One never wanted to swim in human excrement. The pipes leading from a large enough city would be breeding grounds for terrible things that none of them wanted to deal with. Finley hadn''t been much help about this. He knew to not shit upstream of his drinking or living area, but the germ theory of disease was something that it had not so far penetrated into Tinker culture. Anthony was going to be taking steps to ensure that it did. In the future he hoped that all tinkers would consider basic sanitation a part of their normal education. The caravans circled up, leaving the horses in the center. They parked not very far from the gorgeous lake. Even Anthony was tempted to jump right in. So long as there were no inland giant fish, they would be alright. Bob and Finley quickly joined him in the center as they figured out how to get set up. "You want to organize the defensive walls? Finley and I will check on the water situation. We either need to make walls on both sides and through, or just on this side," Anthony said. "Just put them here, the land is getting too flat. Give us some space, about half of the distance to the river should be good, draw a line there," Bob said, pointing to four corners. "And make that southern side the one with the fake entrance. Make the north our real exit. Stella and Sophie, do you both want to lay out the markets for the corner? Then check on the food... Then you guys can jump into the water?" "On it," Stella said, grabbing four spears and passing two to Sophie. They had more than enough spears. It was a preference to keep the zombies a distance away. The girls jogged out to make the outlines of what would soon be their fortifications. "First watch? Volunteers anyone?" Anthony said. "Going once?" About five people raised their hands. "Thank you all! You get to go for a swim first. Also you get to tell me if there are any monsters or fresh-water fish," Anthony said. "So please bring your game faces. If you''re going to swim, please take a buddy. I would hate for someone to go missing out here. I would hate to find out that one of you is our next death knight." "Boss, you want us on the night shift?" Borgan said, yawning. Next to him Song was stretching as if the two had spent the day sleeping rather than driving. Perhaps in comparison to walking all day, they had relaxed a bit too much. "If you''ll have it," Anthony said, wincing. "I don''t want to make this a habit though." "Alright. Finley and I will check if the water is good with Sonya. Everyone else if we can get settled in, that would be great." There were a lot of implied tasks that Anthony didn''t hand out. For instance, immediately someone took a bedroll out and claimed a spot inside of the four wagons. Someone else brought several horses to the stream. He didn''t really have to tell them to do that because if they didn''t do it while the sun was up, then they were screwed. They knew what to do. He just had to give them the time to do it. He judged that perhaps they had another three or four hours before it got dark Anthony and Finley grabbed the empty beer barrels. While they moved the barrels, Anthony explained why they were drawing from upstream and not downstream. "So basically what you are telling me is... Don''t shit in my drinking water, but with extra steps? I think I can do that," Finley said. His face and entire body was now entirely green. His arm was beginning to grow back. The nub that had been left was an inch further from the elbow joint than it had been the day prior, Anthony was certain. His barrel was in held mostly in one arm, bracing against the bicep of the other. "It''s something like that. It''s preventative. And really, we should consider if we can get Sonya to cleanse the whole thing. That would be ideal. Do you think they''re going to be any fresh water fish? Actually, I don''t even know if the water''s could be fresh. This far inland it should be," Anthony said. Finley set his barrel down. The two men realized that they might need some help. "Boys," Sonya said, "Let me take this next part." She began casting a spell. As she chanted, each word a sacred whisper, a circle of light formed on top the water. Then it''s slowly rotated. As it rotated, water started to climb up into the air. Finley quickly broke open the top of his barrel with Anthony''s help. Then the pair cracked open the other two barrels that Anthony had been carrying Andrew came over with the wheelbarrow, placing it right where it could be easily loaded. Anthony and Finley placed the first barrel there. The water rose up into the barrel filling it up. Anthony and Andrew took the wheelbarrow over to the clearing, then unloaded it. They moved the wheelbarrow back, repeating the process two more times until their water situation was finally under control. "All right Sonya, other thing we need you to do is obviously cleansing this area. I can tell that half these guys really want to jump in. I can''t tell how deep this lake is but it''s it. Looks like it''s a football field long and at least twice as wide. How much is can you cover with the use of the cleanse spell?" Anthony said. Moving closer to her, he checked her eyes. She yawned right in his face. "Right now? Probably about half of it. I''ll go and cleanse some and then if you don''t mind, I think I''m going to go for a swim. You are welcome to join me," She said. She began to strip down. Anthony shrugged. "When you''re in a place place like Rome, do what you can do," he said. "I''m only going to be a few minutes, Finley. I should grab some towels first, but..." Sonya gave him a look before depositing her clothes by the shore and activating a cleanse on them. There were several reasons why Anthony should have gone and gotten towels. There were far more reasons for him to stay and watch his girlfriend undress. He didn''t mean to be lewd, he just wanted to appreciate the sight. And he might have gotten carried away, she did look quite nice. Anthony jogged over and grabbed several towels before sprinting back at full speed. Hey, did you use the excuse that he was testing out the water for anybody else who wanted to go in. Several people had already gotten in calf deep. Anthony had defensive Magic and he wasn''t afraid to use it if he really had to. If nothing else, it was probably going to be his or Sophie''s job if there were monsters inside of this lake. Perhaps they would find a lake monster. Sonya had already swam a little bit. She could clearly stand from where she was and he could see her casting and cleanse again. A white light surrounded her pulsing outwards as the lake went from a slightly changed green to a gorgeous blue. Where he could once only see the top of the like now we could see to the bottom. He liked what he saw. That was about the time that he suffered the worst betrayal yet on this trip. Anthony was a man who trusted people. He thought that he had a high trust with every single person in the Caravan. But when his girlfriend decide to splash him, all bets were off. 2- Seven "Hey Borgan, Song, can both of you come with me on a brief scouting expedition? We''re going to check out the city and I wanted to see if you had any insight," Bob, Mork''s delivery man said. The two orcs considered the question as they splashed around in the lake. Bob had never seen an orc frolic until today. It was pleasant. "We have nothing much to do right now so as long as we''re back in time for our shift we have no problem with that. Is that alright with you?" The orc looked at his brother who shrugged. "It''s all right with us. We''ll follow along. Are we taking horses?" The orcs hadn''t ridden any of their horses yet. Everyone was avoiding this because the orcs were quite tall and heavy. It was the reason that they had been granted their own wagon post haste. "No horses this time," Bob said. "We''ll walk for about an hour and we''ll walk about an hour back. I just got an ability to let me leave a mental direction marker but only one. Now, there will be no issue with us returning back here at all with my tracking and marking ability. Actually, I have been meaning to ask you guys about your abilities. If you want to tell us that it''s fine. If you don''t want to tell us, that''s also fine. We just need to know how to work with you if that makes sense." Bob had fully expected them to not want to give anything away. They were the newest members of the group, after all. Trust had to be earned. Respect had to be earned. Bob remembered those adults he used to have in his life because he didn''t have a choice in the matter. People that had told him to respect them because of who they were, when what they meant by respect was that they needed to be treated like an authority; meanwhile, respecting him meant treating him like a person. "I just want to be clear. I''m not telling you that if you don''t do this that it''s going to be an issue. I volunteered for this job. You don''t have to come scout with me." In the back of his mind, he was remembering Anthony''s speech about volunteers, not recruits. Song, who was up to his neck in the water, began to sign something small with his hands, obscuring his face. Bob was going to have to make an effort to learn their sign language. It had to be isolating to only be understood by one person. "Maybe you can teach me some of- actually what is the language that Song uses with you?" Bob said. "Hand talk. It used to be called orcish hand talk and sometimes hand cant, due to all the shortening. We can explain some of it. Song would be relieved, I am certain, to know that he could communicate with anyone else," Borgan said, walking towards the shore. Song smiled then made a gesture of pointing to himself, then opening a book, then pointing to Bob. "He is saying that he is going to teach you," Borgan said. Song pointed to Borgan, then Bob, then smashed a fist from one hand into an open palm, grinding the one hand into the other. Song narrowed his eyes. Borgan giggled. "He also says-" "I got the message thanks," Bob said.
Two orcs and three humans crested a ridge, fully expecting it to be their last one of the day. Stella didn''t mind a bit of hard work and she needed to stretch after a day of hard driving, but she was starting to think that Bob wouldn''t be happy until they could lick the walls of Heirisburg. At least he had said so several times. Their main objective was to determine where it was, so they had followed the orcs'' lead to the city. The group had been surprised to find several zombies milling around aimlessly less than ten minutes from what had to be the final ridge. Spires from the city kept popping up as they got closer and with each little ridge, Stella and Sophie would mark their passage. Sophie grew a tall thornbush, shaping it to be a distinct marker. Stella trimmed around the resulting bush, making the shaft of the bush appear even longer. It was the first time in a long time that trimming bushes was a group project for either woman. That they were doing so in front of a crowd was far more rewarding than it had any right to be. The grass turned into a beacon that they used to ascertain if they were able to easily return back. Placing the bushes on top of a relatively higher point would be a dead giveaway if they were fighting anything intelligent. Thankfully until they had a good line of sight, none of the zombies even got close. This first batch had decided to walk over to them and eat their internal organs. Stella disagreed with that on general principles. She preferred her organs to be inside of her. Stella and Bob took turns taking shots at the zombies. Bob shot with his crossbow. Stella was well aware of how many bolts that they had, and fully expected him to reduce his amount, reuse any bolts and recycle them into new zombies. It was the eco-friendly way to kill, after all. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This environment might not need saving, but she damn sure would save all of the bolts they came across. The team dispatched the zombies with prejudice. They held fast on their positions, giving the benefits of the doubt to the undead. They didn''t have the ammunition for a double tap. Using too much magic would wear them out and they needed it if the groups got bigger. Borgan and Song approached them to determine if there was anything useful. This was the fourth group and so far aside from their cards and potentially their gambesons and shoes, they hadn''t found much. Stella held out hope. Bob''s summon had been helpful but each of the dwarf zombies so far had mining related cards or in one case, a mine cart construction foreman card. The one good thing that came out of it was that the orcs were now very familiar with how they worked together as a team. True, they had been in a battle together, but then they were doing the backup music. Something about their performance helped the others in the fight. With only five of them, the orcs were a bit more hands on. "A lot of these dwarves look like they were suited up for work of some kind," Bob said, as he knelt to inspect one of them. "Yeah. Imagine if you were at work and the zombie apocalypse happened and he was like, you are still coming in right?" Stella said. "Do you think that they were heading to work and it just happened?" "I wish I had paid more attention in school," Sophie said. "There is no reason I can think of that all of these people could be so affected so quickly. It''s like the whole continent got a virus." "A better question is why didn''t Finley catch anything?" Stella said. "Anthony said that he had been at some remote Dwarven village before they met up and all of the people there were not undead." "It''s probably one of those things. Do you think that it targeted only villages of certain sizes?" Stella said. All three of them looked up at Borgan for comment. He looked a bit flustered. "I have no idea how this happened. I have no idea why my brother and I were spared. I am grateful every moment of every day, but I don''t think that I will have the answer to this no matter what I do," he said. Song signed a few circles to his brother. "What''s he saying?" Bob said. "The circles mean he''s trying to show layers. Like the card levels and he was saying that Finley has the same level of rarity card that we have. Do you think maybe there''s something there? All three of us have mythic cards. Song is telling me that at least," Borgan said, turning another dwarf over to inspect it. "How do you know that Finley has a mythic card?" Stella said. "Did he show you his deck or something?" "There''s a weight to someone''s soul depending on what their initial soul card is or has been merged into," Borgan said. "Though we should ask. Ours were passed down through the clan." Stella decided she was going to drop it for now. She would have to circle back and talk to Finley about what a mythic actually meant. She didn''t have one of those. What she did have was two rare cards and a couple of cards that she swapped in and out. And now, she had a potentially full deck if she wanted to ever open her own mind. She was actively considering the option. "All right guys, I think we''re close enough now. We know where it is. Let''s head back. And this time keep your eyes open for any more zombies that are on the horizon. If we find that we''ve got company," Bob said. "I want them to pay full price for admission to this show." They moved back, one by one, until they hit the first bush. Bob had them rest a little bit to ask if the coast was clear. When it was, they continued on without incident back to the staging area.
"Sonya, do you just really like Tower defense games? Or is this like some sadistic prank," Anthony said, looking over the maze. "Like I trust you, I really do but it''s just a lot." In Finley''s opinion, Sonya had made a masterpiece. She fully encircled the staging area with a thick dirt wall about twice her height. Then she had designed a set of stairs leading up on two sides. The wagons entirely pointed towards the exit, though they did wrap around the campfire. They would just have to take turns. Sonya had decided this time that she was going to not leave an exit door. Her powers had grown and she was now able to more easily access parts of the wall so that they could exit. She felt confident that she would be able to move it aside if there ever was an emergency. And if she got incapacitated, she knew that Sophie would be able to help. Sophie, having acquired a warlock class, had learned some of the tricks that Sonya was using. Zan, their wizard in residence had also learned how to cast the same spells, but she was even more of a glass cannon than either of them. And so it was that Sonya finally rested after cleaning the water and making sure there was a ladder available for people to use. The ladder provided lake access so that people could take a little bath. Andrew had been willing to set up torches around the walls so that if nothing else, you would run into one. If the zombie showed up, they would fall into her maze while trying to get to them. And that''s when she had all of her friends to help. That was about when the scout team came back in and Sonya turned her attention to cooking. Finley and Stella started chopping vegetables and made some stew. Sonya set the pot to boil. Now that they were going to be feeding seventeen instead of fifteen, they needed a bit more. Her hope was that occs ate what humans ate. No one had really asked the orcs about what they wanted to eat. Or even if they ate potatoes. Sonya was sent as the representative to ask. They just thought everything that humans ate was odd. They really liked to take their time while eating. When she asked Borgan what he wanted to eat, she noticed that Song was trying to sign things to Bob and Bob was signing things back. Bob wasn''t doing it very well but she was kind of proud of him. Though he could hear perfectly, the orc was mute. She didn''t think it was a good idea to ask why, but since he communicated using hand signals and Borgan was the only one that could speak it, she might consider learning as well. So it happened that when the first few bowls of stew came out, the orcs had a bit of a crowd watching. Bob fumbled his way through orc hand talk, and the crowd went wild. Sonya smirked at his attempts. They were genuine but he looked so out of his element that it was adorable. Stella gave it a shot as well and she had a few signs down before long. It was less important for Bob to learn the signs and it was for everyone else to be able to understand. Borgan. That was when Sonya really understood how isolating it could be, if one could only get their point across to one person. It was a lot to put on one''s brother to be their sole translator in the world. 2- Eight In the wee hours of the night, Sonya snuck out. She hadn''t so much as touched her new card spell, yet. She instinctively knew how it should work but the card wanted her to visualize two points and keep both in her mind. It wanted to be used. The card itched. She was doing her best to visualize where she was. Once she had a firm idea where she was in space and time, she considered another spot. She had chosen a corner of the wall to be her focal point as it was very distinct. The other requirement from her gate card was that she had been there before. Has she focused on the point? She could see herself almost in third person. Then what she saw was a jumble of lines leading all over the place. Then the line continued back in a straight line and she knew that was their path here. Instantly she was sucked out. Then she thought it up again. She brought herself back into the meditative trance and thought about where she was and she thought about a singular appointment along her path. That point just so happened to be the corner where she had spent a little bit of extra time. She focused on where that was in relation to where she was. As she did so she could feel an aperture. There was a shade between them and she felt like if she just tugged a little bit she could pull the shade back, and the spaces would be connected. She reached down with a hand directing the shade upwards. As she did, the space in front of her transformed. There was a flat oval in front of her and by throwing it, she could see another view of their yard. She tentatively threw a rock through it. If the death knight had used this, it must have good control. She could feel her own control wavering. She was strong but her magical control took a lot of concentration. It was one of the reasons why she chose to be a back line fighter. The Rock sailed through and she could see it dropping through the aperture. The gate itself was an oval about the size of a door. Seeing the rock drop momentarily confused her and the gate winked out of existence. She was, in Anthony''s, words a glass cannon. He had said a bit more, especially about her being a beautiful glass cannon that any beverage would be honored to be drunk from. Now she realized that she''s going to have to work on her control. It was fine to have thick walls when one was building a tower defense against zombie dwarves. If someone wanted to keep a very fine thin portal open however, then one needed the minute control of an experienced mage. Just to be sure, Sonya walked over to the corner and checked on the rock. It was the same rock as before. She was ready to try to move something living. Maybe not tonight but soon. Picking it up, the rock felt normal but who knew with these things. "Do you maybe want to make some rock music?" She whispered to it. "Tell me your secrets?" The rock didn''t give away anything. She smiled. Thinking that it was going to be smoking with eldritch magic hadn''t panned out. Sometimes a magical portal was just a magical portal.
"What do you think about three or four days here?" Anthony said over breakfast. He passed Finley something baked into a half circle shape. Someone had called it an empath nada. Finley wasn''t entirely sure about the naming convention, but he accepted the hand sized item readily. "This is what Andrew made with that special grill, right?" Finley said. "Earth is strange." "Andrew isn''t from Earth," Anthony said. "He told me a bit about his home. You know that he hadn''t even seen a human before?" "That is odd. But they are rarer in the dwarven lands. I should ask him about his world over lunch," Finley said. The entire pastry had made it past his teeth in record time. "This is amazing. Your empaths surely know more than nada." Anthony smiled. Finley didn''t get it, but they were the ones with the weird foods. "When my Tia taught me how to make those, I never thought that I would be feeding them to an elf king," Anthony said. "Your majesty, I am so pleased that you enjoyed our food." "King of the Tinkers, not the elves," Finley grumbled. Even that felt like a stretch. The green had called out to him and he had remembered the time before. It had been so long ago and such a dark time for him. The problems that he had then seemed so inconsequential now. "We''ve been traveling together for a week now. I haven''t asked you this but if you wanted, there is a way for you to join the Tinker family." Anthony eyed him skeptically. Finley was used to the sort of scrutiny that new people would give him. Years of traveling around the continent had given him a fair amount of exposure to new people. Tinkers always had to be trading and part of trading was talking to people. Sure people were nice, but when they knew that you were eventually leaving and they wouldn''t have to deal with you, they treated you a bit differently. Anthony was stuck with him. Finley had kinda made that happen himself by picking the man up and then the whole thing turned into the most unhinged week and a half of his life. He had seen monsters before, having been in the habit of checking if there were any reports in the towns his visited. But not having anyone in the towns that didn''t want to kill him? That was new. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. This all brought him back to his question. He knew that he would be able to make Anthony a Tinker. What he needed was the man''s enthusiastic support of the idea. "What does that entail?" Anthony said. "I will give you an uncommon card. This lets other Tinkers know that you''re one of us, but... That matters less now than it did."
Finley looked at his own Tinker card.
Epic Class Card: Tinker Level 3 Skills: Barter and Appraisal Level 4 Identify Level 3 Animal Handling Level 3 Storage Level 4 King Level 1 As the last remaining Tinker you have the ability to induct new people into the family. This is a soul card and cannot be removed.
About the only thing that had advanced had been his storage level. He was beginning to think that he was still in the rut that he had been in before the zombies attacked. Anthony was helping test his storage ability. "It might help you with a skill or two. Some of the Tinkers I know got strange powers from it. I... Inherited mine, so I had a fully developed card around a merchant skill set and I kept working on it," he said, setting another full barrel in the center of the wagon. "How does that work exactly? You inherited a card?" Anthony said. "Like it was passed down by an older member of the family." The wagon stretched. Where once it had taken two maybe three paces, now Finley counted his steps and it was five paces and then some. "Usually what happens is that when a grandparent dies, their soul card is harvested. That soul card can then be put into someone else''s soul deck," Finley said. "I can see your face and no, once the person that was born with it dies, it is no longer tied to their soul. It''s not tied to the next owner''s soul either. This leads to some very strong families, when one person is excessively lucky and they pass on a great class." "You are about to tell me the downside, aren''t you?" Anthony said. "It''s something like this effect here where the interior of this wagon is starting to be larger than the exterior and we''re trying to test it out?" Anthony stopped pacing, turned around and did the paces again. "Something like that. Your soul has to be ready to accept it if the card is very powerful because a truly powerful card can change the flow of someone''s river." Anthony looked dumbfounded. It had taken him. Tom to get to the other side of the wagon. That had never been an issue before. It was always simple to get from one side to the other and because he left the center line down I obstructed it was ever a problem. But now? "The flow of someone''s river?" "Of mana?" Finley said. "Oh, right there is no mana on Earth." "That is a very moist metaphor. I like it. I''m just unfamiliar with it. Hey, let''s check this outside." The two of them walked outside. Anthony stood parallel to the back of the wagon. He then took five paces. "Finley, this is some really weird shit you''ve got going on here," he said. "When I was inside of that wagon, I was able to walk five full paces without leaving it and it felt spacious. Here? Outside? I walk five paces and I am three paces away from the wagon. That''s three paces further than the interior. Some fuckery is going on." Finley considered the problem. The wagon was taking on a specific requirement based on his storage power. The next thing they were thinking about would be if they had a long full they could store it inside of the wagon. What he really wanted was a pole that was longer than a wagon was to see that if you put it on one side would it come out on the other. Andrew might be interested in that kind of thing, but he wasn''t entirely certain. It was a lot to waste. He was thinking of a way to unload the wagon to see what it really looked like on the inside when nothing was in there and then see how large the footprint of all the things were. He had heard of cards giving storage spaces like this but it just seemed like its own kind of thing. It was probably five paces wide as well as long based on where all of the crates and barrels had ended up. "Finley, now that we have really good evidence that your storage power is working very well here, we should also probably test out the weight. I don''t know that it can carry as much as we could fit in there and that might be a problem. Do you want to test it out by putting more heavy things in there? We could find some more barrels or something?" Finley considered it. If there''s one thing he wanted to do, it would be to save his Caravan. And then one day perhaps teach new Tinkers how to mark their own caravans up and continue the legacy. He hadn''t really considered it up until their arrival the day prior. But he kind of hadn''t thought about his future. Being in the reactive mode had kept him from thinking beyond the next five to ten minutes. Now they were intending to stick around for three to four days, because they thought they could get more salvage out of it. "People have magical weight. We can try putting a bunch of people in this one? I''m loath to put them in there if it means that it''s going to break but we might as well try it. It doesn''t seem to be a problem. And if we''re able to put people in here and potentially they could use this as a shelter. This storage card is excellent. I''m so glad I got it," Finley said. "But if you break my wagon then I''m going to break your face." Sonya had told him that he could say that kind of thing to be intimidating. He just needed to make sure that no one was going to mess with his wagon. He was a simple elvenoid and he didn''t need for much. They''d already asked a lot of him. Finley knew that they were going to ask for more. He accepted it. That did not make it any easier. "So basically what you''re saying is that we should make a party wagon, and invite everyone over here for a little party. Is that right? Because I could do that. Just a little bit of work and it''ll be a mobile dive bar. Everybody here wants to cut loose a little bit and once you find some more beer in this town I''m sure that this will be the spot." "The party wagon?" Finley said. "I actually think that the Goat Lord would appreciate that. So, yeah, go ahead. Do your best. I just don''t want to worry. So if there is a chance that this is going to destroy my wagon. I would like you to be responsible." There was an electric moment between the two of them. Finley felt like he was giving his child up for adoption to the man. Having never thought that he would bear children, he was forced to consider how fast he could pass them off. "I think that I could be reasonable. Now. Where do you think we should put the kegs? As well as a buffet. People are going to be hungry and knowing that they can just crash inside of this place or on their bed rolls? They''re going to love it, especially if it rains. That''s one advantage that we have with the hard top." "Oh so now we''re just letting anyone off the street into a Tinker wagon?" Finley said, glaring. 2- Nine Bob, most excellent ranger in Mork''s service, took over an hour to ride around Heirisburg. "You would think with a place like this, they would have some signage. But if there''s nothing else around then there''s no real reason for them to put anything up right? Who would question if this was the city they''re looking for? I wouldn''t. How many cities like this do you think there are? Not many around here," Stella said. "There''s no sign indicating that this highway goes to any other spot, nor are there any helpful signs that tell you where the rest stops are. You really have to stop and ask somebody for directions." "Then it is a good thing that we asked some locals for help," Bob said, moving his horse closer to the city. "It''s too bad that they can''t ride on our horses without crushing their spirits." Nobody wanted to mess with the horses. There was no possible way for them to get new horses and given the situation in front of them, they didn''t expect to find any more. Zombies ate horses. Any horse not freed during the event that turned just about everyone onto a zombie, hadn''t made it far. Bob didn''t want to think about how many half eaten dwarves they''d seen. There weren''t so many pack animals, but the few that they had seen were very visible. The goats from Arva didn''t make an appearance that morning. It made him think that perhaps there was something about their Caravan that attracted animals. "Yeah they would have enjoyed this," Bob said, "Not." Behind the three scouts, a near-conga line of zombies followed them. They were luring the zombies to a setup that Sonia had made that morning. Sonya, a big fan of zombie games and Tower defense had decided that perhaps it was not the best idea to set up your Tower defense Network right next to where you slept. Slept. As such. She had taken several of the monks and moved closer to the town. She was looking for some easy wins and she had asked Bob to do something that he was going to do anyway. Bob was looking for the low hanging fruit. All the doors that have been stuck outside of the city. If they could clear out any of the outstanding zombies outside of the city, then they could be sure that they weren''t going to be followed easily. His secondary objective was to see if any of the doors were open that led inside. Their initial scout Fort had said that of the door they''d seen, the Portcullis was down. Bob, Stella and Sophie had been moving closer and further away from Heirisburg, trying to draw out any zombies. Several had fallen from a second story drop, then gotten up and ran after them. Most of those that dropped, found that running was not a part of their repertoire anymore. But they still crawled after them with a single mindedness of purpose. It was the final part of their circumnavigation of the near circle around the city and they could see Sonya''s newest creation. The two meter tall walls had equally wide spaces in between. "Ready for this next bit?" He asked the bay mare that he was riding. "Who''s a good girl?" She neighed. "Ladies?" Bob said. "I''ll go first," Sophie said. "Stella next?" "As you say," Stella said, moving into formation. Sonya had promised them that they would have good access and that they could continue through. Their horses would not be spooked by what they''re about to go through. She was going to leave them a wide enough space to go through the maze. Then they would emerge on the other side and wait until the conga line of zombies got into it. True to her word, Sonya was waiting for them standing near the entrance. Further in, there was a very clearly marked pathway for them. Bob trusted Sophie to lead them through. He glanced over his shoulder briefly before heading into the tunnel.
Once they were through, Sonya closed up their special entrances. She had left a grassy knoll on the back for the horses that had a small exit. Brandon and the monks lowered a ladder for the scouts. Stella was first up and over. She paused to look at the design, then lowered a hand for Sophie. It was hard for her to keep from saying anything. Sophie and Stella exchanged a few words, outside of her earshot. Bob came up, his bald head glinting over the ladder. The girls came over to them. The monks had left a few spears for the girls and they took them up. Both of them already had a spear, but it was good to have an extra or two. She was used to making decisions on her own. Also, due to her warlock ability, she was able to visualize the entirety of the tower defense maze. She had chosen a classic feminine design, one evocative of her years in college. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Hey Sonya, did you make this maze in the shape of fallopian tubes?" Stella said, running up to her "You got me!" She replied. " I felt inspired." "Hah!" Stella yelled. "You lost this one, Sophie! That''s two uncommon pieces." The two women came over. "Where do you want us?" a jubilant Stella said. "Near the tubes or the entrance?" "You can head to the front, Stella- Sophie you have those warlock powers, right?" Sophie nodded. Stella saluted and ran off. "I''m ready to drop some girl power on these zombies," Sophie said. "Can you position yourself opposite of her, along that wall?" Sonya said, pointing to the opposite side of where Stella had gone. "You take overwatch with the Monks. As for Bob, I''m going to have him back up Stella and myself. Understood?" "Gatekeep, gaslight, girl boss, aye ma''am!" Sophie said, saluting. "Battle cry?" Sonya said, turning to go. "Just trying it out, before Stella takes all the good ones." She ran off sprinting towards her station. Sonya had her ice mage in position across from the goat powered warlock druid. She would need to speak to Stella about getting some more useful card skills. Of course she could always get Andrew to make something for the rogue? The zombies finally arrived. Bob held his bolts. Each bolt was far more useful than magic power. They had near endless cosmic card power to fuel their magic, but only so many bolts. The first one to attack was Stella. Sonya guessed that she would do her special ice flooring attack. Sonya''s affinity lay with the earth, a gift from her patron. Sure she could cast a basic ice spell but it wouldn''t do nearly as well as a specialist like Stella. Across from them, tiny bolts of lightning streaked out touching several prone zombies. They hit the ground, slid and then got shocked. Where Stella began to work on the upkeep of her ice, Sophie sent out a burst every five seconds. By the time they got past Sophie, most of the zombies were icy and hot. It was a potent combination for those they were once dwarves. Beards lit on fire as Sonya considered if she needed some elemental water. Or perhaps she could just lose a bit of dirt over the flaming Dwarven zombies. Fire needed air, right? She would rob them of the air they needed. A light dusting of earth fell onto the flames zombies. The monks across the way whooped as their spears finally got a kill. The purpose of the defensive position wasn''t to advance their skills though, except perhaps Sonya''s tower defense skills. It was all falling into place now. Stella refreshed the ice, extending it down towards the fallopian offshoots that lead to dead ends. Sophie and the monks cleared up the ones that got up again. Bob kept his head on a swivel, looking for anything that threatened to break away from the crowd. Sonya launched another thick dusting of earth, trying to see past the cloud that was being kicked up by her efforts. "Ah fuck me," she said, pushing the earth forward with her mana. She accelerated it to a staggering degree, aiming down the line. She hadn''t even thought about that. She was going to have to change up her tactics, or work on her air affinity. Perhaps Cara had something about the air affinity that she could lean on. She was after all the god of overland travel. If she didn''t think that was related to airtime then perhaps that wasn''t her patrons'' problem, not hers. She would choose to believe whatever she wanted to believe about it. Sonya really wished that they could make quick work of the zombies but they went on much slower than she expected. Perhaps it was something degrading their capability. Every single zombie that came into their tunnel I had been one for at least a week or so. The days were starting to blur in her mind. She had to wonder what was keeping them going. And at what point would they run out of that? Actually if ever. Something had to be making them do what they did. The current theory and the most dominant one was that whatever card what card pieces were inside of the zombies was what was happening to them and then perhaps breaking down the cards into card pieces was a part of the magical fission that created Zombie energy. Of course this was the theory that had been only run through a group of their peers, which is to say all the casters had this general idea that that was what was going on. Once the tail of zombies finally arrived, Sonya could finally relax. Bob summoned his eldritch house cat and set it off. Sonya walked around to get to Sophie. "So, Warlock Powers; how do you feel about them?" She asked. "Oh you know the drill. I suppose that having a patron that doesn''t really speak to you so much as yell at you and an intelligible language should be a blessing but I''m not exactly sure but he wants me to do? Is that a thing that I should be thinking about? He''s not unknown and unknowable. He''s just a goat.. It''s like he''s just raging at the world." "I totally get where you''re coming from and yeah that sounds very interesting. My patron can speak to me which did not until this conversation seemed like a thing that was not on the table. Even when Finley talked about the Goat Lord, I expected him to be able to make coherent sentences. If not just mentally; he should be able to give you an idea of what he wants. I''m not sure what''s going on with that myself. At least you didn''t get a patron who looks like she''s still in high school," Sonya said. She raised some of the dust up, leaving access for Ca''at. The dust was on her mind. She was going to attempt something new. "High school? You know what, I don''t want to know." Sonya walked over a little bit closer to Sophie. She held out her hand, expectantly. They clasped hands, both giggling a bit. The macabre setup of her defensive position had made the past ten minutes feel like a video game, and if that was what she needed to do to cope, then so be it. "Let me show you a spell," Sonya said, tossing her hair with a flourish. "Please do." Sophie clapped, leaning in. They were a few paces from the edge of the wall, just where both could easily feel like they wouldn''t be falling. That was good enough to start. She demonstrated her air spell, quickly showing the motion she used with her hands. Using some of the dirt that had covered previous vanquished foes, she made a tiny dirt tornado, before letting it peter out. The tiny eldritch beast pawed at the tornado, playfully trying to catch it. Sophie gave it a shot, making first a gust, then leading the dirt around on a front of air. She did the same thing that Sonya was doing, creating a mini vortex. The vortex looked like more of a solid mass, but didn''t feel as strong. Sophie had excellent magic control. Sonya was going to have to ask her about how that worked for her, and probably take some notes. 2- Ten One of the monks came to give Finley the news. He was happy to hear that everything had worked out. It took them all morning to wrangle the zombies that had been left out. With nothing left to do, the zombies that had not been stuck inside of the city had just been angels. The mass of zombies wandered around outside of the walls. There were enough small buildings there to hold their attention. Even though some zombies had made it further out, the caravan was still able to pick some off. Bob and his team had pulled a wide circle, trying to get any stragglers that hadn''t shown up to the party. The home team-consisting of Anthony, Finley, Zan, Andrew, a few warriors and the orcs-prepared lunch for the away team. It was hard enough to deal with zombies on an empty stomach. If there was one thing that would make them feel better it would be showing up to a warm cooked meal. Even if the meal that they showed up with was yet another batch of stew. Borgan and Song had caught something that was thankfully not touched by the mark of the undead. They had skinned it and no one wanted to mention to the away team that they were about to be eating some prairie dog meat. These things just didn''t tend to pop up randomly. "So I promise I''m not overreacting right," Zan said. "But this used to be a cute little animal before? Because I was a vegetarian back on Earth." "What''s a vegetarian?" "Someone who doesn''t eat meat. I mean I''ll eat eggs sometimes and I didn''t like fish so I would eat a fish here and there. But yeah I didn''t eat meat," she said. Finley was stumped. He had never heard such a thing. In his opinion, you ate what you ate. There were preferences, but when you were hungry there were not really that many options. There were far fewer options now for the group as any food producing industry had ground to a halt. At the same time, he was considering grinding some of this prairie dog meat into sausages. He was definitely going to need something if he wanted to pull it off. He just didn''t know enough about making sausage in particular to do it without some assistance. He really hoped that Andrew would be able to help him. "I was thinking about making smoked meat and potentially sausages," Finley said. "I understand if you''re reluctant to eat any of that, but I would like to have something and it would be a good change, but we can''t get a lot of salt from the beach. We can keep meat for a while but salted and according to a client''s answer we can keep it even longer if it''s frozen solid, but I don''t really trust that." "Smoking meat and making sausage is way outside of my wheelhouse. And no, in this situation, I''m not referring to any of our covered wagons at all, even in the abstract." "So you don''t want to help me set up a shack to smoke meat?" He said, getting up from his comfy log around the fire and grabbing the oversized spoon. "I did not say that. That does sound awesome. Does it make me a hypocrite if I am tired of stew and I just want to eat something alive?" She said. "Also, if you''re willing to help me, I want to think that I''m going to get the Orcs to play some songs for us tonight. That shouldn''t be an issue, right? I feel like we''re far enough from the city to not draw any attention." Finley grimaced, stirring the stew again. It was likely that any zombies that would be drawn out by smoker fire had already been drawn out. He''d also constructed large walls around their sleeping area so there was little risk there. He just couldn''t shake the feeling of that first day that they had all been chased out of Dunnamore. "I don''t expect that they''re going to show up here, but we all lived through that first escape. I really want to set up torches tonight as well if nothing else." "I understand. That night that you guys saved us? I already thought I was dead. I get it. We are close to a city that used to be populated a lot. But according to Brandon, the gates are locked all around and they''ve drawn out all they can. Tomorrow? They''re going to go in full force on all the buildings that are outside of Heirisburg." Finley nodded along. He didn''t know the right words to say and perhaps he might never but he could sit there and witness her. That might be enough. During breakfast that morning, Sonia had gone on about how they''d all had different experiences and he needed to be patient with some of them. The odds that he would need to use that advice the same day that he got it seemed a bit low but he appreciated the words. She had some job before where she did something about mental health and although he had no idea what the heck that meant, he rest of the people seemed to listen to her. As long as she wanted to talk, Finley was willing to listen because he was not going to get rid of them anytime soon. At the same time they could not get rid of him. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. All the same, he felt like he was doing it wrong. He felt like he should be solving Zan''s problems. But Sonya had told him just to listen so he did. She told him about how she''d gotten captured and he listened. She talked about how she''d been flirting with one of the monks and didn''t know where it was going to go. She talked about her problems with her spell book which apparently required that she get more pages through some quirk of her magical power. "Wait, so you''re telling me that you can''t just create pages using magic?" She said. "Creation is a thing that''s very specific. Like there''s no card that just creates food or water. Obviously if there was it would make my job very difficult to do. As a druid, I can make plants grow. But then to make food I have to make them flower and every time I do that it takes more energy than it''s worth to do," he said. "It''s like you''re spending more energy to create the thing that the energy would replace," she said. "I don''t know how many calories is in a piece of paper, but I imagine it would take the kind of energy that growing a tree would. That''s got to be a lot of energy. But that''s not even an option is it?" "Even if I knew how to make paper, which I don''t. I have no idea which kind of wood I need. There''s enough wood here to figure it out. Plus we can just raid the legion''s offices here for supplies. They must have something good. They get the top shelf stuff." Finley regarded her. He realized with a start that he hadn''t even noticed how dark her fingers were. "Is that the normal color of your fingers or did I miss something?" He said. Zan raised her hands. "Ai ya, yeah I was using some ink to write my notes into my spell book. I actually haven''t jumped in the lake for a while. Come to think of it, did you want to go take a break?" She said, locking eyes with him. "I can''t see why not," he said, standing to stretch. He waved to Anthony who was working on the map with Andrew. "Hey, am I going to go take a dip in the lake with Zan?" Anthony waved him off. Finley took this as acceptance and grabbed two of the dwarven towels that they had been using. They climbed up over the ladder and down the other side. Finley realized that two of the monks that had been standing guard up there, had swapped out with some of the warriors. He remembered all the monks heading to the expedition with the away team, but they must have figured out that they didn''t need them right now. He waved to both of them giving them a broad smile. They went back to him and then gave a very warm smile towards Zan when they waved to her. And for her part to not engage in that age-old act of greeting, instead just doing her thing. Climbing over the ladder and waiting for her, Finley raised one eyebrow, but decided to let that go. One of those monks was probably the one that she was pissed off at. They got to the lake and Finley stripped down. "You really are all green, you know that? I thought I knew you but now?" Zan said. "Are all elves like you?" "Some are," he said, jumping in. "Ooh, it''s warm!" Zan then promptly disrobed, following him in. Her skin was an off yellow color that he had never really encountered before. In his travels, he had seen a lot of people with brown skin and the white pink skin that many humans were born into. Her eyes, a dark black, were also different from most that he had ever seen in a way that he couldn''t put his finger to. "This is about right. A little bit warmer and it will be just perfect," she said, dipping to below her shoulders in the water. "Ah this is marvelous. I know that the cleanse skill is great but this? We need to tell the boys. Maybe in a bit though." She let out a contented sigh. Finley was content just to let the moment be. The warmth enveloped him and brought it back. He remembered those days spent at that silent meditation before all this had happened where everything had seemed like it was going to be all right. His wagon was full and his bartering skill was getting up to the point where he was able to set off on his own. He was going to be able to blaze his own trail and he was on the way to being able to support another person. "You know before this? My main concern was working on my bartering skills and establishing a good trade route. I took a long silent meditation retreat to get my mind right before this happened. I had left the place and then I met Anthony. I feel like I dodged a bullet there." Zan was attentive, giving him her undivided attention. "Had I left just a little bit later, I might have been turned," he said, using both hands to keep himself upright. "You don''t know that you- you can''t know that. We can''t go back and imagine these counterfactuals. Imagine if you just just spiraled about that endlessly? That was me before. Now? I can''t. I don''t have the capacity for that. I''m here now. I need to embrace the now." "Is that why you have been winking at the guys on watch?" "Hey, he was the one that fucked it up, not me. If seeing me out here in my element makes him regret his decisions, who am I to deny that little bit of revenge?" She softly splashed him. Finley wondered if he was being lured into some sort of weird trap. He had been warned about humans that only decided they wanted to mate with elves. She had looked at him carefully when he stripped down but he didn''t think anything about it at the time. He probably should have thought about how she felt in the moment and how she perceived this exact time. Was she trying to court him? He wasn''t even sure that he wanted that. Humans were such a hassle. Zombies were easy. Elves? He wished he knew enough of them to make his own judgment. His life was difficult enough when he had to think about all the little things that humans made tabs on. They were almost worse than Tinkers in that regard. Sadly, All his humans were from the same or similar cultures and they had decided to do that as cultural Representatives in ambassadors that he needed a full account of what agriculture meant to them. 2- Eleven "Ugh, house clearing?" Sophie said. "Can we get like a summoned creature to do that for us?" Stella shrugged, then readied her spear. "Here we go!" Bob said, opening the door. This door, like many others of its lot, swung open easily to reveal an empty house. "This would be so much easier if we could just nuke the houses from orbit or something," Sophie said. Stella charged in. "No gods, no masters," she whispered, darting a look at the first room inside of the two story dwarven building. This, among the many that they had raided, had to be the house of someone with small children. Sophie let that one go. She followed right in, whispering to herself. "Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss..." She said, backing up her friend. They moved in as a team. Two dwarves lay dead on the floor of a kitchen. Sophie made a note to return there. Both were gray, and her standard protocol was to double tap them. Bob pulled security as Stella stabbed first one then the other in the base of the neck. The second floor had obvious notes that it had been a family home. "This is a child''s room," Sophie said, clearing it. She left the next part unsaid. There wasn''t a child in the bed or the closet. Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. This building in particular looked more well to do that some of the others she had seen. Sophie wasn''t familiar with the dwarvish military markings that she kept finding, but she knew that they at least looked significant to whoever had lived here. Something nagged at her. Both of the dwarves downstairs had been dead for a while and the door had been closed tight. There had to be a reason that both had been face down in the kitchen, next to each other. "Hey Stella, Bob can we head back to the kitchen here? Something is strange," she said. "Sure," Bob said, following along. Sophie rolled the dead dwarves over. Both had a small sized indent in their foreheads. There was a bit of blood in the wooden floor over a square that was a bit off center from the room. It was made from a darker wood and looked like it had been covered by a carpet. Sophie knelt, feeling around the floor. "Sophie, what are you?" Stella said. The sound of a latch being undone stopped them all in their tracks. Sophie unlocked the trap door, lifting it up into the air. Stella raised her spear. The trap door opened up into a large underground basement. Sophie used her elemental powers to summon a small light in her hand. She looked down and gasped. There was enough food there to make a backwoods prepper ejaculate on sight. The large basement had rows and rows of shells with jars and bottles. In the center of it all was a dining table and a dwarf. A living breathing dwarf child lay on the table. Sophie held her breath even as she saw it take one. It was faint. "Bob there''s a living dwarf down there and-" She said. Bob flew down the steps that had definitely been made for smaller legs. The lower level had to be twice his height. Sophie almost ran after him, but stopped, remembering the protocol. They always left someone in the back to pull security. Stella motioned for her to go. Sophie took the initiative, taking the stairs down four at a time. Stella had ice magic and that was about the extent of her magical abilities. Bob was the group healer at least for the scouts. Sophie had a variety of powers that could help in a pinch, but she wasn''t sure that her medicine skill was up to snuff. In a flash, Stella was at the child''s side, feeling for a pulse on the radial artery. Bob had a palm around the child''s neck feeling, while his head was on her chest. The table that the child was laying on was almost certainly designed for a dwarf as had everything else in this city then which meant that as she bent over to feel it, she could feel her back hurting. She was going to pay for this later but it was well worth it. They spent an eternity there listening and feeling for a pulse and a heartbeat. She didn''t even know that she was supposed to get up. The hospital trained her on emergency procedures but had been so long and she had not expected to have to use it on a dwarf of all things. But dwarves were quite similar to humans in many ways. So if she was alive? If she was alive, Sophie could do something about it. She could help. Then maybe this would all be worth it even more than it was. It started with getting her to safety. Getting her to safety, then they could worry about all the rest. Bob got off of his position and looked at her. Of course, neither one of them wanted to be the first to talk. In that moment, something passed between them. Bob tried to wake the child. The little dwarf girl rolled over. "Not now mom," a soft voice said. "Ten more minutes." The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The dwarf rolled over. Sophie took a glance at Stella. She was still there in the light. "Take her out? She''s delirious," Bob said, putting one arm behind her head. "Let''s bring her back to camp. Anthony will know what to do. Between him and you we should be set." With a table working as a makeshift bed, she realized that the girl was laying on a thick blanket. "Use the blanket?" Sophie said. "Like a stretcher?" "Sounds good. Uh..." "I''ll take the top, with her head as we go up the stairs. You take the bottom," Sophie said. "Is that because..." "Because I''m a top, yeah," Sophie said, gathering the blanket in her hands and getting into position. "And proud of it." "Alright, let''s go," Bob said, grabbing the girl''s feet. "We''re going to need to mark this house, because this is too good to pass up." "Agreed. On three..."
Anthony examined the dwarf girl. He really wished that he had a blood pressure cuff, a thermometer, a monitor and a bag of saline. Oh and all the other stuff that he could get only in a hospital. He would love to run labs on the girl, but seeing as how she was a different species, her normal would probably just make him even more confused. "Alright. This girl looks like-if she was a human I would say that she''s just exhausted. An old time doctor might say that she had the morbs and prescribe her some time breathing in the sea breeze along the coast. If there is some magical effect going on, I''m not able to discern it," Anthony said. Bob and Sophie looked relieved at his words. Neither one wanted to bring in a dead girl. An unconscious dwarf that seemed to be having active nightmares? That would be preferable to another zombie. They had laid her down in a shaped room along the outer wall of the staging area. Half of the room was under a tent, the other half was the reinforced outer wall. This let in enough sunlight for them to see in the early evening. "Do you think...?" Bob said, looking hopeful. "She''s probably dehydrated and given she must have been surviving on prepped food, she might have hypernatremia. We''ll need some water for when she wakes up." "Hypernatremia?" Bob said. "She''s either gotten a bit too salty or less watery. Either one can kill you after a while," Anthony said. "But I don''t know without any way to tell. That''s just my best guess for what she''s going through. When she drinks water, whoever checks her urine can tell us if it''s dark brown, that''s going to be a bad sign. I did all I could for her otherwise." "So check her pee," Sophie said. "But don''t be weird about it. I''m glad you''re not asking me to test her for diabetes." "You know that-" Anthony started. "Well aware, boss!" Sophie said, giggling. "Well if her urine smells sweet also, let me know. I doubt we can fix dwarven diabetes out here but the more we know," he said, putting a hand on her arm as he searched for an artery. More data would have been helpful, but he had a sense that he thought all that he could and that they had arrived at the right time. A little bit later and they would not have been dealing with the living dwarf. Bob explained the situation with the basement. Anthony was enthusiastic and two and the two of them. They realized that they were going to have to take a wagon out there to load up all the things. Before they were going to do that, they would have to clear all the nearby houses. There were only about forty houses that were outside of the city for however large it was. There was one giant building that had to be the military academy but all else looked like it was housing for regular old dwarves. There was nothing else. Flags, crests and heraldry around that little smattering of houses made him think that it was all for hierarchy dwarves or instructors. That this dwarven girl had been in the basement of one of those houses, could be a good sign. The group didn''t think that they were going to see any more living enlightened beings. The orcs had been out in the wilderness, far away from anything resembling a town. "Did anyone tell Andrew? I feel like he might want to know," Bob said. "About the other dwarf? I don''t think we can have that kind of thing over here. It''s going to come out eventually, especially if they''re the only ones in the infirmary now." "We don''t need to concern ourselves with them right now. When she wakes up. They can talk but it''s like why would? Do I think they have anything in common? One lives and works with us." Both men sat over her waiting for her to make the first move. If they were playing a game of chicken, she would win the World championship. She still had her eyes closed. Anthony waited on her for the third time today. He might be able to fish out a salty electrolyte solution to give her. Of course she would have to drink it and that would be salty, but she needed to wake up. A pitcher of water sat next to her. Back in Arva, they had a whole infirmary running, even if it was never full. They also had two patients. Here, they just had one and several cots for the sick to sleep on and around. There wasn''t even a special cot for the sick. When they packed up it would go back into the general supply. It wasn''t until she sat bolt upright while Anthony was eating his dinner stew that they confirmed any suspicions. "Aaaah!" She screamed, a loud noise in a sea of silence. Anthony, covered his ears and offered her a bowl of stew. "The hell is this?" She said, looking at him with disdain. "Humans? In my city? Where the hell am I?" "We''re actually not in the city anymore. When we found you, we moved you out here away from The Horde. I''m Anthony by the way. Could you tell me anything about what you''ve experienced over the past week or so? Because we are here in part to deal with the zombie problem. So..." She stood him down for a long minute, and really ate the stew deliberately. With each bite she perked up with a little bit more. She grabbed the picture next to the cot and drained it fully. Then her eyes went wide. "I might be able to answer some questions but first, mister, would you be able to point me to the powder room? All this food all the sudden is making me feel a certain way." Her eyes rolled around like a mad woman. He couldn''t imagine what it would be like to wake up inside of a makeshift Fortress that had just popped up. It wasn''t like there was anything to compare it to. Sonya had just gone and made this design herself. There was a spot in the corner that they used and he pointed her over there. He remembered how Sonia had been very particular about making this work for them. He didn''t have a flush toilet but it did have a place where one could sit down and do their business. Because of how the setup had been it was very reminiscent of Earth. Of course there was tenting around it for privacy, but he was concerned that she was going to lose her shit or something. She had been isolated for at least a week. And if what Bob and Sophie were saying was true then perhaps she''d had to hold up all by herself. Bob couldn''t imagine what she had been through. The situations were reversed. He definitely would not know if he could make it as far as she did on her own. Joe, having lived in a basement for so long, he questions. She had stuck it out. And there was a question of how when everyone else around her had turned into a zombie that but she hadn¡¯t, how did this one woman survive? That would be a question for when she was ready to talk at length. Right now? "All you need to do is drink more water," He said to the girls. "No. Beer me," she said. 2- Twelve A lot of people wanted to talk to the girl. Anthony was determined to let her be. The entire caravan understood his position and spent parts of the evening trying to get information from him instead. Anthony relieved Sophie of her scouting duties, putting one of the warriors in her place on standby if the scouts needed to head out. They didn''t at the moment, which was how Anthony and Sonya ended up eating dinner outside of the field hospital. "It kind of feels like the world hates us right now, doesn''t it?" Sonya said. "Like I understand, we''re here to solve a problem and kill some death knights but it would be nice to find someone alive more often. Two weeks and we have only found three people?" The days had felt like months. Now? They''d gone into a rhythm. Rather than spending every bit of their day just surviving, they were able to venture out and help others. If they were others to help, which based on their experience there wasn''t. "Sometimes I think this is a cruel joke but," Anthony said, squeezing her hand. "At least I''m not alone." Her presence next to him was comforting. He hadn''t counted on that. But it was good to have. He had done nursing school and all those little talks they had about resiliency and mental toughness and all that shit had gone out the window when he came here. He might be tough, but he was only one man working his way across the continent that he was not familiar with. "We''re not alone. We made a little community here and we all pitched in. This might not be the most ideal situation but we can take it on together," Sonya said, really leaning into him. He was glad for how close they were. "It''s too bad we don''t have anything to watch. I could think up a game we can play but so far? In our downtime? There hasn''t been much to do." "Maybe the new one will have an idea," Sonya said. "Oh! How''s the new patron working out for you?" Anthony said, resting his head on her. Their vantage point next to the field hospital let them see the fire in the center. It''s flames flickered. "He doesn''t speak much. That would be ideal if I was looking for a one night stand but..." "Being a magical sugar baby isn''t exactly a one night stand?" "It''s more of a situationship. Or two air elementals who both want to get together?" "What are you trying to say?" Anthony said. "An airship?" He groaned. She had got him right in the dad joke. "You know what, I think Borgan and Song said that they would play some music for us. They do need to practice to keep their chops up. We could make it a date if you want." She looked over at him hopefully. "That sounds lovely. We can make that happen. Finley said that part of being a tinker is learning their stories and that he has a few that he would love to tell us," Anthony said. He hadn''t noticed until that moment but he really hadn''t been looking forward to something in a while. He was happy when the day was done and he could spend time with Sonya. "I haven''t really thought about how much I appreciate you. Like, I look forward to seeing you everyday, but outside of that? I think I have been a bit nose to the grindstone on this adventure. The gods that pulled us here to do this work, they didn''t specify a timetable and yeah I think that this might take a while. The more we travel, the larger this continent seems." "What did Finley say about the inland sea? It''s three weeks of hard driving away?" Sonya said. "And like two weeks until winter, but we have been continuously going south until now. Maybe we need to pick up and move more," He said "And even then if Bob didn''t know where the other death knights were we would literally be going in blind. It''s hundreds of miles between here and there. You know what we need to do is try and get some real measurements. Triangulate the distance of the other two. That would be useful." Anthony nodded. He had been wishing for that kind of information for a while. His best guess was that the entire continent had to be at least one thousand miles long until they could get to a seaport. This ran into the issue then of them not having another destination if they ever got a ship. They also severely lacked nautical training but it was either that or fight the more and more zombies as the death knights found their trail. "Do you think that any of the zombies from the other legions would try to find us?" Anthony said. "Like say that the one we just killed had a unique transportation power and the other ones have different skills, probably something far worse- do you think that they would come after us or just sit in their little fortified ivory towers?" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Sonya leaned in. Perhaps she was considering his words? "I don''t know about that but that power?" She said. "You didn''t." "I did." "Well that makes sense. No one else could have grabbed it from a rock tomb," Anthony said. "How does it work?" "I have to fully visualize two places that I have been and then connect them in my mind, expend a bunch of mana and then, man is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy that I worked out portals?" Anthony grinned. "I could kiss you," he said. "Please do," she replied, sinking into his embrace. When they came up for air a short while later both were pleasantly flustered. "Maybe we should ..." Sophie opened the tent flaps, cutting into their alone time. "Sorry to bother you both. She''s awake. We''ve been talking and I think I need to bring you and Andrew. Sonya, do you also want to come in? She''s got a lot going on and I don''t know that we''re going to be able to help her the way that she needs to be helped today." "Of course," Sonya said. "She is okay with both of us coming in?" "I explained that Anthony was a nurse and that you were a mental health counselor before and she didn''t seem to understand the second one, but she definitely knows what a nurse is and she''s willing to talk. Joe, let''s all have a little talk. She''s scared she''s alone. She just lost her parents and just about everyone she''s ever loved. Sounds familiar?" "Pretty familiar," Anthony said, opening the tent flap fully to allow Sonya to enter. Inside the torch lit room, four chairs and a single table stood tall. A young dwarf girl with blonde hair looked at both of them. The dark bags under her eyes had to happen there for a while. She stared at first. Sonya, then Anthony, lingering on both. Satisfied, she waved them in. Anthony was the last one in and they both took a seat across the girl. "First off, I''d like to say that we are so sorry for what you''ve been through and we are going to do everything we can to ensure that you stay safe. With that said, my name is Anthony and I am unfortunately the leader of this caravan. I don''t know if Ms. Sophie has said anything about why we''re here, but with three exceptions. Everyone in the Caravan is one of the chosen and we were all summoned here when this mess," he said gesturing to the area around them. "Began and destroyed all of our former lives." "Valerie Underfoot of the Heirisburg underfoot clan," she said. " To be honest I had sort of given up and when Miss Sophie found me I don''t know what I was going to do. I might have still had food and water but...but...my parents." Sophie tucked out for a second. Anthony was nearly certain that she was getting food for the poor girl. "Valerie, We understand that you lost a lot. Your entire city was overrun. We''re not sure if we found your parents or not and basically everything that lived on this continent before, every enlightened being died. You can take as long as you need to do whatever you want here. Consider this your safe space. When you''re ready, we''re going to reintroduce you to the rest of the Caravan. Our intent," she said, looking to Anthony for confirmation. "I''m not sure if you''ll be comfortable with us by then, but we should be here for 3 or 4 days." Valerie''s eyes went wide. This was a lot for her to take it once and when Sophie came back with the stew and handed it to her. She ate in silence. Anthony once again found himself waiting for a dwarf to finish a meal. After this he would do a little debrief with Bob. She might not know a lot, but she had gone through the thick of it. Twenty minutes and two more bowls of soup later and they finally got a little bit more out of her. She was a daughter of an adjunct faculty member at the noble war college. That war college was one of the main reasons that people lived here. When her father had realized something was going on, he had grabbed a card and shoved it into her soul deck. It was a heirloom card passed out from a few generations and it gave her powers that she was not familiar with. Of course, Anthony had to ask about the card and it turned out that her great-grandfather had been a military strategist and he had passed the card on to her father and before everything went down he had passed it on to her. "The sad part is he did all his work. Try and save me and then he looked like he was actually going to turn at that point. He shoved me into the trap door and I was down there ever since. I don''t know how long it was but it felt like it''s been months." "It was at most two weeks," Anthony said. She blanched at that statement. It sounded like they''ve been a lot in common except for being alive where they were at that time. Anthony was very very curious about his card but that could wait. They needed to help her out first before they admitted anything from her. She had been ravenous and he was certainly happy that they had made as much soup as possible already. Valerie had a somewhat useless soul card that she didn''t want to talk about. What she did want to talk about were all the little battle plans that her father had explained to her as youth. She had really listened into those, expecting to become a master strategist when she got older. Later, she had expressed a desire to go to the academy and he had just broken down. He hadn''t wanted his daughter to study war. "My mom ran interference when I applied because he did not really want me to go there. I wanted to go there. I would have done a lot to go to the school that my father taught it but things happened," Valerie said. This close up, she wasn''t that different from a human. He started to wonder if he could treat the way that he treated his other children. The proportions were close, but she had lacking height. "And now I really hate to ask this, but since we''re here, we have been slowly getting all the zombies outside the city, funneling them into a kill zone and harvesting their cards. Cards. Do you think that you would want to help us fight and kill some zombies? I understand that just about every zombie that we encounter used to be a dwarf, but the Goat Lord and Yil work in mysterious ways." "What you want to know about the city? I grew up here so..." "First? Card shops to raid. We''re looking for combat and utility cards. We need armor and weapons, especially crossbow bolts. We need to outfit our guys. I have been using a ceremonial spear that I grabbed for my Tinker friend. I would like something more designed for war." "There''s an armory at the War college. You should be able to raid it so long as we can break down some of the locks. That won''t be so difficult. I can even help find a place for us with some food or spices. If you''re going to be going away from here, that would be useful." Anthony''s sigh of relief was felt by everyone in their room. With her little bit of Intel, they would easily be able to find and salvage the parts of the city that were most useful. It was when she projected an accurate image of the town over one of their walls that they found out exactly how strong she was. Anthony smiled at the exacting detail. This would come in handy. 2- Thirteen Later that night, Valerie begged off meeting the entire crew. Anthony let her know that in the morning she could take as long as she wanted. They would bring breakfast. He pointed out where they had dug a trench and set up facilities for her to do her business. He didn''t mention the lake. Anthony and Finley talked about whether it was time to give her some duties but decided that she was young and she was recovering from a horrible traumatic experience. They let her slide. Sophie didn''t think she was going to want to do work for them when she had been in a safe enclave of her own. But he didn''t know and he didn''t want to ask, especially since she seemed to know a lot about the city they were in. Valerie promised Anthony that in the morning she would talk more to the group. She was very hungry, and after the fifth bowl of stew had requested to be left alone to sleep. After being together for so long, her gaunt frame stood out. Finley said the Tinkers had a tradition of using food as a weapon. Usually this was meant in a dramatic sort of way. That evening, it was used to turn her into a weapon for them. When they woke in the morning, Sophie approached the tent first to see if she was ready to talk. "I brought you some stew, Valerie." Sophie stood out there for about a minute waiting. She had been patient before with patients. She''d seen all kinds of things at the psych hospital but this one in particular this was a lot. She had not taken someone from their house to the hospital and then had to deal with them the whole way through. Seeing the whole picture, the holistic view of her mental health was something else. She''d seen enough bipolar teens affected by terrible family dynamics that she was used to kids acting out. Once they got their hackles down though? She''d usually been able to bridge the gap. She had been one of those teens. She understood. Sophie was a bit worried that the gap between her and a dwarven girl would be too vast. Valerie opened the tent flap and stood outside. Her face was a mask of calm. Sophie gritted her teeth and presented her with a bowl of stew. Perhaps she had forgotten how teenagers were. Or perhaps their experiences were too far apart. "I''m very sorry that we don''t have any beer for you but we ran out and part of our mission here was to see if we can get some more. I don''t expect you to know what if you can find any, but if you did, I''m part of the scouting team. It''s part of my job to flag buildings for further investigation." Valerie accepted the bowl, wordlessly. She looked at the fire in the center of their camp. "You can come sit at that fire with us. You don''t have to say anything and have one here. Understand that you are a guest and that they are not to ask anything of you." Valerie turned to her. "Thank you." Sophie followed the little dwarf girl to the circle of logs around their campfire. Several people looked up with concern nodding to the pair. Valerie sat down in between Song and Bob. She started slowly eating from her bowl. Next to her, Bob was well into his third bowl, eating as fast as he could. With a glare, Sophie pushed out her intent to him. Bob nodded, receiving the message and slowed down. Song continued eating at his normal pace. The normally lively circle was now deathly quiet. The only sounds for the flickering of the flames and slurping. Sophie stood attentively next to her. She felt like she should be asking a nurse for some prescription meds for the poor girl, but there was no nurse, besides Anthony and there was definitely no medicine counter. They were all alone and what had to be the darkest hours of her life, and all they had to offer her was a bit of stew and perhaps a chance to determine her own path. She was so glad that Stella had gone all out cooking this morning. The orcs had found out that there was a herd of deer in the area and overnight had killed two. What remained of their bodies had been treated and was hanging on a far wall. They had used a bit of help to hang up chains and skin the deer. They looked excited to see if she could turn the pelts into something. As it was going to be cold anyway, one of her questions for the tiny dwarven girl was going to be about how she could get some thread. All the clothes that they had found were of dwarven size and make. This meant that someone had to adjust things. She was used to working with clothing but sewing all the clothing for a ragtag band in an apocalypse? Before long she expected it was going to become one of her biggest hobbies, it not, her main job. Sophie loved being a scout. She was able to be the first one on the scene to see if there was anything good. She had been able to grab a few cards which had helped her trade back and forth. It was part of the reason why she''d gotten her warlock job. Plus she got it in the middle of all the Bob and Stella drama. Not that there was much but Sonya and Anthony? They were like an old married couple. In her eyes, the couple that Bob and Stella resembled most was probably one from real housewives. Sophie wasn''t sure which one yet but she was getting close. It was between the franchises based in New York City and of all places, Portland. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Valerie finished her bowl and held it up. Song took it and filled it. If Valerie was surprised that there were orcs in their camp, she didn''t say anything. Song certainly didn''t. He made a few hand talk gestures to Borgan and the two conversed silently back and forth a bit. "You don''t have to stop talking on my account," Valerie said. "Okay then," Bob said. "We can go around introducing ourselves then if that helps." Valerie nodded. Bob went around the circle asking everyone to say a bit about themselves. When it was Andrew''s turn, the head made a point to mention that he wasn''t a local. Valerie didn''t receive that well. Once the introductions were done, everyone was a bit quiet again. Then someone farted and the tension broke again, a wind between them. "Valerie, do you want to say a bit about yourself?" Sophie said. "I''m Valerie Underfoot, I guess you could say that I was a student at the military academy against my parents wishes," she said. "Not that they are against the military. My father was an instructor there and my mother worked the archives. I was hoping to gain a commission like my father and grandmother, but now? I may be one of the last dwarves on this continent... if what I''m hearing is true..." There had been a lot of silent moments where the Caravan had thought about what they had lost. They had thought about what the task was that they had been set in front of them. Sometimes they thought about the enormity of the loss of what had been before and in this moment, this one girl who had lost everything was a stand in for all that. Sophie held back tears. She needed to be strong for the girl in front of her. Later she would let herself have a good cry but she wanted to be strong in front of Valerie. Leave it to her old habits to die hard. Thankfully, Sophie had learned how to kill a lot better than she had before. Those habits had it coming. Their days were numbered.
Bob, the murkiest of Mork''s minions, called an impromptu council meeting after breakfast. They invited Valerie to see if she wanted to weigh in. Only the orcs were missing as they wanted to sleep during the day. The walls weren''t manned but for their presence, once the group broke up they would get their rest. "So day two of operations here," Bob said. "We have cleared out all these houses except for that one large building which Valerie has indicated is the academy. Thank you for that. Valerie and now I know that that is a high value Target. We''re going to need a dedicated wagon to grab things from there. This makes me think that we''re going to need to get a fifth wagon. Andrew, are you on that?" The group shifted to look at the artificer. He had three sheafs of paper that he had been working through when he was rudely interrupted for breakfast. Of course, he brought his work with him. "I can make that happen. But for now? Take the orcs wagon and use that," the dwarf said. "They''re camped out underneath the Tinker wagons. That should be fine." "Noted," Bob said. "Can I get two people for the salvage detail that will be guarding the wagon? I expect that we''ll park it there and load it up with what we find. I think we need to mind the horses or have the minders take them." Two of the warriors'' hands raised up. They would be great for this detail. "Now unless anyone has an idea of how we can do this any safer, those two people have that job," Bob said. "If someone had, say, a short term teleport skill or something. No one would have anything like that." "Like a gate spell?" Valerie said. "Those are rare." "Exactly, my new friend," Bob said. "Like the death knight we killed in our last clash might have had." Bob narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling that someone had taken his kill from him. His god had wanted him to kill the death knight. It gave him the tools to do so. When he hadn''t been the one to give the killing blow, he felt like Mork''s disappointment. The god wasn''t angry or mad, just like a father trying to save face in front of their child. Someone had gotten whatever card it was, because it hadn''t yet turned up. Neither had the corpse of the death knight, something that could have easily been hidden under a layer of dirt. He had a prime suspect with a motive, he just needed them to admit to it. The amount of goats that had shown up after the fight had thrown him off the scent. The general chaos of their retreat as well had been a lot of sensory input at once. He was still convinced that someone had harvested the death knight''s presumably mythic tear card. He just needed them to put themselves. There was the off chance that one Goat Lord had decided to turn the death knight into a goat. Finley had offhandedly mentioned once that the god responded to prayers in a strange way. Bob scanned the faces of the people around the circle. None had come forward but he had other means. "I can''t imagine that anyone would keep an ability like that to themselves," Anthony said, standing up. "As such, I imagine amnesty would be warranted in this case. In fact I think general amnesty for cards taken during salvage operations will be fine. I was thinking about starting a list of who has what cards..." "It was me," Sonya said. "I got the gate card." There was an audible gasp from half the assembled crowd. Bob was certain that Sophie had just brought out a bag of popcorn, but then when he looked it disappeared. "Alright. Now if we can just hand that over," Bob said. "The scouts can use that well." "The rear detachment could use it better-" Anthony said. "Tower defense needs it!" Sonya said. All at once, a cacophony of noise beat the discourse into the ground. Everyone was shouting at once, arguing for the card. "Bwaaaaap!" A sound that had to have been from an air horn sounded, overtaking the noise in a moment. Then the group quieted. Bob looked directly at the person who had made the noise, expecting one of the bards. Lo and behold, Valerie was standing where the sound had originated. "You guys are very undisciplined. Where is your command structure? Your unity of purpose?" Valerie shouted. "How the hell have you guys survived this long like this?" "Well I..." Bob said. "No! You''re undisciplined trash if you think that getting a consensus on your missions is going to work. Who is in charge here?" Anthony meekly raised a hand. "Alright well if you''re in charge, act like it, hero. Why is he running this meeting?" "I run strategy and I am the resident healer. Bob is our tactical guy, he does scouting and infiltration," Anthony said. "Well you need to be on the same page. This woman has a very powerful card ability that is an asset to your..." "Caravan?" Sophie said. "Your caravan," Valerie said. "Look, I know you guys saved me here but I was the top of my class at the academy. I was in line to have an advanced commission. I know this shit." Valerie sighed. "I think that as much as I need you guys, you need me. Now if I may, can I explain what you all should actually be doing? But first can you tell me the group''s goal here? Are you retaking the town?" "Our goal is to get enough supplies to get to this inland sea that''s a few weeks south of here," Anthony said. "Oh now this ought to be interesting," Valerie said. 2- Fourteen Once Sonya''s secret was revealed, that was all anything we could talk about for a bit. Valerie had gotten trained on the usage of such a spell and she knew the ins and outs of it. Finley listened to her talk about how she had been so pissed that that was what her term paper was about. Like every dwarf wants to be a bad believer right? And to take down the foes in front of him. But real ones know that that''s not where wars are won." "Oh really? Where are they won?" Anthony said. "Yes, please tell us as I seem to be having a problem," Finley said. "They are won in your bellies. An army cannot march on the empty stomach. This is why siege warfare used to be so popular. And everyone knows that you can''t make food with card powers. So it''s been a limiting factor. But with the gate skill, distances don''t matter as much. We used to have to consider how all of your booze was going to get to the front lines. And yes, beer is very important for front line fighters," she said. Valerie had turned from an angry drill sergeant into a professor in about ten minutes. "It''s just so rare to see a gate card," she said. "You either have to be an absurdly strong magic user or you have to get the card itself. And even then some classes won''t let you learn it unless you have seen it. That''s why one of the instructors at the academy has it, even though it is a national treasure." Finley sat bolt upright. "If that zombie has such a card then..." He said. "Don''t worry, he takes it out everyday and puts it into a glass case and that is locked under the highest scrutiny inside of the academy. No one would dream of stealing it from the academy. You''d have to deal with so many angry professors and Senior military officers on your way to do so. Why are you all looking at me like that?" Anthony turned to Finley and shrugged. He was between a shocked and bemused expression, one that he''d shared many times with the elf. "It''s like she keeps talking but she doesn''t understand what she''s saying, right, Finley? Like she''s talking past herself and then she has to go back and examine what she''s saying. Do you find that odd at all?" Anthony said. "All right team!" Bob said. "We now have a new objective for the day and thank you so much to Valerie, who I assume that we will be giving some formal role in a very short period of time. Do you want to be appointed as the caravans'' adjutant or something?" "Now hold on here a second!" Valerie said. "Raise your hand if you want to adopt Valerie into the Caravan," Finley said over her shouting. Every single hand rose. Even the Orcs who had been sleeping underneath a wagon rolled out and raised their hands. This squabble had been too much for them and they were thoroughly enjoying it as well if their faces were any indications. "All right! Motion is passed. Welcome to the team, Valerie Underfoot. I think that you will find our benefits package is top notch including your stock options and health plan. Please see Stella if you have any questions about either," Anthony said. "Benefits plan? Stock options?" Valerie said, worry crossing her face for the first time. "Guys I think we have made enough fun of the poor girl," Sophie said. "Now please, if you would explain what we can do with this power that we''re going to have to share, I would appreciate it if you could explain how powerful someone needs to be in order to use or learn that spell." Sonya rolled her eyes, a human expression that had continually puzzled Finley until he asked about why the women were constantly doing it about Bob. Sonya''s explanation that they were kinda laughing at Bob made sense at the time. Outside of cooking and scouting, Bob was pretty ridiculous. "Well it starts with learning where a person has been and where they can go. We call it a gate path, but the elves call it a life line or something. It''s like a map in your mind of where you''ve been before. Can you envision the spot over there?" Valerie said, pointing to a corner. "Then join the two points in your mind. Once that''s joined, hold that mental image of the two places being connected." Sonya did so and was surprised at how easily the image in her mind turned into an opening aperture. She could clearly see them from the portal next to her. They look so far away. She knew that if she walked through she would be on top of the wall which is where she decided to put it instead of the corner because she was not going to take direction from a little girl. She might listen and then modify some instruction but she wouldn''t just do whatever Valerie said. That would set an interesting precedent and as she was the group''s social worker, that might be a problem for her. Sonya put her hand into her convenient rock pocket and withdrew one standard rock. Then she tossed it through the gate. The gate stood proud and tall as the rock went through. Everyone could see it land on the wall. Sonya expected to cheer but was greeted instead by more questions about how it worked. She settled into the questions. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. --- After the discussion died down, Anthony brought them back into focus. "So we''re still getting that extra wagon but now we have a way to get places really fast. So what we need to do is get Sonia over there so she can open a portal so we can quickly and efficiently take things. One pile over there, one here. That''s what I''m thinking. Does that work for everybody?" Anthony said. "We''ll set up the stockpile over here with salvage heading that way and this will save a lot of travel time at least. Sonya just has to go there once, right?" Anthony summarized. "That''s right," Valerie said. "Eventually she''ll be able to use a stone as a focus for her gate spell. But I don''t think she can do that at level one." "And we won''t need that extra wagon to go out there so we can keep working on what we have here," Bob said. "This will be a good test of her ability to see if we can get things moving from the academy to here. Also, we should probably set up a secondary site if we''re going to be there that long. That will also fall to you, Sonya if you accept and maybe Sophie as well." "Are you ready for a mission with the scouts?" Sophie said, turning to Sonya.
Sonya, as it turned out, was not ready for a mission with the scouts. Sure, they had worked together before, but the academy grounds hadn''t been one of the places that the team had hit the day prior. And now they had to draw out zombies without themselves getting crushed, bitten or killed. "I don''t think that I''m afraid of getting bitten or dying, but I''m really afraid of one of you guys turning and then potentially becoming a death knight just so you know where my head''s at. And being the defensive specialist of this group I feel like I should note that if I were in charge I would not have sent myself in yet," Sonya said, as she killed a fifth zombie with an lance of rock and earth. "Oh but you''re missing out on all the fun parts! Sonya! Just going to draw them out and if there are enough then we''ll take them back to your little tower defense setup and give them a run for their money. Then we steal their cards and profit," Sophie said. The academy grounds had been set up to keep the students inside as a primary goal. The secondary goal was keeping outsiders out. Such was the architecture of the exterior walls. An iron fence stretched around it. It was a far cry from the outer wall of the city, which had been all worked stone and tall as most of the buildings around it. When they arrived on horseback, they went around it twice. All of the entrances were locked tight on the side that faced Heirisburg. Sophie was definitely going to ask Valerie about the name sometime later. She had thought it was a joke before, but now it sounded seriously like they had actually named the place Heirisburg. "The academy is pretty built up. We should be able to use this as a defensive spot. I can just fill in some of the blanks here with some Earthen walls. The only thing we don''t really have is a way to talk to people back in the staging grounds," Sophie said. "Bob, what do you think about using this spot over here on the other side as our entrance? It looks like it was used by the maintenance staff or groundskeepers before." The small door wasn''t off its hinges, but it looked like the simplest one to break. Bob dismounted, trying to look graceful. Sophie knew that he was waiting for a comment on it. His cloak looked majestic on the breeze, and for a moment she could see what Stella saw in him. It was only a moment and then it was gone. Sophie would probably need some time later to reflect on that. She had named her spear Bob after all. It had been more of a joke than anything but now? Now she was thinking about anything except for him. "Hey Sophie, can you try and unlock the door?" Stella said from the fence. While she had been thinking about the merits of companionship and how things would work and how much she didn''t have the bandwidth to think about this. "Yeah let me," She said, dismounting to assist her friend. They had constituted a pack of thieves'' tools to help them break into locked houses. Today, Stella carried it, but as they both had rogue classes, either one could do the work. Stella was always on about doing rogue shit during their downtime, mostly because she only had the one class. Sophie had three between her rogue, druid and warlock class. It was true that she could swap out a class and give one to Stella or someone else in a trade but the card felt like a part of her now. The card would retain all of its levels. She couldn''t take out her rogue card as that one was a soul card or her warlock card because of the stipulations that the Goat Lord had put upon it, but her druid card? It could be traded. She didn''t want to trade it, but she could. Sophie fiddled around with the lock for a half a minute, wondering why nothing was working. Then she stood up and pulled the door. It easily pulled out towards her. "Did anyone even try this door?" She asked. All of a sudden, no one would make eye contact with her. "Suspicious," she said, stepping back to grab her spear. There had been only a handful of times that they even broke out their lockpicks. Once when they had to open a locked chest. That one only held salacious love letters that went between two dwarves and a sack of gold. Neither one was useful, but Sophie still read through the letters trying to figure out what the heck a dwarven glove actually meant. Just because she had a good guess didn''t mean that she would be approaching their resident local dwarf with her findings. Maybe once she knew the girl better. Inside the back entrance, there was an open shack with gardening equipment. It was easily the size of a garage or more. Most notably, it was exactly how Sophie liked it. That is to say, bereft of zombies. "Alright horses," Bob said. "We''ve got to deal with the horses. Sonya, are you ready with the touch points?" "I am." Sophie felt the magic touch ground next to them. Then the aperture opened, creating a portal back to the staging area. There was a commotion as Finley walked through first followed by Brandon and the monks. "He wanted to see how it worked," Brandon said. "You try stopping him. He is an elf on a mission." "I''m here for my horses," Finley said, stroking the head of the first one he touched. "I presume that you are done with them now?" Finley checked the other ones. His hands flitted over the second briefly. The horse responded to his touch coming closer. "We are thankful," Bob said, handing off a bay mare to him. "May I take them back? Are you all able to make it back for dinner then?" Finley said. "I think that we''ll be home on time, Dad," Sophie said. "I hope so," Finley said, mounting up."Your mother and I have a lot that we want to talk about." "My...mother?" Finley moved out, his horse galloping down the packed dirt road. Behind him, the monks got their horses ready and hurried to catch up. 2- Fifteen "There is a distinct difference between one and two wagons. A marked but still distinct difference between two and four wagons. Now if you are talking about twenty wagons then I think we''re going to have a problem. We only have that many horses. We can''t run them into the ground like that. I think five might be the max and if we do five then we''ll have fifteen horses who could be ridden or otherwise occupied. Let me give you an alternative. How about we work on Finley''s storage space and see if we can, rather than expand the amount of wagons, expand the amount of space so that we have like a hotel on wheels," Anthony said. "And what is a hotel exactly?" Finley said. "It''s like an inn but different," Anthony said. "Then why didn''t you call it an inn?" Valerie said. "Humans right?" Finley said. "Always decide that they want to use their own words for things that have perfectly normal usable words." "I think that you guys are missing the point," Anthony said. "I''m trying to make our travel a lot easier. So if it''s the word choice that really matters then I''ll call it whatever you want." At that moment, the elf, the dwarf and the human were at an impasse. Finley had a working familiarity with his friend Anthony. Both were new to Valerie, who had considered them hostile to begin with. Or at least, that was what Finley thought because of how aggressive she was. Maybe there was something that the academy rewarded in her aggression. Maybe it was a product of her upbringing. Either way, she made it clear that she was not above slinging stones to get her point across. Her point just so happened to often be similar to a mining pick, very precise and very exacting under the right circumstances, but for most of the things probably less than useful. They could imagine her using a mining pick to take down a tree and then arguing that it was the best way to do it despite having an ax right next to her just to prove a point. "So Valerie, what you''re saying is we want to stop at five?" Anthony said, leaning in. "I don''t know how you got all these horses to come along. Your usage of handle animal is uncanny and I want to write a term paper on that but I don''t think that''s going to work out so well. As the only member of the academy. I''m going to graduate and commission myself. I''m also going to award myself the queenship as there''s no other civilian authority so you may call me-" "Lieutenant Queen?" Anthony said. There was a tinge of hope in his voice. "That you''ll do. And as my first royal decree, I demand to know where these horses came from and how they became attached to this Caravan," Valerie said. "It''s quite apparent to us that some of the death knights have abilities that far surpass what they should have. In this case, the death knight is an intelligent undead with the ability to find things. He found every member of the caravan except for the orcs, ourselves and Bob. You don''t need to count, that''s twelve," Finley said. "As the elf in charge of sustenance, I''m acutely aware of how many mouths that is to feed. That''s part of the reason why we have stopped so much." "The death knight... stabled horses for their Army?" Valerie said. "That is correct, as far as we know," Anthony said, "They are able to effect a change to the undead close to them. This makes those zombies intelligent. Bob told us that they had posted sentries and that they had command tents and were preparing food over a bonfire. I''m reasonably certain that they were preparing to eat roast dwarf." Valerie made a sound that was a cross between a gulp and a snort. Anthony probably should have dialed back the imagery a bit, but he wanted to hammer home their early situation. "That is horrifying. That they knew enough to keep war horses and were going to eat dwarves..." Anthony wanted to give her a hug. She was just a girl who was doing her best in the current situation. She might have been acting out a bit but he couldn''t blame her. "Perhaps we should move onto a different topic," he said. "Yes. I do like the idea of a moving hotel with a storage power, but that is putting a lot on one elf," she said. "You both are doing a lot to keep this caravan running. Perhaps we should pick someone else to have the storage powers?" "Unless you know where we can get some of these specific cards, I doubt that we can make any changes. Speaking of which, you said something about a mapping ability?" "It''s a part of the card that my father passed on to me, yes," Valerie said. "Can you show us a map of Heirisberg?" Finley said. "This would help coordination in a big way." Next to them, a wall lit up with a four color image. The entire area looked a lot denser inside with dozens of streets connecting the inner city. By contrast, besides the beltway that ran around the city, there was only a smattering of buildings next to the academy. "Can you show us where people or zombies are?" Finley said, moving closer to the wall. He got close to the area where they had apparently set up shop. "Here is where we are, and this spot is where Sonya mounted her defense yesterday. If we just made walls here..." Finley trailed off. "You want to open the city gates and herd the zombies into Sonya''s vulva defense?" Anthony said. "Worse things have happened there already. What''s one more score of troops? Valerie, how many people lived in the city before all of this?" Finley said. "Tens of thousands," she breathed. "You can''t be serious, though." Unfortunately for Finley they were serious. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "How old are you, Valerie?" Finley said. "I''m uh... Fifteen," she said, stammering. "I don''t see what that has to do with anything, though." "I understand that you have been through it for the past two weeks. But we are deadly serious about this. If all of these chosen were summoned here to kill the death knights, then we need to find them. With Bob''s pathfinder skill and Mork''s magic touch, we can find and kill them. We might need to take an indirect route, but..." Anthony said. "This continent is already lost," she said. "It will take a generation to restore it. The best we can do it connect with the Irumian foreign legion across the sea and the foreign diplomats...and make a plea to the gnolls or whoever will listen to us." "The foreign legion?" Anthony said. "It''s a branch of the military that is called upon to do subjugation quests. They were called last year to the southern continent and they haven''t been back since. They wouldn''t be getting any messages from home and-" "They wouldn''t know about this," Finley said. "Right? Does the message spell work across the ocean?" "Yes, but the mage has to be at least level five or so for that to work. Unless you have another skill?" Valerie said. He hadn''t considered it before, but there had to be a way that they communicated. Tinkers spread family gossip through word of mouth, though some of the chiefs had seemed to know a bit more than they let on. Finley hadn''t really tried to use his Tinker King skill.
Epic Class Card: Tinker Level 3 Skills: Appraisal/Barter Level 3 Identify Level 3 Animal Handling Level 4 Storage Level 4 King Level 1 This is a soul card and cannot be removed. As the last remaining Tinker you have the ability to induct new people into the family.
He wondered what would change when he began to induct people into the family. Somehow he knew that he had to travel with the person for a week before he could invite them to join. Beyond that? He didn''t know. "Anthony, can I try something?" He said. "I mean sure?" The man replied, turning to face him. "Alright. Would you join my family?" He said, smiling. "I can''t see why not?" Finley pulled out five iron cards that he had marked as useless for their current predicament. It was a bit of a waste to use them for their utility power. He only needed so many copies of a card that did laundry. He probably had several spares. He grabbed his frame and set it up about as fast as he could. Then he placed the five cards into it focusing on his abilities. The Tinker King ability in particular was front and center in his mind as he visualized how a family was in his mind. To him, the family was a living breathing thing. He thought about what it meant to be a family and the warmth of the Tinkers accepting him into their own. He thought about what he lost. He remembered that he could still add to his family. All those thoughts washed through his head and into his Mana as he clenched his fist over the frame. Deep green Mana dropped out drip by drip onto the frame. The green filled in the frame around the five cards molding them into one. Charged with his intent, the cards glowed bright inside of the frame before the frame resized itself to the size of a single gold embossed iron card. The golden seams in the center of the card shone a clear image of a tinker family around a fire. Their campsite looked like so many that he had seen in his time, warm and inviting. He inspected its attributes.
Uncommon Enchantment Card: Tinker L1 Provides a boost to class skills while you keep the faith. "You can''t turn your back on family."
He handed the iron card to Anthony. "What an image. And is this a flavor text?" He said looking it over. "What does it mean, to keep the faith?" "Most Tinkers swear an oath to do no harm to other enlightened beings. I figured you would do the right thing here," Finley said. He had considered that once but for a multitude of reasons he hadn''t sworn himself, instead living by the principles. Anthony put it into his soul deck. He smiled, then aimed a finger towards one of the corners. He fired off a holy bolt. "Ah yeah it''s small, but it is there. Thanks, Finley. I guess we''re family now. I''m glad that I met you." The man hugged the elf. "Humans are weird," Valerie said. "I know, right?" Finley replied.
Sonya felt awkward holding a spear up behind the three scouts. She didn''t know how to put her hands along the shaft at first. She watched how Stella held hers-like an implement of destruction. That felt a bit too rough for her. She wanted a gentler touch against the hardwood. Sophie held hers with a lighter touch. Sophie, with three classes, looked like she was born to hold a spear. Stella by contrast held hers like she was still going through spear academy but had been held back once or twice. Sonya adjusted her grip to be more like Sophie. She remembered Anthony wanting a monk class, and she could see why. It felt like her first time and she didn''t know what to expect. For as much as she thought that the scouts were a professional team, they seemed pretty casual. Maybe keeping it casual kept them going. As they thrust their spear tips through one zombie after another, Sonya couldn''t help but remember her days in the Zetas sorority. There was a lot of repetitive thrusting motion as they cleared room after room. The three of them kept changing places though, running a train through the zombies one by one. The academy barracks had been locked and several students hadn''t made it. If their cards were any indication, these were not the children of the well to do dwarven aristocracy. Sonya had wondered what happened to soul cards linked to a person when they died. After several dwarves were harvested she began to see a bit of a pattern. All of the dwarves wore the same attire: the cadet uniform that they had died in. Some of them had more than one card in their soul decks. It wasn''t till the third one that she caught something special.
Uncommon Class Card: Accountant Level 8 Skills: Writing Level 10 Books Level 10 Mathematics Level 10 Eidetic Memory Level 10 As an accountant, you can store complex mathematical matrices in your head and perform functions on them.
It looked like someone had maxed out the cards skill levels, or that they had gotten them to level ten on purpose and left them there. There was a row of scratched out text at the bottom. It took her a minute, but the text read.
This is a soul card and cannot be removed.
Curious at how a line of text had been removed from a card, it wasn''t until the fifth zombie cadet came after them and died a second death that she got some confirmation of what she was looking at. Ca''at made quick work of the cadet''s chest, pulling out two cards with the same text scratched out. This dwarf had two soul cards? That couldn''t be possible. Unless he had inherited the wealth from another? They passed by a small library. Sonya had to restrain herself from jumping into the piles of books. 2- Sixteen "I''m not surprised at how much is going on in three floors of barracks. I am surprised by how many zombies just didn''t make it out at all, and how this one dwarf looks like he hadn''t even turned at all, just been eaten," Sophie said, kneeling over the zombies. The half eaten corpse of a cadet lay in the center of the large bay. On either side, foot lockers and bunks were stacked in neat rows. "I''m surprised that the bunks are still all mostly where they probably started out," Bob said. "But I''m pretty sure that we''ve cleaned out the whole barracks." Their raid on the academy had slowed down considerably as they had realized that there were four such barracks. The three story stone buildings could each house about nine hundred cadets without much in the way of change. "This one, hold on Ca''at- check this one," Bob said, directing his summoned familiar to the corpse. The tiny fluff ball neatly carved up the chest of the dwarf. Watching it work Sophie was just struck by how odd the whole thing was. Clearly, Mork had given his chosen an advantage, possibly with a cost to himself. It had to cost the gods something to summon chosen. If there was one rule that she had thought about in this place, it was that nothing was free. True, Bob had said that Mork had given him a boon, but had Sonya gotten a boon for killing another one of the death knights? Perhaps the gate card was enough. Ca''at grabbed a card from inside the remains of the dwarf. Tentacles from around it''s mouth emerged, taking the card and holding it up proudly. Then, taking the card into its mouth, it dropped the card at Bob''s feet. "Huh. Didn''t expect this. What do you girls make of this?" Bob said, pulling out a rag that he used to clean cards and card pieces. Sophie was impressed that he had finally stopped using his shirts for the job. "Why would there be an epic card inside of this dead dwarf?" Sonya said, taking a closer look at the card.
Epic Spell Card: Anchor This spell allows a caster to anchor a spell into an object. Spells can be cast onto or through the object.
They passed the card around. "Anchor? What the heck? How is this an epic card?" Stella said, giving the card back to Bob. He tucked it away for later. "We haven''t gotten to see many cards of that strength. Maybe it''s broken in a way that none of us realize, but Valerie can figure out," Sophie said. "I can imagine that it would work well if you wanted a heal or something," Bob mused. "Alright there''s not much else here. Do you want to check the roof? There''s an access panel there and I''m certain that there are no zombies there." The access panel was in a corner. Bob opened a hatch over the rungs of a ladder that was connected to the wall. "This. right here, has to have been a masterwork," Bob said. "I really am starting to appreciate dwarven engineering, if not their heights." Bob went up the hatch and quickly disappeared from view. "Come on up," he said. Sophie followed, handing her spear to Sonya, then taking both at the top. The roof had a slight cant away, but otherwise was flat. Around the sides there was a two foot tall brick wall. Sophie looked over, down onto the academy grounds. It was much larger than a Midwestern high school. If they had a football field, then it wouldn''t be out of place. She could see at least five parade fields, each one next to a large ornate building with iron accents. "This is like a small private college in the middle of nowhere that you see on a road trip," she said to Bob. "Or the dwarvish equivalent. This is where their top military minds used to come and mold their youth and strike the irons hot and-" She shielded her eyes in the mid-day sun. She could have sworn that she had seen something circling around in the air. "Bob, do you see something over there?" She indicated with her finger and her thumb. "Hey now," he said, squinting. "Uh, babe, can you get up here? My eyes aren''t what they used to be." Sophie was sure that she was looking at something flying, it being of the large and scaly variety of monster. Ever since she was little, she had imagined going on fantasy adventures with dragons and princesses and princes. She never imagined that she would actually get to see one, especially on her previous career trajectory. Dragons and psych hospitals didn''t generally mix. Dragons and the undead? She was less sure about that. "Is that a big green dragon?" Stella said from the top of the hatch. "I think that we might need to head back a bit early," Sophie said. "Why don''t we close the hatch and call this our return point?" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Everyone agreed that it was time to head back. Sonya opened a portal linking their current location with the area she had designated for their return. The girls went through first, followed by Bob and Sonya herself. On the other side, the camp was preparing for war.
"Take up defensive positions everyone! Zan, extend the walls up!" Anthony yelled. Of course a dragon decided to show up when Sonya was on a mission. It was almost poetic. The one thing he could count on was Murphy. When the four of them returned through the portal Anthony was beginning to mount a defense. "Flame flinger in position!" Andrew yelled from his new firing point, a singular raised tower. He had removed the apparatus from the back of his wagon and then affixed it to a stable tripod. The tower was not facing the city itself as the dragon circled around Lacey. No one was sure if it had found them or if it was even searching for people. It appeared to be just bad with time? There was only so much you could tell from a flying beast that was over two kilometers away. He couldn''t even really get a good look at it. He got flashes of wings and green, but he didn''t see any smoke. Also, he wasn''t sure that the wings were moving fast enough to keep the dragon afloat. And even if they were, it looked comically large compared to its wings, as if someone with no artistic skill had decided to create a dragon. It took them about five minutes to get ready. He judged that the dragon would be able to clear the distance in less than two minutes if it really tried. He was so thankful that everyone was quickly accounted for. Rather than be sitting tucked inside of a bowl, what they did was open up a door, and exit for the horses to spill out. They pulled three of the caravans out west as the flame flinger needed to be detached. Once the fourth one was detached, they moved it out as well. The campsite was enough of a juicy target for any aerial foe. Andrew could make another flame finger if you really wanted to. They had the knowledge and the blueprints that he had made before to do another one. But it was all that Anthony could do to hold down the fort as he arranged his defense. They had already cross-loaded things so that any one wagon going down would not take them out. Now they had everything evenly spread into six potential targets. One group was led by Finley, one by Bob and the last by Anthony himself. Bob''s group was heavy on Monks and were going to be the first to engage the dragon. Finley''s group would try to pin it down with ranged attacks. There''s not that much you can do against a giant flying reptile, but Anthony felt as prepared as he could be, given the circumstances. He began to wonder what kind of card the dragon would have in his Soul deck. A few minutes turned into a half an hour of watching its circle every so often dipping to get a better look. Anthony began to think that they should think about moving onward instead of sticking around. If this dragon was going to stay here long-term then they were going to have to think about what they really wanted from the city. It was one thing to search through the remnants of a zombie apocalypse. It was quite another to do so with a looming threat above. Bob crossed from his fighting position over to Anthony. "How long do you want to stay here until we head out?" Bob said. "We''re just sitting ducks here. We can return here whenever with Sonya''s gate spell." "The longer this goes on the more I''m sure that you''re right. Let''s mount up. She may need to make multiple trips, but we can chance this, especially if it''s hostile." Anthony pulled out his flags. As he had taken up with Andrew, he called for them to disassemble the flame flinger and pack it up. Anything that wasn''t already packed away needed to get covered up. He was sad that they were leaving the lake just when he was going to take a nice mid-afternoon bath but better dirty and alive than dead and clean. "Mount up! If it''s not coming for us right now, we need to get out of its range," he said. " Valerie! Any suggestions as to destinations?" The dwarven maiden smiled a wicked smile.
The dragon as it turned out was looking for a more gamey type of meal than the caravan. Shortly after they made a decision to turn tail and leave, the dragon began picking up and eating dwarven zombies. The one person that had a sight adjacent ability was bob and his reports to Finley and Anthony were not very promising. "What do you mean you can''t tell what it''s eating, what else could it be eating?" Finley said. "There''s nothing but zombie dwarves in there, unless we completely missed something." "What I''m saying is that it looks like it''s tossing something up in the air and then swallowing, but come on... you guys understand that we''re like four miles away from there," a frustrated Bob said, as his horse kept pace with Finley''s wagon. "Again with these miles. Can you just use the killer meters like Sonya does?" Finley said. "It''s American exceptionalism on display," Sonya said from behind the front of the wagon. "Even when you''re summoned to another world, you won''t use the metric system." Anthony grunted. "Look," he said, "There''s no America here. There''s just our community of people who have invested interest in not dying. So if you can all not fight about this right now that''ll would be great." Anthony felt not so great getting in between their business. Everyone is a little bit tense due to their sudden departure. It wasn''t like they were going to find another perfect setup where they were going but it would have been great if they could. Sonya would make some trips back and they could jump at the lake then. That was the most reassuring thing about knowing that they had acquired the gate card. Sonya explained that they picked up another epic card. When she talked about the anchor, he immediately associated it with her card. Finley grabbed a rock off the side of the road for her to see if she could use it as an anchor. They had to get Bob to pull the card out and hand it over but in the end she was able to use the anchor to more safely and effectively cast the gate spell. This allowed them to create two portals that were connected on two anchors. Sonya said that she could do it again but it took a lot of Mana for her to do the first set. Once it was set up they tested it and anyone was able to trickle Mana into either Rock to activate it. The mana needed to use the anchor was a lot for Bob and Stella who had mana, but didn''t have a lot in the casting department. They could activate it for half a minute. But Andrew with his artificer class wasn''t able to activate it on his own. It was a bit hit or miss, so Anthony asked Finley to prioritize making a few more caster classes. It was nearly nightfall when they had gotten far enough away that Heirisburg wasn''t visible. Valerie had directed them to a place that the academy frequently used to train combat maneuvers. There were several one story barracks around a large wooden cabin. The place was deserted but obviously well loved and cared for. It even had a place for them to stable the horses at night, something that he was ecstatic to find. Anthony had expected some zombies, but the worst thing they found was the smell of the dwarves latrines. That wasn''t even so bad. He could deal with the smell. He just didn''t want to deal with the complaints that night, but he would listen to his newest advisor. After all she was young and impressionable, and he expected that she would walk in on him and Sonya if he didn''t cut her off. So what he did was sit there and take about half an hour of Valerie screaming about all decisions that they had made and how she would do things differently and how he was a failure as a person and as a human being. He took this in stride. 2- Seventeen When the young dwarf pulled Anthony aside, he thought he was going to hear more of her litany against his supposed military choices. So he let her have the moment. He had adopted her into the group. She was still struggling. Anyone on her position would still be struggling. "Valerie, we had to abandon Heirisburg. We didn''t really have a choice. We are not a military strike force. We might be strong but there''s only fifteen of us and it''ll be far worse if one of us falls and becomes a zombie. You and I both know that whatever that was is far more terrifying than we could be at our best. And even if I''m wrong which yes I might be wrong, I don''t doubt it. If I''m wrong? We''re still alive. And you know what? There was a big chance you could have all died there. You could have gotten your rage out, trying to get revenge on some dumb dragon. I''m not here to get revenge." He paused, taking a beat to accentuate his point. "I''m out here to survive! We can''t survive if all we do is try to defeat every monster that comes across our path. You''re still thinking tactically. I need you to understand our strategy is to get as many cards as we can, get as powerful as we can and get the fuck away from all the zombies. That is it. And I understand you''re pissed at me. If that was Brooklyn? The place that I''m from? I might think twice about leaving. But there is nothing that we can save. There''s no one there that we can help. Everyone there is already dead. This leaves it to us the living to carry out their wishes. Do you think that they want you to die for a lost cause?" Valerie looked down. The circles around her eyes hadn''t disappeared yet and were on full display. Perhaps they had gotten lighter, but they remained. "No." "Do you think that your parents would have wanted that?" "No." "What do you think that they would want you to do in this situation?" Anthony said. They had commandeered the building in the center of the field barracks to have their talk. Lots of small tables and chairs divided up into several large connected rooms gave them an opportunity to be as disconnected as they would be. "They would- they would have wanted... What does it matter what they would have wanted me to do?" She said, tears streaking down her face. "I saw them turn before I locked them out of the cellar. One second, my dad was himself all jovial and happy about giving me grandfather''s class card; the next-he was turning. I didn''t know what to do, but we had opened the cellar door. I panicked and went in. When they didn''t respond and started scraping at the door... I didn''t know what to do. I had to run his rapier through their heads, through the small openings that they made. Whoever did this, they killed my parents and then made it so I had to kill what became of them." The sobbing broke, a dam finally giving way to an engineering inevitability. Anthony put a hand on her shoulder. He was wary of taking over the discourse. He wanted her to express herself and let it out. After she pitched a fit over his decision to leave the most decent thing she did was wait until they had gotten settled at their new destination. The caravan had been calling it Camp Delta as in dwarves, but it had an official title that was about ten syllables too long for anyone to really be interested in in learning. Right now? It held his family. That was all that mattered. He wasn''t going to endanger his new family for the sake of some dwarven ideal that he didn''t even aspire to. There was no Valhalla for Anthony. If anything, Noverria was his Valhalla, this whole world a reminder that he was on his second life and not guaranteed a third one. He hadn''t died in battle and been reborn. He really hoped that he hadn''t passed during a delivery, but he wasn''t entirely sure any more. Her hand squeezed his. Still, he really wished that she would be able to hash it out with Sonya. She had a lot more time working in structured therapy groups. Just because Anthony was trained to spot postpartum depression and refer onward didn''t mean that he was an expert. He was an expert but he didn''t take them to the psychiatrist. He didn''t take them to see the therapist. He just referred onward. This was different. There''s only so much he could do for someone that wasn''t willing to help themselves. He was worried that Valerie would get to that point really soon. He needed to ask the question. "Valerie, were you thinking about ending your own life?" He said. The tears stopped momentarily as she looked up to lock eyes with him. "Before we met you, what were you doing? Because the situation is so dire and hopeless that you could never have expected rescue. So I''ll ask again. Did you have a plan?" He was surprised that the intensity of her gaze softened. She nodded once again hiding her eyes as she looked downward. Well he had asked the question. She had said yes which was usually the point in which he would hand off care to somebody else. He intended to do what exactly? Link her up with Sonya who she was fighting with? Maybe he needed to talk to Sonya after this for his own mental health. If he had to see a therapist to be a therapist then he would. It wasn''t like he had many options. There was no one to hand her off to. Whatever had caused the apocalypse? He couldn''t fix it. But this one little girl? Who was really trying her best to adapt? He could be there for her. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Valerie. Hey. I just want you to know that I''m here for you and I would rather have you alive. I know we just met but seeing you here? It gave me hope that we could actually do something good in this world rather than just lurching from conflict to conflict. I-" He was surprised at the ferocity of her heart. But he knew that when the teenager came in for a hug? He took it. Just like he had done with his own son. And his other rule for dealing with his sons? He always let them let go first. So they sat there crying together for a long time. He got caught up in it. She got caught up in it. And pretty soon. He was really wishing that they had the lake. There was a small stream nearby but it was only calf height. It would have to do if he ever let go. He just had a feeling that she needed this right now so they just stayed there. He didn''t really have anything else to do that night. There were no movies showing. Finley had promised to give them a story about tinkers. Borgan and Song were going to perform something as well. They needed some practice. Everyone was excited for those things, except for Valerie when she had pulled Anthony aside. She was still struggling. It had been only a day since she had been on Mork''s door. "Thank you," she said, withdrawing. He let the silence do what it did. In her case, he wanted her to do the classic thing where she couldn''t take any more silence. Her crying had stopped, but the volume was less. "There was this secretary at the academy. We all knew that she was there for more than one reason, but I never really figured it out until Mom and Dad started fighting. That''s when she showed up more often to ask me questions and she always had a scone or something like that. It was always so innocuous and I always wondered if she was there on purpose to be my friend or if the school had sent her to me? Do you know what I mean?" Anthony nodded. "But she sounds like you sound. So now I think that she wasn''t there just as a secretary. And right now I really miss her cookies. There was just something about that. Thought about how I''m not expendable or I shouldn''t just throw my life away to kill a dragon or any of this. I didn''t want to die. I just wanted it to be painless. I was in so much pain." "You didn''t want to be in pain anymore. That''s understandable," he said. "It''s just that I spent my entire life preparing to join the Irumian military. I had it all mapped out. I was going to become a colonel like my father. I was going to marry a librarian like him as well. There aren''t that many male librarians in the military library system, but I would find a good one. And wherever we went? We would go together. Now there are-none of that is possible." "We''ve got to make a new path," Anthony said. "I think that with your brilliant mind, you can help us find a way to save this continent." She gave him a fair bit of side eye. "In fact, I think that everyone here is counting on you." He let that sit for a minute. "I''m counting on you," he said. "With your help we can do this." He could deal with a teenager arguing about plans. "Thanks. That means more than you can imagine." "Now, how would you like to hear a story and perhaps a song from the best bards on the continent?" Anthony said, moving to stand. "What makes you say that they are the best bards on the continent? That''s oddly specific," Valerie said. "On what basis are you making this claim?" "On the basis that they are the only two bards left and both are traveling with us. It''s going to be the best show as well by that logic." "Has anyone ever told you that you might be a terrible dad?" She said. She wiped back the ugly tears. "Remind me to tell you later about my midwifery business that I ran with my son. Come on, let''s go hear a story. It might get our mind off things."
"It''s really a shame that she doesn''t want to deal with you. You would be much better suited to deal with this than I am. And then there''s a whole thing about you both being female and that''d be great for her. But-" Anthony said, leaning back into Sonya. She put a finger to his lips. "It doesn''t matter who you are. She understands that you are going to help her. That''s what she needs right now. Whether it''s me or you, it''s immaterial. It''s cute that you think otherwise though," Sonya said, snuggling a bit closer. "These dwarven cots really aren''t built for two people are they?" Anthony had to agree. After Finley told a story about a Tinker girl who went an adventure, the orcs sang a ballad. Anthony had not paid much attention to the words. He couldn''t keep his mind on the present. Instead, he just listened to the beat for a while and he really enjoyed himself. There were several points at which he looked over to Valerie and she was smiling and that made him feel good. Sonya sitting next to him and holding his hand the whole time made him feel giddy like he was a school boy again. Then there was the cleanse skill which made him smell like a school boy again. "They are pretty odd. Do you have any thoughts about today? Anything I could have done better?" He said. "Well, the good news is that we''re all alive. The bad news is that we''re not really close to a city that we were in. But I understand that things could change, and the gate spell changes a lot," she said. "I can feel what did they call it- the world line? I could make a portal back to the academy if we wanted." "Oh that''s great. I like how you can connect things like that. Maybe we could connect our faces a little bit later?" He said. "Maybe. What woman doesn''t dream of being taken on a long journey through foreign lands? And having that journey be punctuated by extreme violence. At every turn? You know what? I think I will take you up on that offer," she said, leaning down to kiss him. "It''s such a strange world. It''s like the end of their world in the beginning of something new and it''s just so beautiful that we''re here to witness it," he said.
In the morning, the beauty of Camp Delta was laid before them. They were able to hide the wagons easily by the buildings while they figured out if they were being followed. The place shut down when it wasn''t in session. Since they were not scheduled to go to the field for another two months, there was nothing for them to do there. No zombie dwarves haunted the halls. There was running water but only a small stream''s worth. It wasn''t enough to give someone a wonderful shower. It was enough to put their feet into. Anthony called for a day of rest and refitting. After the previous days departure he wanted to make sure that every one was at their peak. Around noon, he intended to send Sonya back to their previous campsite to see if anyone had left anything. It was unlikely but possible. There was a large cache of maps that Valerie pulled out for Bob, Finley and Anthony. They spent all morning going over the maps of the local region as well as the larger maps of the Kingdom and the continent. Many parts of the map were incomplete, much to Anthony''s chagrin. Finley knew some of these roads very well and he explained how several of them were not really worth traveling, except in this exact circumstance where they wanted to avoid anything that could have been turned into a zombie. It was there that they started to blot out their course. Valerie had an ability to combine maps that she saw into a more holistic overlay. Once she had the overlay, she was able to project it for everyone else. By mid-morning, she was able to project a map of the entire continent and then zoomed down to their level at three different resolutions. Finley love the idea of resolutions and like the map. Unfortunately it was not going to help him get better at what he wanted to get better at. 2- Eighteen "So there I was at this silent meditation retreat trying to get my head on right because I wanted to get better bartering. My old gran had worked with me for years on getting good talking with people," Finley said. "I mean she wasn''t my old gran but like she was also, it was a weird thing. Tinker family relationships are complicated. Part of me feels like we were related and the other part feels like the only thing between us was that we were both elves." It was the after lunch crowd. With only the people that were doing the watch easily able to watch from the tower above, most people could get an extended break. He was talking to Bob and Anthony candidly. Most notably, he was trying to clear the air. What they were trying to get at was how he was able to regenerate as his hand was almost fully returned. All the flesh was there but it wasn''t respond to his commands the way that it used to. The ligaments and tendons weren''t done. "I''m sure you all know by now that I wasn''t born an elf. In fact, I don''t even remember my parents. There was a time before I was how you you see me where I couldn''t even speak common. I don''t know why I''m telling you this. But I started life as well... What the word that is most often used is one of the green. I don''t know that I have the best description of what we are, but some of the elves tried to explain that to me. In terms that you can understand. We are a symbiotic organism who generally work with the host. And don''t worry, I''m not going to try to take over any of you guys. I''m too far bonded with Finn. We are one now. But my species was supposed to be wiped out as so many would assimilate themselves into the mass culture and there is no easy way to say this, but there was a purge." The barracks dining table was not as eloquent of a place as he would have wanted. But revealing that he was part monster didn''t really mean much in the long end. "I was born with a soul card that I eventually evolved into the Spore druid card. Why spores? That is how we reproduce. By spores. And again I''m not going to do that. But when I''m not in this form I look a little bit like a little green slime and I made my way into a Tinker camp. Old gran took me in and she cared for me. You have to understand the Tinkers don''t want to harm any living thing. They avoid monsters and they want to stay in safe areas. They''re always moving around and looking for others in the family. There was a legend that long ago there was a card that they were all seeking to find, a legendary card that no one had since found, but it''s apocryphal." He paused to drink water. "One day, old gran ''s son got a nasty head wound that nothing was able to heal. He spent all day catatonic and when he was finally back up he didn''t respond anything after weeks of taking care of his needs. He just didn''t get any better. The Tinkers didn''t know what they could do about it. But there I was and I knew that there was a way for me to integrated into him. I could always regenerate parts of my body. Why couldn''t it work for both of us? You cannot imagine that''s not what happened. Together? There was nothing left of his consciousness when I tried to wake him. Every now and then I''ll get a feeling of something that he likes. He really likes stew by the way," Finley said. "It''s one of the reasons that I like Stella so much. It''s why I have two Soul cards. I told you about how everyone but humans are born with a soul card?" They nodded. "Something happened when we combined and his soul card and my soul card coexisted and now I have the two classes because of that it''s it''s a pretty well-known fact that only humans can have three active classes at once. Everyone else is limited to two classes. It''s just that their soul can''t take that much pressure. There''s a limit to how many cards everyone can have in their deck. With time you can expand your limits but usually you can''t get around that. I wasn''t prepared for it. And it took me awhile." "So you were trying to get better at selling and dealing with other people? Sounds like a bit of social anxiety," Anthony said. "Anxiety?" Finley said. "Not familiar with the word." "Do you feel like you want to be anywhere else? Rather than around people?" Bob said. "I had to figure out that having the press come to interview me was a trigger. I just sweat profusely now when I see a microphone. I''m grateful that there are none here." Finley hadn''t considered those exact words before, especially in such a configuration. "You speak funny, human. I guess you could say that it took a lot to pull me out of my shell." Bob grabbed their mugs and went to refill them. On the way he passed by Valerie who was still writing notes on a cadets journal that had been blank that morning. She was trying to make some battle plans and escape routes in equal measure. She had been at it long enough for Finley to be worried about her sanity. "You don''t need to check on her. She will be alright," Anthony said. "Doing this is therapeutic for her, though she wouldn''t say that. She''s a dyed in the wool perfectionist." "You make me wish that the Tinkers sold more dictionaries, Anthony." The man chuckled, his beard moving with it. Finley admired Anthony''s attention to detail in how her got himself ready every morning. It was something that he never had time for. In the morning, he just got out of bed and did his thing. With a mop of hair like his? He didn''t need much or at least he hadn''t wanted to expend the effort. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He had been meaning to do something about it before the world ended, but these things don''t just go announcing themselves. If they did, it would be pretty bad for business. Finley couldn''t imagine a worse scenario for his business than the economy fully collapsed due to society zombifying. It''s just one of those things that isn''t covered in Tinker training. "Are there dictionaries here?" Anthony said. "All the books I have seen so far have to deal with cards or are dwarven romances." "You found some dwarven romance novels?" Bob said, returning with three full mugs of beer. "I did, but they are for me," Anthony said, accepting his beer and taking a long drink. "I wasn''t asking to read it while wrapped in your manly arms, there guy," Bob said. "But if I''m offering?" Anthony replied. "Hey, twenty dollars is twenty dollars." Both men laughed. "Pardon me, but is there something going on here between you two because I thought that Sonya and Stella..." Finley began. "I think we''ve passed to the next level of friendship. It''s the one where you make constant passes at each other to build up each other," Anthony said. "It confuses the heck out of a lot of people, but we''re just being friendly here." "Ahh." Finley squinted at the two of them. Humans were so eccentric that by comparison, Tinkers seemed quaint. "So the thing that you asked Stella to do-" "That''s about enough of that," Bob said. "So thank you for being open and honest with us. I understand that you were a part of a family before. I''m certain that I speak for both of us when I say that with all that we have been through together, you are part of our family." "See he gave me a family card, this means that we''re more family," Anthony said.
"So you are really going to take your free day and spend it doing the same thing you do on days when you''re not free free?" Sonya said. Zan had come to her a bit worried about the dwarf. Together they had returned to talk to him. "Not much else for me to do, lass," he said. "I could try and make something. Or I could sit around and do nothing. And these dwarves? They have a forge here. I won''t have many chances to use such equipment in the future if we keep moving. It''s a big downside." Though he was probably in his twenties before he had transmigrated, Sonya still couldn''t get a read on him. She was thinking that this is one of those high versus low context things. There was probably a lot unsaid in dwarvish culture back while he was around that he didn''t want to mention. There were a lot of times when he would notice something in comments on it as comments just drove people crazy. Trying to figure out where the source of those were. He was always surprised that there were equal numbers of men and women. Apparently that have been a problem for him before but no one had dug really deep. Zan was his biggest friend, and he replied on her mana the most, but the casters regularly paid their dues. As he had the artificer class, he needed them to drop solid mana motes for him to use in his creations. "There''s no way to pick this thing up and move it? Can anyone take a card power that approximates what you need it for?" She said. "I can bend some metal. This just makes it weaker over the long term. You saw how many uses I got of the flame flinger. The second version is on its way. Until I advance my artificer card, I won''t be able to do everything that I know needs to happen. Of course if you guys don''t want swords, then we can take some from Heirisburg." "I think you guys got a little sidetracked here. What he needs to do is take away from this. She needs to go and circulate and basically get out of his area," Zan said, trying to bring them back on track. Sonya saw her ruse and took it. Zan, like the matinee performance of a children''s show, was laying it on thick and unfocused. "Have you thought about talking to Valerie and exchanging some stories? I know you''re not from here and maybe hearing about her culture would help you," Sonya said. "We have to look and see if there are any more books at the library here. I know it''s a small small one but anything''s better than nothing. Were you a reader back home?" "I guess I did read a fair amount. Isn''t it weird how we all speak the same language, though?" Andrew said. "That''s strange isn''t it? Like I remember my mother tongue and it isn''t exactly this. I can''t put a finger on how these two languages are different." "I feel the same way but, my mother tongue is only one of the languages I spoke," Zan said. "But I spoke Mandarin, Cantonese and English I remember all three and this fourth one is like I woke up knowing it." "Card powers," Sonya said, shrugging. "Hey I just had an idea. Why don''t we go check on the horses? I''m sure that they''re bored. And we all have animal handling now." Sonya had never seen a bored horse before but she was willing to give it a shot. With three of them they could take a couple horses out for a little ride and return. It will be a fun thing to do. She had never thought about it but the simple act of choosing what to do with her afternoon just felt so rebellious. They had been pushing so hard for so long that it just felt so off. Andrew and Zan followed her to the horse with Stables. First, they checked on the horses. The water was half full as was the hay. So when you looked around to see which of horses was most interested in going out for a little bit and then she let herself into the Stables. She patted a few manes and felt their necks. Every horse that she touched felt like it had been enjoying its time. Until she touched the one that was a little bit restless and she passed it on to the Zan to ride. And then another two looked eager to interact so Andrew mounted one and she the other. There was a marked marching path around the building so they followed it to warm up the horses. The trees around the area looked like they had been put into neat rows on purpose. Several of them were showing signs of fruit bearing. Seeing whether it looked like an apple tree, she motioned for the other two to follow her. As to get closer, it was clear that there was some sort of fruit there but she wasn''t exactly sure what it was. They stopped underneath one and checked it out. "You know what? Instead of eating one of these without examining, Let''s go talk to our resident expert about this place," Sonya said. "Anyone knows if these things are edible, it would be Valerie." And then, Valerie would feel like she was contributing something. Her heart was in the right place, but so I had expected that being in the military academy would have made her more likely to follow orders than her current situation indicated. So one by one they grabbed a handful each before stuffing some into the glove pockets. And they carried on driving back towards the center where they hope to find Valerie. When they arrive, they passed one to one of the monks to run it in. I said turned out, they were good to eat and they tasted a bit like apples. There was a very salty tangy aftertaste that nobody had really any way to anticipate, but that''s just another thing that they learned about this world. 2- Nineteen Stella had decided that they were going to do something fun and social that afternoon so she had roped in Sophie. "So one person is the werewolf?" Sophie said. "I know the idea you all try to figure out who is the werewolf each night, right? I don''t know the particulars of the game but yeah I''m down." "It will be a good team building exercise," Stella said. "So you think that people who have been basically tied at the hip for the past two weeks for fear of being eaten need a team building exercise?" Sophie said, tapping the table lightly. "It''s for morale purposes!" Stella said. "Like those pizza parties in an office? I never worked in an office but I''m sure that it would be great for morale." "They give pizza parties because they''re not willing to give you raises," Sophie said. "They didn''t want you guys organizing." "That''s not...wait what? Sophie sighed. Of course she was dealing with an idealistic bestie. "Bestie. Pizza parties are like participation trophies. If they wanted to help you they would pay more. Speaking of which, did you get your card pieces for this week?" The arrangement that Finley had set up was give everybody one uncommon piece each week that they were with a Caravan. This meant that after a few weeks they could craft their own uncommon cards. "I haven''t. I assume you haven''t either?" Stella said. "I haven''t." "Yeah let''s get together and talk to management," Stella said. "Isn''t your boyfriend in management?" Sophie said. "I mean yeah but I''m pretty sure that means that he will side with me." "Alright. We can try to unionize the caravan after we play a few rounds of werewolf." Stella explained the rules for werewolf. There wasn''t much that Sophie needed to know unless she was the narrator. They gathered whoever wanted to play, which was about ten people and began. It was about the most relaxing thing that Sophie could imagine. Being able to just take an afternoon off and play a game where one person was eating another felt a little bit close to home but it was all fun. Stella kept picking people to be the werewolf who were definitely not prepared for the role. As it turned out, a lot of people had guilty tells and felt bad about fake killing other people when the group went to pretend sleep. The circle grew a bit larger when the watch shifted, but it wasn''t until Borgan and Song joined in that it became a party. By that time they''ve been playing for three hours. Stella kept picking Song and the orc was pleased to be above reproach. He had to filter his rebuttals through Bob or his brother, both of whom trusted the orc implicitly. It was the third time that he was the werewolf that people began to suspect that he had a talent for social deduction. Borgan explained that he had a very good grasp on body language. It was essential for him growing up. Now? Song shined. He played people off each other like they were in a dance off. Sophie had never really considered how his person could be so front and center here. He seemed so reserved on his own but that was probably due to him being unable to speak. When he was able to communicate with two people, he was turning into a loudly, quiet social butterfly. The claims he made in game, once quickly dismissed now carried the tone of an orc getting away with tax fraud and then releasing a hit book series about how to do the same. "Oh that''s a sign for what we determined is quote ''skill issue''," Bob said, trying to show the group the chopping sign. "It''s very similar to wood cutting," Borgan said. Everyone was learning a bit of hand talk after that. As the werewolf sometimes had an accomplice, Stella had to make Borgan or Bob Song''s right hand man. Now everyone was trying to intercept their communications so Song was going further afield with his hand talk. His lessons with Bob had borne fruit and that fruit had turned into the ability to pass messages that would make both giggle. Sophie later found out that the gibberish to normal hand talk ratio had been cranked up to eleven. They had started taking to into account that people might be able to intercept their messages. Even when they weren''t on the supposedly evil team, people started to think that Song was the mastermind behind everything. It was unfair to characterize the orcish bard as evil in the game. But he was winning a lot and so they took note. He was a quick study of all the humans around. If Bob was learning how to do hand talk, then she would too. When it was time for dinner, Stella stepped out and let Sophie take over as the storyteller and for the first time, even though she knew how to run the roll, she was stumped. By this time everyone knew each other''s tells. She had a captive audience, so she asked someone to get a round of beer before she made an impassioned plea. "For too long, us the little people have lived at the whims of the fat cats who take our labor and give us less than what we deserve! We need to join together as a united front and demand more pay!" She said to the attentive crowd. "That''s why I propose we join forces and unionize, to put ourselves in a better position to negotiate a rate change!" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. There was a weak cheer from the group. That was exactly the moment that Anthony and Bob returned with the beers. Finley trailed behind with two warm bowls of stew. "And those guys are the ones we are going to bargain with!" She said. Finley placed both bowls down. "Oh I love to bargain!" Finley said. "What are we bargaining for?" "Better working conditions!" Said a voice from the other side. "More card pieces!" Said another. "Oh! Splendid!" Finley said. "How about we double the amount of card pieces?" Sophie blinked. Was he just going to fold like that? That took a bit of the wind out of her sales. "Okay but when you negotiate with one of us, you negotiate with all of us and-" "Oh! A group negotiation? Excellent!" He said, flicking his hand. "And my barter skill just went up! Thank you all so much!" "What?" Sophie said. "Anthony and I were just talking about how we need to incentivize people to do hard work, do he came up with the idea of hazard pay. More risk means more rewards, right?" Finley said. Sophie had to sit down. That her gambit had succeeded beyond her designs led her to believe that she could have asked for more. "Well that''s excellent. Caravan Workers local union number one, I put it to a vote: do we accept these terms?" Sophie said as clearly as she could. "May I have a thumbs up for acceptance? Thumbs down for no." The vote passed unanimously. "Now," Stella said, returning to the laughing group. "All you lot need to eat this stew or we will have some issues!"
The day off stretched into two until Anthony was able to get a sense that everyone was rested enough to consider their next steps. So he brought in Valerie to see what she had been cooking up. She had been busy. Her overlay skill showed three branching paths that they could fall on. "Earlier today, I grabbed Bob and used him as a human measuring tool," she said. "I plotted out three points for us to determine how close each of the three death knights are. Bob told me that he had a fourth target that Mork gave him, but little information about it. Presumably, that is the being who causes this mess." "That makes sense. What did you find out?" "Of the three that he is certain are death knights, one is directly south, or very nearly so. Some ridiculous math put the death knight at about five hundred span or a very similar amount of kilometers." "That''s good to hear. How many span can we go in a day?" Anthony shifted to the map, which was an overlay on the wall of one of the sides of a building. Using her skill Valerie illuminated the three routes. "We can do fifty if we really push it. We went thirty span just to get here but that took all afternoon and into the evening yesterday and as you can see we are recovering from that. It''s manageable but seeing what we have? We travel three to four hours in the early morning, to account for the temperature getting warmer as we go further south, then we are there in a few weeks. But Anthony... You should be aware that this death knight is either right in the middle of or next to the capital of what was the orcish meritocracy." As she spoke a mostly straight line lit up on the map connecting where they had to be and where they guessed that the death knight was. Valerie said that it was within a five to ten span radius, but she didn''t know if it would move at all. The route bypassed the inland sea that they had been heading towards. Anthony turned back to Valerie. She was dead serious. "Where are the other two death knights? I take it that they are further away. We wanted to make it to the inland sea here so we could retrofit an airship," he said. "An air ship? You have been reading too many elemental romance books. They don''t actually copulate in the ways that the books say they do and their gazes aren''t nearly as lustful," Valerie said. "That... is a very odd and strange thing to say. It''s almost like someone was reading said steamy romances and had a passing understanding of them?" He said. "That''s absurd!" She stammered. Anthony gave her the dad state and the long silence that followed. Really, she should have learned this trick by now. She wasn''t hopeless, just hyper fixated on her one favorite thing. That thing right now, was the map. He turned his attention back to the map. He tapped the inland sea. "Does this sea have a name?" "They just call it the Iru. Well the dwarves do at least. They orcs have their own word for it. Any boat there would be able to transport most of the group here, but I''m not sure about the horses," she said. "We can figure out the horses'' disposition later. First we have to get there and then if that is our next objective, would we be able to take any of these rivers down to the southern coast?" He ran his finger down several rivers that ran north to south. The map didn''t have nearly enough detail where he wanted it to, but it was at least something. "You''re really serious about this whole making a sailboat fly thing, huh?" Valerie said. "Even if we have to have the horses pull it, yes." "That would... It would be so much more efficient to use magic." "If you know of any way to transport everything we have, tell us. The gate spell has a few severe portal limitations, I''m open to hear any suitable workaround. Aren''t there railways that lead to the capital?" Anthony was happy to have the dwarf as his new campaign manager. He was exceptionally pleased with her work this far and knew that she was going to do a lot for the cause. She had given him a lot of options. She had thought through each option before presenting it. It was almost like she had prepared for this kind of battle before. He hadn''t really asked her about her family life but she had volunteered a few tidbits. Her mother and her father were very expressive and loving but also dedicated to their own jobs. It was the same dedication that brought her to apply to be in the academy. She had the singular focus of someone who had been preparing for a role for so long that it was beyond the time for them to launch. "There are railways but how would you use them without a conductor?" Valerie said. "We make it work? Honestly, at this point I don''t think there''s anything that Andrew can''t do with his artificer powers." "Okay boss. I didn''t think about that. There was a line that goes to the capital. In fact, there are a couple. There is a shipping line that links up a bit south of Herisberg. I guess we could go steal some trains?" "See, that is thinking outside the box."
Sonya decided that it was about time to call up her old friend and have a word or two with her. She had traded her boon to fix Finley and the elf had turned out to be only mostly biologically an elf. Summoning her patron bond in one of the unoccupied areas, she waited for the ritual to take. The first impression was that of a teenage girl who had been stuck in study hall for way too long. She was over it. "Ah! My lovely sugar baby. What can I do for you today? Are you ready to go after your next death knight?" "I was going to talk to you about that, actually. Why exactly did you ask me to do it? Mork is the one who has seems to have a grudge with them," Sonya said. The goddess sighed, flipped to another page in her gossip magazine and then put it down. "It''s always a bit of a give and take. If one of us can say that our chosen is the one to land a killing blow then we get a lot of street cred for a while. You''re thinking that you don''t really care about that. But you know who does? The one that has the power that you so rely on. So I don''t want to say it. But dance!" Sonya wasn''t impressed by the goddesses antics. She would accept any help so this moment was a particularly interesting one. She could dance. But she stood her ground. "I want my boon," she said. "Then let''s have it with the special requests." And so Sonya began to tell her what she wanted. The longer she spoke, the more Cara smiled. 2- Twenty Inside the academy, there was enough food and supplies to outfit a small combat force. The only problem was in getting to it and then getting it transported via portal. To that end they devised a system of organization for what they needed the most. The main problem that Sonya realized later on was that while one person or one team was at the academy, the rest of the group couldn''t move around so freely. It was pretty easy to figure out how to use the anchor. Once Sonya got it going, she was able to cast the gate spell wherever the anchor was. They used a large flat stone to anchor the gate spell. It was every girl''s dream to be able to rob someone blind, while also suffering zero consequences. Or at least every girl that was still in Sophie and Stella. The day after they arrived at Camp Delta, Sonya joined the scouts and the monks in a brief jaunt back to Heirisburg. Upon their arrival, Sonya charged another stone for their gate spell to anchor to. This way it was much easier for her to find the stone points along her world line. She anchored it to the top of the building that they had initially left from. There was a tacit agreement that zombies were terrible at stairs and even worse at ladders. Thus the further from the ground, the easier it would be to avoid them. There were still a fair amount of zombies in the academy, but they were not paying any attention to the sneaky scouts. Sonya took up her favorite position at the top, taking over watch with Juan, one of the monks. He was pretty quiet as they traded pointers with the sling.
Bob, Mork''s weekend entertainment, moved to the supply section. The warehouse was in an obvious position on the back of the academy. You could see it from the road, but the academic building itself obscured it from a view of the city and everything around it. There was a large roll up door, something that was proving to be more and move evidently a point of pride for dwarven architects. Like a lot of the things that they came across, it was made of iron. There had to be an iron mine somewhere, with how much iron they kept finding wherever they went. Inside, there were thankfully no zombies. Stella stood outside stabbing off the remaining few zombies that have been stuck inside the academy grounds. Sophie was there to assist but mostly spent time tripping them with vines. This allowed Stella to stab with a purpose. "You are both doing great!" Bob yelled, quickly scanning the interior before returning. It was large closed gate that would have been used for deliveries. Bob weaved around the girls and checked its integrity. He was surprised to see that it was locked and bolted. "The gate is locked and I see you guys have dealt with the last of the zombies. Good job ladies." Bob nodded for Stella to take point. Their next objective was going to be the academic center itself. The sprawling five-story building was the largest inside of the academy''s walled compound. It was the one they thought might have the most remaining zombies. One of the monks had opened the doors to the other three barracks, prompting any remaining zombies that were on the first floor of each building to congregate in the center. Then the monks drew them towards Bob''s kill team. With all of the buildings open, they just needed to wait for any stragglers. It was far easier to kill them out in the open with support. It had been Sonya''s idea and Bob loved it. After the girls had explained the ladder versus stairs problem to Sonya in depth she had insisted on it. Once that was done, Brandon and Juan ran through the second floors of the other two barracks, drawing attention to the fact that juicy delicious human meat was there for the taking. There were far fewer zombies on the second floor. By the time they cleared those out, it was tea time. Sonya teleported them back, where the two monks traded out for two warriors that were on standby.
Bob gave a report to Anthony while the scouts ate stew and grumbled. Of course their offer of some of the spices that they had brought back was summarily denied until further testing could be conducted. "So there''s like a warehouse back there that has most of what we need?" Anthony said. "Well if no one is touching it, then we can probably leave it there and keep coming back for more. Valerie!" The teenage dwarf looked up from across the room. "What if we just portal-ed back when we need more supplies?" He said. "Uhhhh," she said. "Let me think about this one." Anthony raised an eyebrow. He was still working under the impression that they needed to bring everything in their wagons. They had acquired more wagons expecting to need the space. They still could only move as fast as the caravan, but they were able to return to just about anywhere that Sonya had been. But if they didn''t need to pack everything except some essentials, they could have a home base. "Sonya?" Anthony said. "Have you talked to Finley about where he has been? Perhaps his world line gets us closer to where we want to be." "I don''t want that kind of pressure," Finley said, between bites of stew. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Bob chewed on the rubbery meat that had made up most of this lunch. He blinked several times, trying to see if the Tinker was serious. He was definitely serious. "Have you been farther south than this?" Bob said. "Farther east, yes. Farther south, yes to the capital, but it''s not like I can bring the entire caravan with me. That portal has a size limitation, unless we set up a system of gates like the elves had. I think that would take far more time than we have, especially if dragons are taking notice." Finley slurped what was rest of his bowl before dramatically placing it on the wooden table. His eyes never left Anthony''s during the entire experience, as if challenging the man to bother him while he was eating. "I''m going to have to reconsider how we get resupplied then. Finley, we should think about this," Anthony said. "And if there''s another gate spell, we need that to be one of our goals. This is just too powerful of an ability to not find another one." It wasn''t back to the drawing board for all of their plans, but it was refreshing to know that they could secure the academy grounds and use that as a staging area. In truth, the dwarven kingdom was the size of a continent on its own, with wide swathes of area where nothing much happened but farming. If they solved their ongoing food issue, a lot of things were simpler. Their next couple of salvage runs could be just about the things that the academy couldn''t provide.
Finley came to see Anthony after he checked in with the horses. They were in good spirits. The rest was helping them immensely. It was as important for the horses as it was for the humans. Anthony had the next destination in mind. It was going to take them a few days of travel no matter what they did. There was no rush. They had to clear hundreds of span to even get close to the next death knight if they even wanted to. Having the option to return to places like camp delta was attractive. Just because they hadn''t died didn''t mean that they were completely safe. Their victory was in no way assured, but he would do what he could. If not, he wouldn''t be able to work on his bartering skill. Having everyone join in a collective bargaining agreement was a bit odd, but the jump is had given him was well worth it. Before he had met Anthony, it had taken forever to get to the third level. Now? With the bargain struck, he was surprised to see it at level five. As well the text had changed.
Epic Class Card: Tinker Level 4 Skills: Barter and Appraisal Level 5 Identify Level 3 Animal Handling Level 3 Storage Level 4 King Level 2 This is a soul card and cannot be removed. As the Tinker King, you have the ability to induct new people into the family.
He wasn''t the last living Tinker any longer. He was reassured to see that small change. The image of a wagon and a crown remained. He hadn''t worked so hard on his advanced animal handling or identify skills but based on how long it took to get them to that level he was going to take years for the next advancement. Finley grabbed his busy work for the day. Every good Tinker knew that you saved the paperwork until the afternoon when things were settled. The group that had gone through the academy had handed over their haul and he was curious about what they had snagged. From what Valerie had said, the military was an equalizer among the dwarves where children of noble birth had rubbed elbows with commoners. Some dwarves were born to be good commanders and staff officers, while others were not. No matter their prior education, nobles were no better on average than working class dwarves. However, the cadre of trained officers that made it to the highest level and tender to stick around was invariably nobles. This meant that there was a small group of cards that had come from noble lineages. These were for the most part rare cards. And as far as he understood, they were mostly merchant and some class cards. There had only been about 200 zombies that they had killed. Of those, about ten had left class cards. Those he would be presenting to the council later that day. Just about every single one would be going to someone who didn''t have a second class. It meant that they would be more durable and able to survive better. He wanted to give them every advantage that he could. He also didn''t want to keep changing directions midstream. They had gone through a lot recently. The fact that he had changed his mind several times since they had arrived at Camp Delta with not was not a good or a bad thing on its own, but it was showing where he needed more information. That was where Sonya came in. She had helped organize the cards, then helped him focus his mind on what other cards they might need to make. Sonya had helped. Sophie, pick all the right cards to make new warlock class card. That had been a slam dunk for the Rogue. Now he was looking at some of the cards that they had gotten and realizing that he might get four or five more new classes out of what was left. He was really happy about that. Even though they would all be brand new level one classes, it would still be great for the group. One of the things that Finley hadn''t really gone deep into was what exactly both Orcs had brought to the table. He knew they both had a very high level bardic class of some sort. He had never seen such a card. And they weren''t really forthcoming with the information. He was beginning to think that part of the reason that they were a night shift was because they could only deal with so much social pressure. But they were performers? They should be used to talking to a crowd. Maybe even happy to do it? Finley knew that he wasn''t always happy to talk to new people, but he warmed up over time. Sophie had mentioned that she did some sort of theater back on Earth. The idea of Earth, a planet that really existed for so many of the people that live with him, but was something he would never be able to reach irked him. All this culture that he was never going to be able to experience. There was so much food that Stella or Bob talked about that he wanted to try. He hadn''t even known that one could fry food, much less do it an entire menu of fried food. He didn''t even know where he would get such oil. Their descriptions made it sound like this was going to be the way of the future. It was inevitable. At least he could be ahead of the curve. If his Tinker card came out of this whole ordeal being able to serve some one-of-a-kind food, then he might think about keeping some of these humans on board. It was hard to be a lone wolf, when you had to deal with logistics of a pack. Finley finally sorted all of the complete cards. With all that settled, he began to sort through the pieces. As he put them into piles, he found that he had about twenty or so rare pieces, dozens of uncommon and several hundred common pieces. It was too much for him to hope to find anything an obsidian. Once he had them all sorted. He was able to figure out that he could give out enough card pieces to satisfy everyone''s new salary under the union. He made a note as he wrote out everyone''s current balance. Each person that was now on board now was going to receive two uncommon shards per week. He had decided to give everyone a bonus of one complete common card. Unless there was a great need, cards that went from plunder and salvage came back to the Caravan to be doled out to those that needed it the most. Finley didn''t like that. He had to do it this way, if he didn''t then only the ones that were able to grab the cards would. That would lead to them getting more powerful at the expense of the rest of the Caravan. He had seen that happen before, with one of the Tinker chiefs far over powering the rest of his caravan. It meant that no one really challenged him. Well if Anthony wanted to be equitable about dealing the cards, this was probably the best way. Oh the class cards that needed to be given out, they would vote as to who needed them and then handpick, one for one. Then if someone wanted to trade with somebody else, that was their own business. Finley had his business to run, and a business was good. 2- Twenty One "So what we need is a way for me to make a larger than normal gate. It that something that we can figure out?" Sonya asked the dwarf. "It''s one of those things that sounds technically feasible, but I''m not sure how they did it," Andrew said, rubbing his beard. One of the buildings had a workshop that had been taken over by the dwarf. To say that he had spread out his work was an understatement. The place lived and breathed craft. It was as if he had never stopped being a child and he had gotten to do whatever he wanted, and there were no adults to stop him. All their salvage was neatly piled up in exactly zero spots. He had clearly divided up metal piles, wood piles, miscellaneous piles but the rest? It was a mishmash that no one except for the dwarf would be able to sort through. So when Sonya came by to ask him some questions, she was mildly perturbed by his lack of organization. She was used to dealing with unfocused bureaucracies. If nothing else, the Canadian Federal service had taught her so much about dealing with people that you couldn''t just learn from a book. In this case? She was probably dealing with a level three hoarder. Who wouldn''t be, when one didn''t know what one would need? "What if we used like a large stone door frame? Or like can you make a frame out of iron large enough for the wagons?" She said. "They would have to be twice as tall as you at least and then perhaps the same width. I have laid out the size that I envisioned for this over there against the wall," he said. The one exterior wall in the workshop had markings where Andrew had laid out his design. Brass and iron ran up either side of what looked like a potential garage door, it was too bad that it wasn''t a roll-up. So he rather preferred those designs that she''d seen. They was a dwarven aesthetic to building things here that Andrew hadn''t acquired yet. "Do you think you can learn something from the way they make their doors here?" She said, running her hands along it to get a feel for the size. She tapped into the skill and just knew that it would take a lot out of her to maintain a gate that large. "I''m hoping I can take some notes on the best things of what I find. But you have to understand that compared to this? My world didn''t have spring-loaded anything. At best, we had crossbows," he said. "Somebody told me that was some pre-industrial revolution type shit and agreed with them. Then I asked them what the heck was an industrial revolution." She could see how that might be a problem in translation. If he had come from a less advanced society then he would have all the prior knowledge of things that wouldn''t help so much. It wasn''t like she had memorized how to create a micro circuit anyway. Sonya barely even understood how electricity worked. So she wouldn''t put it past the artificer to do his best and ask for help when he needed it. She had seen herself asking around before, especially in the magic department. "Finley said that he''s got some cards up for grab. Said that they were class cards. High level ones too," she said. "Are you thinking of putting in a bid for any of them?" Andrew stopped sorting brass and iron pieces for a moment. "What? And have more of a job to do here? I''m already working as hard as I can. If you guys want me to go on watch just say the word. I don''t mind a little bit of hard work but nobody else is going to be able to do what I''m doing. And all I need is some motes of mana to get some of these things up and running." She couldn''t argue with that. She might be strong, but he was smart. She might be wise, but he was able to convert his intelligence into something that actually worked and functioned when they needed it. His flame flinger helped cover their retreat from their last big engagement. She was excited for the next thing that he was going to create. In the back of her mind, her inner child was hoping for a machine gun crossed with a grenade launcher, because fuck you and anyone around you. Unfortunately that would be pretty destructive and they were trying to get as many cards as they could. It would be counterproductive to blow every one of their enemies into smithereens upon contact. Unless of course their cards just appeared right there where they had been. But she doubted it. No one had really tested whether or not cards could be destroyed, but she had an idea that it was possible and no one really wanted to try and prove or disprove it. With new eyes, she realized that if there were so many spring doors available with roll-ups they could take advantage of it. Dwarves loved a good garage type area, with enough space for a work shop. Those doors might open up an opportunity to anchor more places. Then they would be able to find and convert them, creating a network of linked workshops. "If we took a few of these roll-up doors, do you think we could convert them? I''m thinking that we use them as gate anchors. Like if we we found one here and then linked it to another one..." She said. His eyes went wild. He put down his pieces and returned to the large chalkboard he had appropriated. He began writing down dimensions and drawing a wagon next to a large door. Sonya would leave him to that part. "You good with this Andrew?" She said. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "I can take it from here. I''m going to need to see one of these roll-up doors up close." Sonya smirked. She knew where he was going with this request. --- "Alright. We''re going to make sure that we give these out with a bit of thought behind it. For instance, I really want a monk class, but as the groups cleric and main healer-" "And caravan boss!" Valerie yelled from the back of the room. "-and Caravan commander, thanks Valerie. As I was saying, it wouldn''t make sense for me to take another combat skill. We have two monk class cards," Anthony said. "Five casters that are all battle mages, and five warrior cards. All of the warriors cards and monk cards have a specialty. Finley has reminded us that we have a few people who already have two class cards. So I would ask this people to stand up and move to the back." There was some shuffling and grumbling. "Humans can have three active class cards," Finley said. "With the exception of uncommon non combat classes, like my accountant class. Dwarves can only have two, but they can get around this restriction by turning their soul card into a class card. I think." Anthony knew that he was leaving out the part where they could end up with a less than useful class unless someone wanted to change their life''s trajectory. "Even dwarves from different worlds?" Andrew said. "Even dwarves from different worlds? I don''t know yet," Finley said. "I''m hoping to learn from you." "As far as passing the watch duties around? It''s unfair for the Orcs to take up all this duty for us. I understand that we''re in a relatively safe spot but wanted to consider the little people here and also the big people," Bob said. "I think that if anything, I''d want to work on that. I have enough powerful cards that I don''t want to put myself in the running for any of these, but another summon would make things so much better. Even like a summon guard dog card." "Noted." Sophie had two or more classes, as did Finley. Stella was holding out for a healer class, he knew. That left the three human warriors: Iggy, Kayleigh and Brianna all needed a second class. All three humans had a sprinter build and had gotten a whole custom arsenal, one size too small. Of the primary rogues, Chris and Stella needed a second class. Sophie had gotten her druid class card and had made a warlock card almost by accident. Not everyone has a chance encounter with a dashing goat patron, but she did. Brandon, Juan and Michael, the monks needed a second class as well. All three wore the loose white robes of Irumian pilgrims to the Ice Cloak foothills, with a satchel of stones for their slings on one side. "Hey I think I speak for all of us that perhaps we need to make more healer class cards," Brandon said. "You probably need a second class Bob. If for no other reason than if you die? We''re screwed." Anthony shrugged. He was going to be the guy in the back directing the big picture stuff. He didn''t see the need to do it. "How about this," Anthony said. "Since these cards we can swap around based on preferences- let''s give the battle mage stuff to our warriors or monks. They''re not soul cards, so we can swap them around if needed. My understanding is that this is correct?" Valerie nodded. "Who wants to be a guinea pig? Valerie you''re welcome to join in as well. Borgan? Song?" The orcs both put up hands, pushing away anything close to responsibility. Valeria bristled at his inquiry. Word on the caravan news network was that she wanted a particular class to complement her strategist class, and that it was rare and a foolhardy one. He couldn''t blame her. She had wanted to make some sort of longhand spreadsheet to track all of this. Apparently it was something that Noble families did when they were trying to determine who would be getting the next class card from a beloved, great uncle or Aunt. It wasn''t that people were required to tell others their cards but in certain families it was the default. Hearing about how cards got handed down through families like that had made his head spin. Anthony had tried to do a lot for his son including before he came through college but if he could just give his son a midwife card, that would have made his life so much easier. Especially if it was his grandfather''s midwife card that had been passed down to him for the express purpose of giving his son the skills needed. Or his grandmother''s. Anthony wondered how families that had lots of kids were able to pass on cards but if each kid was born with one card then then they could start their own legacy. It seemed needlessly complicated. If the people that lived before couldn''t help you out then what good were they? Then he thought about all the things that have been a problem back on Earth and how there had been so many people that had started off with good intentions. So many of those never got their dreams to turn into reality and they had to deal with people who just got things done whether they were doing the right thing or not. As it turned out nobody really wanted to be guinea pig but he was going to pick somebody. He looked at Stella physically. She was very vocal about wanting to be a healer whenever the topic came out and she was a few cards short of making her own healer class. Doing it that way would give her a first level healer class but she would be able to get better as Tom went on. What he was offering her was going to be something like a level five class card. "All right. If there''s nobody who''s going to volunteer to be a mage I''m just going to pick one of you guys at random. Stella, step right up. I know that you wanted a healer class but what I have for you today is a battle mage class and I just want you to give it a shot okay?" She stands forward and took the card from his last rest hand. And then she took the card and shove it into her into her chest. As she did. So the card went fully translucent and corporeal. Then she couldn''t see it anymore. And it was inside her soul deck. She went through the motions and before he knew it, she was levitating a ball of flame above her hands. Stella''s long black hair was thankfully slicked back into a high ponytail. "Oh damn guys. You should try this," she said. It didn''t take much more for the rest of them to be convinced to take a second class. Pretty sure there might be some changes later, but for right now? They could deal with it. He needed them to be ready to go. If Anthony had been a different person, he would be leading them in some sort of organized training. But everything he did so far had molded them into a large resilient team. He might talk to Valerie about what they need to do if they were going to be a a force to be be reckoned with. It was probably part of her training. He made a mental note to ask her later. And just like that they were done and family was presenting everyone with a plan for the next day. They were going to do their darnedest to get out of Camp Delta well before it was the morning time. Then it would hit it hard for three or four hours before finding a convenient stop. And transitioning into more raids on the academy grounds. Due to Camp Delta''s remote nature, he was considering it their secondary searching point. He just needed someplace remote for them to be able to go frequently. After all, why would he go to work in person when he could work remote? Unfortunately, It wasn''t an option for him to fight the zombie hordes from home. He did his best to prepare himself for the next day. When Sonya finally courted him that night looking for her cuddles, he was finally all packed up. And with a smile, she grabbed his hand and yanked him to their bed. 2- Twenty Two Finley took one last sad look at the camp that he had called home for two days. He was not leaving on purpose. Just because they could and should leave didn''t mean that he wanted to. He resigned himself to his fate as a nomad Tinker a long time ago. He still hadn''t realized how safe he had felt. With dwarven mercenaries and the adventurers'' guilders able to do subjugation quests to keep monster levels low, he knew that the dwarven lands were safe for him. Now? They were so perilous that he was considering going on a boat of all things. Tinkers almost never went onto boats or over water. Finley in particular hated the idea. He felt like he would be weaker over the water and he certainly would have less options. Thinking about boats made him itch. But, he had signed on with the Caravan and he would make the best of it. He had made Tinker cards for Bob, Sonya, Stella and Sophie. He was in the process of making a few more. It took a little bit out of them every time to make one. It wasn''t derived from his Mana. It was drawing from his resolve, something he felt tangibly every time someone asked him if the stew was adequate. It wasn''t but he could only be so kind. Without resolve, he could and would give a full unfiltered opinion. In making so many Tinker cards, he needed frequent breaks. He did need the person to be there part of the time he made the card. He had to keep a warm image of the person in his mind for much longer than the first one, but it did get easier. He briefly considered what would happen if he gave a Tinker card to someone that he hadn''t envisioned. His skill told him that was a bad idea. Let them do that themselves. He just wouldn''t tempt fate or the new god Murphy that the humans always referenced. When they got to their stopping point for the day, Bob took him aside and began giving him some spear lessons. Finley had been avoiding it for a long time. He realized that with the amount of spears that they had, and his inexperience, he might have a problem. The best thing about spears was that they let you reach out and touch something from a fair distance. He still did not want to kill anything, but stopping a zombie charge? He would volunteer for that. Having the Tinker King skill made him feel like there was always a way for him to talk his way out of something. That skill had clearly been made for a more peaceful time. Generations and generations of Tinkers had been able to create a culture where it was expected that they were non-violent. For most people, seeing a Tinker was a welcome sight. It was a culture that allowed for them to be able to travel miles and miles in safety and live a nomadic trading lifestyle. In the time before Gates, they had learned how to pass on the news between communities. Family even heard a story once about a Tinker who delivered mail between various settlements. It was done for money of course as most Tinkers did not want to be tied down to a particular route or area. One Tinker had found it suitable for their lifestyle. Perhaps the story about him going around in a loop was for the children to understand but they didn''t have to leave and appear at random. They could have a predictable route and work it over time. Their next location for the day was unremarkable, just close enough to a stream to avoid the grumbling. Finley judged that they had gone far enough south that the worst of the winter would avoid them. Regardless, it was still encroaching upon his domain. The biggest change that made him consider how far they had gone was the foliage. Where once it was only pine trees and evergreens, now some of the trees were less hardy stock. He was grateful for Valerie''s help in using several of the trees to set up both shade structures and keeping onto the road. Sophie helped him weave trip vines around their area as well. Sonya had grumbled but Valerie had joined him and Anthony in his wagon just so she was able to get a view and passed on any information. Halfway through that first day of travel, Sonya had taken a horse and taken to scouting with Bob''s team. It made Anthony fret a little bit to see his girlfriend heading off but he didn''t tell her. He sure as heck told Finley and Valerie. He was taking his role as emotional support elf seriously. Valerie, much too young to understand what was going on or pretending to not know just that and listened to Anthony. Wishing that so he would stay close by. So while Bob was training Finley on the spear, Sonya and Anthony were talking it out. Finley was doing his best to focus on the spear training but he kept sneaking a glance back at them. Now this is what being in a relationship was like, he was not ready for that. He didn''t think he would ever be ready for that. Bob fixed his footwork. "Finley, you''re crossing your legs. They need to be wide apart." He used the base of his spear to nudge them in the direction that he wanted. This caused Finley to assume a slightly lower pose. Then he fixed Finley''s grip. Finley''s two hand grip near the base of the spear was swapped out for a mixed grip in the center. "I would tell you to choke up on this spear but I don''t think you''ve ever played baseball before, so just trust me when I say you need to grab it closer to the center." For someone who had been using his body for so long, Finley was still surprised at what it could do. He was equally surprised at hat Bob could get it to do just by positioning it. He intuitively knew he was doing everything wrong and tried to correct it. Finley just sat there trying to imitate Bob to the best of his ability. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Stella and Sophie were watching and began giving pointers as well after a while. "You know I think I can make you a target. Prepare for a mud golem," Sophie said. A humanoid shaped patch of dirt rose up in front of him. Finley paused and reset his stance. He waited until Bob gave him a nod then thrust his spear into the target. Bob had him reset and do the same drill several times. It wasn''t that he was bad at it. It was just that Bob wanted him to have more practice or at least that was what the ranger said. They had finally gone for at least another half hour before he needed to stop. He wasn''t tired. The target was gone, disintegrating into dust. "That''s about enough. You should be able to hold a door if we ever need to press you to do a house by house search," Bob said. "Too bad you never Tinkered around with any of these when you were bored before all of this." He gestured at the caravan around them. "My spear, as I said, is ornamental. It''s for grabbing fruit. Tinkers are by our nature, non-violent, despite what outside groups might think of us." He returned the practice spear to his wagon. He didn''t want to keep a weapon in there but if one needed a spear then it needed to be close by. He didn''t want to sleep with it outside of the wagon either. Then he took a well-deserved nap.
The location that they had taken wasn''t too far from a stream so Anthony went down there to see if the water was any good. He had expected it to be terribly cold. He was pleasantly surprised when he realized that Sophie had warmed it up. He saw her floating out there and waved. She floated back in to talk to him. "How are you holding up?" She said. "I''m fine, I think," he replied, taking off his shirt. "You''ll be a lot better when you get in here. Trust me," she said. He got in unceremoniously. It would have been nice to have a picnic basket or towel or something but he would just have to deal with what he had. He floated out to meet her. "Oh this is great! It''s not even that deep. So what does it feel like having three classes? " "I feel like it''s not that different. But my warlock class is very special. I never expected to be in a situation-ship with a goat but here I am listening to his commands like he''s my sugar daddy. Actually, I''m not even sure if the Goat Lord is male or female so she could just as easily be a sugar mama." "This is true. None of us could have expected that we would get a visit by a god. It''s a bit ridiculous to even think of the concept. Like what even is he the god of? Sonya told me that her patron is the god of overland travel and I''m just at a loss. Is the Goat Lord just the god of eating stuff? I know Finley said he''s half party, half animal but that just can''t be correct, right?" "Oh it is right. Like if you wanted me to I could summon a party but I don''t even know what that means. It''s just a freewheeling ability that I have to just have a goat themed party. Actually, I''m not even sure it needs to be goat themed. Would you like me to start a party?" The question threw Anthony. Though he had thought a lot about what they were doing and how they were doing it, you never thought about what kind of parties they could have. That just wasn''t a thing. But without the constant threat of a zombie looming do directly next to them, it was a lot easier to think about things that weren''t strictly speaking necessary. "No. I think I''m good without a party. But we might want to do one soon. Maybe the next time that we camp down for two nights. Maybe a longer stay every other week. It gives people a lot of time to do things that aren''t directly related to the mission. We''ve been through a lot together. And yeah, maybe party isn''t the right word. Like that game of werewolf the other day. That was great. That was unexpected and it made sense. If I won''t feel good if the good lord could provide an experience like that? That''ll be ideal." He knew that there were not going to be a lot of chances to just kick back if they were next to a town or city. Camp Delta was uniquely suited for their needs. "Yeah, the Goat Lord works in mysterious ways. Don''t we all?" They floated around in comfortable silence for a minute or so. They both looked up and over back to the Caravan. Anthony was hoping that Sonya would join them in a little bit but she was still deep in conversation with Stella. "So Stella told me a bit about how you were before the transition?" "Oh yes, oh shit. Are we doing this right now?" Sophie said blushing with her full body. "We don''t have to talk about anything you''re not comfortable with but know that I''m here for you. If you have any weird questions about anything, let me know," he said. "That whole thing about pregnant women getting this like insight into how they''re actually pregnant? Is that a thing?" "I''ve seen it both ways. Some women are in denial up until the baby comes out of them. Some women? They know immediately. Usually the women that are more in tune with their body can tell. Do you feel in tune with your body?" "I do now, yes. It was jarring before. Like I now had the party that I wished that I had, and it''s not too different from how I was before," she said. "You were on estrogen?" He said, floating around her. "I was yes. It took a lot of work for me to get from being a little baby egg to becoming a woman. And now I''m here...It''s like I have everything I wanted but everything''s changed." "You don''t think that this is some sort of divine punishment right? Cuz that would be pretty fucked up. Like give you the body that you''re comfortable in but then...were you comfortable back on earth?" "It took a lot of work and soul searching but yeah I got to a good place." "And are you in that good place again here? Again, stop me if I''m-" "You''re alright. Frankly, I thought I should have asked you a few questions already. Like you have this experience of working with women in what has to be one of the most important times of their lives and here I am, finally feeling on the outside like I did on the inside and now I''m like..." Sophie said. She sighed. He waited, in full dad mode. He might be a nurse and a midwife, but he was also a father. She might not need his advice or counsel and she appeared to be doing fine on her own. "...well let me come back to that. How are you and Sonya doing?" Sophie said. "Umm." "Are you sleeping on the couch tonight?" Sophie teased. "That''s pretty close to it. She decided to run off on the horses with you and Bob and Stella and I wanted her with me. I guess I can''t protect her, but for as strong as she is..." "I understand. She''s invaluable. If we didn''t have those walls up before we would be in a terrible place. That whole maze thing as well? Well if you don''t want her I''ll have a go," Sophie said. "I mean it''s a free Kingdom, I guess. Wait, if there is a Kingdom, wouldn''t Valerie as one of the last living dwarves be the queen?" "Let''s not let it go to her head." "Agreed." 2- Twenty Three Bob, Mork''s elbow grease, decided to take the afternoon to scout ahead. He took some time to select one of the horses that was less tired. True, it had been trotting along with them but this one hadn''t been pulling anything with it. This was right after he had worked with Finley on his spear and he felt like a little expedition would do him good. He took two of the warriors with him as backup. Sophie had said that she wanted to make something special and had begged off showing up with him. Sophie was taking some time for herself. He couldn''t blame her. They had spent a lot of time together. She had said something about a spa day and then jumped into the cold river. Their scouting was short and sweet. They only spent one hour riding before they stopped to rest the horses. There wasn''t anything around for miles but they were getting a bit close to a large swamp. Bob didn''t want to cross through it and with the amount of mosquitoes there, he didn''t even want to be close. Brianna and Iggy began their own practice as Bob took the horses to water. Both warriors were excellent with the spear. But being a warrior gave them something that he didn''t have as a ranger. They had a weapon proficiency that let them understand the spear on a different level. When he understood it, it was a tool like a hammer. For them? It was like a chef''s knife. They spent almost a minute just getting set up. It reminded him of how he would set up his station as a junior chef. He loved the after effects of mise en place. Everything was where it should be, and he didn''t need to think, he was just able to bake. In the same way, he wished that he could get to a place of unconscious competence with his current situation. If he had been some tough ex special forces guy, then yeah he might be eating this up. Right now, he was putting on a brave face. There was no way out unless they did everything right. And even then, they could still fail. Mork had really hurt him by giving him so many boons that he couldn''t quit. If there was a most valuable player of the Caravan? He would have won it twice already. He didn''t want to be in that position. But he knew his responsibility to the group. It was a chance with two death knights. He already knew that sometime in the next year that they might be done, but Bob was really thinking about how far things were away from each other. That the dwarves had so much free land where nothing was being used. It felt so exotic and foreign to him. This wasn''t Hoboken where people were living side by side. You could go days without meeting anybody. He didn''t envy the Orcs who had done that on purpose. As they danced with their spears, he could see one of them trying to gingerly attack each other. They were doing a full force but he knew that those were practice spears. They wouldn''t hurt. They might sting, but he could heal that. Stella had been going on and on about wanting to be a healer. He had felt useless when Finley was out and he was the best equipped to do anything about it. It was just a bit of his mana which he had detached to help his friend in need. Now he felt even more useless, just looking at those two sparring back and forth. Sure. He had been teaching him how to do it not even two hours ago, but now he wanted to fight someone on his level. "Mind if I cut in?" He said, grabbing another swig of water. The horses would be good. "Do you want to take him or should I?" Brianna said. "You can get him first," Iggy said, stepping back. Brianna settled in to wait for him. Bob took her partner''s spear and then it was on. She went on the offensive, hitting him in all his weak points. Every time that he thought that he could predict her next movement, she would change. It was nearing that she was faster than him. Once he was paying attention and in the zone, he could match her speed. What he could not match was her technique. She clearly knew a way around the shaft of a spear. Bob could respect that. Any woman that could knock him down and then offer a hand to bring it back up was good in his book. And she repeatedly did so. "You''re tough. That''s good for you, but you''re just making both of us tired," Brianna said, throwing the spear to Iggy. "You got this. No one cares how well you fight fresh." Those words rang through his head after it got pounded several times by a blunt spear edge. He regretted almost everything, until the point at which there was no training value in trying to dodge Iggy''s spear attacks. He was slowing down, but his partner was keeping the same pace. "Alright boys," she said. "Let''s wrap it up. Back to scouting?" "Back to scouting," Bob grunted. "Hey, since we''re here, did you want to give us some tips on hand talk?" Iggy said. Brianna walked down to the horses and mounted hers. Then, holding the reins of the other two horses, she brought all three back to them. "I guess I can go over a few things. Actually let me give you the sign for water and horses," Bob said. He waved his hand horizontally like a bending stream. "That''s water. This one is a horse and yeah they''re pretty basic. Borgan said that we need to spend a lot of time on the normal stuff," Bob said. "That helps a lot." Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Brianna and Iggy tried both hand signs and giggled. Iggy mounted up, followed by Bob. They rode back through the dwarves'' plains as they took note of any and all rocks of note. There weren''t many, which made each one all the more meaningful.
The next day brought more of the same. Finley was easing into it. There were only so many times that he was going to be able to enjoy not being attacked by zombies in the near future. So he wanted to take those moments and savor them. Behind them, a storm was brewing up and he tried to see if it was going to come near them or not. But his sense was that it wasn''t. It''s throw the horses on to move faster and for the humans to take less breaks. But it was halfway through the morning when the storm started dumping on them that they ran into their first snag that wasn''t related to a zombie. Finley had realized that the dwarves had a problem with certain types of monsters but he had forgotten about one of the worse of them. It wasn''t like there were many trolls around. But they stumbled on to three of them. There had been some heated debate previously about whether the tools would be taken over by the zombies or not. As soon as they saw a troll they slowed down, circling the wagons. The warriors got out front, spears at the ready. Finley prepared to counteract the trolls by tapping into local flora. Deep into the ground, much of the plains around him was connected. It almost felt like he could directly trip up one of the trolls from where he was. So he did. Once the was tripped up it stopped, that was when Stella came in strong with her ice magic. "Do we need to kill them with fire, or is there some elemental weakness that they possess?" Anthony said from his side. "If you know any fire spells, this would be the time. Do the best you can to slow it down. This isn''t going to be like the zombies. Trolls, as far I know, are usually taken down by a huge team of adventures. If they weren''t smack dab in the middle of the road, I would say let''s let them go, but they''re coming right out at us. I don''t think the horses could run them down if they wanted to. And we have so many things to do right now." They found out. Finley realized that all the horses that weren''t attached to the wagon were now cowering in the back. He made a move to go calm them. He pulsed out his energy trying to convert mana into happy horses. He probably wasn''t that effective but at least the horses didn''t look like they were about to bolt for good. With a half circle of fighters raid the three trolls continued onward towards them now looking like they were aiming for the center. That was where the major started firing spells as well. It was unfortunate that Finley was spending so much time on the horses, but he couldn''t do it without them. When he turned back the troll was out of the vines. He also appeared to be on fire. Fire was dangerous on dry plains. But with the help of the storm, he was able to do a little bit to help. Where the flames sprouted, he used the green to tap into more of the grass. He was surprised at the amount that it pushed back against him. Though the grass wanted to help, it didn''t really care whether it was or not. He reached in and made the care. If the grass could have yelped from his pushing and prodding, it would have. Toppled over fully embracing the ground. Bob had everyone fire on that one. Before long they could see the glint of the card picking up on its chest. Bob''s summon had done the job again. It looked like it didn''t want to do it with the other two glides but it was too large of a place for no one to be dependent. Sonya grabbed his elbow trying to pull him back. He realized with a shock that it was the elbow that he had regrown recently. For the first time he pushed Mana through it and it felt like all of his channels had changed. It wasn''t just an elf arm anymore. He had merged it into a solid composite of the two. His arm, all of a sudden, felt hungry to cast something. He had no better word to describe it. So he let it take over, molding the chaos that it was trying to push out. Finley loosed a bolt of green magic at the lead troll. It moved faster than his eye could see and it''s only because the troll turned a sickening shade of purple immediately that he knew what had happened. Whatever spell he had just cooked up? It had turned the gray green skin of the orc into a mess of bruises. Sonya gasped behind him. "Let me get the next one," she said. "I can''t have my driver take all the credit." Finley let her do her thing watching as she shot a bolt of brown earth magic. This one buried the troll that she attacked. It wasn''t just buried. It was crushed under the weight of her magic, As if the past of time was going to erode the troll into dust. At any other time he would have been very pleased to see this happening. Right now? He hadn''t realized how much Mana he could actually put into one bolt. Finley felt very tired. This was bad for many reasons, most of all because of the trolls that were bearing down on him and the Caravan. Unfortunately for said trolls, he was surrounded by his new family who all had taken specialties in destroying lumbering brutes. Zombies and trolls weren''t exactly the same as the latter had some intelligence. He remembered his refresh card. Tapping into it. He tried to refresh himself and only got a little bit of energy for his trouble. He checked his card.
Common Card: Refresh Skill: The user of this card can push someone far beyond their limit. People can run farther and longer. Animals feel rejuvenated. Effect lasts for four hours. Cool down: Thirty Minutes
He had not even thought to check. Finley exhaled, grabbing his sphere. Behind him, Anthony also shot wave after wave of holy bolts, aiming for both of the trolls'' knees. "Why don''t you get them in the head?" Sonya yelled. "They can''t move without knees!" Anthony yelled back. Emily had never considered whether magic was loud. Sure he''d cast a spell or two in his time and level up his druid card, but now? The entire area around him was loud with spells being cast at the trolls. The second troll fell only a few sets before them and the third one fell on top of it. That was the first time that Finley truly appreciated a fully operational flame flinger. You see the flame flinger didn''t just produce flames, it produced a small mass of Mana that the flames attached to. This liquid mana had never heard about stop, drop and roll, as none of the trolls had. Once this contacted skin, it stayed on there until it burned through, or the mana burned up. To say that there was no shortage of people volunteering to not test that out would be a lie. No one wanted to be the target. Everyone had wanted to try it out. Fortunately for its creator, Andrew was standing up continuing to fling flames at the pile of trolls. The downpour that was continuing looked like it would extinguish the flames at any moment but they kept returning. Finley was surprised at their strength. After his frustrating day of learning how to wield a spear, he wanted that kind of strength for himself. The fact that he could tap into his druidic magic to deliver such a strong explosion felt like the opening salvo. Perhaps, he would get strong like the rest of his Caravan. He could only dream as he relaxed back into the seat. 2- Twenty Four Sonya used her warlock powers to create giant dirt fingers with which she would open the trolls up. The thing that no one tells you about trolls is that they have layers of visceral fat and muscle. If you want to get their soul card, you have to go through all those layers. No one wanted to get up close to any of the trolls. Bob had summoned his companion to try and get past that but it was only so strong. Though Ca''at had the sharpest blades of anyone in the Caravan, the viscera was just too much. The feline say on the side, dejectedly playing with the trolls kidney. Thus, they went to ask her to do the best she could to slice them open. The Goat Lord had specifically given Sophie powers that related to disposition of bodies. In abstract, it was supposed to be about returning it to the soil and the renewal of resources and magic. In practice it was just more of a magically induced headache. Cara, Sonya''s patron had given her powers that were also earth or dirt related. Anything that seemed to fit into the theme of traveling overland and doing drug deals was well within her realm of power to grant. So it fell to Sonya and Sophie. Sonya used thearth to open up the bodies and then Sophie would turn them into a garden of sunflowers. It was just like the men of the group to leave the cleanup to the ladies. Anthony would hear about it later. It was rough work. It was squishy and moist and everything that was uncomfortable about the new world. Then they had their three cards, covered in troll guts.
Uncommon card: Regeneration The wielder of this card regenerates at a faster pace than normal.
Common card: Giant Strength The wielder of this card can use an oversized weapon as naturally as a weapon that is the correct size for them.
"Well that does it. Next time I talk to my patron, I''m going to be asking for a summon like Bob has," Sonya said. "I doubt that I''ll get anything. Maybe a hippo like Pablo Escobar had?" "She might just give you a little goblin or something. Actually, are there even goblins on this world?" Sophie said. None of their normal tour guides were around. Sonya was going to have to ask one of them later. She didn''t think that it was going to be a problem, but just in thinking about how useful it would be to have a combat capable summon with her, she realized that she might be opening herself up to omething ridiculous. If there was one thing that Cara loved, it was probably a joke. If there were two things, then it was a joke and a toke. She didn''t have either. Those troll cards would be really good in a pinch. She handed them to Finley. Somebody was going to have to make a decision as to who was getting those cards and it was definitely not going to be her. She did not want that responsibility. Finley was a neutral third party. "Well these are pretty nice," Finley said. "I haven''t seen a regeneration card before but I heard they''re really good. Looks like self regeneration though. Maybe the one of the front line fighters could use it." "That''s what I was thinking too," Sonya said. "Keep it out of my hands or it''s just going to do nothing but sit in my active deck." "Still pretty good," Finley said. "Thanks for that excessive use of Mana" Finley looked ragged, definitely close to exhaustion. "Are you doing all right there? I saw that one move, that flash of green, and it was pretty damn cool." "I will be alright. Something inside of me decided that it had a visceral response to seeing three trolls coming at us. It makes me kind of wonder what they were going away from." Sonya sniffed too much troll in one go. "Now you done fucked us up," Sonya said. "Hey guys, I think Murphy''s going to make an appearance." There was a chorus of groans. "Mount up!" Anthony yelled. "Any wounde get up to the front and get in my wagon." There was a lot of shuffling around as they all got ready, but they were back on track shortly. An outsider would only see the new gardens with the strange yellow flowers that were far out of place. Sonya knew the truth of what lay there.
Anthony called for a halt two hours later. The rain has finally let up. They needed to clean up their waterlogged wagons and check that none of their food had been destroyed. Wagons didn''t come with good drains when you bought them. They acquired little holes as a matter of course otherwise one was just carrying around a big wooden bathtub on wheels. "Is this a normal amount of rain, would you say?" He asked Valerie as he sorted through the second wagon. Already drenched up to his elbows, he wasn''t looking forward to the rest of the clean up. His hands were moist. "That was a bit heavy all at once, but it''s been known to happen. Two centuries ago, General Noz fought a battle through one of these storms and it''s one of those things that they teach you not to do in the academy. Hole yourself up instead, because you will sink into the mud. This water can become contaminated." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She turned a barrel over. Anthony realized that he might need to start getting some help to replenish some of what they had lost. He was going to ask Andrew to make some more covers for the wagons. He was considering actual drains as well, as the retention they had continued to annoy him on the next wagon. "Are these all designed to just hold standing water in them?" Valerie said. "Can you have one of the druids open up a hole in one?" "See that''s why I pay you the big bucks," Anthony said. "You don''t pay me anything. Finley pays me and I don''t want my pay in venison, thank you very much." "Bucks are like- ah you know what never mind." "I''m not learning your human slang," she said, turning another barrel over. "This one is also contaminated. Who has the cleanse skill again?" Anthony got Sophie over by waving like a madman. She was the current holder of the card. It got passed around the women of the ground frequently and he knew that she was happy to have it that day. The men in the caravan had all tacitly agreed to not say anything at all about this shuffling of cards. "Is he trying to make fetch happen, bestie?" Sophie said arriving at the back of their wagon. "He so is," Valerie said. "Wait, I thought you said that you weren''t going to learn any human slang? What gives?" Anthony said, glaring at Sophie. "I believe that what I said was ''Your human slang'' emphasizing the ''your'' in that," the teenage dwarf said, smiling back and getting in between Anthony and Sophie. "Also please don''t flirt when I''m between you, it''s super weird." Anthony laughed. "I''m not flirting with her. Sophie is just one of my best friends out here," he said. "We had a good swim the other day, right? Also can you cleanse just about everything here?" Sophie activated a card power, causing a sphere of white to encircle all three of them and the wagon. "Anthony is definitely one of my best friends also," Sophie said, winking. "This rain makes me want to get wet again so I can get dry again. It''s too bad that Valerie here is afraid of the water." "I-I am n-not!" Valerie stammered. The after smell of the cleanse skill had always reminded Anthony of clubbing in the early 2000s; it had too much teenage boy hormone adjacent smell. Plenty of people had called it the worst version of axe body spray possible. The fact that it meant that the wagon was now clean and dry was enough for him. "I''ll hit up the other wagons in short order," Sophie said. "Thanks," he replied, checking the box he had been handling. Inside it was a guide to the common cards that he had been meaning to read. Hopefully whatever water damage had occurred was fixable. If not they would have to get another copy of it. He picked it up to check. The first few pages felt dry but still intact. He handed Valerie the book. "Is this one any good, or am I wasting my time reading it?" She looked at it, then checked the back. "Oh this one is a second edition. You''re good with this one. Actually maybe we should go on a trip to the academy library and see if we can raid the card library. There''s all kinds of rare cards there, or there was." "Card library?" Anthony said. "The only problem is that it''s inside of Heirisburg." "Well, fuck."
On their second trip back to the academy, Sonya brought a few more friends. "You want to get started on that door over there?" She said to the dwarf. "Aye, lass," Andrew said moving to inspect the roll-up door. "We''re going to go check around the inside of the academy and see if anything broke in, check for dragons, you know the usual thing," Sophie said, dragging Valerie along with her. "See you in a bit," Sonya said, closing up the gate. With the extra help they were getting better at using the gate and then returning quickly. If they could figure out a way to make a gate through the miracle of dwarven engineering, then they would. They had drilled on what to do if part of the group made contact and a fall back plan to their previous staging grounds if the worst happened. Sonya didn''t want to admit it, but for the first time she felt over prepared, like a grad student walking into middle school again. Not five minutes later, the scouts returned. "The outer walls are intact. The only building that we haven''t cleared of zombies is the big one," Bob said, downing an entire water flask. "Damn. Empty already?" "You have to drink more before we leave Bob," Stella said. "And eat your vegetables," Sophie said, bringing up the rear. Brandon and Brianna were behind them, guarding the door. "I take it that we are ready to open those doors, then?" Bob said, looking between the dwarves and Sonya. He fully donned his cloak, obscuring his bald head. Sonya really wanted to reach out and pat his head. It was a lot of self-discipline that stopped her from doing exact that. He looked like a little kids ideal image of a medieval assassin. He exuded badass, but she knew that he was as sweet as a puff pastry on the inside. "Let''s go fortify these walls then," Sonya said. "No dragons, right?" "No dragons." The best thing about the place that they had chosen for their supply cache was that it came with supplies. The second best thing was that it was on the outside of a large city but inside of its own fenced-in area. That would let them look back onto the big city without worrying about all the zombies that were definitely inside of it. Sonya was pretty sure there was over 10,000 zombies inside of that City. She had really wanted to use her tower defense skills to construct a large elaborate maze where they could slowly weed the zombies out. But there was such a thing as zombies dying and then becoming in effect a stepping stone for other zombies. She didn''t have infinite space to work with. Her walls could only go up so high before affecting the integrity of the earth around them. She found that the two meter tall walls did the job exceedingly well for what she wanted. Sonya was a simple woman. She liked her brew, her man, and to not be eaten by zombies.
"This one is the one you''re talking about?" Valerie said. "This is or I guess this was a Lordling. I forgot his name. You said that he had an obsidian card?" They were standing on the third level of one of the academy barracks. Stella had brought Valerie up there on a hunch while the rest of the team asked up the fences. "He had the anchor card that we''re using to enhance our gate skill," Stella said. "And why are you showing me him again?" "Doesn''t his corpse look a little bit different than all the other zombies? Like it could be that he wasn''t turned or something right? He just looks like normal dead, not undead," Stella said. "Again, I''m really sorry to be showing you this, but you know door was a lot better than me and Andrew is a little bit occupied right now. There''s something going on with the people that had rare cards before all this happened." Valerie looked down at the corpse of one of her classmates. She had seen this person before but now he was missing half of one leg and had bite marks all over his chest. He had definitely lost a lot of blood or someone had decided to drop buckets of brown liquid on him after he passed. Half of his torso was gone, looking like a kid had eaten it, based on the size of the teeth marks. Most of one leg was completely off. There wasn''t much else remarkable about him. The half of his face that was still there was well preserved. Nothing had changed to the corpse in the days they had been away. "Valerie. Did you know that Borgan and Song both have rare soil cards?" Stella said, turning back to face the stairs. Valerie turned to look at her as if she had three heads on her shoulders. Stella was taken aback by this. Finally, it always seems so even tempered that she had inspected the teenage dwarf to had any sort of outburst ever, but she had been through a lot recently. Stella was willing to give her a lot of slack. "I did not know that. That seemed like it was something important for me to know," Valerie said. "Well you know now and I don''t think it''s a big secret. If telling people what''s in your deck is taboo then fuck it. I''ll tell you whenever you want. We are on the same fucking side," Stella said. "What do you think? If.... If people with rare cards were able to resist whatever this was then maybe he was alive when all this happened. That''s unthinkable," Valerie said. She grabbed a bed sheet and placed it over the corpse. "Stella, if we''re going to be here long-term, you know coming in and out of the supply section in the back. We need to think about disposal of the bodies. Our veins are their disposition. Because being next to a guy like this is just asking to get sick." "That''s very wise of you. I hope that Sophie is going to be able to come through here and help us deal with all these bodies. Then we can ask for Sonya to take us a big hole and let them be buried at the academy they were living at." 2- Twenty Five "How is she doing?" The seemingly innocuous question arose naturally between their two naked sweaty bodies. "I would say that this whole thing has her thrown. But she''s acting well. She was working good with Andrew and then she went up and found something with Stella and we have a new theory." The bedding shifted is Anthony turned to look at her. He raised a single eyebrow, something that he knew that she couldn''t do. "So what you saying is?" He said, trailing off. "Well she''s... listen, she just doesn''t want to talk to me. I don''t know what it is. Maybe it''s some hokey, woo woo I don''t talk to therapists thing. Maybe it''s that I''m your girlfriend," she said. "It''s not that." "It''s not that, yes." "But what I really think is going on is that we''re putting her through too much too fast." "She''s got to grow up to be the dwarf she needs to be. We need her. I need her. I didn''t even know that I needed an adjutant. She is invaluable," Anthony said, placing a hand next to her face so they were both inches away from each other. Sonya gave him a drawn out kiss. "She might be invaluable but she you know it''s hard to think about tragedy like that. What was that quote about statistics and death?" "Like after 9/11 basically everybody I knew was despondent. I mean you could see the the damn fucking smoke coming up over Manhattan. You can see it all the way from the jersey turnpike. I mean I can relate I guess, but that killed what? Five thousand people? And then COVID hit also and that was like the same amount people each week. It''s just so abstract." "Maybe just seeing her entire class turned in front of her eyes turned it from that abstract into a reality. Like if I had to identify your corpse I would be devastated," she said, moving a finger around his shoulder. "Hey!" "I''ll be devastated but I would be the hottest widow in the town. I would recover." "All right, that is fair. I don''t want to die young and leave a good looking corpse, though." He grabbed her hand in his. Her hands weren''t slimy, exactly. They just had a little bit of excess water due to her hyperhidrosis. Initially she had been afraid that he would not like her just because of that. But he grew to appreciate. She was just a little bit wet. Even having the cleanse skill didn''t help that much. Because her body was ''Oh skin getting dry? No, make skin wet.'' But there was nothing that did so much for her self-esteem as much as being a badass zombie killer babe. It was like her calling. Anthony was glad that they found several military grade tents. It made being alone a little bit easier. The hardest part was finding a spot that was close enough that it would be guarded but far enough that nobody could really hear anything. They had found a healthy medium. Stella had been clear that one area was going to be the loud sleepers. Specifically for people who snored like Bob. The other area would be the place for people that didn''t snore and wanted to be quiet. At least that was how they billed it. He did not care to be quiet. And every night when he finally rested his head down next to her, he was so tired that he didn''t care how loud Stella and Bob were being. It was relaxing to know that he didn''t have to really hold his tongue about that either. They had all decided that they were adults and with the exception of Valerie, who slept in one of the wagons, they were free to associate with whoever they pleased whenever they pleased. Unless there was some sort of arrangement that they fell into. Anthony was super pleased about his arrangement. It meant that he got what he wanted and Sonya got what she wanted and for the first time in ages, he''d had some level of fun pillow talk again. "Do you think that she''s going to be okay then?" Anthony said. "I just happened to think that we''re doing the best we can and she is doing the best that she can given the circumstances. You can''t be too hard on her. Again, she is a little girl. She is a scared little girl in a strange and scary world where none of her friends and family are still alive. This isn''t like oh, we''re adopting a gay kid and now they have a found family. This is like we are your last ticket out of this mess kid. And if we don''t fucking succeed, your entire way of life is screwed." "I can see how that might be a problem. I have been thinking that we''re going to be able to get across the sea and then get help but I don''t know. What if we can''t?" "We literally have everything we need here. It''s just that there''s only so many of us. They are..." She said. "They are millions. Yeah." "And against so many millions of Undead, what could a caravan of eighteen people do? Especially if they had to fight three really smart ones who were controlling the rest of them." "Did you get a boon from Cara last time you talked to her? Because you were bitching about having to use it on Finley." "I have been asking her for an appropriate creature summon or mount or something defensive. We''ll see if she holds up her end of the bargain." "Well I can only hope. Maybe I''ll take myself a warlock job and see if my cleric patron will take me as well. It would only be fitting if she decided that I could have a cleric job and a warlock job. Your casting seems very important to the good of the cause." "You do realize that it takes mana to be warlock and you use the same mana to heal people?" She asked. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "It may have crossed my mind. I''ve done it once or twice. Heal people that is." "Well if you spend all your mana bucks on cool spells, then you''re going to have less energy for healing people when they break shit. Have you ever considered that Mr. Caravan Commander?" She moved closer to him as if there was any room left between them. "I like it when you call Mr. Caravan Commander." "But you told me to call you Big Papi, was that wrong?" Anthony''s eyes widened. "Ayyy Papi," She said, in a low voice. Anthony closed any remaining gaps between them, much to her delight.
Sophie was doing her best to avoid listening to the sounds of the various lovebird''s tents. Sure, she had some dysphoria before but now now that things were possible, she didn''t even know where to start. Did she even want to date anybody ? Was that even possible? She wasn''t sure. With her luck, she might end up dating a local if there were any humans left. Then she''d be the one relaying back cool information to the rest of the group. She didn''t really want that though. Not as much as she really wanted to think about dating. Any local would require them to have met ore living enlightened beings. Despite the fact that they picked up three stragglers since the initial forming of the group, no one expected any more. Further one had expected to pick up any passengers to begin with, much less the last two Orcs on the continent or an academy student. There was a human kingdom somewhere. It was some place southeast of where they were currently. Perhaps someone had been saved there? Due south was the orcish meritocracies holdings. And if Finley was to be believed, they were currently west of the elven Dominion. Nothing of what they had been told led her to believe that they would ever see another living human on this continent. Sophie might have expected a more integrated society. He was also expecting something less monarchical. So she began quizzing their newest member. "So there''s a dwarvish King right?" She said looking straight at Valerie. "There''s a king and a queen and a court of course." "Are there barons and dukes and and all that stuff? How do they divide up the provinces or states?" "There are a few dukes. I think it was four but the King creates a new one whenever it needs to be created. Then there''s like thirty two barons with associated baronies." "Thirty two barons? That''s interesting. Do they each have a big plot of land somewhere?" Valerie paused, putting a finger over her lips and really looked like she was trying to dig up an old memory. "They each have a parcel of land, except for the ones that are in charge of a city. And some of them well. It''s about eight of them fall under each Duke. So each Duke has a land but the Baron is the governor of that specific plot of land. But if there''s any dispute that it goes to Duke or Duchess." "And how do they treat women in your culture?" Sophie asked. "What do you mean? How do they treat women?" "Like are they a marginalized part of society? Or are they fully integrated? Are they expected to be in the house? They could they even have jobs if there was no King because he died with the queen then being charged?" "What an odd question," Valerie said. "They are not marginalized? If only because that is a word I''m not familiar with. Do women do the same things as dwarven men? Yes. The only difference is that that they don''t have beards." "That cannot be the only difference," Sophie said. "What about child bearing? Who does the cow rearing and then who takes care of the children?" "Well, if a mother doesn''t want to take care of her children but wants to work, the kingdom has a vested interest in making sure that she can be a product number of society. That''s why we have so many child care centers? I don''t know how best else to put it. I spend a lot of time in one of those when I was real young because they knew my mom''s job was more important to society at large then having her always watch me. Don''t look me like that. It was not that tough." ''What about if like a man of the house died? Would the woman have the same rights to the house and everything in it? Or would he go to one of male relatives?" Sophie said. "That''s a really odd question. But I guess it would go to the closest living relative? This is why we ask everyone to designate an heir. I mean you. You know the name of the town right?" "Heirisberg? I thought that was a joke. Like I know it''s a real name and you guys have been saying it but I really thought that that was a joke." Valerie couldn''t hold back a snicker. "Really it is called that is because years ago so many of these nobles decided they wanted to send their sons and daughters to get trained at the academy. So it was just a lot of heirs being trained. It was a large concentration of them and the working class decided that they would have a little bit of fun with the name. So, when everyone was out on a long field turn exercise they brought it to a vote." "Are you telling me that the locals decided to change the name here just to mess with the nobles? That''s brilliant." "I know right? Like my parents aren''t nobles. My father might have been a colonel might hold the position as effectively a noble, but he came up through the ranks. They had to leave a certain amount of spots for the working class. Every year new cadets come to prove themselves. Because you might be born of good stock but in the academy, we cook you down to what we need." Sophie found the idea of cooking their military leaders in a stew pot hilarious. "I love it." "What about you? You guys have these earth-slang terms and inside group knowledge that I don''t have. You want to tell me something about your home world? Or maybe your planet?" "I don''t think there''s a lot for me to tell. But I did work at the hospital which is like Finley said you guys had healers?" Sophie said. Valerie nodded. "It was like a bunch of healers that worked together except these guys were all dedicated to mental health. So we could have people that would come in with eating disorders or they would be suicidal or they would just not know what the heck was going on. It was a large building, even bigger than the academy campus." "There are enough people to justify such a building?" "Oh yeah. Your town might be big by dwarven standards, but we human like to live really closely packed together." "When you say closely packed together, what are you talking about?" "I''m talking about thousands of humans in the same space, the size of the academy grounds. We used miles so like square miles I knew a town that was six thousand people in one square mile." "I don''t know what a mile is." "Think of it like a span. And not only do we build up but we built down a level. And we had these buildings that went up really high. Like so high that you could see the cloud cover there without having to look up." Both of them looked up to see some fluffy clouds enjoying their time in the night sky. "That''s really tall," Valerie said. "Do they fly or something? The buildings?" "Oh that''s another thing. We had commercially available flying travel all over our planet." "Excuse me?" "See I don''t know if there''s a flight skill or spell, but we had these giant mechanical contraptions that turned fuel into thrust. With these giant engines that turned these blades and this plane would fly. And yeah it''s a little bit abstract. I''m not the best on planes myself. It''s part of the reasons we want to get a airship. Everyone from Earth understands how much of a boon it would be to not have to deal with everything down here on the ground. And it was much faster if we could use wind or a fire magic to move us. Sure, it''ll be heavy but..." "You want to get up in the air in a contraption that is designed to fly. You humans are something else. Now I''m understanding all the stories that I''ve heard about the humans in my world. They were wild, but so it sounds are you." "I mean I''m wild as a person. But as a group? We are a chaotic mess." "You''re not really selling me on this whole humans. A good thing. It just sounds like you guys are just chaos goblins." "So goblins do exist! I knew it. I won that bet," Sophie said. 2- Twenty Six Anthony hated goblins. As it turned out, there were such things as zombie goblins. They found that halfway through their trek the next day. As they were all of a sudden nearby a pack of about eighty feral goblins. Their first idea was to stay and fight. That didn''t prove to be the best idea for them. As many of those, the goblins did not fall easily to their magic. What Anthony found out was that it was easier to hit them with maul or magic like his Magic Bolt than many of the wide area affecting magic powers that his friends favored. Hitting the goblins with magic missiles was easier as well. It was one of the only spells that they could reliably use to put them down. He was so grateful that they had picked up that card. Unfortunately, Bob had it and the zombies all of a sudden really loved him. Bob was riding a horse ahead of the Caravan. The goblins were flanking them from the right. In a flash, Anthony and Bob both realized that they had to change course for the army of small bodies that would crash into them. "Turn left!" Anthony yelled, trying to get the attention of the two closest wagons. They adjusted course almost immediately "Finley! Get the horses to turn!" The Caravan began to wheel around, as the herd of horses that surrounded it turned left. The horses attached to the wagons started to follow the rest of the her, just a little slower. Anthony was grateful that most of the plains were flat land. Even though they were getting off the road a little bit they were still going to be able to go. They continued on as the goblins closed in. "Stella! Ice magic!" Bob yelled getting closer to the Caravan. He was firing bolt after bolt reloading as fast as he could. One of Anthony''s magic bolts blew past him as well. It stopped a zombie Goblin dead in its tracks right before it reached him. "On it boss!" Stella said. Every person in the Caravan was guaranteed to have at least a half functioning brain. This might be the thing that the zombie goblins were coming for. Anthony was pretty sure that he didn''t care what they did as long as they didn''t get his brain. He poured mana into his holy bolt spell trying to mow down a bunch of zombies that were threatening Bob. He was so grateful that Bob had decided to take one of the war horses today instead of his bay mares. He loved his mares and he knew that Bob did but they weren''t right for this kind of activity. They were gentle souls. They were so gentle in fact that they were pulling Anthony''s wagon as if it was weightless. He didn''t want the horses to be running the wagon. There''s only so long that he could run them for, but Sonya couldn''t create an earthen wall fast enough to deter their goblins. Finley too had gone to the back of the wagon rotating with Sonya to passed spells. Stella''s Ice Magic made a square of ice where most of the goblins were going to be tromping through. The small disco floor, an effect that she was going to have to explain later to Anthony, maybe the goblins slip and slide. The first time they had used this kind of trick, it was on dwarves. Zombie dwarves were thick, stout and small. They had trouble getting back up after being knocked over. Zombie goblins on the other hand, were thin, reedy and small. They had no problems whatsoever getting back up. But this was a different Caravan than the one that had taken out that initial batch of zombies. The first time that they had come together as a team? It was escaping the town that had trapped most of them. Now? They were a well-oiled machine. Anthony could even hear the two orc bards singing a song about disco dancing. At least that''s what he thought he heard. He wasn''t going to be the one to correct them. If someone had started teaching them ABBA songs, then they were going to be having words. A lot of words. He wasn''t going to have a Martian experience. He did not want a man after midnight. He did not want to be given more. All he wanted was to deal with this right in front of him. It took them five minutes to get the zombies under control. By the end, Anthony was spent. Any impetus they had to keep going was gone. The time was still there. But everyone agreed that it was going to be a recovery day. Or at least they threatened Anthony with his life. He simply agreed that he would like to keep his life and that all of them needed to just find a spot with some water for them to relax for the day. After all, when searching for death knights, wanted to take time to enjoy the sites.
Sonya had realized that her lessons with Finley about coming up as a druid had only gone so far. It was when he came to bother her about finding a location for the rest of their day that she just found out that she didn''t know what you didn''t know. And what she didn''t know was that druids had a sense of where a nearby source of freshwater was. She had Elemental powers that did not specifically refer to finding water but something that saw if it could attune to. After Bob had rifled through all the goblin cards and passed them back to Finley, it was all too easy to find a small lake in the plains. Finley showed Sophie how to tap into the ambient water around her in the air. It was there, if slight. That she could feel where the water was in greater concentration. And she was immediately drawn to The nearest body of water. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. It wasn''t that far. It took them fifteen minutes but felt like hours. At one point, they stopped to change the horses out. It was something that didn''t really happen often, but Finley insisted.
This time Sonya made the walls extra slick. Sophie helped with the design. It wasn''t that she had time. She just really didn''t want to deal with goblins again. Zombies were one thing. Fast tiny zombies, the size of toddlers? That would probably haunt her dreams for at least a week. Sophie was so relieved to see the lake that she was brought to tears. Finishing the walls made her drop to her knees and SOB. It was such a relief just to be behind safe walls again. They set up the watch, They began to cook dinner, and everyone took a collective sigh of relief. "I never thought that they would get to the goblins. Does this mean that everything is going to be affected?" Valerie said. Sophie''s prophecy approved companion sat a bit away from Sonya as they chatted about the days events. It was the first time that they had talked so freely next to her. She was reveling in it. "I think that anything that can be affected by the zombies will be. I doubt that some magical beings- I hear that there are golems and elementals here- will be affected," Sophie said. "I couldn''t imagine a zombie air elemental. What would happen?" "Would it just be a fart?" Sophie said. Stella and Sonya were working on the stew though Sonya was mostly there for moral support. She had taken a seat next to one of the wagons, using it to obscure herself. She was thinking of a way to get them all to safety. Either they all moved slowly across the kingdom via horse, or they totally lost the horses and traveled solely by gate. If they traveled by gate they were severely limited by how much they could move in a day. They would probably ask her to take and level a monk card so she could jog a mile, open a gate and then let them through. That might be interesting for the rest of them, but for her it sounded exactly like what she was trying to avoid. So she listened to Sophie try to make good with the dwarf girl as she accepted the third bowl of stew. She wanted to eavesdrop on the pair. Stella just needed them to keep talking and one day she would break through to the girl. Then her gorgeous bearded himbo showed up to darken her view of the cook fire. "Hey," Anthony said, "Want to go for a swim? I can get a refresh for you?" "Actually that sounds great. Finley is doing alright I take it?" "He is taking a shine to the goblin cards. Apparently they were all common except for one," Anthony said. "He got a gleam in his eye when he saw it then asked me about my deck before I decided to see if you wanted a skinny dip." She finished her bowl. "Always down to get this dust off of me," She said, handing him the scrubs that she had acquired from him. It wasn''t exactly the same as stealing his hoodie, but he hadn''t been summoned wearing a hoodie. It would have to do. As they got closer, she crafted a little diving board for them. She could feel how deep it was and she knew that she was going to be able to jump in and not break her neck. She jumped in fully cannonball into the water, allowing the water to splash all over her. Right behind her. Anthony jumped up doing the same thing as she got out of his way. Then they splashed around for a bit as they cooled down. With winter coming in she hadn''t thought that I was going to be so warm. But she was constantly surprised by what was going on around her. Perhaps Sophie had heated it up for her. It was unlikely if possible. "Anthony, are you able to summon flames or fire or do something to heat up the lake around us?" She asked. "Not so much. It would be fun if I could but that''s not really in my wheelhouse. I can summon a light source if you want but that would just show us off and I don''t really think like we need to do that." "Are you Americans with your Puritan upbringing? Maybe it''s just that I''m used to being naked. Maybe I needed that attention as a girl." "You did not," Anthony said, splashing. "Who''s to say? I might have been a dancer in my old life if social work didn''t work out for me." "We all could have been a dancer. I thought about that all through nursing school. The idea of quick money is always seductive; it takes time to build an empire." "Oh are we building empires now? I thought we were just trying to save the world," she said, smiling. "All I''m trying to do," Anthony said. "Is to get into your good graces, and maybe do that thing that we did the other night." "No promises," Sonya said. "My knees still hurt from that stunt you pulled but it was fun." "Well that''s why I got the rug this time," he said, drawing in closer. "Oh Anthony, you know exactly the way to a girl''s heart."
"So do you think they''re going to do the thing? Valerie said. "I think they are both adults and they are allowed to do whatever they want to in their free time and as long as they''re taking care of their business," Sophie said. "It is none of mine." "I mean yes but like..." Valerie trailed off. "Can you tell me about dwarven customs relating to courtship? Like how would you get married. Would you like a love match or?" Valerie held out for a spoon as if she was going to stab the woman. "I wasn''t asking you to sleep with me. I was just asking about dwarfish customs. Were there arranged marriages then?" "Only for powerful nobles. My parents were in love. But they met through their jobs. And no one was going to deny two working-class dwarves a marriage." "So you could kind of choose your own destiny?" Sophie said, finishing off her own bowl. "Come let''s clean up, it''s our turn." The two began to gather up any remaining bowls and brought them to be washed. Stella stepped aside. "You could marry who you wanted, but you''re supposed to ask one of the relatives to begin courtship. This is the way to make sure that everything is only up and up. And there are all these little elaborate rules that you''re supposed to follow. Honestly, it''s just the class itself and the women of my generation... We wanted to change things. It was a lot of work just to do courtship and I feel like it was expensive just to be a woman." "Oh man, we have something like that back at home. We call it the pink tax." "The pink tax?" "Pink is the color that humans and associate with femininity. Or really just women and womanhood." Sophie inspected a plate and upon seeing it was bereft of food, passed it to Valerie. "Not blue? And in dwarvish culture, the women are all associated with blue colors. It''s the calm sea right?" "What color are men associated with?" Sophie said leaning in. The suds were up to her elbows, but it couldn''t be helped. "Well green of course. Because the man is the tree who grows and shelters the family right?" Valerie said, accepting the last two bowls. "That''s quite an interesting tale. I feel like there''s something behind that. Did anyone tell you about my situation before?" Sophie said. Valerie''s blank expression turned horrified, she paused her drying efforts. "What was your situation before?" She whispered. "Was there some sort of violence done against you? Because I-I''m not ready for that kind of thing." "Well I mean like honestly I used to be in a children''s theater, I used to work at a hospital but you know that and when I was born, I was born and assigned male at birth," Sophie said, accepting another bowl to wash. "Assigned male at birth?" "I wasn''t always female." 2- Twenty Seven It took several days for them to recover while they went through the dwarven lands. They needed it. It wasn''t until Anthony stopped jumping at every little sound that he realized that it had been going on for a while. Their group therapy sessions were starting to turn profit. Not in the gold variety but more in the we''re all in this together and now is the time for us to become a team. He had them do a drill to train on if they were attacked by fast zombies several times. Stella called it exposure therapy and he didn''t disagree. Every other day, they sent Sonya back to get more supplies. After a while Finley got to be confident and decided to let their stores go slightly lower so they could hold more water. It was a change that they had not considered previously. Water? Water was heavy. One needed a lot of water for a Caravan of people. If there was no water to be found, generally it was because no one decided to live in a place exactly for that reason. Normally you were shit out of luck. There were no plumbing systems delivering water anywhere. By this time, Sonya had gotten good enough with her anchors and Gates that she was able to keep a gate open for a minute. She couldn''t make him any wider yet, but she knew that the gate spell would allow her to in conjunction with the anchor Card. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and having the mana to do it. It also required having enough time to do some arcane ritual that Kara decided once her job. Once again, Sonya was bitching about having to do somebody else''s job on a foreign world just because there was nobody else qualified to do it. Then finally they cleared the bluff and saw below them what they have been searching for for so long. The large inland port city lay below them. Though they were next to several well-to-do houses, the main parts of the city''s physical plant rose up on the edge of the water, west of the promontory bluff, far closer to sea level. Anthony and Finley were quite pleased to see several large boats still docked, and plans were made to acquire one. So it was that they found themselves committing their very first act of piracy on the quiet sea.
"All right. First things first," Anthony said, bringing the meeting to order. "Defenses? How are we doing with defenses?" "All of our defenses are up and good, sir," Sonya said addressing the small counsel. "We have now set up an extensive network maze of tower defense along the way. Thanks to Andrew and his newly designed watchtower machine, we are able to automatically rain down fire on our enemies." The eyes in the council shifted towards the dwarf. The male dwarf shrugged. "What can I say, I learned a thing or two from Valerie," the artificer said. "They run off uncommon cards. It takes the card''s magic and it uses it for something else. But it requires me to get mana from three or four of you guys to run one. Sonya had me put them along some of the larger corridors. So far Bob hasn''t baited anything so we will need a live test. I think we are all excited for that." There were some hoots and hollers at this. The entire Caravan had seen him creating the two meter tall contraptions. Somehow he was able to smuggle enough large phallic implements through Sonya''s Gates. That had moved from his workshop at the academy to where they were currently holed up suspiciously easily. Anthony had chalked that up to everyone being a little bit in their own business now that they were all getting ready for the next steps. Valerie had been a model accomplice. "All right. Our defenses shall we say are secure?" Anthony said, turning to Bob. "They are," Bob said. "Then," Anthony said, ceding the floor to the ranger. "Let''s go with the scouting reports next. Bob?" Bob waved a hand at Valerie and behind him the prepared sheet on one of the wagons lit up. An effect of her card skill was to display a local map. They could easily see the city with its multiple residential and business districts. The roads connecting the interior connected with five highways leading into town through to the thirteen docks. There was a little red blip on the map where all of them were situated. From where they were, they could see the city. The comparison between the two helped Bob explain the differences. The rich dwarves of the port city of Gloucester, had seen fit to build along a promontory which they had taken full advantage of. Those houses were massive mansions and with little fanfare, the team had dispatched any remaining zombies. There was one home owned by a human couple and one home that had been decorated by an elvish couple, but the rest were all dwarves. As the promontory jutted out like a peninsula, they cut it off using Sonya''s Tower Defense maze to keep them safe. This let them have a good area where the horses could roam and the only drawback was that instead of the promontory going down into beaches along its sides, it was surrounded by fjords. True, they were tall fjords but they were protected. No one in their right mind wanted to fight up a fjord. Another invasion was possible. There was one tiny small beach on the very southernmost tip of the promontory where the fjords lead down to a beach and one of the first things that Sonya did was cut that off. Bob rose, illustrating where he was going to take the scouts the next day. A packed city could be seen even from where they were. Masses of zombies continued to move around. Though there didn''t seem to be going into the city proper with a spyglass, it was quite simple to see them going about their daily lives of lurching about looking for brains. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "So you see here," Bob Said, "We will open the Kraken door in an attempt to get the zombies to flood westward away from us. This is of course after we checked it every other entrance was closed. If we are able to do that then we can start picking them off as they chase us to Wars Sonya''s zone of death." "I rather prefer the name the zone of death. Thank you very much, Bob," Sonya said. "It''s my pleasure, Miss Sonya," Bob said, bowing theatrically. "So we caught the zombies west to east and tried to kill as many as we could before then," Anthony said. "That''ll be phase one. Then we can see about sneaking in and stealing the ship or two. Supply?" "I''ve done as you asked and attempted to get as much course canvas as possible. We have our doubts but we also have a willingness to try just about anything," Finley said. "Are you ready for the test tomorrow then?" Stella yelled from the back. "Yes, Stella, provided that you are the test subject," Finley said. "The basket is ready. We think it can hold two people and this will be a test of the canvas. We''re doing what we want to do here. If nothing else, you''ll have the regeneration card when you go up." "Thank you!" Stella said. "That''s all that I asked. And I don''t need the cleanse card for this, but it''d be nice if someone was there standing by so that they can clean off any vomit." There was a good chuckle from the crowd. "All right, does anyone else want to have anything to add before we start?" Anthony said. "We got this gov." Sophie yelled from the back. "Just a little in and out, steal a ship and turn it into a hot air balloon. Nothing that anyone has ever done before but we can do this." There was another round of giggling. Sure. No one expected greatness but they had all worked for so long to get this opportunity to get off of land.
Stella was at the forefront of the kite team. Sophie was sneaking around checking on the doors, she was doing her best to draw out any stragglers. "All right! Final gate is done. Let''s go," Bob said, his shirt a sweaty mess. "No rush, Bob," Stella said. "I need to go up in the air balloon if possible and they''re waiting on us." "Are you afraid of heights now?" Sophie asked "Not the heights I''m afraid of. It''s the falling and hitting the ground part. Most of the ground," Stella said. "Well, Bob will be there to catch you." "Is that true? Bob?" Stella said, turning to give him the most adult case of puppy dog eyes she had ever given him. "I mean how do I say this," Bob said. "I will be there. I do not promise to catch anyone. You volunteered for this. I will be holding the rope though so you can just zip line down as you do." "Did you hear that Sophie? He said that I can zip line right into his heart!" Stella said. "Well make sure that you don''t hit his junk because that''ll be painful." "Hey!" A few dwarven zombies lumbered out of the gate that Bob had left slightly ajar. Sophie, trying to move this along, started yelling insults to the zombies who presumably had not gotten the message or we''re going to be heading out anytime soon. "Hey you fuckers you zombies! Go get out here!" she yelled. "I don''t have all day! I would like to see my friend up in a hot air balloon today so if you can move things along, that''ll be fucking great." "Yeah you lily-livered cowards," Stella yelled, chiming in. "Come and get it! Fresh human meat! Right here for the taking! Come right up!" A few zombies stumbled through, but it sounded like it would be a while before they got end up to truly make it worthwhile to return back to the promontory. Sophie and Stella took turns taking them down. After a while the trickle of zombies slowed and all three of them just sat around waiting for the next conga line of zombies. "You don''t think something happened right?" Sophie said. "Like they didn''t like Mass on the boats and then take one of the boats to go across the seas or something like that? Because how far away are those death knights bob?" "They''re closer, or at least the one that would think is in the capital is closer, but it''s it''s not like we could just drive there and say hi. Heck, we''re here just because you want to move faster. I mean we want to move faster. You can move as fast as you want Sophie." "Well thank you so much Bob. I will take that advertisement." Sophie glared back at him. Bob sagged in his saddle. Then he twisted around, trying to see if anything else was coming. "You know what will be great?" Stella said. "If they were able to hear vibrations or something so that we could attract them just by stomping our feet. You would think in a town or city of this size that there would be some by the gates, but after they''re walking all over, there''s only so many places that there''s always could be." "Do you think that the zombies found a shelling point somewhere," Sophie said. "Some place where they''re all attracted to when they all decided they wanted to be there? Like maybe there''s like a dungeon in the center of the city and they all kind of fell down at it because the jailers left it open or something like that." "I love how you just jump to a dungeon in the city?'' Stella said. ''Because it shows where you''re thinking. And I''m thinking that maybe there weren''t so many people into whips and chains in this small Port City. But who knows because you know a port in every storm and all that?'' "What are you both on about?" Bob said. "Oh Stella is telling me how she wants you to get this brown leather riding crop and-" "I had said nothing to the sort," Stella said. "Bob, we''ll Talk later about that specifically. But what Sophie is saying is that we think that the zombies might have all congregated in one spot and got him stuck there. Like if there was a well or a dungeon inside the center of the city. And say the well was open or the dungeon was open because we''ve already established that zombies can''t do stairs well. So it makes sense that they would go from the highest level down to the bottom if they were in a place where the doors were open." "What''s this about a dungeon? Sophie, I thought I told you that I am in a committed relationship with Stella. Now, if you have some implements that you want to lend us, that''s another thing," Bob said, winking at Stella. "But really... a dungeon?" "When I say dungeon," Sophie said, "Do you both jump to sex dungeon? Because that''s not what I was talking about at all." "Are you talking about a place where people can go in and quest and find loot and stuff? That''s like a catacombs or something like that. We all know that dungeons just mean sex stuff," Stella said. "I swear to you, Bob said we did not want to expose you to any of our sex stuff. But if you want to drag us into discussion then I can go over the finer points of-" "That''ll be completely unnecessary Bob. Thank you so much Sophie, let¡¯s never speak about that again." "I don''t think that''s how it works, Sophie, but noted," Bob said Sophie pretended to throw up for about five seconds while the next batch of zombies arrived. "Gas light, gate keep, grill boss," Stella said, aiming for the first one. 2- Twenty Eight Bob, Morky Mork''s most recent side piece, was in pickle. Unfortunately for him, that particular Eldritch summon appeared to adhere to the laws of causality. He could only summon Ca''at for a few hours at a time, but it wouldn''t freelance. It barely did what he wanted. The tiny black thing that only appeared to be a cat was having an interesting time when he summoned it. What he wanted to do was have it come in, cut open some bodies, extract their cards so he didn''t have to do the hard work and then return. This would be perfectly served if there were some algorithm guiding the zombies instead of them acting like legs were an afterthought in this model. It would be super easy if the undead did what he wanted them to. But the promised conga line of dwarven zombies never appeared. It was a bit frustrating. He didn''t know whether he should be sad or glad. He had spent so much time killing zombies over the past few weeks. Not killing them felt odd, and he was a bit adrift. "Hey Bob, have you ever considered that maybe there are districts of the city where the undead didn''t go to or have filtered out from?" Stella said, sitting up in her saddle. "Because it''s not like there''s going to be that many zombies at the top of a hypothetical Mall of America. After such an event, they''re going to come to the bottom of the steps or they''re going to fall down. I don''t think many zombies can navigate stairs." Bob considered it as she trotted closer. The view from the top of the maze was about as pastoral as it could get. From the ground, by horseback it was still something, not losing it''s majesty, even as the air had betrayed them. It was a scene that humans were content to watch for an afternoon, just a peaceful land. Save for the undead dwarves, it would have been picturesque. "You know what that''s kind of what I was thinking as well. Maybe this western part of the city is higher than the rest? But then what do we have to do? Start going house by house inside and making more noise?" Stella shook her head vehemently. "Even when I was an emo teenager, I didn''t have that much of a death wish. Please don''t turn this into some sort of power fantasy dick-waving contest where we see how many zombies we can each kill. This might be a battle but we are not going in guns blazing." He bit his lip. She had accurately read him. He might be her Legolas, but she wasn''t his Gimli. "I am open to any suggestions you have, Stella. You''re so beautiful and smart. I think that you can solve this one for us," Bob said. There were only about fifty meters between them and the gate. Sophie circled around looking for any clues that anything else was going on. She was on a return route. Brianna and Iggy were there as well to bait the zombies. If they had to take the zombies on a little wild goose chase, they were going to try to hand them off at some point in time. This was a lot easier when you had five riders instead of four. All of this extensive prep work made the chosen really good at luring out zombies. Bob was making sure that everyone got cross-trained as a scout that could. It paid dividends. "I mean we can just set the shit on fire right?" Stella said, her eyes lighting up. "It''s a very humid climate and I think... I think that this place could use a little fire." "Oh, my little pyromaniac no. Just because the wood might not all burn doesn''t mean that we can just burn to the ground. I think we need to come back with another idea. If we don''t know that we can go into the city like this because we don''t want to spend our time fighting block by block then what else can we do?" "We could swim out to the boats?" Stella said. "The question that nobody has asked is how many sea monsters live in these waters. If there are sea monsters in the quiet sea then perhaps it''s not that unsafe for us to swim through? Maybe the sea monsters are tired of eating dwarven zombies?" Her deadpan voice brought a smile to his face. Of course the dwarves could taste terrible and he would never know. He could die happy not knowing that. Even though it wasn''t technically cannibalism, he was more worried about the caravan asking him to prep and cook dwarf than actually eating one. "Do you think that Nessie would eat a dwarven zombie, lady? Nessie has better taste than that. She is a lady dinosaur and this is way bigger than a lake." "If you are trying to tell me that dinosaurs would selectively not eat food that presented itself because it was slightly graying, I don''t think you know what he''s talking about. Hunger is hunger. Because what if the sea monsters got affected by whatever turned them all to the zombies and then..." Bob was prepared for her to talk about sea monster zombies. He was not prepared for her to insult his favorite mythical creatures. Bob definitely wasn''t ready for the idea of an undead sea monster. "I would appreciate it if you didn''t sully the name of Nessie. She may be our enemy, but she is a queen." "How about this? We call her Vanessa, the sea monster. Because if you look out into the ocean right now, there is a large neck sticking out." Bob turned to face the water due south of where they were and realized that while he had been focusing entirely on the door, Stella had taken in the entire surroundings. She had not been just talking in jest the entire time. In an unfortunate turn of events, his cards didn''t even let him know of the threat as it wasn''t undead. As a man who had never seen a dinosaur in the flesh, his first instinct was to squeal a tiny squeal of glee. His second instinct was to suppress that. Sophie came up. The monster that was actively moving around in the water. His only saving grace at that point was that it was nowhere close enough to attack them and get out of the water reliably. "So when were you going to tell us about Vanessa?" Bob said. "Because I feel like that should be something that we''re talking about actively. We don''t hold these kind of things back." "Yeah this is exactly what happened when we told you to start eating some roughage with your breakfast, Bob. Things got better for you, didn''t they?" Sonya said. Bob had to admit that they did. Things had gotten smoother and silkier for him just because he listened to them on this one. It was a small thing that he could easily let go. He wasn''t happy that they had to band together and basically staged intervention, but he did it. The time that they were ready to stay to intervene on Valerie about drinking up all of the good stuff had never materialized because the girls had seen fit to talk to her about that. Their coffees were a bit dry, just like his liver had been for a bit. There had been a push to make everything seem as nice as possible for Valerie, to give her some more time as a kid. Bob was on board, but there were some unfortunate realities of war that he was butting up against. The fact that she had needed a small intervention had been a bone of contention on their travel here. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Bob had bonded with Valerie about being targeted like that. It wasn''t that he didn''t like being targeted. It was just that he was going to get around to it at some point in time and what did it matter if it was six months from now or not. He was a man of his word. He would finally eat some lettuce or leaves or whatever they were asking to eat. Vegetables just happened to be a culinary term and he knew them, even if they kept not finding enough. "Hi Bob?" Stella said "Yes?" Bob replied, holding out a hand to grasp hers. His other hand held the reins of his horse. He glanced around, looking for a threat. "I know you think this is the most romantic moment ever, but I''m about to fart," she said. "Oh mother-"
"So those humans huh?" Borgan asked Finley. "All chosen? They all have these crazy powers that you''d think they would spend their entire life dedicating themselves to attaining, but... didn''t that one girl just make like an entire fortress on her own? And she keeps doing it. And she''s so good at it. She taught someone else to do it?!" Borgan and Finley stood on the wall watching as they expected a horde of zombies to peel out of the city at any moment. They had been waiting for a long time and had run out of conversation material related to their current job. There were only so many times that you could tell a person the same story about your past on a long road trip. They had shuffled around a lot on their way here. There were a lot of combinations of people that Anthony had gone through. That both were on watch now was good though. They had time to bitch about the chosen. Song had joined them as well, as they were a package deal unless Bob was there. "You know," Finley said. "When I met Bob and Anthony, they were just so powerful and I was just in awe. That quickly changed. I was quickly just pissed that they were so powerful." Finley coughed. Song made a sign indicating someone being overpowered and relying too much on their cards. "No right? It''s shameful. Not that I didn''t want to be chosen or anything, but this is just so it''s like watching someone playing a more advanced game than the one you''ve been playing your entire life. They got the keys to take the caravan lock box before they started so they could begin with those heritage cards that old gran was saving," Borgan said. "Your old gran saved heritage cards to pass down to the kids also?" Finley said. "I think all old grannies do that. Once they put up their weapons and retire from adventuring, of course." "Of course," Finley said. "No one can stop an old gran from adventuring except for herself. Or a sea monster like that." Song signed acceptance. Then he did a complicated two hand sign that evoked the feeling of a moving beast. Finley was going to have to learn a little bit more of the hand talk, but he was mostly sure that that was exactly what he was saying. He jumped into some sort of monologue. "He''s commiserating," Borgan said. "I think I speak for both of us. Yes I do? Will we both say that we miss our old Gran terribly and we''re so glad that you didn''t get to see this happen. This entire situation that we find ourselves in. There are no words. Thanks Song." The orc brothers slapped each other on the back, one nearly shoving the other off the wall. "I know that you were going to go to your clan meetup before all this happened, but what were you planning to do before?" Finley said. The orc tentatively pointed out the large neck of a sea monster that had come up to observe next to the town. The fact that it was large enough for them to see from that distance meant that it was probably alive and intended to cause some sort of chaos or mayhem. Perhaps it was the embodiment of the human God Murphy? He would have to ask them. "I''ll tell you what I wasn''t going to do. He said I was not going to take my time to examine the quiet sea. Because after this? I''m never going to believe anybody about anything ever again. They said that there was a monster but that thing? I didn''t believe it," Borgan said. Song signed something to both of them and Finley got the words monster and ocean out of it but the rest of it was beyond him. "The ocean monster is scary to you?" Finley asked the orc. "He''s saying that he would not believe in the sea monsters either. It''s that inflection of his hand. That was at the start. That makes you understand that he''s talking about himself in the third person." "You can speak about yourself in the third person using hand talk?" Finley said. "Truly, anything is possible. Finley thinks that is wonderful." Song made the sign for laughing and turned to point at the sea monster. He pulled out his lute and began playing. As he did, Borgan began to hum along with it. The melodic tune was just a little bit faster than Finley had expected. It was uplifting. It wasn''t until the third phrase that he realized that their vision had gotten sharper. They were enhancing his vision or all of their visions at the same time so they could get a better look at the monster. Finley had not expected to be able to make out a tiny mustache, top hat or monocle but if the monster was wearing those three things, he would have been able to see it. This one appeared to be a girl monster because it sported none of those. Which isn''t to say that a girl monster couldn''t wear a top hat monocle or mustache properly, only that this one wasn''t. It had arrived under dressed for the party, having not eaten anything prior to the main course. It was in the expectation that he realized that perhaps the monster wasn''t there to attend any sort of social function. It was probably there to get lunch. A city of snacks was about three short meters from the lake. He really hoped that it didn''t go down to resolve into a giant snake. He had no concept for that kind of monster. It could be huge underwater. There were many reasons why Finley avoided the seas. This one just shot to the top of the list. Sea sickness was about number ten. Eels, crabs, sea snakes and sharks were all higher than seasickness. But none of those things that had been described many times in books and pictures that he had seen could compare to the Majesty of a fully unveiled sea monster. "She really takes the piss doesn''t she?" Borgan said. "I hope she doesn''t do anything silly, like try to attack our guys." "You think that she''s going to be able to attack from that distance?" Finley said. "Maybe if she had a breath attack? But Bob and Stella are smart. They''re not going to leave themselves open to attack. With this song you guys are playing can you affect them? I can see them from here and they looked like they''re withdrawing." "They''re withdrawing? Finally, I was waiting for when these Zombie dwarves would make an appearance. I''m really hoping for a good haul this time," Borgan said. Finley knew that he already had two class cards in his deck, and that Borgan was looking for specific attack cards that would help him overall. "You both understand that we pool our efforts right? And you''ll get some good cards but we are all working together." Borgan waved away his notes. The orc had his own problems with cards. "Hey. I understand we never talked about when we did a shuffle, but since they''re here waiting, you want to talk about it? Is there a reason why you didn''t pick a card?" Finley said. Song going to begin to sign something very slowly. Finley was kind of getting it. The lessons were paying off. Perhaps he was signing something about it paying off? "Are you saying Song, that you don''t feel like he doesn''t feel like he''s earned it? What''s going on?" Finley said. "You have both more than earned a place in this Caravan. And you have both earned a right to take whatever you want when it''s offered. If you guys had taken a combat class then you guys would be in a better place right now." "Song can''t take any combat classes. We are both full up." Finley looked at them, shocked. He hadn''t known about Song. He knew about their bard class and he had expected them to have an accountant class as well. Many orcs did. "Do you both have an accounting class for some reason?" He said quietly. Song signed acceptance. Several things raced through his mind at the same time. Though they were a part of the Green Fang tribe, they were also part of the orcish meritocracy. The meritocracy valued accountancy and numeracy above almost everything else. He had heard about a mathematician class but he knew that accounting classes were standard. In that vein, he realized that if there was so many accounting class cards made, then eventually they would make their way into the general population. And then perhaps it would get passed down over the years. "Are your class cards heritage cards?" Finley said. "They are in fact Soul cards. Our bard cards are heritage cards." Finley nearly smacked himself in the head realizing the truth. They had both gone through so much that they had started off with... "Now hold on a second here," Finley said. "Both of you started with a soul card that you evolved into an accounting card? That seems statistically unlikely." "For two orcs to do that ?" Borgan said. "Any random two orcs? The probability of that is two percent." "And you see that is exactly why I need more information," Finley said. "Because I too have an accountant class card." "Well isn''t that interesting?" Borgan said. "I''m sure I speak for both of us when I say I would love to hear more about that." "I''ll bust it out when we have downtime," Finley said. 2- Twenty Nine Anthony and Sonya were inspecting the final pieces of the wall. It really was a masterpiece in his eyes. The maze went all the way up the promontory stopping right by the first set of mansions. "You know whats this is some good work," Anthony said. "I think that there''s no other woman who could design a maze such as you half as good." "Flattery will get you everywhere. But really this is such a quick job that I don''t even want to put my name on it." "What poor woman doesn''t want to sign her name to the zombie maze that she dedicated to ending the charitable trust of less zombies?" Anthony stood up both arms outstretched, gesturing at the magnificence of the wall in front of him. A part that suddenly went revealed that the maze had a slight pattern. Sonya hadn''t designed it to be a winding maze that the zombies were going to get lost in. No, it had a multiple long passageway maximizing the amount of space that the zombies would have to move through. It was made so that they could fire volleys of arrows and magic spells down large corridors. This provided the longest time for the defenders to get it right. Almost every single person in the caravan now had a ranged spell that went directly from them to something else. These skills had proven their worth time and time again and helped her focus in on their particular predicament and how she could maximize a defenders ability to get a good shot. In contrast, one person had an indirect fire skill. which was a spell that launched like an artillery shell over and back down. This of course being Andrew, who somehow had achieved every dwarven boy''s dream of becoming both a cannon and a dwarf. The long hallways allowed them to place people at each end of a hallway before a zombie would cross into another hallway or they could once again have a second person on the opposite side of that maze start firing shots at the zombies. The defenders would augment Andrews towers, which still needed to be fed directly by mana from other enlightened beings. It was the ideal setup for exactly the kind of onslaught that they had barreled through time and time again. There was one small, insignificant problem. No one was really showing up to the party. In order to have a zombie conga line party, one needed a zombie conga line. They just weren''t getting that. All of the zombies from the bluff had been dispatched, but the city below remained motionless. "Do you think that our party friends are going to show up anytime soon?" Sonya said, gripping Anthony''s hand in anticipation. She fumbled around in his pockets. Not the pockets that he was wearing, the pockets in the scrub top and scrub bottoms that she had stolen from him unceremoniously when they began their courtship. "You know what? I don''t know if they''re going to show up, Anthony said. But you found so many good party favors. It''ll be a shame to have them all go to waste." "You see this is my feeling exactly," Sonya said, pulling several things out. "You always know exactly what to say to win a girl''s heart." From one of the pockets in her acquired pants, she pulled out a small candle with a long fuse. She found several more and held them up to inspect them. "Oh so you were serious about this," he said, examining it after being passed the first of many dwarven firecrackers. "Look, you might be American but there''s nobody who wants to fire off firecrackers more than a rural canadian girl who''s super bored with exactly nothing to do." "I''m right here!" Anthony said, winking at her as he put one of the items into the ground at an upward angle. "We can do that later," Sonya said. "But right now I feel like I have a need to draw a lot of attention to our location. And I need someone with the ability to sign off on such an audacious request. Would that person be you, good sir?" Anthony opened his palm. A slight flame of about three inches rose up inside of it, lighting up her smile.
Finley pointed to the small orb of fire that was now flying up into the air. The orcs next to him tracked it as well. "See you know what it''s like. Things like that that really bother me," Finley said. "It''s like they are not thinking about using card powers. They''re just thinking about mayhem or something like that. Did I know that the back of the academy warehouse was dotted with scented candles that-" A loud pop sounded off, turning what had been an orb of fire into a display that demanded one''s attention. The streak of smoke now led to a large semicircle of fire that expanded rapidly. "You know what? That is ridiculous. I see exactly what you mean," Borgan said. "But the gods work in very mysterious and wholly complicated ways." The three of them watched the fireworks display for a little bit. Finley''s itch not to be on fire turned into a full-on thing that he had to scratch. "Would it kill Anthony to aim a little bit higher? Because I would like to not have a ring of fire surround us. We have kind of cut ourselves off here by being on this peninsula, yes. The zombies would have to go through our meat grinder and we can always just make it easy to outrun them. I don''t want to go and be the one that activates that emergency plan," Finley said. "What did the humans say the other day?" Borgan said. "Not it!" Sparks from the fireworks fell to the ground. From the distance they were at, it could have been nothing. As of yet, they couldn''t see any smoke coming. Finley held his breath. So long as he denied the possibility of a fire, one couldn''t happen, right? The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Borgan and his brother began a slow dirge. Finley wasn''t exactly sure what they''re going to get out of that, but he accepted it. He felt calmer and more focused immediately. He still had a bit of the sight that they had given him. So when the first lick of flame rose up in the dry dwarven plains next to the quiet sea, Finley was able to raise the alarm. "Fire!" He yelled, trying to get everyone''s attention. Within moments, the rest of the Caravan was up on the wall watching. Nearly a dozen pairs of eyes watched as a wildfire began to spread. "Wow, that could have gone a lot better. They should put warnings on those things," Finley said. "Truer words have never been spoken," Borgan said. "I see that we have activated the scouts to finally make a move. Or perhaps it was the ice magic being shot from that sea monster." A lance of ice magic hurtled towards the city. It hit nearby where the scouts had to have been. Finley had expected it to go a bit faster but chosen got their own laws of physics or something. "Well shit," he said as the ice hit the western wall.
If you had told Sophie this morning that she would be facing a sea monster with ice breathing powers, she would have said ''Fuck you and what are you doing in my tent.'' The fact that one was now doing that exacting that she feared, made her realize that for as sneaky as they were, sometimes a big dumb enemy could disrupt their plans. So the big dumb sea monster, Vanessa, decided that today it was going to meddle in human and dwarven affairs. Sophie was not interested in her input, so she poured all of her energy into avoiding the thick lance of ice that took out the gate. "Move," she yelled. "We gotta get out of its range or at least out of its sight. Inland!" The scouts with her didn''t need to verbally acknowledge that as they were already pointing their horses north by northeast in an attempt to move away from the shoreline. They already weren''t close to it, but the fact that the town was so close to the water and by proxy Vanessa, meant that they were subject to unfriendly fire. Sonya didn''t have that much in the animal handling skill, and was kicking herself for not working harder with the horses that they did have. She was able to handle one horse if she tried. Or if she really pushed on the scale a lot, twenty goats. She didn''t have twenty goats there with her to ride and she didn''t think that goats would want to be ridden. So she pushed her horse to get both of them to safety. If there was one thing''s horses did not like, giant sea monsters were at the top of the list. As she kicked up speed, of course that was the time that her patron decided that she needed a little something extra as a golden card appeared in front of her. She snatched it and immediately read, then regretted reading it.
Rare card: Goat? Goat! Bah bah bah bah. Bah! This card is a relic and can be used once.
The image of a goat flashed through her mind as she activated the card. She had an intuitive feeling of what the card did but it felt like it wouldn''t translate back. Just as quickly, she forgot what it did, despite the spell taking what had to be half of her mana. The scouts broke past the wall finally able to see their way back to the promontory. It was about that that they realized in horror that part of the plains were on fire. The fire, like Sophie''s ex, was finding a new meaning to freedom. This did not bode well for the humans who could best be called flammable on a good day. Bob broke ahead of them, clearly able to use more of his mana he lit up his path finding skill. Above him, an arrow pointed to if not the best way, a better way to go. He adjusted his horse so they were going further north. At any other time, Sophie would have enjoyed the bonfire that was going to result from the dry grass meeting with the fireworks. She would have insisted on sitting away from the wind and gotten a warm face no matter where she sat. Those fires had never threatened to spread quite so far. She bleated without realizing as the scouts galloped towards safety and the growing flames in front of them.
Anthony realized that they had a problem. The giant sea monster had decided that today was a day that it was going to unleash, if not all of, a giant proportion of its mana reserves. It did this by laying siege to Gloucester. That being the city that they were trying to infiltrate and steal a boat from. "We only needed one boat," he said, sitting down on the side of the wall. "We only needed one... stinking... boat." "Anthony, I''m so sorry," She said. "I didn''t know that this was going to happen." Sonya sat down next to him and he felt her lean against him. He wanted to recoil but she hadn''t done this out of malice. There was no ill intent behind her actions. There was just a bunch of grass deciding that it felt quite dry and warm all of a sudden. "Can you smother the flames at least?" He asked, hoping beyond hope that they could contain it. It was his solemn hope that they might end this day without being attacked by a sea monster. No one wakes up to thinking that today that were going to fight a sea monster, but sometimes it happened. "Yeah, can you use your Earth Magic to smother it? Do your best to contain it. We''re going to have to think about the problem. How do we fight a sea monster like this and win?" Sonya jumped down, using her earth magic to create steps as she went. And he couldn''t help but be impressed by her control. It was her strength in using the Earth Magic that had saved them so many times. When she got to the ground she began running towards the flames. Five steps later and large flying saucers of dirt started appearing alongside her. As she ran she used arms to raise up these discs and then threw them into the flames. The first few plopped onto the flames without effect but after the sixth, he began to see what she was doing. First she was forming a fire break around the flames. It was spreading and it was spreading fast but she had put a break between them and the flames. She stopped running, looking like she was trying to conserve at least part of her energy. As she walked, she raised one arm at a time. When the large round objects were in the air, she flung them. Anthony stopped counting after twenty. This was when the smoke began to turn as the winds shifted. Previously it was going south and now the winds began to move in a more easterly fashion. Anthony had the right idea of reminding himself that he was east of the flames. "Fuck!"
Andrew had been relying on his newest friend''s ability to calculate where his artillery shells would land. They had run a few tests of course, but no one ever gets the ideal conditions they want. He had some range. At least theoretically so. Valerie kept telling him that he could send his mana shells a span away. They had only really reached a half a span. Valerie was able to judge this distance by side alone, he suspected that she had a special card power that she didn''t want to give him the text of. When the call came to take cover from the ice spears, he didn''t believe it. Sure, he believed in the old tales and myths of sea monsters and the like. But back in his old world, the biggest body of water he had seen had been far smaller than this lake. The fact that something so large could grow up and live inside of water was shocking. That it then had a card power that didn''t have refused ice lances with such strength that it could hit from that distance alarmed him to no end. "Thirteen degrees up," Valerie said. He did as he was told. "Launch!" She said. Andrew plopped one of his magical shells into the tube. He pulled the trigger and it ejected the shell portion. The round whistled past them. It had to be a card ability. She was laying down on top of the maze, facing west. Several tense seconds passed, as the round landed explosively next to the town. "We have to adjust for the wind," she said. "Twelve point five degrees!" "Twelve point five, aye!" He said, fixing it. 2- Thirty "This can''t possibly get any worse," Sophie said as the the wall behind them exploded. Shards of ice and wood flew past them. She really thought that she was outside of the blast radius, but she could feel dozens of small cuts over her arms. Only the barest magical shielding that she was able to put up kept them from being steam rolled. Of course things were going to be a little bit different than what one thought, no one expected sea monsters to arrive on cue. It was almost like the worst thing that could happen had met Murphy in the in the darkest alleyway of the city and paid him off. Sophie brushed the blood off of her arms, and checked her horse, spurring it onward. As the walls began to break, small rifts opened up in them where a body could reach through and move out. Sophie expected zombies to begin flooding through the open walls. What she did not expect was a cadre of goats, deciding that now was the best time to leave town and oh yes you look like a shepherd. "Sophie?" Bob yelled from ahead of her. "Did you or your god have anything to do with this? There sure is a nonstandard amount of goats right now." "I don''t recall doing this but-" Sophie wrung her hands, realizing that she had activated the goat card. That probably has something to do with it. "Maybe?" "Well the next time you''re going to have a party, let us know in advance so we can bring favors. Because I think that we''ve got another uninvited guest arriving." A screech loud enough to deafen, hit the scouts all at once. Sophie put what she had into healing, cursing that she had used half of her mana to summon enough goats to fill an inner city quinciera or bat mitzvah. True, they were fast goats, seemingly willing to follow her. But Sonya had made that decision by instinct. Had she known the consequences, she probably wouldn''t have chosen that option. "Dragon!" Stella yelled. "Fuck! Bad dragon!" Sophie turned briefly stealing a glance at the thing. It looked like someone''s ideal image of a dragon, green, flying and fleshy. It was only a few dozen meters off ground but she was already not liking it. The green that she had identified earlier when they were in Heirisburg was present. The dark black eyes of the dragon looked diseased, compounding like they were insect eyes. One of its arms was pure bone white. Sophie was not a dragon expert but she didn''t think that green dragons were supposed to have pure white arms. She was grateful to the Goat Lord for giving her all the power that she needed to see this through. She was definitely having a moment where she wondered why her patrons weakest warriors got sent the most difficult cats to skin. "Undead dragon!" Sophie yelled. "What the fuck," Brianna said from beside her as their horses lined up. "Look out, Sophie!" Sophie returned her intention to what was in front of her, pausing only long enough to get her horse in the right path. A large boulder that hadn''t been there previously had decided that today was it''s day in infamy. The pain from her bleeding subsided as the shock of her horse wrenching her rodeo style twice in quick succession made her think that she had a concussion. The one thing that would have made Sophie feel so much better would be if she had a direct power that could counter the dragon. So much of her time had been spent devising new ways to kill old zombies. She was a quick study if nothing else. But she didn''t have anything for the dragon. That was about the time that she had to think long and hard about how much time she had left to live. There were not that many options. Across open ground, the dragon would clearly beat them. "Spread out!" Stella yelled from somewhere behind on her side. "We can''t give the dragon an easy target!" Bob whooped as he sped up, making it clear that he would ride along the side of the city. Sophie had another idea. If the dragon was going to threaten her new way of life, it had just signed its last end user license agreement. Sophie reached out, finding that her animal handling skill felt a lot more vivid that the time before. She could feel every goat around her and for the first time, felt ready to rock the party.
"So now one of them''s going to have some bullshit power that saves the day or something like that just because they''re chosen and they never considered what that looks like to the rest of us mere mortals," Borgan said, pointing to the warlock druid down on the plains. "Oh look there it is!" Finley said. "It''s Sophie and it looks like she has a small army of goats with her. I wonder what''s going to happen with that? The Goat Lord has never seen fit to give me an army or even a squad of goats. Oh of course, they are shooting things at the dragon." "Of course. Because as we all know goats have very special powers to shoot...are those rocks?" "Those are rocks. Those are rocks covered in something maybe they''re a bit too small," Finley said crossing his arms. "It figures. We can sing songs to enhance the caravan on the battlefield and she can summon goats that fire rocks accurately at dragons." The fire spread further as a line of goats formed to attack the dragon. The dragon, had decided to hover and rain down black flame. Finley didn''t like black flame. It seemed too inelegant for such a moment. The orcs agreed. It was a rare thing for elves and orcs to agree on something so momentous, but when humans, especially chosen were considered, it could happen. "Do you think that the sea monster is going to..." Finley said. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The large neck of the sea monster appeared to suck in ambient energy before leveling a blast at the undead dragon. "Damn chosen and their antics," Borgan said, having a seat and dangling his legs over the side of the wall. "I''m just glad that they''re over there, and that the territorial sea beast just dislikes the undead nearly as much as I do. I mean maybe he''s an asshole to everyone, but he is our asshole right now." Song signed something complicated with several circles involved. "The sea monster must think that this town is like a snack or something," Borgan said. "It''s going to have to ear something. I imagine without a lot of ships going across the sea, there isn''t much chance to get a little dwarven snack." "Hey!" The voice of the dwarven teenager made them all turn. "I''m not saying that I agree with it," Borgan said. "But that thing has to eat something, right? Look at how big it is!" Valerie sighed from a short distance down the wall. The dragon had fully turned it''s attention onto the sea monster. The magical goats kept flinging rocks at the dragon, every so often hitting it. A lucky one went through a wing, but it kept hovering.
The urban planner in charge of designing any major city would have had a heart attack if they saw the slums that had built up on the western edge of town. Layer upon layer of hovels were built using wood that had been razed for span after span around the port city. The main thing that it had going for it initially was the natural beauty of the promontory as well as how it broke the waves that would have otherwise been a burden upon the ports. That natural beauty was despoiled by the profit seeking dwarves. All trees were free to use to build, zoning regulations be damned. The problem didn''t lie with all those people that said that you couldn''t build these things. This way, the problem way with the way that the fire inspectors turn the other way with a small wink and a nod from a bribe. It was the fire inspector who gave the urban planners a heart attack. It might be that they had been dating at one point in time and the fire inspector was turning it back at his ex. But who knows you see? The actual reason was probably lost to time. There were only so many ways that a dwarven writer could lay out a Lord Romance between an urban planner and a fire marshal. There was a whole series on it that Valerie had been reading and had gotten really into. She imagined herself as the urban planner, who would one day find her fire inspector. Of course she would pretend that he might listen to her, but in the end it was all about how much give and take. There was between the two of them and whether or not they were going to have a happy ending in a cottage that similarly burned down due to zoning problems with the neighbors next door. So when Valerie saw the distinct black flames edging through the city, she got chills. Not the kind of chills that someone gets when they''re delighted to see something. She had remembered a lesson from her academy days. Something about dragons, breathing, black flame that would never go out until what it was scorching was starting to Ash had stirred up in your mind. "Andrew?" She said. "Yes, Valerie," the older boy dwarf said, twirl like his beard like a hot fire inspector would. "I think that that flame is going to be a problem," she said, biting her lip. "The black one or the wildfire?" "The black flame." The two of them looked at the fire spreading from hopefully safe vantage point. "You''re probably right about that. What do you propose we do, adjutant?" Valerie pushed away the image of being tied up with a fire hose and tried to think about the present situation. They needed to suppress the flames in some way. Fire needed three things, air, a source like fuel and a spark. She couldn''t do much about the source. The entire city was covered in dry wood. She could see about doing something with the air. "Do you have any way of removing air from a place? We need to figure out a way to suppress this fire. At the very least we can just stop it from the spreading to the boats we want to acquire." Andrew scratched his beard, looking thoughtful As if he was about to find a reason to shut her down due to a fire code. "We''re going to have to tap into our warlock skills here. If we smother the flames then they won''t spread," Andrew said. "Get Sonya. I have a plan."
The dragon raged in the background as Andrew brought Sonya up to speed. "You realize that we''re going to have to get the zombie dragon to stop spewing black flames before we secure the flames inside of the city?" Sonya said. "Yes, we''ve thought about that, right Valerie?" Andrew said. "Alright. And you do realize that we''re not here to raze the city to the ground, correct?" Both dwarves nodded. Sonya didn''t know if it was more disconcerting that they were agreeing to something or that they were working together, or that Valerie had deemed it field expedient to finally open up to her. She did notice the book in Valerie''s hands, a nondescript one that had to contain some secrets the way that she was holding it. "Alright. I guess I can give it a go. I''ve never caused an earthquake before, and oh yeah another level," She said checking that indeed her warlock spellcasting ability was getting up there. "Get the flags ready then?" Valerie said. Her other hand clutched the box of flags that they used to signal things fro a distance. The scouts had alternatively fired upon and scattered from the dragons black flame until the sea monster had taken its attention. "Signal a retreat?" Sonya said to Anthony. "They''re already retreating!" Anthony said. "I see four horses, wait no I see five horses and where is Bob?" --- Bob, Mork''s sling load hook, was on a mission. The quest he had been given had some sort of time limit on it as well as a reward that he needed. Mork''s quest told him that there was an undead dwarf inside of the city that, if killed, would have exactly the card that he would need to start the second part of the quest. He had ordered his horse to break off and return to the caravan, weaved around a line of mage goats, and then ran into the city. The god of death, taxes and fertility had directed him to the center of town. He could turn his head away from the purple silhouette, but he couldn''t ignore it. He dodged past groups of zombies as he got closer to the center of town. What would have taken old Bob more than twenty minutes to run through, new Bob did in five minutes. Then he was upon a large two story open market and the dark purple was getting even more bright. A zombie lurched towards him and connected with his short sword. He removed it and then summoned Ca''at. "Hey there little best friend, I have a mission for you," He said, drawing his crossbow. He was only going to get one shot as the zombie in question was in the middle of a crowd. But he had everything going for him as he took aim at it. The zombie fell. Bob looked around for someplace he could climb up as zombies circled around him, threatening to cut him off wholly. "That''s about as good as it gets," he said, drawing two small daggers and putting the crossbow over his shoulder. He jumped onto a nearby table, thrusting both daggers into the side of the two story tavern. Below him, his summon did the necessary dirty work. Foot by foot, he climbed up, pegboard style. He wasn''t surprised to see Ca''at up there. It was how fast the eldritch bestie had been, arriving before him that ticked him off. "Alright, let me see what we got here," he said.
Rare Skill: Grappling Hook The wielder is able to summon a grappling hook at will and has an increased ability to climb it. Grappling hooks and lines are unbreakable and will last for up to two hours at a time. Connections established by this hook are not unbreakable provided enough force is used.
"Well shit, Mork, all you had to do was ask," He said as the dragon swooped overhead. He cleaned the card off and shoved it into his soul deck, then activated it.
"Hey Anthony!" Borgan said. "I think I found Bob, but you''re not going to like this. No, not there. Higher." Anthony was happy for the dirge of farsightedness. He just wish that he wasn''t looking at the mess in front of him. "Well, shit Bob," Anthony said, looking down to the city. "Is that asshole trying to climb on top of a dragon?"What''s wrong with him? He''s so weird about around women. He hasn''t read the terms and conditions and signed off on one before. That''s why he is so odd. Anthony, who had signed the terms and conditions for his girlfriend continued onward. 2- Thirty One Bob, Mork''s climber for hire, used his grappling skill to climb onto to the neck of the dragon. He had gotten off a good shot. The first two hadn''t worked, but Bob was not one who would easily back down from a strange and unnecessary challenge. The first thing he noticed was that the dragon wasn''t really paying attention to them. Sure, it had initially dipped a bit from its position in the air but it had quickly recovered. Then as he got closer to it, he realized that its eyes were so far off of what he was expecting that he just needed to look away. He promised himself that if he slayed the dragon, that he would take a good long look. He was equally promising himself that as a treat, he wouldn''t. It was like being at the bakery and promising himself that he would get a steak for lunch from across the the street at the place that made those bagel pizzas he loved so much. It wasn''t until they had stopped making them that he had really been thrown for a loop. Hoboken was a place meant for rich kid fads after all. With his ranger skills, he was more than strong enough to climb up without using his legs. The grappling hook itself had a rope at its base that he was certain was some sort of metal. Probably a titanium alloy or something ridiculous. At the end of it, when he finally got to the dragon''s neck, was a hook that had been sunk deeply in dragon''s flesh. As he got to the top he realized that the grappling hook was both his savior and the thing that was going to destroy him if he did this right. The dragon had him in his mercy. The dragon was also unpredictable and was now circling around the sea monster, launching the black flame into the water. Bob had been forgotten, a mere insect to the dragon he could barely get his legs around the neck of. Black flames that had already launched was doing its best to do an urban renovation project on the western half of the city. He saw a fault line dipped through at a median point before he realized that he was just avoiding his duties. With a sigh, he mounted the dragon''s neck. It was more apparent than ever that this was an undead dragon, and Bob was willing to bet his mom''s heritage cake recipe that this dragon had been cobbled together from various orc parts, instead of parts of a dragon. None of the bones matched. Everything was slip shod, something that screamed, ''Put together at the last minute by the lowest bidder''. Then Bob realized that he was going to have to figure out a way to not get bucked off of the dragon''s neck. So he tied a knot from the end of his grappling hook as well as he could. He was really relying on his class skills at this point in time, more than anything that he could ever think of. The edge of the rope was around his waist tied in a square knot, and his left arm was at the ready and this was when Bob realized that he didn''t have a plan for this part. Like every city dog that has finally caught a car, Bob did not know what to do next. What did a dog do with a car once it''s caught up to it? Well in this case, Bob being the dog, wanted to kill the dragon. Capturing it to use for good seemed a bit out of the question. Though it would be incredible to ride and train a dragon, this one didn''t seem the type. Seeing as how upon closer inspection the dragon was just many ensemble parts of individual orcs, he did not know if it would have any weaknesses. He tried to think back as to how they killed one of the death knights before as this dragon seemed to be on the same level threat. This singular foe leaked an aura of power close to his own. Anthony had said something about...what had he said about fighting the death knights? Oh yeah, Anthony had told him not to solo any death knights. Well this wasn''t a death knight. Purple magic circled his right hand as he placed it palm down onto the back of the dragon''s neck. He poured mana into healing, something that he had only done as the backup dancer to Anthony''s main event. He was surprised to find a deep well just waited to be tapped and put into work. Perhaps Mork had decided that today was a day that he would get blessed. He really wanted to check his cards and see if he had leveled up something somewhere, but he knew that this would just be a distraction and that at some point in time his work would have some effect on the dragon. Bob''s body was electric, as every part of his being focused in on pouring healing magic through the dragon. He realized that a small weight on his shoulder turned out to be his special girl. The eldritch feline that had done so much for him had stayed on and rode him up as the Dragon Express. "Hey guy, if you wouldn''t mind cutting through some of those tendons over there. I would appreciate it if you could hit the base of those wings maybe?" Ca''at meowed in response. It sounded like a yes. He was going to hope for a yes. Often, the cat did just exactly what it wanted to do instead. It was a true master of malicious compliance unless its orders were exactly what it wanted to do. The true fact was that he really thought all it wanted to do was cut up and butcher his enemies in order to steal their cards and present them to him like they were little birds and he was so proud. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Bob was really proud of the little guy and all his efforts. A lance of ice flew past him and he realized that he might not be fighting a sea monster, but the undead dragon definitely was. Bob looked out to see if there was anything else that he needs to take a look for. He had to duck to avoid a goat stone. The dragon was flying circles lazily inland and then out into the quiet sea. It was taking its time between the two, really pissing him off as he realized that he was going to be subject to attacks from both ends. But Bob, who had grown had up as a middle child of four was used to attacks on both sides. He just realized that it was time for him to go dry. The healing magic that poured off of him and into the dragon, redoubled its efforts. Bob sent himself down with his left hand with his right hand, turning the orcish flesh into green vapor. At the same time some of his healing siphoned off to heal himself. At this point, an observer would not be able to see what the heck was going on due to all of the green smoke and pink flame, both effects of his magic. The dragons flight dipped, jerking the ranger up and down. Bob was suddenly realizing that he did not have an escape plan. "Maybe cut only one wing?" He yelled to Ca''at. He didn''t want to turn but he could feel it happily doing its process. The cat had its own version of the mise en place. This of course meant that it got set up to kill or butcher and then took its time but it built up to a crescendo. When his right side dipped, and he heard a splash door below. Bob realized that the wings were not the only thing holding up the dragon. The dragon''s head witched back and forth. Trying to turn on him but he had destroyed some sort of muscle in it, causing it to be unable to raise itself up.
"Sonya? Is Bob riding a dragon?" Anthony said. "Yes he is riding a dragon. And it looks like he''s cut off one of the wings? And there it goes, falling off..." "Fucking Bob." "Fucking Bob indeed."
The problem with riding a dragon that didn''t want you on its back, was that it could buck you off and you would be at its mercy. That was not a problem that Bob had thoroughly examined before this point in time. But now he was realizing that he had tied their faces together and perhaps this was not the best idea. Ca''at was still on the back working on the left wing, as Bob was feeling more and more that he was about to make a splashdown. The dragon was losing altitude and the sea monster? It looked hungry. It being the kind of thing that had no qualms about eating other sea monsters, would like a large green snack of indeterminate origin. It just so happened that Bob was on top of that snack and he very much did not want to be there. So when the opportunity arose to depart, bob was busy undoing his grappling hook. The dragon, rather than continuing to circle with one wing was now leaning heavily on its right side, still trying to do what it was doing before but now exposing him to the magic of the summoned goats and the sea monster. He was between a monster and a rock. Bob came to his senses and realized that he was not going to win this one. But his card told him that he could easily unsummon it so he did, holding on with his left hand to one of the dragon''s bony scales. He re-summoned it, attaching it to the dragon''s main body, right behind them and then realized that he was going to have to rappel down from a dragon, Bob as he often does just winged it. He used his left hand to verify that the grappling hook was fully stated inside of the orc flesh that made up the dragon. Then, using his other three limbs he jumped free, waiting for the point in time in which they were over water. Bob now realized the further extent of his current quandary. He was at the very edge of his rope and still had about a two-story dive to the water. To add to this fact, he only had about ten seconds before the dragon circled back to the land. He did not want to drop two stories to land. But he left his familiar off on the dragon, believing it to take care of its business as he felt the dragon was not long for this flight. It was about that time that one of the ships poked up in front of them and he realized that the choice was going to be made for him. He said a quick prayer to Mork, and then released his grip on the road, aligning with the webbing of one of the ships in front of him. He slammed hard against the ship, knotting himself into the webbing and then spammed his healing on himself. He was really hoping that he would get out of this with a mild concussion at worst. He could of course, unsummon ca''at. What he could not have foreseen was that the sea monster would take one look at the rope dangling from the dragon and see it as a way to get its prey closer to itself. The neck of the sea monster extended up not looking at Bob. That it was definitely a plesiosaur. The plesiosaur tugged as the dragon was roughly pulled out of its path of travel. Bob could hear the yowling of a cat and mentally unsummoned his familiar. It was going to be a while before it was able to stop with him again after he was already regretting that he''d have to wait hours to get the best cards off of the battlefield. Bob realized that he was looking at the spectacle over the side of the ship and decided maybe he need to check out his own situation and secure himself before anything else happened. Bob, looks down, then looked up up and over and seeing no zombies below him realized that he was a bit far out. He was probably next to one of the jetties that had supported the boats. Climbing up over the top of the side, there were several zombies there waiting for him. Bob smiled. Unlike the dragon, he knew exactly how to dispatch these guys.
"So now, the dragon and the sea monster are fighting?" "It''s more like the sea monster is using the dragon as a very large yo-yo. He is hulking that dragon back and forth." "Hulking is a verb now?" "Would you describe that. It''s like he''s slamming it into the water so hard. Ah! The water is just letting itself be a wall of iron or something." "If a dragon got slammed into a wall of iron, I think that the wall would crumple first. Well that''s what I think." "I''m so glad that I bought you the tickets to zombie dragon bash." "You know what you are the best boyfriend ever. I''m just hoping that Stella won''t get super mad about this because they''ve got this thing about him going off on tangents and trying to do everything himself." "Literally what could? What could Stella do? Mork keeps giving Bob all these blessings and that was probably one another one of his tricks right there." Anthony and Sonia sighed deeply. "Well at least Cara decided that she was going to have a little competition with Mork so I can get bought back for Stella." "At least there was that," Anthony said. "Plus look at all those damn goats! I cannot wait to hear this story. Do you think that was Sophie?" "That had to have been Sophie. And now she''s drawing them towards the water of course. I wonder what shenanigans they''re going to get into. I really hope that the sea monster doesn''t just turn the goats into a thin paste." "There is a lot of Hope going around today and not a lot of common sense. I would like it if we had some more common sense. Maybe at the next group therapy session we can talk about how to not do stupid things that make people mad at you like this?" "Maybe." "What are you two on about?" Valerie said. "Oh nothing!" They both said. "Well good because I have a solution to our dragon problem," the teenage dwarf said. "Have you guys been paying attention to the guy who climbed up on top of the dragon and then cut one of its wings off?" "We have yes. And Andrew is angry that he''s going to have to modify his design again. Andrew works very good under pressure but this is getting kind of ridiculous." 2- Thirty Two Sonya was getting all of her goats in a row. At the same time that she activated her animal handling skill, everything fell into place. No woman is born knowing how to control a leader of dark goats. No woman is born knowing how to control a leader of dark goats but some are allowed to rise to the occasion. It wasn''t this day, Sophie decided that she was going to make the most of her new on the job training. If the goat Lord decided that this is something that she was going to get, she would take full advantage of the opportunities put in front of her. Sophie formed the goat legion into an archer line. They focused their fire on Vanessa. Sophie was learning that Vanessa was far more interested in whatever was left of that undead dragon than anything else that she could provide. It was like Vanessa was a mean girl and she wasn''t even one of the popular kids. Vanessa probably saw her as one of the theater kids. This was fine because Sophie was a theater kid in high school. She later turned into a stage adult. She loved doing theater. But this made her unpopular outside of her crew. She didn''t want to be popular, she just wanted to live. All she had to do was destroy the sea monster or render it ineffective. So when Vanessa slammed the body of the undead dragon back and forth, she really sat down and enjoyed the entertainment that was provided for her. It wasn''t everyday that you got to see someone hulk out on a dragon. When they saw the dragon back at Hierisburg, Sophia thought that she wasn''t going to see any monsters of that sizer caliber. She was very sad to be proven wrong. But she was very happy that the goats that she had been provided with were all larger than average. They were all a little bit more stout. She really appreciated a stout goat. Much like a style of beard, they were thick and they had great taste. However, in this case, what she meant by the goats liked to toss things at her enemies. Things like enhanced magical stones. She didn''t understand the goat Lord ''s lens on things. Most of their communication was strained at best. But she could understand when she was given an opportunity. This line of goats all decided that they were going to listen to her commands and she wasn''t going to say no to that. Wave after wave of rocks flew from the ground into the quiet sea. Sophie was directing the goats to stay well out of the range of the dragon on a rope. She was going to have to ask Bob how he got rid of the one wing until she saw the tiny cat on its back. Despite the larger dragon getting crushed over and over again slapped against the water and on the land, the cat seemed just fine. Causality hated cats and this one in particular. The space-time continuum warped around the cat as the goats pelted both the dragon and Vanessa with their ongoing onslaught. Sophie realized that she was standing alone, next to a city full of zombies and this was a situation that they had expressly told her to not do. She had let her horse go because several of the goats were large enough for her to ride. She was going to have to make a decision before Vanessa had decided on something else for her. She hadn''t known many sea monsters, but this one seemed a little bit volatile. The slamming of the dragon''s body into the water rang in her ears as she selected one of the goats to be her mount. She chose a nice thick boy who would be able to take a beating. Behind her, Brianna rolled up on her horse. "Are you okay over there?" She yelled over the cacophony of noise. "I''m having a goat of a day," Sophie bleated. "How is everyone else faring?" "Well we couldn''t talk Stella out of heading into town, so we split up. She''s with Iggy right now. Iggy let his horse run off and that was when we realized that you weren''t on your horse anymore." "Are those guys just charging into town like two dumb asses? Because this is such a stellar move just charging into danger. Trying to save Bob because Bob didn''t listen to her and Bob is such a princess and she''s trying to save her princess." "That does sound like their dynamic," Brianna said. "And plus you have to think about our own problems, look at all that black flame. There''s no way that we''re going to get into the city this way. And even if we did, there''s so many fucking undead inside of it that why are we even? Oh of course! Yes, see that Brianna, the undead, had decided they wanted to come out and play. Finally." Several dozen undead streamed towards them, half of them lit up in black flame, the other half smoking. Several were human sized, a rarity that drew her attention for a moment. "It''s time for me to pull my goats back and find a way to get this flame to die down", Sophie said. "If you have any bright ideas, come on, send them to me and I will do my best. Are you ready? Warrior?" "No gods, no Masters," Brianna said "No gods, no Masters," Sophie replied. Sophie ordered her goats to begin doing a tactical retreat, noping the fuck out of there. They might be able to fight a sea monster or dragon or horde of zombies but all three at the same time were not going to work. At some point in time that dragon was going to get free and wings were not, it looked very sturdy. Sophie was surprised at the brisk pace that her new mount took. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. In fact, all of the goats were faster than the zombies. If Vanessa had been paying more attention, she would have been able to get more of her ice attacks out on them but as they started moving away from the water, all the goats flocked together. Sophie ground her teeth pushing them to spread out. A crater that hadn''t been there five minutes before caught two of her goats as they swung around to return eastward. There was nothing for her to do. If she stopped, she was probably going to die. Her only solace was that Sonya had made very good plans on how to save all of them. She just needs to get into range so their death traps could do their jobs.
Iggy was right behind her. He was keeping her safe from zombie attacks. She really didn''t want to have him come with her but he had insisted and she would be damned if she didn''t accept any help. Unlike Bob who never accepted any help ever. Sure, once or twice he had let her help with the cooking but ever since it was her job, she had itched at being asked to help. It wasn''t that she didn''t want the help. It was that when he clearly needed help, because he was often out of his depth, he never took it. Stella had the strong conviction that she could change this about him. Because she loved just about everything else about him. He was great as a lover but he just was too impulsive sometimes. It was like he was getting a second chance to be a kid and he was taking every single second of it. He felt like a kid too sometimes and she had to have him slow down. Right now? She was wondering if maybe he needed more therapy then he was letting on. Iggy had taken one of the caster classes but she wasn''t really sure. Whatever it was, it was helping him stealth through the town right behind her. She led, and he followed, the way that it was supposed to be. Men follow women, and accept help when asked. That''s exactly how it''s supposed to go. Iggy was doing great. She was going to have to ask him about his status later. There are only so many women in the camp and though there was roughly the same amount, there weren''t any couples besides the two that she was aware of. Of. Everyone else was a bit too traumatized to think about these things. For her? The trauma was part of the reason that she bonded so fast. Bob hadn''t been in the cage with them. He had freed them from the cage. For a few days, he had been everything to her. Now? As she unsheathed both of her blades to cut yet another throat of a zombie, he was getting on her nerves. "Two on your left," Iggy said. "Got them," She replied quickly, dispatching one with a Savage blow and then the other with a thrust through his heart. She wondered how Bob would feel if his heart was broken in the same way. Probably not great. Was it helpful for her to think about Bob and this kind of way? Probably not. Especially not for the long-term. But was it good for her and her short-term goals? Absolutely. "Stella, we''ve got to go back around here. There''s a horde in front of us," Iggy said, nudging her to follow. She withdrew, following him around the large open market that was packed with zombies. She hadn''t seen so many in... ever. They had to go two blocks east before they could continue on towards the docks. She had a feeling that that was where the dragon head released him. If the dragon hadn''t killed Bob, she sure as hell was going to. Then she was going to revive him and then kill him again. Then she might figure out a way to get him to ask for forgiveness. He might need help with that. Iggy threw a rock behind them to try to draw the zombies out. They continued running down another block before continuing South. The large open market had extended for five blocks on each way so she was surprised that they had to go so wide. With the fire spreading from west to east, she was more comfortable moving that direction anyway. She was beginning to get warm and started to think about how nice it would be to take off her shirt or her gambeson. The idea of jumping into the quiet sea for a brief moment was very alluring and then she snapped back into the present. A zombie spun as Iggy hit it with a spear. They didn''t even wait to see if it went down. They just kept moving. Then they began to see less zombies as they got closer to the docks. "Where the heck is Bob?" Stella said, first scanning for threats and then looking for her man. "One of those ships just had a zombie tossed off of it. I think that we should start there," Iggy said. She looked where he pointed and sure enough, there was a zombie in the drink. He wasn''t sure if that was one of her zombies or who was responsible for it, but at that point in time she didn''t care. It was enough evidence for her to go off of. Of course, Bob had chosen to disengage from the dragon at the furthest ship from the docks. Another zombie went flying over the ship, nearly splashing the two of them. Stella was so pissed that she didn''t even care. It was her best pair of boots, her only pair of boots and he had gotten them wet. He was going to have to pay for this. Her pace quickened, somehow she was running even faster than before. She had regretted not getting the cards together to make a monk class before, but it hadn''t been the same amount of regret as now. If she had that class she would be running circles around him. When she got to the boat that was quickly losing passengers, another zombie full on splashed her by falling in. Stella''s gambeson was soaked. Stella was soaked. Stella was so hot that she didn''t notice either as she climbed up the webbing on the side of the ship. Two more zombies flew over her and she was now one hundred percent certain that it was Bob''s doing. Her head peeked over, long enough to determine that there were no zombies within reach. She waved for Iggy to follow, and then flung herself over it. Midway up the ship, Bob was fighting for his life. He was making it look easy and that was one of her other gripes. "Bob, you''re such an asshole," She said. "We''re definitely going to talk about this later." She closed in and engaged with the first of the zombies to notice her. Then she realized that it was unsure footing and she slipped. Fear gripped her harder than anything else I had so far. Every thought she had about hitting. Bob was now placed by the fact that she was prone on the ground with a zombie over her. It hadn''t even had the decency to fall on her short swords. She embraced her incoming death, as there was nothing else that she could do. Then, Bob barreled over, rolling the zombie into a judo throw and tossing it over the edge. It was quite literally the hottest thing that she had ever seen a man do. She was so ready to swoon when she realized that she should probably get up. There were more coming. "You were saying something about a talk?" Bob said. Iggy got over the side and joined them. "I think it can wait," Stella said. The three remaining zombies on deck finally got them in their sights. "Do either of you have this or can I take this one?" Iggy said. Stella and Bob looked at each other. Both shrugged and turned back to him. Bob picked up a cutlass from the floor and gave it a few practice swings. "You know what? We''ll be right behind you. I''m never going to leave you behind again, Stella." "Oh Bob! I could kiss you right now!" she replied. "Can you guys both please save it for the after action report time?" Iggy said, casting a purple glow with his magic missile spell. "I think we can do that," Stella said. 2- Thirty Three Sophie had really expected her goats to be a little bit faster. Perhaps it was the weeks of traveling on horseback and on caravan that had spoiled her. One can only ride so many beasts before one begins to think that they''re actually making good time. These goats had decided that they were not going to be having a good time no matter what she said. As they approached the entrance to the maze, the goats radiated confusion and began to slow much to her chagrin. Goats didn''t often see a tower defense maze. It just wasn''t covered in goat primary school, to say nothing of goat finishing school. There was only one person at the front of the maze that she could see. Valerie waved frantically at them trying to direct them to go around the maze. Or did she want them to do the macarena? Sophie, sure that the macarena wasn''t in question, shrugged back. Then Valerie pointed to Sophie''s left. She was probably just directing them to go to that side once they got in. "Alright my little goaty boy," Sophie said. "Once we get inside the maze we''re going to do a little bit of a two-step? All that means is that we''re going to take a left. I''m going to lean that direction. Just bleat once if you understand me." The goat bleated one time. Then they were inside of the maze, turning left and going up a ramp. The goats who had been spread out began to come in single file. Above her, Valerie started counting. Leave it to the new guy to try and make herself useful in a crisis. She led the goats, ark style onto the wide maze structure. Then they continued on driving towards the promontory. Sophie took a second to appreciate the majesty that was in Sonya''s design. Each of the walls were about 10 ft wide meaning that they were just big enough for her to feel afraid that she was going to fall. The gap underneath him was about two meters deep because Sonya was Canadian. The width in between walls was again two meters, just because Sonya thought that it would be funny to make people think that they could jump over it, but unless they had a very high level class, that was not going to happen. When she got close enough. Sophie raised a hand, hailing Sonya. Behind her, if Valerie was correct, at least thirty goats trailed. They had decided either because she looked and might be responsible that they were going to stick with her at least for now. "Hey guys, do you think you can all line up along the walls and help us receive our new guests?" She said, trying to get the goats to move where they might be the best of use. There were a few goats that bleated their displeasure, but most of them took up spots nearby the front. Once Brianna and her horse were up on top of the wall, Sonya had slid the ramp down back into the Earth. There would be no easy way for the zombies to get them, but with that black smell that they were all coming out with? They would still be able to make her day bad. "I will give you a strawberry Pop-Tart if you''re able to tell me how the heck you made all these goats show up!" Sonya yelled. "A strawberry Pop-Tart for the answer to life, the universe and everything? That seems like a fair trade." Sonya grabbed her so hard that she felt jealous for Anthony. She just sat there for a minute, feeling safe and sound. "Hey... Can I get one of those too?" Brianna said. Brianna was enveloped in a hug before she could even say anything else. Of course this was from Anthony who was As grateful as Sonya seemed to be to see her. Anthony clapped Sophie on her shoulder before hugging her. "It looked bad down there, no thanks to us," he said. "What''s going on that I''m missing out on? That was the worst scouting mission I''ve ever been on by the way. Terrible outcome. Has anyone seen Stella, Bob or Iggy?" "Well, let''s just say that the act of piracy got bumped up the list. And now..." A fireball flew above their heads streaking into town. Sophie was happy that it was the first fireball of the day that wasn''t aimed at her or any of her friends. At least she was pretty sure that it wasn''t her. Any of her friends as the fireball struck true on Vanessa. "Take that! Mean girl!" Sophie said. Sonya tapped her on the shoulder. "Did you just call that lake monster a mean girl?" Sonya said. "Long story." Sophie said. "Where do you need me to go for the defenses?" "Long story... Okay give me the details later. I need you on mana detail." Sonya pointed to four towers. At the nearest Tower was Andrew, Zan and two of the monks. Zan formed a ball of concert and mana in her hand and then dropped it in one of the towers. The tower then lit up and Andrew cranked it, adjusting its direction. Then he launched a second fireball, watching it as it flew towards his target. Once they were done, the two monks came in and fiddled with it before they launched another attack. Sophie was giddy, his skin prickling at the newest opportunity the caravan has presented her with. "Do we have a fireball machine? We have a fireball machine!" Sophie yelled. "We have a fireball tower. Four of them," Sonya said. "I need you to help me with them because they are definitely something that needs a lot of juice." Sophie put her hands on his face and realized that she had spent most of her mana goating around. It was such a significant chunk and she didn''t realize that she was still paying the mana tax at that moment. She really wanted to dispel the spell that she was casting but she wasn''t sure what would happen to the goats. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "Hey about that. You see all these goats here?" Sonya grinned mischievously. "I spent most of my mana creating these guys and I feel like I''m still spending it. And they cast spells of their own. So I''m out." "If you can just rally the goat defenders then that''ll be enough for me." "I like the sound of goat defenders." Sophie began cracking her knuckles as she fell out trying to put the goats in the places that she wanted them to be. She wasn''t kidding with these goats. Mostly because they were all adults.
Another fireball flew towards the lake monster. Anthony was impressed by the monsters, endurance, stamina or whatever kept it going in the face of everything that had attacked it. It looked purple and bruised, but it had looked purple and wrinkly before. If a purple dinosaur showed up to a party and left not looking purple, there would be questions. Serious questions about what had happened to Barney on the way to work This was about when the zombies decided that they were going to now arrive and make it through the maze. Anthony was so glad that they had drilled this part so much. He had asked Andrew and Valerie to focus on the sea monster with the towers as it had the range and he didn''t want any fireballs exploding in the middle of the maze. They had pouted of course, but then realized that they got a chance to take and aim their shots, walking them towards their target. Getting to live a dwarves dream as such meant that all was forgiven at least until probably lunch time tomorrow. There would be some airing of grievances, Anthony would offer to quit and then be immediately shut down again. Anthony examined the ones out front. Those zombies were now mostly made of black flame and spite. They were now within range of the long spears on either side of the walls. The standard practice when dispatching a zombie was to get it in the head or neck. One of those would be the nerve center for the other. He wasn''t exactly sure which one was better just that if they got either one then they would be good. The head couldn''t do much if it was impaled and even less if it was detached. Things went fine for a while. Someone had given him a bow and he was making it sing. When Brandon came up to him with a spear half on fire, he realized that they might have a problem on their hands. Despite flailing it around, the flames were continuing to move up the spear. Brandon got his full attention then as he shoved just the tip of his spear into the dirt. "Hey boss. All the spears are getting this. We need to start using magic and crossbow bolts. Then we can figure out a way to make these guys turn into ash faster. Some of them turn into ash when they get here but the rest of them are just well. You see the black flame smoke from the start of the maze." "Well shit." That was another wrench in his plans. He hadn''t thought about the effects of the zombie dragon''s breath weapon. It was now really getting on his nerves. "Brandon, you got that water casting aspect right?" The monk nodded. Most of their front line fighters had taken a caster class and he had gotten one that was particularly good with the water aspect. They meant that he was able to control water and bend it to do his will. "Can you get me some water so we can put that flame out?" Anthony said, issuing more of a challenge than a command. "On it, boss." Brandon looked insulted as if he could not do their thing and Anthony nodded letting their monk go. He ran up the walls, and over towards the closest part of the maze to the water. Anthony turned back to observe the battlefield trying to see where he would need to direct traffic next. He asked Sophie to shift some goats, then checked on the sea monster. And then, the area around him got dark. Anthony looked up. Hoping beyond hope that he wasn''t about to meet another green dragon. He''d had enough of that recently. Thankfully, this shade was static and hadn''t really moved. Anthony sighed looking up, towards the water and obscured the sun as a giant blob of water now floated ahead of him, with Brandon underneath it directing its actions. Anthony swore. Of course the man would do the flashiest thing. Possible to draw as much attention as he could. Anthony was wondering once again if zombies could or would look up to see something above their heads and immediate vicinity. He didn''t have a way to check this and also since the zombies were on fire he could not prove it either way. He pointed down the central corridor. That was the first long one the zombies had reached and we''re moving their way through. There were about twenty flaming zombies and the corridor was at least one hundred meters long. Brandon looked to him for acknowledgement and he nodded. Then, he made it rain. Brandon sent a blast of water down the corridor, just enough to get the zombies wet but not enough to have them go up and over the maze on the other side. Side. Anthony realized for a second that he was going to have to determine whether or not she would be able to swim up and then climb over the maze. But the water was quickly lowering, as the large sphere of floating water became two feet of water that had decided to stick around on the interior of the maze. Part of the maze was slanted upwards, but it was not this part and this was one of the lower parts which meant that there were four zombies that were going to be stuck in foot of murky water from the sea. "Won''t someone think about the zombies?" Anthony said to no one in particular. From his vantage point, Anthony ran around so he could see what was going on. He was expecting to see that some of the plants had been snuffed out and he was really hoping that that was going to . His experience told him that Murphy was going to fuck the. one way or the other, so he wanted to at least be lubed up before the god of inconsistencies and chances decided to actually be a physical force in this world. If there was going to be a goat Lord, there should be a Murphy. If not, their adventures had significantly proved that Murphy''s Law was ironclad. What Anthony saw did not inspire confidence. As soon as the zombies were snuffed out of their flames, they would get up, begin walking again and then in most cases no more than ten seconds later would once again be on fire. If the clothes were on fire then it was even faster. There weren''t many who were on fire but the clothes weren''t, but several floors had apparently put way too much hair product in and their corpses were definitely paying for it. Anthony had a new core memory unlocked as he realized that he was never going to forget this. The zombies that were charging through the maze that kept him safe were all deciding that they just wanted to be on fire and that there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe the fire would eventually turn them into ash. He couldn''t count on that. And if even a dowsing of water was not able to destroy the flame, what hope did the city have? He was now hoping beyond hope that Tony could activate her other plan, carving a fault line in the center of the city to stop the black flame from spreading. He was less than hopeful now, almost despondent that they would get anything out of it. If all he got was Bob, Stella and Iggy returning he would call it a win. That would be enough in his book. Thinking of the three that were outside of his influence. At the moment, Anthony turned to look with his enhanced eyes. Of course, Bob was moving a ship towards them at that time. The most inappropriate time to move a ship, while they were under attack and attacking a Giant sea monster. This made perfect sense to Bob of course, which is why he was doing it. There had to be no other rational explanation otherwise he was sure that Stella would slap Bob silly and then he would stop. Silly Bob. Then she would have everyone line up and take turns slapping Bob silly. 2-Thirty Four Stella surveyed her newest acquisition. It was a ship that she had already nicknamed the clubhouse. The decks were clear of zombies and she was looking for something productive to do. She did a full circuit around the ship, counting the ropes that had it tied down. This was a true ship from a story, sized for a queen like she was. Unfortunately, it smelled like one too. Bob was also trying to be helpful in his own way, much to her chagrin. It was the fourth time she caught Bob fiddling with the ropes that something dawned on Stella. He didn''t know how to tie or untie a knot. He had never been on a ship before. He definitely hadn''t been a boy scout. That unearned mojo was probably leading him to think that he was going to be able to steal one and then drive off with it. He probably thought that you drove a boat. Stella knew better, though her interests had been in a different area. "Bob," Stella said. "What are you doing? This is not a car that you can hot wire. There''s probably an anchor in the sea that we need to pull up and it''s tied off in at least two places. You can''t just commit piracy without considering the implications of having to captain and crew a ship." "He''s trying to brute force piracy," Iggy said from the front of the ship. There was a large splash as the thing he was carrying slipped into the water. She was reasonably certain that it hadn''t been an ex-dwarf. "You can''t brute force piracy, Bob!" Stella yelled from across the bow. "Watch me," Bob said, attempting to brute force piracy. Stella knew that his entire experience around boats involved watching Pirates of the Caribbean on repeat and playing Assassin''s Creed: Black Flag. This did not give her the same amount of confidence that he apparently had. He had lived next to one of the most storied ports in the entire eastern coast of North America, and yet barely left the confines of his small neighborhood. "Do we even know if this vessel is seaworthy?" Stella yelled, tossing the last zombie body part off the deck. One of the legs of a sailor had been detached and stuck on a board. "Typical boys leaving the cleaning to the women." She had half a mind to requisition the cleanse card before she did anything else, but she didn''t know which girl had it right then. "How would we know if it was seaworthy?" Bob said from midship. "Well, there are a lot of ways you could do that," Iggy said. "We could check on the mast and see if it was secured. We could check on the hull to see if it''s got any leaks. We could check and see if there were any zombies stowing away under the decks. That one seems a little bit more pertinent right now. Do either one of you want to back me up on this one?" Stella coughed, giving Bob a side eye. There were only three of them and it was a bad idea for them to split up anymore. It was super bad for Bob to split up and go on his own but that was something that they were going to hash out later. Bob had a ranger skill to let him see how close any zombies were to him. A zombie that had been killed would not show up or trip up his proximity alarm. He called it his favorite enemy alarm but Stella knew what he really was. It was someone that she thanked Mork for everyday as he gave Bob a clear view of what was around him without him having to look. Since he was so blind, everything that was in front of him, including Stella, this was only to his benefit. Would she ever drive with anyone else? Not if she liked that person but that wasn''t the point. When she spun the wheel it moved, making her think that it might actually be something she could use. Now she was thinking about how it would connect to any piece of machinery to provide some sort of forward thrust. This wasn''t a steam engine. If they were going to turn this into an airship, they would have to figure out a way to make it move. She was thinking about who had taken that wind aspect caster and wishing that that person was there with them right now to move things. Having a working ship would open so many opportunities for them. The quiet sea had borders with all four of the nations that they needed to go to. Save for the human nation, whose death knight had decided to gate in to attack them, the dwarven, orcish and elven death knights awaited them in their respective kingdoms. They were probably slowly building up power, unopposed. The ship itself would be able to get things from one spot on the quiet sea to another. It wasn''t immediately obvious how they would do that. There wasn''t a manual they could refer to that would give them all the instructions. Stella would give anything for a Wikipedia page on how to operate a boat step by step. Some of the former sailors might have sailing cards. She realized that probably several of the zombies that they had tossed overboard might have sea related cards. Especially if they were there long-term. Perhaps some of the zombies had good skill cards. ''Hey Bob, can you come over here and help me with this next part?" Stella said. "What did you have in mind, my dear?" He said, his voice as sweet as possible. "I believe that some of the zombies around here might have cards that will give us a bonus to operating a waterborne craft. So I request your aid in getting some of these zombies cards. Would that be suitable for you, my lord?" Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Bob blinked several times and then nodded at her. "What are you proposing?" He said. Iggy arrived, apparently not wanting to miss a party. "What are we doing? Are we going to go get some more zombies? Because I was thinking that some of these zombies might have been sailors and that might benefit us in some way if they had some cool cards." Iggy said. "My thoughts exactly, my good friend. It''s too bad that all the zombies that were on before the shift were thrown overboard by someone who was carelessly using all of our resources to fulfill his goals of getting his black belt in judo," Stella said. "But who would do such a thing on their own volition?" Bob said. "That would be so ridiculous as to throw away such harder to come by zombie cards? Oh wait a second. This is about me, isn''t it?" Stella and Iggy gave Bob the stare that he had been deserving of for quite some time. He might be a himbo but he was her himbo and she was going to take charge of his education. He was a guy with a magical summoned cat that let them get cards out of people without much fuss. That didn''t mean that he was paying attention to keeping the bodies for harvesting. He was in fact not paying attention to what they wanted. Most of the bodies had ended up in the water. He was great at throwing zombies around when he wanted to, but this was exactly the time that Stella would have preferred a lighter touch. "There are a couple of other boats around that we can draw from. If none of them have anything, then I''m going to call it. We still have the problem of that sea monster over there and the dragon." "Is that dragon still alive?" Bob said. "I really thought that I dealt with it." Like Bob''s excuses for not baking her a cake despite being on a reality show where he did the same thing, that dragon kept popping up. Stella was going to get a kick out of him sooner or later. It was just a matter of time and finding some flour and sugar that hadn''t already been kicked over by a salvage team. From their vantage point in the sea, the sea monster was still off to the west of them and it looked like it was still playing around with the dragon. The sea monster, in it''s infinite wisdom, was like a puppy that had been given a chew toy. The puppy didn''t know if it could break the chew toy and it was going to try its hardest to do so, the day that it came home from the store. The chew toy, not the dog. ¡°Do you think that that dragon has a bunch of really good cards in it?¡± Iggy said. ¡°Undoubtedly,¡± Stella said. ¡°In fact I think that more cards than the regular haul. It would be really great if we could take advantage of that somehow, but that sea monster seems to be way more sturdy than a dragon.¡± Bob was still doing his best to examine whatever it was with the item he had found next to the large wheel that steered the rudder of the boat they were on. He passed it to her and she put it on her dominant eye, peering through. Rather than just being a regular old thingamabob, this one had a magical sense about it. It. She felt like she could push mana into it, and then get something out of it. Somebody had described having something that let them see the world in a different way, and Stella kind of remembered it? She recalled that the skill card was called mana sight. Having some experience with it would have been great right about now. There was definitely something fucky going on right there with that beast in particular. If she could judge it just by how dense the color was, the sea monster was far denser than the dragon in all its parts. She then looked at a nearby zombie, finding one on the ship that was far less dense than either of those two. It was bright and shiny with mana. That''s sea monster looked strong as ever and- "Hey Bob, question. How is the sea monster doing that thing where he flips the dragon around and around?" "Well that would be my grappling card skill. I left it there and took advantage of it. Should I unsummon it?" Bob said. ¡°No, I think that it''s good where it is. Honestly that sea much. Looks like it''s having the time of its life and the more that it''s not paying attention to us, the better. I would really appreciate it if in the future you stopped. Running. Off,¡± she said punctuating the sentence. She put a finger into his chest jabbing hard enough to make herself feel it. ¡°I know that you really want to have this conversation later, but that was a dumbass thing you just did there, Bob, and I''m pissed at you and the only reason that we''re not having is out right now is because you''re telling me that and we need a fucking exit plan. You got us into this boat with the sea monster on the loose and there''s no way for us to get back.¡± She exhaled straight into his face. Below them and more towards the city, the docks were now packed with zombies that had sought them out. Half of the zombies were on fire and so if she realized that unlike the water which you might not be able to catch fire, she was in something that was exceedingly flammable. She had never wanted to be someplace else more in her entire life and had less ability to take care of that. ¡°So Bob,¡± Stella said. ¡°I would love to hear your plan for us to get the fuck out of here. What are your thoughts?¡± Bob gulped. That was not what she expected. But she had expected a lot from him.
"Alright Anthony. I''m ready to do it but I think this is going to take me out of the fight as it were. You have to be 100% sure that nobody else is going to need my warlock powers for anything else." Sonya pleaded with her eyes. The zombies were working their way through, and deciding that they would like to be those trick birthday candles that you could blow out and they would be let light themselves. This was not even in the realm of possibilities that Anthony had planned for. Thankfully, Sonya had the sense to lead them on a wild goose chase through her maze as they smoldered. Anthony looked at her, smoldering. Beneath his gaze, she looked so beautiful and strong that he got a little bit choked up there for that moment. This was a come to the Goat Lord moment for their Caravan. They had trained on this type of operation so many times and now they were coming out of it with the ability to just crush a town''s worth of zombies. Sure, it took just about everything they had but if those cards kept leveling, this might be something they could do more often. If every person on that continent was zombified, one day, they would have to face a reckoning. Reckoning. Especially if as a death knights crew they were able to control more and more of the undead. The only reason that Anthony was hesitant to cross the quiet sea and go through the orcish meritocracy lands was that they were going to need to return to kill the other death knights. It was in the terms and services that he had clicked through when he had been summoned to his place. Anthony had not read the terms and services nor was he presented with the chance to do so. But he knew that if he strayed from the path for too long, that would be a problem and he could get called up for dereliction of duty or something. "I need you to do it. The caravan needs you to do this." Sophie tensed her whole body in front of him, deciding that now was the time. Anthony got a whiff and shuddered. 2-Thirty Five "Is that sea monster-" "Yeah it''s eating the dragon," Finley said, grimacing. "Raw. You would think that it would at least cook it a bit." "Does this lead you believe that the dragon is dead?" Anthony said. The pair were watching the latest of many developments that had changed the course of their day. Finley had started the day with such hope. Perhaps their worship of this Murphy and his law was something that he might need to consider for the long term. "One can only deal with being eaten for a little bit," Finley said, as if repeating a mantra. "Of course this is different for me because I didn''t actually eat myself." "Right. That makes total sense. Because otherwise, what would you occupy?" The elf and the man watched as their entire day changed from bad to somewhat bad. The dragon had either been knocked unconscious or had just succumbed to its injuries. Either way, it wasn''t being hooked around anymore, no longer being hit into the ground repeatedly. It just lay there on the shore. What it was doing was being devoured by a sea monster. Neither Finley or Anthony could have predicted that outcome. Finley was really hoping that the sea monster would take the rest of the day off. He would too if he had just killed a dragon. In fact, he was thinking about asking Anthony to take a whole week off after this. So long as they removed themselves to an area that would be far enough away from the sea monster''s effective range, he didn''t see any problem with that. That is if their next steps went to according to the new plan. A loud crack shook the city as it split in two, cleaving east from west. Sonya had finished casting her earthquake spell, pulling Earth from down the center line of the city, in order to divide the black flame from the rest. It had taken her a while and Finley could see that at least a third of the city was now entirely up in flames. This move was only going to save so much. But if she did it right, they would have a canal going straight through the city where they could jury rig some way to get the ship inland. Then the real work could start. It was all going according to his evil plan. At least that''s how Anthony said that he should refer to his plans from now on. He wasn''t sure what exactly Anthony meant by that and it was pretty sure that it was a joke. Finley had a sense of humor as all tinkers needed to be able to tell a joke in order to get out of a tough spot. But this whole evil plan felt less evil and more slapstick. He watched with bated breath as the cut off down through the city. Continue to race through. Behind it, Sonya had left it so that a large canal of at least two elves width was beginning to fill. Two elves standing on top of each other''s heads was a standard measurement for tinkers. It would definitely support a wagon, if one was able to float through it. This by extension was Brandon''s cue. Brandon, the water aspect-ed caster who had up until recently been only a monk was able to move water in large quantities. What they all needed him to do was to stop the black flame from spreading. He, of course was happy to oblige as they figured out that there was nothing that was going to stop the black flame from spreading, they could just try to stop it from flowing onward. Especially if they wanted to salvage half the city, they were going to need to stop it from burning to the ground. "Is Brandon surfing on the waves over there?" Someone yelled. "Yeah he''s surfing," Anthony said. "Leave it to the monk to have fun at our expense." Finley had never seen a humanoid just standing up on the water like that. He was mesmerized by the sight of the man in monk robes who stood on top of a cresting wave. The man looked unflappable with a determination to match. It had taken him less than a minute to use the waves to go from the promontory to the closest of the docks. Then as he got closer, Brandon used the waves to jump on top of one of the boats. There was a general shock of alarm but Brandon gave a signal that he was on the correct boat and safe. He held up one of the flags that they had agreed on, this one, a green flag for all clear. The Orcs paused their playing. Just as quickly, they continued onward restoring his eyesight and now making it even more clear. Not only had Brandon picked the right boat, he had picked a boat that he began to move with water power. Anthony could make out that three other figures on the deck. He wasn''t sure which of the three were Anthony, Iggy or Bob. Until he saw someone almost jump off of the ship, trying to pull a rope up off of the docks and he realized that that was almost certainly Bob because Stella and Iggy had too much sense. The wave that carried Brandon in initially broke against the midpoint of the town. It extended in a bid to fill the canal. It rose up above the city. As it got closer, he could see that it was not only increasing height but width as well. This is going to be a massive problem if they got something into the water that could start causing disease. Anthony had lectured them at length about shitting in their own water and how that could be a real problem down the line. Finley did not want to watch this exchange, but something told him that he wasn''t going to be seeing a earthquake followed by a tidal wave hitting a zombified city anytime soon, so he forced himself to watch. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Ten seconds after the wave went through town, it broke on the opposite side. Sonya had done her best to make a straight line, but when that happened Finley could see the water taking a turn. If what he heard was correct, Anthony had asked her to make a small inland lake for them to park the boat at until they were able to kit it up. He had used the words, ''parking lot''. It was another earth slang that he decided he was better off not asking about. They had so many inside jokes that when he finally got one of them, he was surprised at how little meaning could be behind it. What else could a parking lot be? People just parked in the middle of the road right? So it must be like a place where you could drive and park your wagon. By that metric, any place that they stopped for the night was a parking lot. Anthony got his attention. His part had been a late addition but he was ready. After he had been bodily shoved into a coma unceremoniously by their last death knight encounter, it had taken him several weeks in order to feel whole again. With he had the hindsight of knowing that he never wanted to experience a coma again. Combining that with the time that he had to recover, he was almost back to his old self. His magic had gotten significantly better though in the meantime. There it was being part of a caravan of chosen or just using it, he couldn''t say. It hadn''t been nearly as strong when he had started out. And it had taken him forever to get this far. The fact that they chosen around him were jumping up and by leaps and bounds... gave him pause. Just a few would be able to do the work of an entire army if they were trained. Finley tapped into the green, pushing his energy and focus on the plant life around him. The verdant depths to which he sunk now brought him a clear picture of everything that he touched and everything that touched everything he touched. There were blind spots, like the maze but despite there being a maze and the land around them, the roots of the long grass ran deep. The connected nature of the long-term growth in the area gave him an insight into where he was and if he closed his eyes, he could see the city. It wasn''t that there was a lot of plant life in the city. It was that there was a distinct absence of deep growth. Both because it was on the edge of a river and, by nature erosion, had decided that it would take that one area. The dwarves decided that they would spit in the face of nature shoring it up year after year, even though the city itself should have already floated off into the quiet sea decades ago. Curiously enough he also felt the wildlife inside of the white ocean. Seaweed and mussels and clams were all present at the edge of his senses. Finley found their newest haunt. A clump of seaweed had rushed into the interior of the canal. It hadn''t wanted it but through all the commotion it had been to come detached and in a crisis, it had decided that this was a time to make a break for it. These were all things that he was assigning to it as seaweed had no direct consciousness that he could actually query. Seeing where the seaweed was, he tried to grab it. It felt elusive in his mind as he had grabbed seaweed before but not this amount and not with his druid Powers. He pushed it to go where he wanted to go. It was like trying to move a toddler to someplace on purpose and they wanted anything but that. It was entirely possible to move the seaweed, but he would have to finesse it. It might take his whole soul to do so Finley, possessing two souls decided that he could forfeit one if he really needed to. Plus he was doing good in the eyes of the Goat Lord by saving all of these chosen heroes who had just decided to show up on his wagon step.
The canal was long. It needed shoring up, but it was complete and the boat that they''d wanted to move had moved through it. Brandon was there putting out fires close to the canal. He was also drawing in water from the quiet sea to pour up the canal towards the little parking lot that he was going to make out of a ton of water. Stella and Bob were fighting again and he had asked them to please take that to the other side of the boat. He hated it when they fought. Stella was always making up things and he was playing into it, but they never hurt anyone with their banter, so he just kept a safe distance. Iggy, who was not romantically involved with anybody on the Caravan was steering the ship. He wasn''t doing much because Brandon was in control of the water around them, but the little part that he did was enough to make him feel like he was helping out. They were all chosen, but some of them felt like they had gotten chosen a few extra times, like Bob who had earned Mork''s favor by killing a death knight before they had even met him. Sonya had later revealed that she had killed a death knight. Brandon had never wanted something as much as he had wanted to kill one of them for himself. Because those abilities that Bob and Sonya had gotten had been clutch. In fact, they had probably saved the entire expedition if he was being truthful. The ability to go back and forth at well to places they''ve previous gone had changed the game. It was so overpowered that Brandon could actually take a break. He was already thinking about his dream tropical beach vacation. Would there be other humans there? He didn''t know. Even if there were only elves there, he would still have a blast. He would show them how to make pina coladas. Were there even pineapples? He didn''t know. He only knew what druid that could tell him. He resolved to ask. Finley would go from being his guide to the world to his travel agent. But before all of that it was time to put in work. First, they were going to have to figure out a way to retrofit this ship, carry all of their wagons and then load up the horses and possibly the goats. Sophie had just shown up with goats. Like it was the thing she just did. After their encounter but the former orc tribe, there had been a suspicious amount of goats. There were so many, that Brandon was suspicious that this was some sort of trick that the gods had pulled. True, the male goats smelled terrible but the female were not that bad. He could learn to live with it. But on a cramped ship? Everyone would be looking for that person that had the cleanse card to do their best ax body spray impression. He knew that he was looking for it. When this day was done, he was going to look really carefully about possibly getting his own bath going. However, there was a non-zero number of zombies around them which gave him a predictable amount of pause. Brandon felt that with his magic, a new sensation that he was really enjoying. They had only had about two weeks to work with this new aspected power since they swapped him around. He was thriving. A ship came to an uneasy stop as he pushed the water to seize it up. Ahead of them, what had been a wall was now broken in many pieces. The ship passed and slowed into the parking lot. That was when he realized that he was on a boat in a man-made canal in a city full of flaming zombies and it was time for him to douse some of those mother fuckers off. 2-Thirty Six ¡°I feel like I''m being gaslit here. I don''t appreciate it. Bob," Stella said. " You knew the mission parameters. We''ve talked about this. Like you''re not supposed to just run off. And I... I need you to understand that this is the problem." Bob just looked dejected. Behind him, Brandon and Iggy were taking turns killing zombies from the side of the boat. "Stella, is this the time for this?" Bob said. "Bob, this is exactly the time for this. You have to stop running away from your responsibilities just because you want to play a hero. We''re all in this together. We are all in this together. If one of us fucks up? Do you remember what happened?" She didn''t point at Bob because she was not that kind of girl. But she let for his pleasure to be known in other ways. "Yes, I remember what happened." "What happens? Bob? What happens if one of us goes off and then dies?" Bob coughed. "The general consensus is that they are going to become a death knight." "And who of us is the strongest? Has the most abilities that we need to keep fighting the good fight? Who is that person? Bob, it''s not Finley. It''s not me, either. I''m not the strongest. I just have two classes now and I''m not particularly great at either of them." "I''m the strongest one," Bob said quietly. "What was that? Could you say that again?" Stella said. "I am the strongest one." The entire time up until now he had been looking down at the deck rather than at her face, but when he said that he was the strongest one, he finally looked up at her, his dark eyes staring into her soul. Their talk was punctuated by the sounds of Brandon scoring several direct hits with his sling. Brandon whooped. "Great shot!" Iggy said. "So Bob, am I getting through to you yet? Because this is not a joke. We can''t. We can''t keep on like this. You need to stop going to the front lines and doing whatever the fuck you want. I get it. I get it. Sonya stole your kill. All right. We all know it. We all know you''re still brooding about it. She got the gate card. But her God also asked her to do the same thing and I don''t care who kills them." "What?" "You heard me right, Bob. I don''t really give a fuck who is killing these deaths knights. It doesn''t matter. Because, at the end of the day, all that I care about is that is not becoming another one of them. That dragon? I''m sure as fuck that was not a Death Knight but you know what it looks like? It looks like the orcish Death Knight might have some sort of ability to make flesh golem dragons." Bob shuttered under her gaze, returning his eyes to the floor. Stella knew that he knew he was in the wrong. He wanted to give her the silent treatment and try to sweep him under the rug. But there had been too many times when his judgment had been slightly skewed because his God gave him the quest and though his quest system had saved them once or twice, it made her realize that no one goes after a pirate ship without a really good reason. Especially if they have to run through a zombie infested port city. "What did your God offer you for securing this boat?" She said. Bob blanched. He had a little tic that he recognized from when he was trying to get away with something. He shrugged and then pulled out a card and showed it to her.
Rare Skill Card: Skill Thief Mimic The wielder of this card can temporarily learn up to five card skills of uncommon strength or lower and two skills of rare strength. Uncommon skills learned this way can be replaced once daily. Rare skills will decay and fall off once daily.
"Well shit, Bob," Stella said. "That''s all you had to say." Bob looked relieved. "Are you serious? Stella?" Stella took her face in both of her hands. She moved very close to him. "Bob, I get it that you are a hunky dumb man with a kind heart. You are my himbo and I appreciate you so¡­ you have to stop doing dumb shit." In he history of romantic kisses between two people that were absolutely mad at each other, there were only a few that took place on a pirate ship. Of those, there was only one that ever took place on a pirate ship in the center of a burning city full of dwarven zombies. Stella kissed her big dumb boyfriend, hoping beyond hope that next time he would learn his damn lesson.
Brandon scored another hit, this time using his strength to lob a rock clean through a zombie''s head. The sling that they had got was at the edge of its appreciable life and the way that he had worn out, felt like it had been a very long and happy life for the sling. If there was a Valhalla for combat slings, this one was going to get it. The sling itself had at least one hundred confirmed kills. It chose that minute to snap. Brandon shrugged, displaying the half-broken piece of equipment to Iggy. They both turned to see Stella, kissing Bob as if she were Spider-Man and he was a sandwich. "I want what they have," Iggy said. "Like right now?" Brandon said, puckering up. " But I feel like things are moving so fast for the two of us." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Not with you!" "Hello Iggy, you wound me. Also, do you think they''re ever going to come up for air?" As if on cue, both Bob and Stella who were still making out, flipped them the bird. "Yeah I want what they have too," Brandon said.
The line of zombies continued on until the gate. One more of the zombies were just not making it, turning into Ash and then collapsing there in the plains. Sonya had decided that today was probably the worst day, that she was about to experience in terms of her magic needs. In fact after she cleft the city in two, she visited her patron to ask for some more sugar. Cara had a chair adorned with blades of course. As her primary agent in the living world, Sonya had the distinct impression that Cara saw her as the oldest sibling of a family that had yet to be filled out. Despite the fact that Sonya herself was in her mid-thirties when she arrived on this world, she felt like Cara was the drunk step aunt that always called her her baby. That at least was the way that she described it to Anthony the night prior and now she was realizing how true it was. Unless she had decided to listen in and take notes, their dynamic hadn''t changed. Sonya asked for sugar or boons in the terms of cards or mayonnaise and Cara gave them out if she was supposed to. Sonya didn''t mind being called a good girl by a goddess, but it felt like she was intruding on someone''s kink. Did Gods have relationships as such? That was a question for a time when she wasn''t trying to salvage a bad situation. From their spot in the maze, they could see down easily. The line of zombies, as flaming zombies tend to do, had lit up the dry grasslands around them. This being black flame, it tended to burn things down to ash. At least that''s what they had learned so far. No matter if they applied water to it or not, if it struck? It wasn''t going to make it. Of all the things that she was grateful That fateful day, the fact that no one had gotten hit by the black flame was high on the list. She would never say that out loud, because Murphy was hard listening but she was keeping track of the people that came in to see Anthony for their minor bumps and scrapes as she concentrated her mana once again for a big push. Finley hit her with a refresh and she felt like she had just choked at least three coffees with twice as many espressos. She could taste colors as she began the next part. One line of dirt moved down on the north side of the conga line. Another line appeared on the south of the conga line. Rather than wall them in, Sonya had decided that she was going to make them into a little soupy path. The water table here was high so as she sunk the ground in, she tried to connect the zombies inside of that water to a little place next to the dam. The ship that was at least two stories tall was stuck at the north side of Gloucester. She could see it from her vantage point, but there would be a problem if they diverted all of the zombies to that ship. She was pretty sure that Bob wanted them to keep it. She was also sure that Stella was probably lecturing him and stealing it? Because this seemed very unlike him. Or actually seemed exactly like him If Stella wasn''t around to keep him on track. "Boys will be boys," she said, bending the rules of reality, increasing the stream. Right now it was just dirt but she could feel that if she just connected it to the right spot, she would be able to fill it with the ocean water. So she took the short route, diverting to the ocean on the eastern side of the city. This connected her already made canal which was empty of water but full of bloody zombies to an easy source of water. Unfortunately, as you tried to speak to the water to offer it a bribe or incentive to come up river, she found that she didn''t have anything there to give. "What''s a girl have to do to get a river to listen to her commands?" Sonya yelled. Several shock faces turn to look at her, all a bit concerned. Sonya closed her eyes and thought about this. She had been through middle school math and knew that water wanted to follow a path of least resistance. She also knew that it wanted to be in stasis. She could bend the earth around it to accommodate the water only so much. But if the water wanted to go to some place deeper, she realized her folly. Rather than just making a canal deep enough to drown a zombie, Sonya made them deep enough to drown a giraffe. Remembering a rough description of giraffes, she hadn''t even thought about the giant animals in forever. If the water wanted to blow to someplace that was lower than where it was, then it would definitely drain into her river. This is where she ran into her second problem. This was of course that they were on the border between land and water. The water was an ecosystem of its own. She wasn''t making a pipe, she was making a trench or canal. Sonya had not spent that day at school when they went over how to make one of those. She was pretty sure that Canadians didn''t need to get taught that as part of their normal education. She was just throwing spaghetti at a wall trying to see which would stick. The gentle sloping shore, which was made of silt and sand, decided that it was not interested in her bribery. As soon as the giraffe depth canal was finally excavated by her expedition. Most of her mana, the shore did its best to undo that. What could the sand do? It was a shore thing. She persisted. The zombies, who were approaching the maze, had first been sunk ten feet, then at least double that into the dirt. Then, a wave decided to wash over them, baptizing them in the Quiet Sea. As zombies do, none of them particularly liked their situation but no one was there to take their complaints. I took the zombies a minute to reorient, it had already been going one direction and now they just had to return to going towards where the humans were. Sonya could feel them stepping through the earth. It was one of the last things she felt before she pulled back, conscious of her ability to overspend herself. Sonya did not have imposter syndrome. What she had was an addiction to killing zombies that might put her over her mana consumption limits. Even with a sugar mama backing her up, Sonya had given all she had. Getting up from her meditative lotus pose, she grabbed out for Anthony''s hand. "That was incredible Sonya. That was absolutely incredible. You''re a credit to the Caravan and I need you to stop being so awesome." She bubbled around for a little bit before realizing that she probably needs to sit back down again. "Help me back down?" Sonya said. "That took way more out of me than I had to give." "Of course." This time, instead of sitting up, she fully laid down focusing on her breathing. She was out of it. All that refreshing energy and Cara''s gift? Those two things get her a powerhouse juggernaut in her own right. If there weren''t so many zombies, she could have used the Earth to crush them. But she had a team dedicated to dispatching zombies who even now still flooded into the maze. It was just a matter of time. "Hey Sonya?" Anthony said from somewhere above her. "Yes?" "Try not to fall asleep okay?" He said. "Sure thing boss," She said, before closing her eyes.
Bob, Mork''s best in show, stood on top of his newly acquired ship. "Do you think we''re good now? Or do you think they''re going to be coming up to meet us? Because I think that I am ready for a snack," Bob said. "And you really thought that you were going to get one of those out here? I really doubt that you''re going to get what you want here, Bob. Plus, if you''ve already forgotten because we''re just lounging on this deck taking pot shots at zombies, I am the one that cooks the food." "You are the one that cooks, yes." "Do you have any cooking implements anywhere around us?" "I guess dinner is going to be delayed." 2-Thirty Seven Anthony walked around their new staging area. Well it was their new, new staging area. If you counted their time at Heirisburg as the new starting area or Arva, then this was the fourth place that they had fully kitted out. They had been on the road for a long time. There had been many discussions as to how to outfit an area. Once they got there, everyone agreed that they wanted to be by the water. The only problem with that was that there were things that lived in the water that had ice and water magic. Realizing that, there was a new strong opinion about placement of their staging area that they previously didn''t have. Finley headed up the goat refueling effort, bringing fresh water. He made his position very clear on the issue whether or not they were going to move from the promontory. He wanted to move far inland. Anthony was of the opinion that if everyone agreed, they would move. They had several large problems with this. The first of which was that all the goats that Sophie had summoned had all decided to stick around. Everyone had expected them to kind of do their own thing. What they had done was start chewing on all the grass around, making clear that it was definitely dinner time for them and that they were looking for some water. This caused Finley to crack open a barrel of water. He couldn''t not feed a hungry goat after all. After they''d been blessed by the Goat Lord himself coming down to make Sophie''s warlock pact, there was no better way to honor their Bond. Sophie, however, was arguing with the goats . "Hey guys, I''m not really your mom. I. Am. Not. Your. Mother," She said, punctuating each word. She was adamant. "Would you please stop nuzzling against me? Yes, I am not your mom. And no, I don''t know your mother but how about that elf over there? He looks cuddly." Anthony watched as the goats decided that they might listen to her for once and Finley was chased around the staging area. There were a lot of laughs around, and Anthony''s argument with Finley kind of died there. It was hard to argue with a herd of goats deciding that they were comfortable here. So why not stay put because you are a mommy and daddy now. "Hey guys, I''m not your dad either," Anthony said. "Maybe that little dwarf over there could be your dad." There was tacit understanding between the humans and the orcs that they were going to let the goats chase the dwarves and the elves. Or at least that''s what it seemed like after all the goats now flocked to Valerie and Andrew. They would take turns between the dwarves and the one elf that the Caravan had. It was amusing but it wasn''t until the sun was very low that the tide of zombies finally went out. They were able to put up just a few goats to man the walls as they came in. That was when Stella, Bob, Iggy and Brandon showed up. They explained their trials and tribulations with the new ship that they''d acquired. They had moored the boat at the end of the canal after securing two blocks around it. "We''re going to call it the clubhouse," Stella said. "We''re not going to call the clubhouse," Sophie replied. "We don''t even know if it has any room." "It has lots of room," Stella said. "Unlike your heart." Sophie feigned a heart attack. "Oh you wound me bestie, if only we could find a better name for this thing." Bob looked at both of them. "You are both as good of fighters as you are bad at naming things," he said and then immediately began dodging potatoes being thrown at him. "You take that back you lily-livered coward you," Sophie said, reloading her potato cannon. "Yeah, you lizard-livered-lily-flowered coward," Stella said, tossing a potato at him. Anthony ducked and weaved around it. He found a spot where he would be out of her range. He didn''t want to get the eye of anybody. Sonya was still sleeping off her energy expenditure and he checked on her. She''s going to have to wake up and get something to eat. Anthony sauntered up to the side of the wall. He checked on Morgan. The orc was overseeing the goat''s assault on two or three wet flaming zombies. The zombies were wet because they had gone through the underwater trench into the maze. They were on fire because black flame did not go out. Even when enough water was applied. He shuttered, thinking about if one of them had gotten hit with black flame how they would have taken it. To be fair, neither were zombies and the fact that they were all chosen, save for a few, had meant a lot of different things for some of them. They might be able to weather it but Finley? He probably wouldn''t. The orcs definitely wouldn''t be as well as Valerie. Valerie came up next to him. She looked tired and wired. He knew that she had volunteered for the night shift and was going to stay up the whole time no matter what the orcs said. "All in a day''s work, right?" He said. "Indeed. Though I can only take so much credit. The goats themselves are doing well. It almost makes me think that-" Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. She trailed off her eyes glazing over. "Makes you think that what?" He said. "What do you think is more likely?" She asked. "Do you think it''s more likely that she''s summoned a herd of goats? Or do you think it''s more likely that she converted some dwarves into goats thereby using her chosen powers to..." Anthony turned, giving her his full attention. He hadn''t thought about that. "When you say converted, what do you mean?" Anthony said. "What I mean is and I''ve been talking to Brianna and Andrew about this? There''s this human thing about conservation of mass or energy or something like that. And it''s all interesting concepts to me that I would probably need to look into more, but think about how much energy or in this case. Mana is needed to summon something. And think about how much mana it would take to turn something into something else. Now what do you think is more likely?" Anthony buried his face into his hands. "So are you telling me that these goats used to be zombies? And that those zombies used to be dwarves?" Anthony said. "So somewhere inside of those goats there could be a part of the original dwarf?" Valerie shook her head. "I''m not sure. I have a hypothesis, which is a fancy word that Andrew tells me is like a theory." "Do you want to go test your hypothesis?" "How would we test that hypothesis?" Valerie said. "If you were a dwarf who became a zombie and then turned into a goat, what would you want?" Anthony said. "Beer probably." "I mean besides the beer." "More beer?" Valerie said, innocently. "Valerie, we don''t have any more beer. We''ve been on the road for weeks and we haven''t really restocked. I was hoping that we''d get some from down there," Anthony said, waving in the general direction of the chaos of the day. "Also our gate person is taking a well deserved break right now, so no." "All right. If we don''t have any beer, what else do dwarves like to do." "Valerie, you are a dwarf. What did you like to do?" Valerie''s cheeks heated up. Anthony raised an eyebrow. "I like to read novels about fire inspectors," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Oh that''s awesome. That seems really niche. Do we have any of those novels around and we could read some to the goats?" Valerie''s voice caught in her throat when she began to speak. "We er um...That is to say it''s not the most appropriate thing for a mixed company?" Her sheepish tone matched with her looking away. "Valerie, what the heck are you talking about? Speak plainly," Anthony said, putting his hands on his hips. He needed to get through to her and she was being evasive. "Listen. I was a girl and a girl has needs and there''s a very popular series about a fire inspector and it''s very graphic about what he does. And yes it''s meant for adults but every girl my age reads it. Or every girl did." She let out a long sigh. "Sorry about that. Maybe we could try talking to them?" Anthony said. "If they''re with it, if they''re lucid, then they''ll respond. We could work out a system. Let''s grab Song." The pair wandered over to find the orcs conversing excitedly in hand talk. They were talking about loot if he had the signals correct. Anthony showed the sign for wanting to butt into a conversation but not wanting to be rude. Song signed appreciation for his kindness. Anthony signed back that they had a very important question for the pair and was wondering if they would mind coming along testing out a theory. More and more he was able to talk to both of them as if he had a basic understanding of hand talk. His ability was far short of Bobs but he was trying. "I don''t have a hand sign for theory. But we could use the hand sign for questioning if that works," Borgan said. "It''ll be clear and we can have it pull double duty." Song accepted that, nodding that he was going to go along with it. He was beaming. Together the four of them approached one of the goats that were nearby in Gray''s. For a quick second, Anthony wondered how he was going to be able to tell goats apart and then he realized that the female goats have others. This one had udders. So they all crowded around trying to see if it would respond to them. It would acknowledge that they were there every so often it would look up. The lady goat would give them some side eye, then return to chewing. "Hey, goat friend," Anthony said. "We want to be friends with you. If you would like to be friends with us then please nod or bleat or something. If you don''t want to, you can let''s say bleat twice. Does that sound good?" The goat bleated once. It was that first sense Anthony had that it was actually paying attention to them and not just casually making fun of them in its head. The goat locked eyes with him, all of a sudden turning serious. But then again he would probably mess with his rescuers, if he was in that situation. He thought about all the ways he could fuck with the people that were trying to help him. They were a myriad of ways in which goat Anthony would definitely fuck with the person Anthony. He was newly excited with the opportunity to converse with a brand new species of enlightened. Down the list of what he would like to get across. "Do you recall being a dwarf? Whether it was in a past life or not?" Anthony said The goat bleated a single time. "Do you recall becoming a zombie?" Anthony said. The goat bleated twice. They were getting somewhere. "Do you recall living in this port city by the quiet sea?" Borgan signed that he would like to butt into the conversation. Anthony waited for him to go ahead "Do you recall your soul card?" he said. Once of the goat bleated yes he followed up with. "Do you still have your soul card?" The goat bleated once, louder than before. Now they were getting somewhere and Anthony was understanding how important this discovery was going to become. "Do you have an ability that you can use so that we can confirm that you understand us? Because if so this is incredible," Anthony said. "This changes so much." The goat lift puzzled for a moment and then splinted. It was halfway between what was going to shit everywhere and or have a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life. Anthony would gladly accept a philosophical discussion with an actual goat. He didn''t think that wasn''t the cards today but so many things had gone sideways that he was going to accept whatever happened. Then if the goat wanted to talk? They would talk. He would gladly give off a beer or two to a goat that used to be a dwarf. Especially if it has some good intelligence about what the heck had happened before. And then he realized that this had taken so much out of Sonya and he was going to have to ask her to do it again. Anthony broke out into a cold sweat. If they could repeat this and save more zombies turning them into goats, this would change the course of the war. They just need to figure out a way to use this to their advantage. There was just one thing holding him back. They had already asked so much of Sophie. Her heart might not take it. She could turn some of the zombies into goats and thereby give them some semblance of returning to life. If he told her, then she would work herself to the bone converting as many as she could. If he told her, she would surely wake up and demand to go into town and save as many as she could. Then she would sleep and immediately go back and do it again. He couldn''t tell her. Anthony paused. If he didn''t tell her, then what? She would figure it out on her own? That was unlikely. He couldn''t tell her. He sat down. In the end it wasn''t his choice to make for her. If she wanted to throw herself into it, she would. It was far too presumptive for him to make a decision on her behalf. He would tell her. He had to tell her. If he didn''t she would know. But most importantly, it wasn''t his decision to make. He couldn''t make this decision for her. Sophie had to choose her path and the chances were that they were going to be her for a while. He was going to trust her. He had to. There was nothing there if they didn''t trust each other. She was her own woman and this was on her. He didn''t even know if it would work. But he knew when he needed help. And he remembered that he had someone to help him with this kind of thing. "Hey Valerie! I think that I''m going to need some help with something important," Anthony said. 2-Thirty Eight Finley watched as Valerie explained the situation to Sonya. He was entirely sure that none of them knew what was going to happen. Just because the Goat Lord had seen fit perform a miracle once. Didn''t mean that he was going to go out his way to do a second one. Finley had half a mind to ask Sonya to see the card that that had given her such an ability. The other half of his mind wanted to party. After fighting a dragon, a sea monster, and a port city full of zombies, he felt like they deserved it. True, he wasn''t a front line fighter, but support roles were also important in the never-ending fight against the undead. That''s how Finley found himself rummaging through his secret spice rack. If there was one thing that Tinkers would always share with other Tinkers, it was their regional spices that they had accumulated. Finley had about ten years worth of spices just sitting there that they had brought all over Novaria. It was time for him to power up Stella''s cooking. It was time for him to power up his own cooking and make a festive atmosphere. "Would you mind if I took over cooking?" He said, tapping Stella on the shoulder. She looked at it blankly as if she was a goat viewing an advertisement for the first time. She shrugged, and passed a spatula and her apron. The fact of those had been his spatula and his apron recently did not bother him in the slightest. Everyone was called to lend a hand in whichever way they wanted for the family. Humans are weird. On one hand, they were very territorial about their food. On the other hand, when Finley took over all of a sudden everyone was interested in what was going on. "Hey Finley, what are you doing?" Stella said. "Are you going to make us something tasty?" She opened up the tray that held sixteen pounds of the northern spices that he loved. She gave it a big whiff, inhaling his moment of success. "Where have you been hiding this? She said. "This isn''t listed on any of the official inventories." "That''s because I make the official inventories," He said. "And this is my own supply. I just remembered that perhaps we need to let loose a little bit and I figured that it was the right time to introduce you guys to some of my favorite flavors. I hope that''s okay." "Finley, first off, Bravo on hiding a secret stash. Second off, we will always encourage you and thank you for coming in to experiment. I guess things kind of went to the wayside when we started moving in earnest. Like there was no time for little things like..." She held up a jar of green pepper flakes. "What do you call this?" "Those are sweet peppers. They''re very common up north. They would do well with somebody to stew dishes that you put a little bit of extra salt in." Instantly she was giving him the eyes that meant that she wanted to use it. Someone had told him that the humans called them puppy dog eyes, something that horrified him for a fair bit. He obliged her, nodding once. He saw that she was a woman of culture just like he was. He appreciated that kind of thing. "Is there something special you do for this one? Or can I put it on something I''ve already made?" "This one''s not going to be marinated by any means. So yes." "I was stuffed, but now I am totally ready to try your sweet peppers." She handed him the bottle. Half a dozen balls raised in front of him before he had any idea what was going on. He dutifully doled out the spices that they were all looking to eat. In that moment he felt like he was once again among his people. He felt whole and rejuvenated. He realized that his arm had fully healed and he was actually using it without being in pain for once. He silently congratulated himself on the little victory. He remembered all those times Old Gran used to cook for their caravan. It felt like a warm hug that you could eat. Every time that she cooked something, you looked forward to it. Right now, with the expecting eyes on him, all he could think was that he hoped the sweet pepper was still good. Because he did not know how to get anymore of the damn spice. It didn''t take long for everyone to start complimenting how much better Stella''s cooking tasted with his help. That was a line of inquiry that he could support. The questions about why he took so long to dig out his box of spices was not a line of inquiry that he wanted to go down. He decided that it was probably good enough for him feign ignorance. Stella did it so well that people would try to give her criticism and she would pretend that it was the highest compliment she''d ever received. To an outsider, it seemed silly but right now? He was liking her ingenuity even more. She quickly diffused a situation that would have proven problematic for him to deal with. Zombies? He could deal with. Work accountants? They were scary but you can fight them. Someone commenting on your cooking. Not saying it''s the best thing they''ve ever ever had? Finley was at loss as to what he would do for that. Probably punch them. Finley considered Stella with new eyes. Perhaps she had the right idea after all.
Sophie woke up. The nap had been a pleasant one and she was ready to tackle whatever the rest of the day presented her with. When she saw the roaring fire and the dwarf girl sitting next to her, she realized that perhaps it was a bit later than she thought. "Have you been sitting there for a while?" Sophie said. "I was sitting here for a bit." "Are you waiting for me or something?" Sophie said. "What did I miss?" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "Well, you missed some of the best spices that I''ve seen on this Caravan for sure. Finley decided to finally break out the good stuff." She couldn''t believe it. That elf had waited until she was asleep to bring out the good stuff. She was going to give him a piece of mind later. Because she was a spice fiend and the spice must flow; preferably into her mouth. She didn''t know the circumstances but she was going to raise hell. She looked around for him before returning her gaze to Valerie. "He''s sleeping. Most of the fighters did stuff today and are also sleeping. We expected you to sleep a little bit longer," Valerie said. "Sonya? Over there. She''s sleeping." "Well, she carved out a river and caused an earthquake so let the girl rest." Valerie''s eyes twitched. "We are letting her rest. But Anthony has an important message for you." "God, I hope he''s not finally coming out to me. But if he is, I do support it. That''s a lot to put on somebody." "Coming out to you?" "It''s a thing in my world. Actually, wait, do they have same-sex couples here?" "Same sex couples?" Valerie said, snorting. "That was probably too much of a stretch then I guess. All right. If he doesn''t want me in some polyamorous threesome or to be a part of his new polycule or is coming out to me then I suppose I''ll hear what he wants me to know." She was joking, of course. She was trying to figure out what Valerie knew about being an ally. It sounded like not much based on her body language. But that was okay. They had time to work with her. To think that Sophie would join any polycule where she wasn''t a founding member was absurd to her. "All right. What does Anthony want me to know?" "Those goats? The ones that you were using animal handling on? Anthony thinks that they are sentient." The air sucked out of the room. "Go on." "We have reason to believe that the goats, who are still here by the way, used to be zombies who used to be dwarves." And just like that, Sophie felt the weight of the world crashing down on her. The card that she had used. She flipped it out again and looked at it. It was nearly 100% illegible. She was very confused. She used one hand to display the card to Valerie. "Are you getting anything out of this card? Because I was given this as a gift for my patron and I''m not sure what the heck is going on here." Valerie examined the card. She looked even more confused than she had before. "I-it just says goat a lot." "Exactly. You wouldn''t expect a card that says got a lot to actually mean it. It''s just that what goats around comes around," Sophie said. "What goat''s around comes around?" Valerie said. "You humans are so strange. I find myself finally agreeing with Finley on something. Well, something besides his spice choice. He always makes great choices with his spices. But he keeps the good stuff all locked up." "The way that you''re talking about his spices is like the way you talked about your fire inspector book series." "No, it''s not," She said, her cheeks turning a bright red. "Sure. Whatever you say. All right. So Anthony wanted me to know that somebody goats are sentient? Are they still here?" "They are still here," Valerie said. "We are making some inroads with them." "So what what? Why did Anthony want you to talk to me?" "Because he wanted you to think about the Caravan before you went off and tried to convert more zombies into goats." Her eyes widened as she finally thought about the implications of having a card that would convert zombies into goats. This would change everything. She could save them. She would save them all. But she needed to stop the bleeding.
"Sophie! Stop!" Sonya said. The sparks of mana coming off of Sophie choked the air around her. The raw power of Sonya stepping into her circle of control gave her pause. Below her were the mangled corpses of dozens of zombies, some still twitching. None of them had turned into goats, despite her efforts. She stood on top of the furthest wall of the maze. This is where the largest remaining group of undead outside "Why. Won''t. This. Work!" Sophie cried. "Sophie!" Sonya said. Sophie kept pushing to activate her card. Sonya could see it in her face. It wasn''t working. Sophie dropped to the ground, sobbing. "It''s not your fault!" Sonya said. "It really isn''t," Finley said, coming up behind the both of them. In his hands was a hot cup of tea. He held it out with a purpose. Sophie had yelled herself hoarse. She accepted it, taking a sip. It tasted refreshing. If there was any way to save them, she would destroy this entire continent. She would find who did this and hold them accountable. No one deserved to be turned into a zombie. She raged against the injustice of it all, beating her fists into the dirt. Finley knelt in front of her. "A long time ago, my old gran raged like you," he whispered. "She had lost her only grandson and..." He gripped both of her hands. She raised a tear streaked face to meet him. "I''m here now. She lost who he was, but eventually she gained me," he said. "Not really a great trade but I was welcome and-" He wrapped his arms around her. She invited him in. He felt warm, like home. She melted into his arms. He was solid and she was a messy broken egg. The sky opened up right then, rain coming down as if to taunt her. She wasn''t going to give in. Her patron had given her that ability for a reason. She was going to do her best to actually use it. If she couldn''t use it anymore, then she was going to have a few words with a goat. "Why would he give me this power and then be out of work again?" She whispered. "He doesn''t have a sense the way that we do. He has desires but he doesn''t. He''s not conscious in the same way. You have to build up your own understanding of him. I don''t know what he does. It''s going to make any sense to you and that''s okay. That card? That was ruthless. To give us such hope that we could restore these people." They sat there for a while. He smelled nice and she wanted to say so. But she held her tongue. "Thanks." He felt relaxed. Then as if he was trying to feint, he brought her in closer. She never wanted to let him go. She wasn''t looking for a boyfriend on this trip but she could deal with a helpful partner that knew when to come around and talk to her about the Goat Lord. They could all work with that. Finley had done some much for them. She sobbed into his shoulder before backing up to wipe her face. The rain made it feel completely unnecessary. She was still holding his hands. In that moment it was just the two of them trying to do their best to save the world. They might just save each other if they tried but she didn''t know she could. She didn''t know that she could try though. If all she could do we''ll save about three dozen goats. Then that would be okay. She will get over it someday soon. The disappointment would last forever. "All you have to do is honor his legacy a little bit by turning me undead into mulch for beautiful flowers like yourself," Finley said." Of course, if you''d rather be a different type of mythical beast instead of a flower like a dragon or a griffin, those are also acceptable." "Are there changelings in this world?" Sophie sked. "Species that can change their form based on what they want to look like?" "I have never seen one. We should ask Valerie later." She hated them being correct about that. Why couldn''t it be correct? How about something else like her face or her shoulders? Or if she had acne or something like that. That would have hurt a lot less. And then she was feeling almost normal again. Her mama had returned to her, her friends had comforted her and she even cracked a bit of a smile. She wasn''t going to be done with this for a long shot but at least she was back to an okay place. Soon it''s going to have to face this head on and she didn''t like what she found. So she was going to have to find something new. 2-Thirty Nine There had been some debate as to what to do that morning. There was an even consensus that they would be subject to sea monster attack if they stayed close to the shore, but all the dwarves that had chosen to live up on the promontory had known that. That, or they hadn''t been attacked enough to make a mansion. The promontory at its peak was about several hundred feet above sea level. It was big enough to see for several miles in each direction. A lighthouse on the southernmost tip had existed as a watchtower for at least a decade. The orks decided to take up residence in it. They had dark vision, so it didn''t bother them. It wasn''t a racial thing that they had, but both had chosen to take a particular card to augment their abilities in that capacity. Several of the goats joined them. Song was conversing with them trying to get more out of them while Borgan was trying to convince one of them that he would not be a terrible idea as a passenger. He would be, and they all knew it which is why he got shut down. Finley loved their antics, and had decided to stay out that night with them to try to sort through what they had gotten from the day. They now had several hundred common, a few dozen uncommon and a handful of rares that they hadn''t before. He was shuffling through them looking for cards that had to do with sailing and wind magic. He was able to assemble nearly three full decks of just common and uncommon cards that he could augment anyone with. He had a good grasp on what all the humans had and needed. They had clearly communicated what they started off with to him and he just had to update his notes on them. He hadn''t worried so much about the Orcs. They had been able to lean on their own families to get better cards when they were younger. Their power sets were specialized on being nomadic and traveling fast in the wild, save for the performance enhancing cards. Valerie was a mystery to him though. He knew that she had an epic card. Her aura reeked of wild, uncontrolled power. It had to have been passed down through her parents. Or if not, something that they had bought for her when she was younger and she was still getting accustomed to. She was more than likely going to have a full complement of cards already. This meant that she probably wouldn''t accept or need any further cards. He looked at the card that he had seen show up several times.
Uncommon Card: Ability: Sea Talk The wielder of this card has the ability to express themselves with naval flags. This imparts the understanding of naval speech as well as the ability to create the illusion of naval flags. Flags are incorporeal and will remain until for one minute, unless unsummoned.
He had a pile of seven of those that he intended to give to the leaders of the three groups that had formed up naturally. First there was his group and that included Zan, Valerie and Andrew. These people were the back line. Finley considered the orcs a part of his group as well. Then there was Bob''s group, usually just Stella and Sophie. The scouts rotated out other members from the third distinct group to fill in their gaps and cross train. They were the only group that really left the safety of their staging areas without a team of ten. They should all get the signaling card. Anthony''s group, the defenders, warriors and monks included everyone else. It was the largest group on its own because they did the most to keep a safe boundary between the place that people would be safe and not. If Anthony had Valerie next to him frequently, then she could share responsibility for the home team and others. This didn''t count the twenty horse herd. None of the horses were sentient, which meant that they probably couldn''t consciously use a card, though each definitely had one. The goats though? That was an interesting proposition for Finley. They were enlightened, or were formerly. Enough so that when he began to see common offensive spells he started to make another pile he hadn''t made before. This was for the goats. He was going to have to explain this one to Anthony, but they both already knew how important having an excellent cadre of trained goat mages was. Not every field commander could say that they had a group of goats that could use magic offensively and accurately. Anthony and Finley could say that. He felt a kinship with the goats that was probably unwarranted but warmed his heart. After all, if they have been human? They would now be converting to being followers of the Goat Lord. This of course, was the way of things and one got saved by a deity in particular. Brought him down another path. Thinking about making a bunch of warlock classes for the goats. Each goat seemed to have a bit of aptitude with Earth Magic and the ability to shape rocks or toss rocks, he wasn''t sure if any of them had classes. Another thing that he wanted to learn from the goats was if something were entire decks had stayed with them. Their experience so far was that many zombies had one or more cards. Many had two, but most had dropped card pieces as well. He had a hunch that what happened to the zombies broke down cards but everyone needed to have one card in their soul. Every enlightened, save for humans had that problem. Hi shuddered to think how a zombie human with no cards would look. They hadn''t so far encountered any human zombies, save for the one death knight that had knocked him out of the fight. He was getting wary that perhaps they might run into more and their bodies might have changed significantly. If the dragon had actually been made from orc parts, then perhaps each species of zombies would have its own flavor. He still dreaded what a group of accountant zombies would be like. The thought was less fearful than it had been. If he was staring down a group of them, he might not immediately run. He wouldn''t charge right in but his first thought wouldn''t be trying to get the heck out of there. That would be one of their many thoughts, but with the caravan? They might be able to stop the coming zombie audit.
Sonya brought out the dwarven handkerchief for Sophie. It had been a long day and they had taken up an entire mansion just with girl talk. "So you don''t think that I was wasting my time doing that?" Sophie said. "I would have done the same thing." They were lounging in what had to be the most decadent sun room in the small had to have been rich as a banker neighborhood. Dwarvish art was everywhere, showing all kinds of work being done. Sonya wasn''t surprised at how much mining was shown, though once she saw how much the dwarves yearned for it. It wasn''t excessive but it was... It was a persistent theme. "It''s just that if you get the power to do this, do you think that he would be calling on a chosen to be one of his warriors?" "So God is powerless?" Sophie said. "This god is something else. Even Kara has nothing bad to say about him. She just wished that he was more clear in what he wanted. And that''s what we want. He''s a goat. He might be *the* goat, but in the end if we save thirty, thirty is more than zero. We gave these dwarves a chance at a second life as a goat. We might think that. That''s terrible but this is our second life and we''ve been given everything." "Once again, you''re coming in with those heavy hitters, huh?" "Well you told me to dip into our secret stash so, yeah, let''s wax the world philosophical while Stella and Bob do their thing upstairs, eh?" The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Both of them turned as if looking at a room upstairs they could see straight into. Neither one could but they knew it was happening up there. The bumping every so often was a clear sign that someone was moving furniture. "Of course, they are doing that right now. I''m glad that we could have this down time at least," Sophie said. "I''m just glad that you remembered how to roll that up." The modified cigar was nearly finished. "It came with the Warlock pact. It''s a part of my tank magic. Sometimes. If I get that, there are so many cards here that they''re so readily available." She lit the cigar in her hands, taking a puff briefly before passing into a friend. The woman inhaled slowly and started to have her own little coughing fit. Sophie held out a hand, staving off any attempts at help. She was a very independently minded woman, but Sonya knew that if she was actually choking badly she would let Sonya try to intervene and do something. Not that there were many things that she could do for her, but she wanted to give her the feeling that she would be able to help. It was a good feeling. She helped herself to a draw of the cigar. The best impression that she got was that all of a sudden she was getting very sleepy and very hungry. Then that feeling went away. And she was feeling more like herself again.
Stella lay there, on top of Bob''s chest. She was panting with exertion. They had gone far too hard for far too long. They had gotten all tangled up in the bed. That was the dwarven size bed, still large enough for everything that they wanted to do. It was like the owner was expected to have more than one night guest. At least, that was her guess. "Do you think that these rich dwarves had polycules and like Renaissance Faires just something like that. There are places that they could meet each other up in?" She asked, twirling his chest hair in her hand. That he had enough chest hair to do so and was bald was endlessly missing her. She wouldn''t bring it up because that might stop the flow of hot and manly chef to her. She would let him cook. "Are you implying that these rich dwarves had gone to conventions and festivals to pick up more of each other?" He said. "On the contrary. I think that they could just pay someone to show up. Sex work is work after all if you''re just providing, and in this case, anyone who could live up here could afford that service." "Would you call the thing that we just did work? Because we sure did a lot of it and I would like to see if maybe you were open to some sort of criticism?" "I don''t take criticism. Thank you so much." "Not a problem," He replied. He returned her head to his chest. In that moment she felt like she belonged to something larger than herself. She was also realizing that she really really missed running water. Of course, the dwarvws had a basin for their water but without a way to fill it, one of them would have to do so. Sonya was good enough to restock them with some of the essentials. It was far from ideal but it made doing the deed and getting clean afterward a lot simpler. Stella knew that Sonya was probably going to drag anything up here later on. The men had been working themselves to the bone trying to figure out a way to use the goats and get them involved. That was when Sophie had had the bright idea to include them in their union meetings and at that point, Sonya and Sophie had called it a day. Sonya was going to get her date night with Anthony later today and Sophie? Sophie had decided to buddy up with Finley and see if they could work something out with their shared understanding of the Goat Lord. For the first time in a long time, things felt like they could be here for a while and recuperate. "So, have you thought about Finley? Because I don''t even know if he would like it. I don''t even know if he''s male. We''ve been saying he and him but..." Sonya said. "It doesn''t have to be that serious, it''s just that we have a very special bond because his God is my warlock patron. Plus he''s super nice and he is an elf at least biologically." "We all need a friend. I just want to make sure that you''re not taking that well. I don''t think it''s going to go anywhere." "It doesn''t have to go anywhere." They passed around the cigar a few times. They giggled. "How''s Anthony doing?" Sophie asked. "He is stressed. I think that the only thing that''s going to help him is solving our dragon problem." "He''s not asking you to dress up like a dragon when you guys-" Sonya covered her eyes. "Yeah that''s not happening. You should know that that''s definitely not what I''m into." "I feel like you''re not going to tell me what you''re into but I can guess and if I keep guessing then maybe I can embarrass you enough that you''ll just tell me to make me stop guessing." "Sophie, you''re a wonderful woman. But if you do something like that, there will be consequences for you." Both of them giggled manically. "We really should have started this with something to eat in front of us right? Because that would have made this so much better," Sophie said. Sonya raised a glass. "We should have started this with a full complement of strippers but the ones I tried to order were fully booked." "It''s a shame. Well maybe we can ask the orcs to sing for us later?" "I can''t. Remember, I got the date with Anthony later." Sophie shrugged. Sonya was really probably getting too high for anything productive. She put out the cigar. There are probably less phallic ways for them to get high, but she had to work with what she had. At least she had a partner in crime. "Do you think that Valerie will ever?" "She sees Anthony as some sort of savior and I can see her reasoning behind that. We did save her life. Now, they''re so closely bonded because he''s in charge and she probably should be in charge," Sonya said. "She''s not ready." "She''s definitely not ready but she''s got a lot of information that family doesn''t have. More importantly, she has a ton of training that none of us have ever had." "Maybe we should have smoked her up? I''m sure that your guy would have appreciated that." "Valerie would never get high on her own supply and also shouldn''t we not be smoking up a teenager?" "Isn''t weed legal in Canada?" "Girl, that''s besides the point."
It had been hours since the sun came up and besides the changing of the watch, little had been happening around the promontory. Finley continued to sort his cards, finally making sense of what the little eldritch fluff ball had made for them. Anthony had stopped trying to make sense of his piles a long time ago. He would tell Anthony what he wanted to do with the cards and Anthony would take his advice. He would also take his cooking. "This is about the best thing I''ve had in I don''t know how long," he said, turning to the elf. "It''s okay." "Tell me that you keep the really good stuff hidden in an even more obscure tucked away place. Go ahead," Anthony said, slurping his second bowl of noodles. Adventuring was hard work. It taxed the soul and the will. It took more than one had to give and made them hungry. In Anthony''s case, he was already eying a third bowl. It wouldn''t do to have just two. A man needed to do what he needed to do. "These noodles were quite a find. I''m glad that Sonya has been able to drop into Arva and Plainsmount for them." "Did you see one of the goats from ages ago snuck through the portal?" Anthony said. "I think that it knew. It knew that we were going to come back for other reasons." "You don''t think that all of the goats that showed up after the battle with clan green fang were..." Anthony stopped drinking the broth from his bowl. He set it down carefully. "Let''s go," he said. "I think Sonya has one more trip in her today." --- It was late afternoon and they had literally stepped hundreds of span away. Their old stomping grounds were happily bereft of zombies, dead or otherwise. Finley had seen to it himself. There was a herd of goats contentedly munching on the local flora. Upon their arrival there was a bit of a stir, but not enough to shake the goats to move. Most of the goats looked at them as if they were just happy to see another living being. One or two moved a bit closer, approaching Finley to accept some food. The rough tongue of the goat was all that he needed in life at that moment. It was a small reminder that life was tough and unfair but sometimes you got to pet a small animal. That didn''t make it okay but it did a lot to work out some of the rougher edges of life. "There there, you''re a good girl," he said, affectionately petting the little pygmy goat. Her fur was covered in splotches of five or more colors ranging from brown to white over a gray base. Behind him, Anthony was doing his thing, with Sonya assistance. "You''ve been through a lot, haven''t you?" He said. She bleated at him, before nuzzling into his arm. Her rough horns bumped him. "You don''t have to try to establish dominance here. You can come with me." She looked up at him, her eyes aglow with curiosity. Those had to be the eyes of an enlightened. That or he was convincing himself that they were. He had felt bad, leaving all of the goats there but what else could they do? They needed to keep moving and the goats were too slow. They couldn''t keep up with the pace of the horses. It wasn''t their fault, they were little guys. But when he saw her face he knew. He was also conflicted. He really would like to have a goat for a pet. But one didn''t just take an enlightened and make them their pet. But if she tagged along? If she tagged along, he wouldn''t stop her. "I''m heading someplace new. I need good goats like you where I''m going," he said, patting her. "You can even bring your friends. This won''t be anything like your time with the clan. You were part of clan Green fang, right?" The goat who had been actively chewing gaped at him open mouthed. He had clearly gotten to her. "Oh good. You understand me. Then we can skip some steps." The goat rolled her eyes. "Oh, you''re going to like it here."
The End, Volume 2 3-One "It''s simple, Gigi," the elf said. "Our world domination plan begins with controlling the air shipping industry. Oh sure, there''s no air shipping industry yet, but imagine the possibilities." The goat bleated, inauspiciously. Next to them a small magic made pond held a single large seaworthy ship. The area around it was an artificer''s dream. Tall magically enhanced earthen walls surrounded the lake itself, cutting it off from any rivers or tributaries. "They just need to get those balloon sails correct." The large ship had many lengths of canvas arrayed around it as a team of orcs and humans attempted to sew them into any configuration that worked. This would be the third iteration of the artificer''s master plan. One of the human mages blew heated air into the canvas, attempting to make it move somewhere other than into the down position. It began to fill, for the first time holding the heated air. It resembled a bag finally being filled with the vegetables that one''s wife made one buy but that never made it out of the freezer. The elf, Finley, was glad for the ice magic that had brought the idea of a mobile freezer to his caravan. His caravan had grown recently, with the addition of more than a dozen humans, two orcs and two dwarves. This didn''t even take into account the herds of both horses and goats and the three new wagons, two of them covered. All in all it would have been a tough group to feed on an ongoing basis. However, due to extenuating circumstances turning the the entirety of the four races into zombies, they had found enough food through salvage. At some point, they were going to run out of food, but it hadn''t gotten to that point yet. If they played their cards right, it wouldn''t. But in this economy, there was no money in it. "Ready to try out some magic, Gigi?" Finley said. The goat bleated. Finley held out a card.
Uncommon Skill Card: Air Bending Level 1 This allows the user to control many aspects of the wind and air around themselves.
He pressed it into the pygmy goat''s stomach, watching as she willed its absorption. "Try and blow the balloon up," he said. "But don''t make it obvious." Daisy bleated acceptance. He knew that she had another card but he didn''t know the particulars. And it wasn''t like she could easily tell him. Their back and forth more like the exchanges of several humans caught in the act of trying to mate. Minus the mating part of course. The goat changed the position of her legs, making herself lower and more stable. Then she did a little jig and a gust of wind passed both of them, moving into the open aperture of the balloon. It didn''t take much to give it a bit of a stir. Suddenly, all the humans working on the project took notice of the little goat with the big heart. Finley smiled, patting the goat. "Now, you have their attention. Make it count." For the first time, the canvas balloon sack was nearly full. The goat, using her new card power pushed it to its limits. This was the first of the tests that it passed. There was a lot of cheering as the balloon finally went up. That was about the time that the crew realized they probably needed to get it tied down a little bit better. Finley watched as it threatened to keep going up without any counterweight. One of the humans, a bald man with a ranger cloak shot out a grappling hook, holding and pulling it with all of his might. He quickly went skyward and was summarily grabbed on the legs by a chain of humans until one of the orcs held them all down. This gave the Daisy the opportunity of a lifetime to do the right thing. At least, Finley thought she would do the right thing. It was an option that he would have to mentor a goat into becoming a mage. It took a little bit of time, but eventually the balloon got under control and all the humans returned to the ground, to call it a day just as they were getting going. Before they decided to leave, they tied that balloon up tight. Several ropes came out around it connecting to some of the heavy counterweights that they had assembled, most of them rocks. There was no shame in tying one''s self to a rock so that one would not fly away. There was a shame in not recognizing that one needed to be tied to a rock. After all, the air ship''s engineer was going to have to figure out how to navigate with this thing. Finley hadn''t had the slightest idea of how he was going to make it work but he was known for getting more done with less. "That''ll do, Gigi." She nuzzled against him. If she was still as he assumed a fully grown dwarf woman, this would have been weird. But she was not. She was a pygmy goat who used to have been a dwarf. Of course, in between those two things, she had been turned into a zombie so he wasn''t exactly certain how much of her previous life she remembered. Finley himself only remembered the few decades he had been alive as a tinker. There was a before time when he was a Spore before he had taken up for his elf body that he didn''t remember so well. It was the reason that he was hoping that he could make another druid class card to give to her. Because the class card will give her the ability to wild shape into another form. That was his best hope to getting the dwarves back to the way that they were before. Having them wild shape from their current form into their original form was a fix that might be a permanent one. He wasn''t entirely sure. Finally didn''t know how long pygmy goats lived, but he didn''t think it was, however long dwarves lived. He hoped that Gigi would have a nice long life, working with him. She might help him run the air shipping business. He really thought that she would have liked it. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Turning around, they headed back up the hill towards a raised promontory over the quiet sea. A series of raised earthen walls made a maze for the attacking zombies that came by every so often to try and eat them. Of course of the Maze had a ladder by its entrance. One of the humans guarded the front of the maze. A monk named Brandon lowered down the ladder so the goat could get up and she quickly followed by Finley. "Did you see what she did?" Brandon said. "That air bending card made it work for the first time," Finley said. "I thought it was going to be worthless, I was wrong. I was so wrong." "Pay up." Finley grumbled pulling out a few card pieces from his pocket. He brought out at six copper pieces and handed them to the bald smiling man. "It''s been a pleasure doing business with you kind elf," Brandon said. "I''m always willing to bet against the house." Finally didn''t mind losing a few card pieces. With those six, he would be able to make another card. It took them about ten minutes to weave around the area above the maze to get back to their staging area. The air bending card had been one of the newest cards he made. It had also been a card he had never seen before or heard of. There were only so many common cards. Many people had common abilities from those common cards and there are a lot that you would just see very often. Uncommon cards were more varied by their nature and often very specific. However this new card he had made had been far afield of any of the previous cards he had made. He had never heard of air bending before. He had asked the some of the humans and they had said ''Oh yeah, that makes sense.'' It came from their pop culture. Then they had to explain what pop culture was and he was thoroughly amused. Something that they had brought to his world had affected the card that he had made. Just the idea had made it across. This was very unexpected and it was the first uncommon card that he had fully not intended to make. He pulled out his slate, sliding several card pieces in there. Gigi watched with rapt attention. He put six pieces in there, sliding them and trying to put his will and power into it. A lot of making a card with his slate was impressing it with the will and guiding the card to becoming what he wanted it to be. He couldn''t always make the card that he wanted but he could get close most of the time. He was getting very good at making common cards that he could combine into more advanced cards, usually class cards in this case. But this time, he was going to try to make the same uncommon card that he had made before. He took one palm, squeezing mana into the slate. On their own, the six pieces didn''t take up the entirety of this slate. The slate was a mechanical frame, around the size of a book, with a card sized indent. Mana that he dropped into it turned into a physical liquid that sloshed around it until it settled. He dripped intent with his mana. He had seen the power of that single card in use now. He wanted to make a second one. If he could consistently make the same card over and over again his job would be so much easier. Or at least parts of his job would be. There was no economy to speak of as all trade went through him. This was great for his bartering skill but terrible for any other reason. It was part of the reason why he had worked up a system of rewarding people for their contributions in the caravan and making betting pools on various things. His latest bet with Brandon had been a twofer, combining the usability of the air bending card with the reality that nobody knew if goats could use the new cards in their soul decks. He was pretty sure that they could. He was also reasonably sure that they still had the soul deck cards from when they were undead. Some of the goats that were there had previously been orcs and some had previously been dwarves. Both enlightened species were born with a card in their soul decks. It''s to reason that if they were trained a zombie they would keep their Soul cards. What they had found out after killing so many zombies is that those zombies had cards inside of their soul decks as well. Some of the zombies had larger decks that they were able to harvest. Taking cards from someone''s Soul deck was always a fraud thing as the cards didn''t just pile themselves up on top of the person''s chest when they died. That would have been lovely and easy but there had to be a little bit of digging in where to get them out. Bob, the leader of the scouts in the Caravan had a special summon they let cut cards out of the zombies that they found. Finley was super jealous and hoping that someday Daisy would be able to grow sharp hooves that she could do the same thing. Regarding the pygmy goat, he considered whether she would even want to do something like that. She looked really cute, but was also probably pretty ferocious. That was of course, when she wasn''t chewing on grass. When she chewed on grass, she could make any farmer''s wife''s heart melt. The farmer would have fully melted at the cuteness. He thought about how the card worked for the goat as he finished putting mana into it. Then the frame took a seconds to create a card, The motto and the card pieces joined together. Creating one solid object, the frame held it in face and just like that, the words popped up over it and the drawing of a monk moving air around with his arm has appeared in the iron card. He smiled, holding it up. It was about the best gift that he could ask for. Being able to zoom in on a specific card that he wanted to do with such a clarity had helped him produce the same card twice. Even though it was uncommon, he was going to have to go through and take as many card pieces as he could spare, doing the same experiments. He was going to try to replicate the same card over and over again. What he was looking for was repeatability. Some of the card masters in their books had written about being able to create the same card a few times in a row. Finley had been able to do it with common cards. This was the first second uncommon he had ever made. There was so many uncommon cards that he would never see all of them in his life. There were far fewer common cards, with an estimated between three and four hundred different common cards. With all the card pieces that he had, he was going to have to hustle to making more cards to meet the demand. The herd of goats had been an interesting boost to their numbers. The Caravan was trying to get them to do some of the work around the staging area. Part of that was giving them extra cards so they could be the security force. There was still a lot of zombies left. There was a large canal that split the city into that dividing the burnt out western side from the still strong eastern side. Undead on the eastern side to the city, the only living zombies around were making their way up to the long earth maze that one of the caravan''s casters had created. Finley patted the goat again on her head. She lean into him as he inspected the card once again. Now that he had two of the same card, who would benefit from the second one? The fact that he was not able to make this meant that he could probably do it a third time. Finley, not one to rest on his laurels for too long, brought out more card pieces and tested his theory again. Five minutes later, he happily held up a third copy of the same card. A grin spread across his face as he could no longer contain it. With his ability to make the same new cards reliably set, he was going to do something else difficult. When he had told people about the air bending card that morning, they had asked if he could make an earth, fire or water bending card. He was surprised at the questions but said he said that he would give it a shot later that day. Now was the time. His friend Anthony, the Caravan Commander, had given him a brief description of how these things would work. So what when he sat down to do this he would be able to visualize it. He imagined how the skill would work. It took a minute to focus on his will and intent pushing it back into the frame as he put six more iron card pieces into it. He poured mana into it from his hand, and deposited his pure will into the frame.
Uncommon Skill Card: Water Bending Level 1 This allows the user to control many aspects of the water around themselves.
He was immensely pleased to have created a thing that was a figment of his imagination a whole lot of time. He had made water-aspected caster cards before, but this was a specific card that his friends had told him should exist. If one of the other cards existed. He did not want to tell them no, and now he had won another bet against Brandon. He was excited to tell him. That would definitely help with his work on getting his barter and appraisal score better. Finley held it up, watching us the image of a man surfing on a wave dominated it. This was going to be a very good day indeed. 3-Two There were so many things that bothered Anthony about his new world. This included the amount of sea monsters, dragons and zombies. But most of all, the number one thing that bothered Anthony was that every other person that had come to the new world with him had chosen a combat type class card. Oh sure, there was some healing with some of the classes. But none of them had chosen to be a pure healer like he had. He didn''t know what that meant for a long-term survival, but it was pretty good for his job prospects. The group could not afford to lose him. So he mostly stayed back during missions. Because of this twisting his fate as well as his years of playing tactical JRPGs, but mostly due to his calm and assuring demeanor, the Caravan had once again voted to keep him as the commander. Truthfully, there was only one other person that this could have gone to initially, but when that person ran the first time, this time they reelected him unopposed. It was a weird thing, being elected commander of a near militia. This had never been part of his idea of his time as a grown up, adult man in his early forties. When he was a kid, he wanted to be a nurse and help people. He wanted to work in the emergency room. Then in nursing school, he realized that he loved working in the slightly lower stress labor and delivery department. He then became a midwife and then eventually started his own business. When his two sons were of age, they joined him in his business and he was just reaping the rewards of those decisions before he was called up and summoned to this world. Of course he chose the cleric class when it was offered. What else would you choose when you spent your life trying to heal people and they offered you a healing card class? The aperture of a portal opened up next to him as the away team shuffled through. A short canadian woman with brown mousy, hair and tattoos all up and down her legs was walking through. She was wearing the familiar scrubs that he had worn on so many rotations through various people''s houses delivering babies. He didn''t mind giving her his favorite scrubs. She looked great in them. "Welcome back, Sonya," he said, beaming. "What did you bring me?" She smiled, seeing him. "You''re going to love this," she said. The area around the gate was cleared so that no one would step in and accidentally get sliced up. It was only about a circle of five feet in diameter. Behind Sonya, three others shuffled through. Each person had a large pack on their back, full of what Anthony hoped was good food. If not, it was going to have to be great cards because their variety was beginning to dip. The second person out of the aperture, Stella was a rogue, head cook and the woman responsible for keeping their freezer running. She didn''t do anything special except for urging the temperature to go down every so often. It was an aspect of her ice magic. "Bob got something we are calling catfish jerky," Stella said. " I''m going to bet that Finley knows what it is and we''re going to see if it''s actually food or if this is just some cruel joke that the dwarves play on each other." He stifled a laugh. Of course she would call something catfish jerky. Stella was funny and also in a relationship with Bob, the head scout and head chef of the caravan. Bob was about the same size and build as Anthony but bald and with a bit of a beard coming in. It had been threatening to fill in for months. Bob, the only person in the Caravan with a ranger class, had been a D-list celebrity chef back on Earth. He was good enough to appear on several shows highlighting his cake designs. Unfortunately, he couldn''t bake his way out of this mess. "I call the catfish jerky because it looks like catfish that was smoked in a smokehouse." Stella waved a bag of something in front of his face. It wasn''t close enough for him to smell but all the same he wished that he was far further away. Stella had picked the rogue class because she wanted to steal things and be generally more charismatic than she had been on Earth. Behind her, Bob high-fived the last of the four. Sophie, a tall pale woman, was absolutely loaded down to bear. When she stepped through the portal, all of the goats noticed. Sophie, who had her own sordid history working through generational trauma, was a warlock as well as a rogue. It just so happened that her warlock patron was the same Goat Lord that everyone believed was the cause of all of the goats. It had once given her a card, that had the effect of transforming about thirty zombies into goats. She had not since been able to use the power again, much to the chagrin of every person that had been summoned to this world. Sophie had picked the rogue class initially because she wanted to be a trickster. When all of the potential people you could run tricks against were zombies though it wasn''t much you could do. It just so happened that she had the exact same idea as Stella. "Oh hi Anthony!" Sophie said. "They didn''t accept my fairy jerky as a viable name. So you''re going to have to deal with catfish jerky." "I''m okay with that. I really would have put my vote in for fairy jerky guys all things considered." "Naming rights go to the ones that find it. That''s the law. You''re not above the law just because you''re the Caravan Commander," Stella said. "I have spoken." Once all four of them had been through, Sonya stepped outside of the ring of rocks that she had left and slowly closed the gate. The view back to another place disappeared as the three rogues and Sonya all hooted. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Their little stints through Sonya''s gates kept their Caravan going. It kept Anthony worrying for them, although knowing that they were some of the most capable people in the Caravan did a lot to help. "Can I take anything off of your hands?" he said, gesturing to the girls. "Oh thanks Anthony, that would be lovely," Bob said, slinging his oversized rucksack into Anthony''s hands. The girls around him just kind of snickered a bit. When possible, he''d always offered to help. However, as of recently, they had been pranking him. He half expected Bob to have grabbed nothing but rocks on his trip. It would have been about right if Stella had put him up to it as well. That Stella was always thinking of inoffensive ways to lighten the load of everyone here through laughter and levity. "Geez Bob, what''s in this thing? Rocks?" "Something like that," Bob said, giggling. "The girls told me that you needed someone to do your ironing." "Bob, is this whole pack full of just iron ore?" Anthony said, almost struggling underneath the weight. "A special order for my special guy," Bob said fricking off. "That man has so much audacity," Stella said. "I just love it so much. I''ll save you some fairy jerky." Stella and Bob laughed as they continued onwards. Anthony was left holding the increasingly heavy bag before he set it down. "The only was we were able to move it was by packing it while it was on his back," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Standing up, she pulled him in for a kiss. He kissed her back, feeling a little thrill at her touch. "How is Plainsmount?" He said, once she released him. She still held him close. "It''s about what it was before. I feel that there are less zombies but that''s just me saying that because we''ve seen more here and in the places we''ve been since. It was so much less dense. And they''ve had some time to move around." "Bob and Stella were good? I know they were going through something before-I just wanted to check." "I think they''re all good now. She was really mad about the whole stealing a boat thing without involving her but my boat''s fine. He''s fine and he promised he wouldn''t do shit like that anymore." Bob did try to steal steal a ship, attempting to brute force piracy, though he could have waited. "I think we will be pretty close to haven''t gotten anything worth anything within the week if this pace keeps up. And then I''m going to request a few days off." "You''re going to have to talk to the union shop steward if you want to do that," he said. "I got you on overtime all week." They both laughed a little bit. "Do you think that being the union organizer has gone to Sophie''s head yet?" Sonya said. "Or do you think that''s just her regular normal everyday?" The pair of them looked over to see Sophie drawing something on a wall. It wasn''t yet time for dinner. So all of the people that have just gotten back off of their salvage duties had some time to kill. Anthony was not thinking about a firm proponent of a good work life balance. There were no real oppressing deadlines for them. There was a lot of undead that could potentially go after them, but he tried to put those things out of his mind. Dealing with the undead was just a part of his everyday life that he had somehow gotten used to. Just like the people on the subway that decided that they wanted to play loud music, he would make his living by the quiet sea their problem. If was the end of the day by the time they had their haul sorted out. Rather than just raid their previous haunts for cards, they went with a shopping list. High on the list were metals for the caravan''s artificer. He knew what to ask for and they now had enough mass to make something out of. Anthony had no clue what he was working on at the moment, but it had begun to resemble a harness for an extra large dog. A ship sized dog too, making him think that they were going to catch an elephant or a sea monster. To make matters worse, they did have a sea monster problem and he was sure that the beast wouldn''t take kindly to being snatched up. That is if the thing worked the way that he imagined it would. He tried to think of it from any other angle. It was just something that Andrew the artificer was going to have to explain when he was ready. Because Anthony sure as heck didn''t know. "Hey before dinner do you want to go for a little walk?" He said, holding on to her hand. She blushed. "That sounds great! Did you have anything in mind?" "We figured out a way to get some and makeshift jacuzzi and I figured that you would want to go and sit in it for a bit. I even have a way to heat it up." "Card Powers?" "Card Powers." "Well shit, that''s all you had to say," Sonya said. "I didn''t know that they finished it. Lead on." Before leaving, she refilled her water skin with one of their freshwater barrels. Then the two of them held hands walking along the promontory overlook. The promontory itself rose at least two or three hundred yards above the quiet sea, meaning they could see for miles in every direction. He was always grateful for the serene view. In the middle of that day though, he was all the more grateful for the theme that had dug out and then reinforced a heated tub that could fit four more people. Their next project was going to be getting a pool right by it and it was super excited for that as well. He didn''t know what if they were going to do about keeping it clean, but they did have an excellent cleansing card. To save time, and to allow people the ability to look out over the quiet sea and the city below, they put the hot tub at one of the higher points. As they approached, Anthony was happy to see that no one was in it. It was the end of the working day and the team that had been all fired up to work on the airship project was now finally coming back in. Bob had worked half a day with his team on the airship and then went to Plainsmont with an updated shopping list. He was getting better and better at filling in the blanks. Anthony felt like he was trying to manage the Caravan, but a lot of times it was just managing the personalities that came along with it. With so many people who had been chosen by the gods there, every one of them thought that their way was the best. Anthony had a certainty that his way was definitely not the best one and it was open suggestions. And that was probably the reason that he had gotten the majority of the votes. When they finally got there, they stripped down and Anthony breathed a sigh of relief. It was really good to see her back but it was also a relief to get into the hot water. It started off lukewarm but using some of his cleric powers he heated it up. Being a red-blooded American man, he kept his eyes on his girlfriend as she approached the jacuzzi. He couldn''t help but smile. "I feel like I need to charge you for admission. That little look would have cost you back on Earth. But enough about me, tell me about what you guys were doing today?" She said, settling down next to him. "I think we''ve been making some progress," He said. "Valerie seems very enthusiastic about this airship project and Andrew seems to think that we will be up in the air very very soon. I wanted to mention, Finley is teaching the goats to be air mages? Because that''s what he''s doing." She moved even closer. "You know what? This is almost as good as the cleanse card. To be fair I have to not get my hair too wet," she said. "There is no such thing as a bad hair day in the middle of a zombie apocalypse." "I feel like you know exactly what I mean. And you know my problem because we both have long hair," Sonya said. "I don''t feel bad about taking your brush by the way." This happened to an easy side-by-side, he had one arm interlocked with hers. "Do you remember when I said that just surviving wouldn''t be enough?" Anthony said "I remember it." She sunk into him and he sighed. It was a very good day to for them both indeed. Now they just need to get some of the edge off before dinner. 3- Three The next morning, Sonya was restless for the first time in forever. She couldn''t stay in bed. She just felt warm to the touch and Anthony made the executive decision to strongly request that she not take the guys out for another salvage run that day. She tried to protest but he saw that she needed the time off. Ever since the goats appeared in force, she and Sophie had been working daily as a trying to make up for all the time they spent traveling where they had little going on. Anthony told her that it was her decision, but she needed to hear it from somebody else as well. She hated when she had to slow down, but hated it more when she had to hear it from herself. That internal validation that perhaps it was time for them to take a little vacation was enough for her. Of course, this meant that she was free to hang around all day. This meant that she was finally helping out with the airship again. As she got closer, the yelling intensified. Bob wasn''t in charge of the airship project but he was definitely one of the louder workers. Most of what they needed Sonya to do was to shore up the internals of the boat so that would actually not compartment when they picked it up and flew away with it. Her patron, Cara was the god of overland travel and thus made her uniquely suited for the task. Who else would know how to fix a wagon? "You see Miss Sonya," Andrew said. "It''s designed to float. It''s not designed to be picked up and flown. This means that no one thought about placing supports for pulling it up into the air." The foreman of the airship project who hadn''t even heard of airships before he had been transported to this world was a dwarf named Andrew. Though they had spent all of their time inside of the land formally controlled by a Dwarven Kingdom, he was not a part of it. Their adjutant, a female dwarf named Valerie was the only caravan member to have been from this Kingdom. She was Anthony''s second in so many things because of her ability to analyze and synthesize many questions about the brutality of logistics and war. Between the two dwarves, they had the ability to conjure up a blueprint of the thing that they were trying to make. Valerie had the imagery skills and Andrew had the technical knowledge from his artificer class. Together, they tweaked the designs daily based on their testing. At the moment, Andrew was trying to explain the need for what looked like a net that was going to go around the airship. "Have you seen this? It''s going to need to be reinforced with something strong. Like iron," he said. "This look I believe what you''re saying is true. It doesn''t mean that I understand what you''re doing. But also, even more iron? We can get more iron. I think I need to start bringing like a hand cart or something like that with us because we should be able to get some iron from those," Sonya said. Sonya and the two dwarves looked over to the once bustling city. Part of her team''s job was to start clearing out the rest of the city, but since things had reached in equilibrium recently, the entirety of the Caravan had asked them to hold off. There were probably at least five to ten thousand zombies left in there, but they were contained on one side by a wall and on two other sides by a canal and the quiet sea itself. They were not smart enough on their own to figure out a way to cross the man-made canal. And if they were? Then the Caravan would be having bigger problems. Thus far, any intelligent zombies that they had encountered were part of a cohort of an Army of the dead. Those few super intelligent death knights were the opposite of each of the chosen warriors. At least that was what the locals had told them. There were so few of those left that there was no way to fact check it. According to Valerie, in times of great need, the gods would summon chosen from other worlds who would then come in and take care of things on the planet for them. Of course, what she also said was that they had never never summoned more than two at a time. At least according to the official histories. Sonya''s group had at least fourteen chosen. Their enemies, who everyone had dubbed the death knights, were believed to be chosen that had turned and been absorbed into the undead. Thus far they had killed two. One of the only pressing things that got them moving on was the sheer number of enemies. That and the idiocy of just settling down in an area when they could just keep running away from the zombies and take pot shots kiting them the whole time. The caravan had never lost a chosen. "I''m so glad that the two of you are finally a team," Sonya said to the two dwarves. "I was hoping that there would be some dwarven solidarity there. Plus we have this whole existential crisis that we''re fighting against right now." The bearded dwarf slapped her on the back. "Of course we''re a team, lass," Andrew said. "We dwarves have teamwork in our bones. Now, these Irumian dwarves, we are very similar and I appreciate that." "What my newest friend here is trying to say is that Dwarven culture seems to be very close between our two worlds. And did you know what? Only so many Dwarven girls are born for boys in his world? It''s like two boys for every one girl is born which is crazy," Valerie said. "You know what is actually crazy? Is girls being born of the same rate as boys and how that would create a society where girls are less valued," Andrew retorted. Sonya held up both hands. They might work together well, but they fought like school buddies. "You''re saying that male dwarves are born at twice the rate of female drawer dwarves on your world? How does that what? What is even the mechanism of that? I think I need to call Anthony and have him tell me about what the heck''s going on because that seems ridiculous." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Andrew pulled on his short beard, clearly thinking that there was more there. "No lass. This is my point. Boys and girls being born in equal measure. That''s so-" "Normal?" Asked Valerie. "We''re not going to find what what is normal by comparing our three worlds. We are here on Novaria. Valerie has an equal chance of having a boy dwarf or a girl dwarf if she ever decides to get pregnant. Which is her choice." Sonya left out the part about how they were going to have to repopulate the dorm continent if they ever wanted to do something with it. But that wasn''t her problem. Her problem was all the undead doors that were in between her self in a long rest in an idyllic fantasy town. There was no other retirement plan for them. They couldn''t die in this fight otherwise they would probably turn into other death knights, starting up even more the conflict that had become their normal. "I''m way too young to have kids. That''s ridiculous. I have my whole life ahead of me," Valerie looked at them quizzically. "Yes but," Sonya said. "When we''re all done with this- how many female dwarves are in the foreign legion that are coming back? Is the military male heavy? Ours were back on earth." Valerie looked at her for a long time. Sonya got the sense that their issues before were fully coming back up in that moment. The young dwarf was skeptical of her talk therapy. Sonya had led a talk therapy group for the caravan that was nearly a mandatory attendance thing at the beginning. They had talked through the trauma of almost dying several times, picking the thoughts up and examining them as they tried to adjust to this new life. "I never really thought about that. A dwarf is a dwarf," Valerie said. "Except that the men have the beards and the women birth the children what else...?" "On earth, and I know this is going to sound ridiculous here, women are slightly weaker than men." "You''re telling me that the same species views one gender as weaker? Why?" Sonya shrugged. It hadn''t made sense to her before, and it made even less sense where they were. When everyone had magical card powers, these things were far more muted. No one would think any less of her because she was a woman. In fact they respected her for all of the things that she did for the caravan. "You know what it is? It''s just generations of propaganda designed to quote unquote keep women in their place really. I should hope that that kind of thing doesn''t take root here. Everyone from my group seems pretty nice at least." Valerie changed the image of the airship rotating it around in three dimensions. "That is new," Sonya said. "Damn." "One of the humans- I think it was Anthony- told me about it. He was hoping that I could use it to look inside of people? Is that something that you did without the aid of magic?" "I mean-we have imaging technology," Sonya said. "It''s just something that you get used to. Like if I was pregnant they could tell approximately how big the child was inside of me. Then they could determine when it was due to arrive. Anthony really knows his stuff on that. You can even determine the gender of the baby in advance." She sighed heavily. "Uh, what is it?" "I just realized that I''m probably never going to see a gender reveal part here," she said. "I''m not a fan of them anyway but... it''s the little things." "A gender reveal party? What like at the birth?" Valerie gagged. "Well if you can see the fetus, then you can determine if it is a boy or a girl." "That just seems unnecessary," Valerie said. "Yeah and they also kill lots of people," Sonya said, leaving a bewildered Valerie behind as she went to inspect more of Andrews work. She knew that the girl was going to follow her, she was just waiting for the outburst. "Gender reveal parties kill people?" Valerie whispered. "Tell me that is just a human thing please because that sounds so ridiculous." "Ask Anthony and see what his face does when you tell him." The dwarf looked up to her, the light in her eyes a shade of uncertainty. Then she turned and ran off to where Anthony and Andrew were talking about something. Valerie didn''t have the rizz to support this entire enterprise but true to form she was asking Anthony something. From the gestures it looked like he was getting the joke and it was about to play along. It was the best thing that she could hope for. At the very least, if there were any friends then they would have to have some inside jokes at this was a good time for them to start. Then all three of them try to stare here. It was not her preferred way to get noticed. She bowed to say thank you. Hopefully the dynamic would now be a more friendly one because she''d heard a lot about the female dwarfs proclivities towards reading romance novels and she hadn''t found a good one in forever, either. The dwarves were hiding them really well or they just decided that they weren''t going to pass them over to the humans. Sonya wanted her bodice riffing smut books. Even if they were very bearded. She was wheeling and dealing to get them into her good graces. It was all in the name of establishing a good rapport with the dwarves. Of course that all hinged on them being able to take a joke. It''s only the realized with a shock that she could have committed a social faux pas. She was resolved to buy them both expensive dinner she could get. Or rather, she might acquire the most expensive dinner. Unfortunately for her most of the food that the the door was kept in stock was locked up or inaccessible. With the addition of the winter now in full effect, this meant that it was more than a little difficult to find what she wanted. They had traveled so far south that the winter was mild where they were, but her quick shots through the gate back and forth clearly showed the difference. Just the temperature change between the two places was enough to make her stitch together an extra cloak or two for her scouting expeditions. Valerie returned. "Anthony said that there was some sort of wildfire that followed a gender reveal party that killed lots of people. And yeah humans are ridiculous. You killed people just to announce the gender of a baby that hasn''t been born yet? Do you realize how insane that sounds?" She said, crossing her arms together. "I am on your side here," She said. "I never had kids and I cringed whenever someone had one of these parties. It''s just needless." They sat there for a long minute in companionable silence. Sonya was so happy that they finally got on the spot where Valerie didn''t feel like she needed to fill all of the available air with talking. They could just exist there and be two people in a shitty situation. And Valerie was just a little girl who was just doing her best and Sonya just wanted to help her do the best she could. "Valerie, can I ask you a question?" "You''re asking me one right now," The literal-minded dwarf applied. "Look I just want to know if you were the one that has squirreled away all over my style''s that I had in my secret stash. Because they''re all missing and I only had two or three of them. So no judgment if you did take them. But if you did I would like some of them back and if that is also true then I would love to discuss some of these themes with you." Valerie, usually a pale white turn bright red at that pronouncement. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else in the world, even inside of a city infested with zombies at the exact moment. So when she realized that she might actually be considering moving to the nearby city with a large zombie problem. "Look, I understand this is a very personal and I don''t want to read your spot. I mean I do. But I would just like to have some of my smut back because this I don''t know if you know this but there''s not a lot of reading material around here. So it''s either listening to the orcs at night while they play some tunes or playing games with you guys. Reading isn''t always possible. I''m just looking to read a book or two." She lives at the part about the libraries of the rich dwarves that had lived in the promontory being raided already. All the women in the Caravan knew what was going on. But they had brought it to Sonya to try and get satisfaction. "I will consider your offer," Valerie said, quietly. "See that you do." 3- Four Bob, the finest thing Mork had to offer, was once again arguing his point in front of the assembled caravan. They needed a lot of things and he was coming up short. "Not only are we going to need lots of winter coats if we keep doing these trips back and forth; we need to think about if we can''t make this ship fly, can we take it south anyway through the sea? I''m told that there is a river that goes all the way to the great ocean below." Behind him, Valerie was displaying a map of all the tributaries leading to the quiet sea and the great river below it that led to the ocean. They knew they were going to have to cross it eventually if they wanted to get the help they so desperately needed. It wasn''t that they weren''t a tough and trained military force. They were just so few. The past two months had been like boot camp for some of them, molding them into a team that worked together seamlessly. Even their dark humor started to syncing up, as the macabre situation which had spawned so much trauma initially now seemed so removed from reality. Sure, there were zombies, but Bob could deal with them. They spent a lot of time getting away from them. If you didn''t see the zombies then were they really a threat? It was the other things that he couldn''t deal with. Mainly, the dragons, the sea monsters, and the goats. Those kept him up at night. Zombies on their own were predictable and defeatable. "Do you think that the goat faction are going to want to travel overseas with us?" Bob said, looking to Finley, his rock in this situation. "Wouldn''t you?" Finley replied. The response caught him by surprise. Sure, he didn''t want his to be next to a bunch of smelling boy goats on a sinking ship. But Finley? The elf had told him extensively about how much he regarded traveling by boat. Which is to say not at all, don''t do it unless there was a clear threat of bodily harm. He was not kidding about his need to not be stuck in the middle of an ocean without a paddle. "I guess, I would. But to your point, aren''t the zombies avoiding the goats? Or at least I don''t think of them as something worth pursuing?" "They''re not in a fated pairs romance!" One of the girls yelled from the back, and he was certain it was Stella. "They are just trying to make their way through this world." "How would that work exactly? Would one of the zombies realize that they''re fated for destiny and to marry a goat that they''d never met before?" "Yes?" The voice said, hopeful now. "Well we can let them choose. I''m sure that we''re going to find some space in there if they want to come with us, correct? Anthony?" Anthony, nodded vigorously. This wasn''t an airing of grievances though. This was the normal meeting they had every few days to make sure that everyone was on point. It was up to all and it required the top three leadership positions to attend. Hell, they had pushed this one back because today''s expedition had taken Bob a little bit extra. He knew that they were getting close to exhausting everything that was left at the Plainsmount area. Then they had two other places that they were going to have to hit up. One of them housed the military academy that Valerie had come from. The other was a town that had little to offer. When they left, they had already picked it clean, but it had no zombies. "I hate to say this, but we''re going to have to think about branching out a bit further. We''re going to tap Plainsmount dry soon. I''m thinking that we either need to go back to Dunnamore or find some place else new to gate to. But that would necessitate splitting the party." "Don''t split the party!" Stella yelled from the back. "Thank you, dear. That''s entirely my point. We have to make some decisions soon." Anthony groaned. It wasn''t loud enough to be heard over the rabble. Bob got it from their proximity and his posture. They had talked about this at length before. Bob was of the mind that they needed to keep moving around. Anthony didn''t want to risk his people when there were so many opportunities close to them. "We have the whole port city here," Anthony said. "Or half of it. I''m still of the mind that we need to get everything out of it before we move on. Also with the understanding that we have a person here who knows the academy in and out." The unspoken thing was that the town that was since the academy hadn''t been fully opened. And inside of it, inside of the walls that were reinforced was a pressure cooker of even more zombies than could be found where they were. But also potentially more treasure as more nobles had sent their kids there. There were also a smattering of mansions that hadn''t been picked clean yet. There was little problem that it caused them to leave early. A dragon had shown up and caused things to be completely turned on their heads. It caused them to move out far earlier they intended to and they couldn''t have the chance that they needed to pick more things out that would be useful. Stolen novel; please report. When they returned to the academy grounds, the dragon was missing but the city was notably slightly darker than it had been before. Bob had an inkling that it was the same green undead dragon as the one he has summarily sent into the quiet sea. This might mean that there was another greedy green dragon out there looking to profit from the current situation. He shuddered at the thought. "There''s no dragon there anymore," Anthony said. "And it''s our fall back point, especially once we are able to anchor the gate to something bigger." One of the biggest problems they had was that the gate spell could only transport one person at a time. It made one portal that was about the size of a door. Their horses couldn''t fit through a gate until Sonya figured out how to widen that skill. Finley and Valerie said that it was possible, but the people who had designed any of the gates that predated the collapse were long gone. "There is always the option of heading into elven territory and trying to examine one of the gates that they''ve set up all over the place there. Finley how far are we from the closest gate?" Anthony said, clearly knowing the answer. "We are about two weeks away from the closest gate and it''s on the quiet sea," the elf said. "It would be a bit faster if we took a boat. Remember, we always had the option of giving her a monk class or running skill card and having her run as far as she can everyday and then portal back from where she ends up." They had talked about that option at great length in their council meetings. The monks that were in the Caravan could run exceedingly fast pace for a long amount of time. Sonya had two class cards which meant that she could potentially use a third. If they gave her one of the monk class cards or made one for her then she could run a long distance everyday. Even though it wouldn''t be nearly as long as a horse could do, it would get faster everyday as she leveled her skills. Then she would just portal back home at the end of the day, slowly getting a network of connected places where she could get further and further away from the Caravan. With the combined abilities of her card anchor and her gate skill, she was able to leave little anchors along the way pointing the directions she was looking for. According to Finley, they only needed to come to touch one of the gates in order to get access to the rest of them. That is of course, unless they were all locked out of the network that had been set up. "And again, I''m offering," Sonya said from the other side of Anthony. "I just need a monk class card and I feel like I would be better suited on just about any other task that we have for the Caravan. If we''re going to be here for the long term that I can start taking some long walks with some friends in the middle of the day and try to bridge the gap." "I feel like we can wait until we see how fast we can make these ships go while they''re in the air. Especially since Finley has now made several air bending skills cards." Stella smiled at the mention of this very specific air bending skill card that they had put feeling up to making. Everyone liked the little changes that were apparently due to their presence in the world. He hadn''t thought that they would make something like this happen, but he accepted it. It would all work better if they had skills to actually propel the thing that they were trying to move. "I''m going to be kind of honest here," Bob said. "I don''t know why we need to put the ship in the air. You can just take a regular old ship through the water and-" "Sea monsters!" Several people said at once. Bob hated Vanessa, the large Quiet seas resident sea monster. They had done a collaboration before with him giving the sea monster the ability to throw a dragon around. It would make him a formidable friend, but right now he didn''t know if the sea monster would attack them on sight or not. The last time it made an appearanc, they''d mostly run away and it had mostly taken up a snack of several dwarves off of the areas closest to the quiet sea. It was already running low on zombies that were willing to sit around and within range. Something about the ones next to them being eaten changed things. "I could see how that''s a strong reason for us to not stick around in the water. But also I''m thinking ahead to how we''re going to land and looks like we''re going to have to make a water landing as well. Joe, there doesn''t seem to be a reason for us not to take the river if it is actually an option. If it''s not an option, someone tell me. Because I really don''t know," Bob said, getting ready. The arguments continued on for a little bit and no accord was found. "Because we reached this stand still here. I think we need to take two days off and come back to the drawing board. I am specifically telling the scouts to take two days off and really think about how we''re doing because we''ve been here for a while. We''ve been on the road for a while and it looks like we''re going to be on the road again soon," Anthony said. "In that case, I will call for ending the meeting. Can I get a second?" Bob said. "I will second that," Stella said. The council and they assembled members broke up in short order. Bob was faced with Stella and no one else. In a few hours, they were going to have to make dinner. But right now? They had free time and Stella was coming in ever closer. When she got a few feet away from him, she pulled him into an embrace. They were about to do something for date night but he hadn''t the foggiest idea. It was hard to do things in the middle of a medival apocalypse. Stella led him up to one of the mansions, holding his hand and taking her time. She led him up to one of the solariums that the dwarves was used to sun themselves. In this area, they were two easels set up with paint and wine. Bob, raised an eyebrow, remembering that her favorite movie was Titanic. To get a little bit of a show but he had an inkling that he was going to be the subject of her painting. If he said the wrong thing. It would be better if he just volunteered. "All right Stella, what''s going on? Are we painting? Wine and sip? And is this a Titanic moment? Do you want to draw me like one of your French girls?" He said. Stella, a woman who was accustomed to asking him for dirty naughty things on the regular, blushed. Then she pulled out a case of wine. There were three bottles, a make of which he could not say no to. Behind him, a table already had several glasses and he grabbed two. Just the feeling of the glass itself felt luxurious as if the thing it cost several hours pay. And so, Bob found himself stripping down and drinking some wine while his girlfriend painted him. He had to admit that it was nice and relaxing and she had chosen the lighting and pieces that were on the couch very well. When she got tired of painting, she took a turn with him doing the same thing, giving him a little thrill as she undressed and lay down on the couch. Bob had to work overtime to concentrate on what he was doing because there were so many reasons that he would be diverted. It wasn''t until the second glass of wine that both of them decided that they could get back to the painting part later. They wanted each other right now. Bob approached her with intent and she nearly threw her glass away, trying to pull him in for a kiss. Her fingers were like a sick metal pincers on his back, needing out the tension that had come from that day. Even though he knew that Stella was her own woman, he really worried about how to keep her safe. It wasn''t his job, and he had taught her but there was a little voice in the back of his head. At that very oment, she was drowning that voice in a bathtub. His focus was on her and her focus was on him and he did not care that all of a sudden there was pain all over his back All that he cared about at that moment was her and getting through all this together. Because they had started out trying to survive and he had never expected to get nearly as far. He had also never expected her to be able to do the thing with her tongue that made his toes curl. But he was a man who was looking for a little bit of adventure with his new girlfriend. Of course he was going to give her everything that he had. 3- Five Just like many walls before it had fallen, the eastern Gate of the Gloucester now lay on the ground. Several choice explosions had enabled it to fulfill its greatest dream, at least its greatest dream in Anthony''s eyes. Didn''t every door want to be open? For certain, the tall old wooden door, would not be closing anytime soon. Anthony and the defenders waited out there looking to bait any dwarves into following them. Whatever zombies have been close to the door, we''re not interested in anything that they were selling. Usually it was easy to sell zombies on some prime human rib. You would just show up and then they would come right after you. But today only a few made their way out. Anthony used this chance to exercise his favorite spell: Holy Bolt. He prepared his magical finger gun, lining it up then fired knocking its head off. "Nailed it," he whispered. They had so many specific rules about zombies. Some of them were stupid like don''t bring a zombie home to meet your parents. But the most important, the most visceral rule that he had for himself was to not let zombies get too close to him. Anthony wanted a few miles at least of a safe zone. He could do with less if he really had to in a pinch. Bolts of lightning went around the battlefield, arcing close enough to offer him a drink. Energy spells killed the other two zombies before he got a chance to even line up the shot. So he sat, waiting for even more zombies to take the hint. It was an obvious feint. So obvious that it baffled him that it kept working. His tedium warred with the pile of steaming corpses and the shadowy form of a cat that moved through the pile extracting cards and card pieces. That was a bit of a welome distraction. It took about two minutes for the zombies to notice. Arrows and spells flowed freely as he had the defenders begin their slow ambling retreat. On the side they were, the pinch between the promontory and the eastern part of the city, Sonya had made a little maze offshoot for them to funnel the zombies into. It was their job to be the enticing bait. "Come on then!" He yelled at the zombies, who continued to pay no attention to any taunts. Just like a honey badger, these monsters didn''t care. A critical mass of zombies poured through the doors. "Time to run!" He yelled, shifting into the next part of the plan. Anthony and his team took off running. They had given it about a ten second before the mass of zombies had arrived to make sure that they weren''t just running away where the zombies wouldn''t even pay attention to them. These zombies saw them and they were immediately thinking about their next meal. So Anthony, making sure that all his fellow defenders were with him and ahead of him, ran back to the molded earthen steps that led up to the maze. They were all up over the top by the time he arrived. He turned back. In essence, he was going to neg the zombies into showing up to the party. This whole setup had been there just to draw them in and gaslight them into dying down one of the maze paths. It was simple but effective. "Oh look, I''m so delicious. Why don''t you just come and have a bite? Oh it''s terrible you can''t reach us from there? Oh that''s too bad. Why don''t you come around the maze and see if he can reach us from there?" He yelled. For everything they knew, these zombies either didn''t care or wouldn''t listen. Meaning it after at some point in time, he had to tackle with the issue that he was the one taunting the zombies. He was the only one who thought that there was any value in it, the entirety of that value being in his getting that negative energy out. Once the defenders gotten up onto the wall, Sonya retracted the steps. Not even half minute later, the first wave of zombies contacted the packed dirt walls, most of those entering the maze. The zombies arrived, turning into a line that they could start attacking. With three or four abreast, the ones that have been held in reserve took over. A line on each side of about a dozen goat mages began to pepper the zombies. Unique in this design, Sonya had decided to do a very long hallway, followed by a break. About to hit roughly half of a port city, they expected the zombie bodies to pile up higher than normal. So she had started widening the maze so they could take care of that as well as about half a mile in, she made a break in the maze in case the zombies were able to tile up so high that they were going to be on top of the maze. The walls were thick but at the end of that half mile stretch, she had them connected via magically enhanced two by fours. There were specific spots along the way that they were going to use as points of no return. Once they began, it became quite clear that there was going to be more zombies than they could deal with on this particular day. Far in the back, the orcs sounded the tone to retreat to the first checkpoint. Anthony yelled trying to get above the sound of all of the zombies. "First fallback point!" He yelled. And then he realized, that the people that were supposed to be falling back had already started moving. He smiled, joining them. As he passed by, he saw that the goat mages were making quick work of the zombies. Rocks flew as the goat mages showered the monsters. Unfortunately for Anthony, the rocks the goats summoned were actual rocks from behind them. This meant that once the rocks, which were pebble sized, hit, there was even more mass for the zombies to trample over. This had the long-term effect of creating a ramp out of zombie bodies. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sonya had anticipated this. Where he had spent his time waiting around playing tactical RPGs, Sonya had been playing tower defense games. She knew that there was going to be a clog because this wasn''t a game. Those zombies didn''t just disappear when you killed them. They had mass. By dying, each monster would help their brothers and sisters more than they could have otherwise individually. Sure, they were all still dumb and unfocused and only looking for some long pig, but now that long pig was technically available for them. After about ten seconds of weaving past zombies that were trying to grab him, Anthony ran full force behind the goats and his defenders. As it turned out, no one had decided to wait for him. A hand shot out, arresting his movement. The iron grip from one of the zombies made him feel fully alive for the first time that day. Anthony pointed his finger guns at the zombie they had decided to disrupt his chill. "Fuck off," he said, blasting at the smithereens. He hit the zombie in the head and had to shoot it again once to get in the hand off of him. Once he was gone, he was back up and running this time, this time without a tactical pause to look back for his Friends. He was in it. A critical mass of zombies that had piled up was behind him. He was absolutely certain that one of them was going to get on top of the maze nearby him, most likely on his side of the wall, and then start to chase him. Once one of them got onto the wall, then others would. Thankfully, the walls were about as straight as a ruler, which meant that he could just pause and keep shooting down the wall. He could pass a field sobriety test, just like zombies couldn''t. Anthony had never been a good runner. Sure, he was in shape. He had to catch babies for a living. He was from the city where if someone asked him to run he would have looked in them like they had their own problems to deal with and what were they doing next to him. With his enhanced card power making him stronger than he would have otherwise been, Anthony ran about as fast as a varsity cross country runner could. Maybe fast enough to win an award at a county meet. It still felt super fast to him. He gave it his all. Two by fours that were about six feet in length where the railroad tracks he was aiming for. The western wall of the maze had already retracted their boards. Anthony was the last one across. They were already threatening to pull it as he nearly jumped the entire way. With the average height of a dwarf being less than the break between the maze sections, this would stop any of the zombies queuing up to be maze runners. Once he was across, he paused taking a deep breath as he centered himself. He took aim at the one two zombies that were running on top of the maze wall. "Hey asshole get down," Stella said, tapping him on his shoulder. "We''re already set up. Stop doing main character business and let us fucking fire already." Anthony sheepishly got into the prone, assuming a good push-up position. "Sorry Stella!" He yelled but it was broken off by the sound of dozens of rocks flinging above him, impacting zombies both on and below the maze. Rocks that hit into the packed dirt walls began to break it down. At least the wall that he have been running on was now full of pock marks. He had a strange inkling that perhaps the zombies would be deterred by this. But there was no logical thought behind their motion. For a second he was reminded of the grip of the zombie on his leg. The moment passed, but he realized that this is going to be something that he was going to have to work through later. It had felt real at the time, like he had woken up from a deep sleep. Another hand grabbed him, pulling him up. "Get behind the lines, Caravan Commander." He moved, letting himself be pulled in the direction that they wanted him to go. He wasn''t going to be the one holding them back because he wanted the piece of the action. He would rotate back in. But for now? He finally got to the back behind several people. It was time for him to get a lay of the land. The one thing that the Caravan did really well was when they had a lot of prep time? Fuck shit up. They were able to pull off amazing things. The promontory rose up, giving the maze a subtle upward tilt. From there he could see the whole thing going on in real time. He also took a second to hone in on one of his least most favorite cards.
Rare class: Goblin Commander L2 Battlefield Surveillance L3 Command L2 Leadership L2 Influence L2 Enlightened beings that see you as a leader will have a bonus combat boon when within twenty span.
It was something that he had gotten by chance and that Finley had all but forced him to take. It made him a bit better at the job that everyone else didn''t want. Then the damn thing just proved to be far too useful, and it never made it out of his deck, cementing it''s time in his soul deck. From his new vantage point, he could see that the thing that the group was trying to do wasn''t happening. They had wanted to flush out most of the zombies, but the mass that had appeared was definitely not all of those left in the city. There was always another chance that they might draw some more out, but this time they wanted to do it without burning down half of the city. A bone dragons black flame had reduced but the other half the city of rubble. Some magical effect of the flame just kept burning until the thing that was burning turned to ash. It was the same thing with the zombies from that side. In truth, it had taken more than a day for that half of the sea to burn down. There was a lot of things that they had wanted and could potentially have used that had just burned away. It felt so unnecessary, but at the same time, the entire continent being turned into zombies felt like someone''s foolhardy errand that they were making everyone''s problem. Below him, the zombies finally reached the break in the wall. He smiled as the first of the the pack fell over, probably breaking their backs as they fell. The chances were that those ten feet would be very crucial, especially in depth. However, Sonya, had thought about this and made that part of the maze slightly deeper. Around the Gap, she had made the maze slowly ramp down until the space below was twenty feet from the top. Then, Stella cast ice Magic over the parts of the wall that the zombies were climbing onto, making them fall all over the place. The first time the Stella had used ice magic, she had created a nice luge. She had since then evolved a more contemporary understanding of how to use ice magic. Make zombies achieve the opposite of their objectives. Now, she made sure that any zombie that could fall, would probably slip and slide on one of her floors. Than the ones that were intending to go further, would fall off the wall and probably break something. The Caravan would wait. While Bob''s summoned familiar went in and did the hard part of extracting cards from their bodies. It was the main way they got stronger, by using the cards that they got to enhance their decks. It was for sure how he felt that they got stronger as they began to move from place to place, creating staging areas and more and more elaborate fortresses out of earthen walls until they arrived on their final design with which they had turned into a zombie death trap. The death trap closed around the zombies that, as they got more before nightfall. The vigil carried on into the night, exhausting most of their guard shifts. Then the coats took over. At first Anthony was skeptical about leaving all this to the goats, but they proved more than capable. What they did was takedown zombies in the dark with precision. He had half of mine to thank them all personally if he thought that they would listen. It was almost certainly a fact of life that they wouldn''t listen, unless they really really wanted to. Just talking to them was like pulling teeth because they were so slow on the uptake. They were still doing yes and no questions for interspecies communication. The goats understood the common tongue, which is easy enough, but it was hard for them to respond back in any manner. That would have to change. 3- Six Taking pot shots at the undead inside, the two women updated their tally for the day. "I got fifty," Sophie said. "Forty seven!" Stella said. "Twelve," Valerie said. "And I still don''t understand why you have me scratching down all these numbers for you. But hey, I''m here." Sophie and Stella both had a rogue class. It was part of the thing that brought them together initially. That plus they had become instant besties. Today it was about training up. Valerie, who had a lot of theoretical experience in combat but hadn''t really seen the front lines before. They had given her a crossbow and as many bolts as they could smuggle out of the academy in order to fire at something that wasn''t stationary. Though they were lumbering, the zombies did move around a fair bit. There was a whole other deal where they had to crank it back and get used to using a crossbow, but the two women were happy to help her experience the true joy of combat. Or rather, the unquestionable everyday mundane experience of it. Sophie cranked back a crossbow bolt. She sided down aiming for the closest zombie. After the night they had previously, Sonya had made several guard towers out of packed dirt. Those towers were right by the exit and conveniently located and high enough for whoever was in them to take pot shots at zombies that were exiting the port city. "I''ve got another three coming through," Stella said. "Girl power!" Valerie said, firing a bolt that crippled a zombie. "Did I do that right?" "I guess if we stop teaching you how to do cool catchphrases then we would be in a mess, wouldn''t we? We wouldn''t know what to do with ourselves, right Sophie?" Stella said. Sophie cranked back another bolt, this time passing the fully loaded crossbow to the Dwarven girl. Her rogue skills were telling her how to have the dwarf aim it. She minutely adjusted the dwarf''s grip making sure that it was fully seated in her right shoulder as Valerie''s looked through the Little sight port that Andrew had installed. "I mean, really, this thing with the crosshairs. It''s just wonderful and I wish that we had this kind of thing in our war against the sea monsters." "You can''t really call it a war when we just had one battle," Sophie said, loading another crossbow bolt. "We''ve had one battle, yes. But what about second battle?" Stella said. Sophie adjusted the crossbow one more time for Valerie who seem to be getting it. It was sufficient to blind-side a zombie. Sufficient wasn''t enough, they needed to do better. Under Sophie''s expert tutelage, the dwarf girl had grown exponentially in her archery skills. "I feel like the both of you have lots of inside jokes that you''re just not telling me about," Valerie said. "One does not just simply walk into bestie hood," Stella said. Once again, Stella and Sophie were going to get the better of Valerie. That is at the same time while they were going to make her better. While they were having lots of friendly banter, they were leveling up the girl''s first combat capable class. It had taken a fair bit of work to get her decide on her class finally but when she did, she had jumped into it wholeheartedly. Like the other two Rogues around her, she had wanted to hit from afar. She wasn''t a rogue because she wasn''t thinking of being sneaky. Valerie liked what Bob did the best. She had asked for Finley to craft her a ranger card and it had taken him that entire time throughout their journey from her academy grounds to the port city to finally make her the card she wanted. She was super pleased to have at least some of the wilderness expertise that Bob had always projected. She was less pleased that a lot of his special powers that she was admiring had come from Mork directly. This made her complain Sophie and Stella that perhaps he should have been a warlock of Mork. "Are you still thinking about that thing?" Sophie said patting the dwarf on his shoulder after her fifteenth kill. If you really want to, we can get you a warlock class. We can change it out. I''m sure that somebody''s going to want to trade for that ranger card that doesn''t have a combat class that works just like that. Maybe even someone who''s in our presence right now." Sophie not so subtly looked towards her bestie. It was well known that Stella had gotten a rogue card and had capitalized on an ice magic card early on. Then when they had more ability to pick more cards, she had suffered from what those in the industry call analysis paralysis. She had wanted to be a trickster. Sophie felt that deeply in her soul. But there was no tricks to pull on a zombie. In fact, if there was a mind magic card, which Valerie assured to her that there was not, then it was more than likely not going to affect any Undead. Valerie had come to them already with a class card. Due to a complicated system of rules that only she was privy to, being a native from this land, dwarves could only have two active class cards at a time. Her class card was a heritage one handed down from her grandfather. So the newest class card slotted in it easily but that meant that she couldn''t also multi-class the way that the humans were doing. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "I don''t want a warlock class. Maybe I''ll consider evolving this class card into some sort of ranger or warlock or something," She said. "Is that something you can do?" Sophie said. "Just evolve a class card like that? Because this is new information. I have an epic skill card and a wilderness druid class card and I would love to have like some sort of artisanal class where I can open up a little bakery with my girlfriend and we can retire there where we are the only lesbians around that know how to brew a good cup of coffee and you have to come and experience it right?" "That is not exactly what I was speaking about. I feel like this is like the fire inspector thing All over again. Really? I''m sorry about not giving you guys access to my library. You guys now have full access as long as you don''t tell the boys about it," Valerie said. "What was that about not telling the boys?" Bob said from the other side of the tower. "I would love to hear about that." The two women and a dwarf looked at the man quizzically. "Bob, for Mork''s sake, go kill some more zombies for us. We''re doing some girl talk right now." Bob disappeared just as fast as he appeared. Sophie laughed. "Someday that''s not going to work. Stella. He''s going to want to know what''s going on," Sophie said. "But we can just tell him that we''re going to talk about women''s issues, right?" Stella said. "I''m absolutely certain that our guy here actually attended sex ed and knows a few things, we just pretend that it''s a girl''s issue. He might just let us be and then we''d be fine." There was a noise over from the other side of the tower and all three of them turn to look. It was just Bob lowering himself down. "All right, looks like we have an idiot on our hand," Sophie said. "Let''s provide covering fire while guy on the ground does his little dance." Sophie took her position up quickly, this time more serious about her trigger time. Now with every shot, she imbued a small bit of mana that would envelop the creature that she sought to destroy. It was like a tripwire except that it would trip up anything nearby the zombie that she killed. She didn''t even have to kill the zombie. She just had to contact it and the vines would do their own thing. That had been something that Finley taught her because the Goat Lord loved to turn zombies back into their base materials and return their souls to the Earth. Or something like that, she hadn''t really been paying attention. The Goat Lord was only her boss in name. More like an absent patron or a sugar daddy that forgot to get his sugar. Below them, Bob''s two swords cleaved a line of zombies around himself. He had once been clumsy and reserved, now he flowed around the battlefield like he was dancing. It really was the closest thing that she could imagine to a deadly tango. She had to admit, for all his failings, Bob had the heart of an entertainer. Of course, then he sliced through the head of the entertainer that he was fighting, but these were small problems in his life. He had been on television which meant that at some point in time someone had asked him if he wanted to be on television, and his response was yes. This told Sophie that perhaps there was a bit of a narcissist in there. Or perhaps some bit of external pressure had forced his hand. It wasn''t like he would have any shortage of ability to find foot traffic in Hoboken. Sophie wouldn''t know. She had never been there. She just heard stories straight from Bob''s mouth. "Hey Bob, move to your left!" Stella yelled. Sophie swore that she saw him do a two-step before dodging a clump of zombies that was about to fall on him. She couldn''t say for sure, but it was so smooth that she was getting chills. In and out he waved, avoiding any zombies that got close enough, picking his battles as he stuck zombie at a zombie either in the throat or the chest. Sophie picked off zombies from the pack that had separated and began to charge on him. Valerie was on short notice duty, trying to take down anything she could take down. Charging up several ice bolts in between her crossbow bolts. She would shoot one, throw one and then reset. It became clear, that the zombies were finally taking his threat seriously. About a minute into fighting, Bob was close to being cut off. "Bob! Tactical retreat!" Bob, without looking, threw a grappling hook up over his left shoulder. The grappling hook got purchas on their tower and he immediately began jumping up and climbing, rappelling in reverse. "If I didn''t see that in person, I would never have expected him to ever do something like that. I would never expect anyone to do anything like this. You chosen are another breed. I swear to Yil, that I will unlock all your secrets because this is so unprecedented," Valerie said. Bob brute forced repelling upwards, defying the laws of physics. It was exactly the thing that kept him in Sophie''s good graces. Then he took up a spot next to them and pulled out his crossbow. Sophie handed him a crossbow bolt before aiming her own and taking down another two zombies. They kept coming. The four of them kept firing until their arms were sore. Then, they began casting spells and flinging magical grenades at the zombies. Some of the zombies were stuck up more than others, the sticky magic grenades taking down more than a few just by proximity. "So what''s for dinner tonight?" Sophie said. "And more importantly, when are we going to get Valerie to show us where the good stuff is?" "I don''t know where the good stuff is. I only worked in the kitchen one time and it was a punishment that shall not be named," Valerie said, panting from the corner nearby. "You can''t tell me that you don''t know what the good stuff is. There has to be like some sort of Academy student on the ground that you needed to tap into. There''s always this subtext of people that are in the know because of where they''ve been at least in Earth fiction. Isn''t that the same thing here?" Valerie straightened up before answering. "I don''t know what you''re talking about. I know nothing. Everyone made fun of me because one of my parents was an instructor. That made it hard for me to make friends. You can imagine how difficult it is when one of the high ranking officers has the same last name as you. Sure, the name is strong but I wanted it to be my own thing and now?" "Now you can be the famous general that reclaimed the dwarven Kingdom. There will be stories about you for ages to come," Sophie said, getting up to peer over the side of the watchtower. "I can''t be a general. I don''t have enough time in the Army. I''m not even old enough to commission." "I hate to say it right now but you are the Army. There''s nobody else. And until we get to these guys across the ocean, we are alone." Sophie grabbed for a crossbow bolt and came up empty. Instead, she flung a snare trap down, trapping several zombies in it. The zombies had long ago given up on them and just now begun to flow back into the maze behind them. They weren''t going to head back into the city. That would make no sense. Of course, nothing the zombies did made sense. It was then, That she looked down and saw that there was an island in the mass of zombies. Or rather it was a figure in the center that all the zombies were walking around. With the average height of a dwarfin zombie, not that tall, this figure more than doubled the height of the zombies around it. Worse, none of the zombies seem to care about it. As they ran around, the orc-sized figure with a black cloak, looked up towards them. At least that''s what she thought that it did. She was unable to see its face or make out any features underneath the dark black cowl. "That can''t be good." She aimed her crossbow right at it, trying to scare it to move away. But no matter what she did, it didn''t move from its spot. If it had been alive, then the zombies surely would have eaten it by now. This meant that something else entirely was going on and she didn''t want to have anything to do with it. "Bob? Your call?" She said, turning him. But Bob was just as bewildered as she was. All four of them just stared there for a while at the scene that they''d never expected to see. "That has to be a death knight," He said, readying his swords again. 3- Seven Bob, Mork''s second dinner companion, was one of the few people that could tell whether or not something was a death knight. He had a little icon that told him where the death knights were. That little splotch on his HUD was always present in his mind. In fact, every night when he returned back to their staging area, what he did was his work to check where the death knights were. There were three circles each about with a radius of ten meters that Valerie used to triangulate their distance. Each night, Bob would go to each of the three circles and stand in the center and double check that none of the death knights had moved significantly. If they had, he would move one of the rocks and headed their direction relative to the circle. It wasn''t perfect, but it was enough for Valerie to work with. Bob had been close enough to two death knights in the flesh that he knew that the icon grew larger. Sure, he only had that ability for the second death. Knight, as it was something that Mork had given him specifically, so when his scouts told him otherwise he was confused. Whatever creature that was down among the zombies, it had to be intelligent. That meant that there was a death knight controlling it, or had controlled it before and sent it off on an errand. "That''s not a death knight! That''s just an errand boy!" He yelled, shooting at it, wondering how the words errand boy had left his unconscious thoughts. A crossbow bolt that should have sheared what had to be an head off just stuck into it. Errand boy was just the only thing that popped into his head and he knew instantly that the ladies would remember that one. They had been on him about his vegetable intake for a while before he told them that vegetables were a culinary distinction, thank you very much. They still regularly filled him up with the local equivalent of broccoli: purple cabbage. "Fire!" Stella said from next to him. It was midday, but he could feel the sparks of the fireworks as Sophie released whatever she had. He loaded up another bolt. It was still just there looking at him. As he was loading his second bolt, the being lowered his hood and Bob got a better look. It had to have been an orc at one point in time. But now its lifeless black eyes leered at him, as if trying to beseech him to just give up. Bob was not going to give up. He had, against so many people''s better advice, opened up a cake shop in Hoboken. He wasn''t known for taking advice. He would rather tighten his belt than ask for help. The crossbow bolt was still sticking out of the orc''s face. The orc pulled out the bolt, and then waved an envelope at three of them before melding into the crowd of zombies. "Did he just wave an envelope at us?" Stella yelled. "You''ve got mail!" Sophie chimed in. Bob continued attacking the horde but now the tension had broken. He realized that even though he knew instinctively that it wasn''t a death knight, seeing an intelligent undead do something deliberately to them for a purpose, meant that somebody knew. One of the death knights was tracking them. He was reasonably certain now that it was the orcish one. So he was going to have to have a heart-to-heart with Borgan and Song. It wasn''t long before they got the reinforcements that they needed to push the zombies back. Once again, Bob was still worrying what he was going to say to the orcs when he got rotated out. He didn''t want to be rotated out but still made it clear that it was his time to go. He shook it out. They needed to talk. They were on a guard tower that was not connected to anything, there was a chance that the zombies could eventually push it over and then there would be really screwed. He resolved to install a zip line if needed. His grappling hook card, while awesome and have great help in destroying a zombie dragon, did not reach between the guard tower and the beginning of the maze. Yet. --- Finley rotated into the fighting and then back out. All the chosen had very strong abilities that made them deadly in a fight. They also had deep mana wells. He would never want to fight one of them. He would lose to even the weakest chosen. Each of them was a world class warrior. He was so glad that they chose to keep him on board everyday. The elf would not have survived the zombies otherwise. When Bob brought back the news that they had received a message, the mood of the camp soured a bit. Whatever it was, the fact that something had seen fit to send them a package of some sort was not a good sign. Though Gloucester was remote, it had a direct trade route to the dwarven capital. It was a major trade hub, or at least it had been. What it wasn''t by any stretch of the imagination was close to the orcish meritocracy. Finley had tried to explain the distances involved at that length. It was a very far distance for anyone to go unless they were deliberately doing something. Even then they would have to bring a lot of support. That was why most adventuring groups traveled in packs or groups of at least eight to twelve. He hadn''t had to while he was protected in the settled North. But here? Despite being close to the Capitol? They were definitely monsters lurking, looking for an easy breakfast. "And you are certain that this was an orc?" Borgan said. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Fairly certain," Bob said. "And they were this far from the meritocracy''s lands..." Song signed something to his brother and Bob. Finley struggled on what the verb was. "He''s saying that they have to travel very far to get here. There''s something going on," Bob said. Finley had to re-calibrate his interpretation of the sign that Song had made with his fingers. Or had it been a wheel? He would find out later. "That would be so much travel that they would have had to start when we started traveling. Not from the dwarven kingdom where we met most of you," Finley said. "From Dunnamore." Bob scratched his beard. Finley remembered his introduction to Bob. The slightly younger Bob had been overconfident. That first encounter had begun with Bob assaulting a fortified position where an intelligent undead had captured virtually every other member of the Caravan that was with them today. Aside from the two orcs and Valerie, every single other human and dwarf had been there. Bob''s summoned eldritch being had finally arrived with a haul that made previous hauls look poor by comparison. Rather than carrying everything, it threw it all up at Bob''s feet. The crown jewel of the hole was of course the folio that held something that nobody wanted to touch. "Do you think it''s cursed?" Bob said. "When you say cursed, what are you talking about?" Finley said. Humans had some strange sensibilities about these kind of things. There was probably some backstory that they were not going to tell them until much later that he probably should have known by now. But that was just working with humans in general. "Like through evil spirits. This might have some sort of card effect when we open it?" Bob said, holding it out at arm''s length. Beneath his knees, the cat shaped thing lounged. "Bob, you have an eldritch beast right there. Why don''t you have it open it for you?" Borgan said. Next to him, Song signed to have the cat do it. This one, Finley understood entirely. "All right. Ca''at, would you do us the honors please?" The small beast apparently understanding the context either through Bobs instructions or from everyone else shrinking away from the package. Ca''at cut a thin line down the envelope. Opening it slowly, everyone reeled back, expecting some sort of spring trap. But it didn''t disappear and didn''t explode, which was probably par for the course for them. He couldn''t ask much more for his cat than to not explode upon contact. Bob could ask for it to not destroy his carpet, but that would be a fool''s errand. Ever so slowly, the little beast pulled a piece of parchment out of the inside of the envelope. It took the envelope, separating it with its paws and teeth and then brought the piece of paper up to Bob. All eyes were on it as the cat brought the paper up. The expectation was that this was a message from a death knight. They had never needed to interact with the death knight before which was concerning on many different levels. Of course, when the paper was turned over, the writing wasn''t orcish and Finley couldn''t read it. He was about to guess that perhaps the chosen got the ability to read other languages as one of their powers because that would just be so broken. "What the heck does this say guys?" Bob asked, showing the paper to the orcs and then to Finley. "It says that the rightful heir of Mork wants to meet you and discuss the future--their future plans?" Borgan said. The tension became a miasma of confusion. Bob looked to Song, but the mute orc just shrugged. "Who the heck is the rightful heir of Mork?" Bob said. "Well the bottom it''s signed... His name is the Flesh Weaver," Borgan said. Bob paused for a second. His eye drifted off, focusing on something that only he could see. Finley had seen this before and he expected that Bob was getting a quest. Every time the man completed a quest, he got something that he couldn''t otherwise have gotten from his deity. It was the reason he had the ability to even detect where the death knights were. His killing of the first death knight gave him the Pathfinder ability that helped him detect zombies and the death knights themselves. When they killed the second death knight, their reward was the gate card. That card had proven invaluable so far. Finley was trying to think about what Bob would get from the next three death knights. As he waited for Bob to announce what his quest was about. "I got another quest," he said, slumping down. "Is it one of those evacuation type quests?" Finley said. "No. More of a Faustian bargain type thing," Bob said. "The quest wants me to meet the flesh weaver in single combat. That''s probably not going to happen. I wish I could just wave away the quest from my list though. Terrible name though-if true." The first time that they gotten a quest of that type, a horde of zombies had swarmed upon them. This was before they figured out how to use earthen walls as barriers. This was far before they had come together as a team. They had ran. That same feeling that he needed to run to safety tugged at the base of his neck. Finley scratched his chin. He wanted to run. Everything on his long life was telling him that he needed to run. "Guys I think it''s time to get this airship working," Finley said. "My feelings exactly," Bob said. --- "In light of current events and a new understanding of what is behind these dragon attacks, I''m posing that we begin our final preparations and if we''re not airworthy within two days. Then we''ll go for the sea-worthy route. I understand that there''s a lot of shifting around needs to happen so that we can make sure that all the horses have a spot on board as well as all the goats. Seeing as how the horses don''t have a choice in the matter, we wanted to put it towards the goats to make their own decision." The council and all the goats assembled took up a very large amount of room. In fact, Anthony had to ask Sonya to prepare the so that everyone would have a place to stand or sit. Finley had made a treat for the goats, giving two of them druid class cards with wild shape abilities. Two new dwarves joined them on that day. An unfortunate side effect of their base state being that they were goats meant that they had to wild shape into their former dwarven selves, and could only keep that form for a short while. "Therefore, let''s decide this together. Anyone who wants to make it on their own, we can let you go, but our core group needs to stick together. We assume that every one of you dwarves wants to come with. This means that we''ll have to find you all food as well." A goat bleated. The two new dwarves nodded. They''d only been able to hold their wild shape for a part of that day. They had reserved this time to be able to speak to everyone quickly. The older, male dwarf took a turn. When he was asked his name earlier he said it was Higgins-no last name. "As many of you are aware, we can''t really talk to each other when we''re in Goat form. We do get a sense of what each other are feeling. And since I understand that they all have the same intelligence as me, I can clearly state that they are hearing this and we heard you before," Higgins said. "Also, because of this faith that''s coming upon us, I feel that I need to stay that we are fully in support of your efforts. We may not be as powerful as you chosen, but we are many. And we will do whatever it takes to get our Kingdom back." Anthony briefly wondered how strong they could make their wild shape. The younger female dwarf with him, one who had the form of a pygmy dwarf had said that her name was Gigi. She had died and her previous name didn''t matter anymore. It was a dwarf thing that Valerie explained after she reverted to goat form. "If we stay here because there''s not enough room on that boat, we can make accommodations." "No one is saying that there is no room. We are simply on unaccustomed to traveling with thirty extra bodies," Anthony said. "You guys have the twenty horses though?" She replied. They had dressed her up with clothes that had been found in one of the promontory Mansions. She looked like she was ready to go to a costume ball. "None of the horses that are traveling with us used to be dwarves or zombies. They are here because of Finley''s strength in animal handling. Plus we think that they are interested in their own self-defense." "Well I speak for the both of us and the rest of my brethren when we say thank you for reviving us. All you goats that want to continue onward with the caravan of the chosen, please stamp your hooves." The cacophony of noise filled Anthony''s ears and his heart. 3-Eight "These absolute morons have decided that this vessel is seaworthy?" Stella said. "It''s true," Anthony said. "If we can''t make it fly we can make it float." But there are sea monsters and shit down there. They can''t be serious." "They are serious Stella. Unfortunately for us." Anthony and Stella were holding up their most favorite find in the entirety of the promontory neighborhood. One wouldn''t think that it would be important to search every mansion thoroughly in an apocalypse situation. One would be wrong. Picking over mansions replenished the Caravans needed supplies. But more importantly, they created a reason to look around for important things that couldn''t be moved. One of the things that they had overlooked this entire time was a workshop door that could let an entire caravan come through. Sonya had advanced her skill with her gate card enough that she was confident she could open a gate between two wrought iron anchors. The only problem she had was that for a larger gate, the entirety of the portal had to be touching iron. Overlooking their first couple weeks of searching through the mansions, one of the workshops that no one had particularly cared to enter had an iron gate. Inside of it, the dwarf who had previously occupied it had been a collector of wagons. "This guy is like the Jay Leno of dwarves," Stella said, feeling around the outside of the workshop door. "I think that this matches the academy door pretty well. It''s not a one-for-one match but it''s pretty close." "It''s too bad he only has three of them. I feel like we should have spent more time in this workshop," Anthony said. "That Earth bending card, though, really let us know what we''re looking at." "Andrew was here a lot. In fact, he was here with some of the goats." He had not told them about how extensive the workshop was with hopes that none of them would bother him. But the goats knew. They followed him around. Especially the ones that had previously worked on ships. It was hard to tell what the jobs were but at some point in time the goats figured out that it would be easier if they stuck to a human or two. This meant about two goats per human. Finley, of course, stuck close to Gigi. Andrew, being the odd dwarf out, had gotten about five dwarves. He was also unique in his special offering that had nothing to do with this current kingdom. This made him an oddity and, more often than not, several goats were there ready to grab a tool with their mouths to help him out. "I can hear both of you talking about me," Andrew said, from the back of the workshop. "I''m very flattered that you considered that I was hiding this from you. Really you guys need to pay more attention to the non-humans once in a while." "Thanks, dear," Anthony said. "Anytime, honey," Andrew replied. Stella laughed. The first thing that Sonya had them do was to clear the area around the gate. The next step was going to be making sure that iron was all the way around and that there was nothing that would stop the aperture of the portal opening. Then she would anchor it. This was how Stella and Anthony began to clean the place with brooms that were slightly too small. They were made for dwarven hands and bodies, causing a little pain in Anthony''s back. "Do you think she''s done with the Academy grounds yet?" Stella said. "She shouldn''t be too long. I''m glad that she now has the ability to shape the metal." "It does make sense for anybody else to have metal bending powers other than Sonya. I mean, what am I going to get fire bending? That''s the one that Finley got for Bob." "You and Bob smolder for each other," he said. "Our love is eternal like the black flame." Anthony stopped sweeping for a second. This particular workshop was not directly looking over the port city. It had a pastoral scene of the land east of the city as the shore line continued northeast as well as the quiet sea. He gathered the two small pieces which he needed to pick up his pile of dirt and wood shavings. Stella swept her bit into the outside, waiting for Anthony to return. Anthony scooped the remaining debris and took it further out. Below them the entirety of the frame was now in view. They only had to dig a little bit in the center where dirt had piled up. But now? The entire area around it was clean. Behind them, the wagons that they were going to need to move had been pushed as far back as possible. There had been a lot of talk about the goats and their place within the Caravan. Even Finley was talking about creative ways to use them. Because not only were they intelligent, they couldn''t talk much and that made it hard for them to express themselves. There was a lot of pent up desire to help and talk. Sure, the two that already had druid cards could speak for about thirty minutes a day. They said they wanted to do what they were doing and they were advancing rapidly but that wasn''t enough. In one of their talks, the dwarves had said that they would not have a problem being hooked up to a caravan, but only some of the goats were large enough to pull a caravan. The goats knew that they were slow, if there was an actual zombie attack. Which is why Andrew was spending his time putting together a special harness for four goats to pull one Caravan wagon. Several of the goats were the right size to do so, but not all. Five of the goats were pygmy sized. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Anthony and Stella paused to go help Andrew rig up the makeshift goat harness. The benefit of the goats being intelligent was that they understood what was about to happen. The horses had to be kind of led into the saddle usually with an animal handling skill. These goats waited in a line to get hooked up. With the door open, Andrew got the four goats in and they helped him walk the goats and the wagon outside. It was the first test of this design, as the goats had wanted their own wagon. Another part of the problem was that nobody had really figured out how to make more space to accommodate all the animals inside of the ship. The frame adjustments that would carry the ship were all finally completed. They just needed to be dragged down to the actual boat part. The balloons that would provide the shift with the necessary lift had been tested several times. The airship was ready to launch in terms of physically being able to do it. In terms of the ability to house all the things and people that need to go on the airship, this was not yet resolved. There were more people than space available, especially if they accounted for crew space and sleeping space. Everyone agreed that they needed to get the wagons up there. A ramp had been constructed as well as a system of pulleys and levers for when they had to disembark. This had all been put together with frightening speed that made Anthony wonder if anyone had ever thought to ask for work permits. Not that there was a body that would be able but to issue any, he was just used to things taking forever in the city and then one guy would come in and smooth the whole way through. He figured that he was that guy right now. And it was better that he didn''t ask them too many leading questions. In fact, their only question was whether they should move the fourth wagon on or take one of the newer wagons. The orcs had their own wagon because they were uniquely large size. In comparison with the humans and dwarves. They were about two feet taller. This meant that the normal elf-sized seats were a little bit too small for them. "Are you ready to make the tie down here?" He said. "I guess we can do that if you''re ready," Stella said. "Andrew, we''re getting ready to ground the airship up here." Andrew poked his head through the back door. "Already? But we had so much time!" All three of them turn down to look at the now slightly floating airship. "They''re going to need it soon," Anthony said. "I think they are loading the horses."
If there''s one thing that a horse doesn''t want to do, it''s go on a ship. It was taking all that Finley had to get these horses onto the ship. The large ramp that they had to get up was impractical. Really, the only thing that Finley had going for him was that he knew that his storage skill just reach the next level and he was able to use it on the ship. One of the things that changed when it leveled up was that he was pretty certain that the weight of the things that were inside of his storage field was reduced. With twenty horses, it had better be. They had tested it to make sure the ship would fly. But they couldn''t leave the horses behind. They had gone through too much together. And when they arrived on the southern continent, they were going to have to move around on the ground. It would Just look so much more official if they had horses when they came to request aid from the Irumian military that had been overseas when disaster struck. He was surprised that it was holding, but they had put a lot of work into it, so he was going to do his best to live up to their expectations to them. All three of the monks had taken air bending cards. Brandon also had a water bending card. This meant that the three monks were providing the lift. Next to him, in the center of the area, Bob was using his fire bending card to provide heat so that the canvas expanded. He only had to provide a little bit, and they all knew that Andrew was going to be creating something to replace that need. Because otherwise Stella and Bob were going to be working on that specific task for a long time. Finley really liked how the humans had taken to using all these cards to get things accomplished that he wouldn''t have even thought to do. His frame had been getting so much use free instantly that he was surprised that he still had such a large stock. They had decided as a group that they were going to leave a lot here for them to take on their supply runs. If they could take the bare minimum onto the airship, then they were going to leave a lot of things back. Additionally, they were going to take as much as they could and put it into the warehouse at the Academy. That had been their major storage area in the absence of another secured place. It was deep within the kingdom, but it was also behind a large fence and inside another large warehouse-meets-workshop that had become so ubiquitous among the upper crust dwarves. One of the humans had pointed out the connection between the amount of money that a dwarf had and the chance that they would have a workshop. Finley would have never put that together on his own. With the last of the horses on, he concentrated on making another druid card. Through all this sorting through the various uncommon rare cards, he believed that he could make another druid card from the uncommons that he had currently. Tomorrow he would be back at the drawing board, looking for the combinations that he could put together. Tomorrow he would be on an airship, hopefully flying over the quiet Sea. The boat rocked. Finley found himself grabbing for the side rail. All of a sudden, it didn''t seem to be tall enough. His stomach was a knot. He hadn''t thrown up in a long time, but for the first time he felt like that might be in the cards for him today. And then, they were off. The first flight of their airship had to be all the way to the promontory. There were several loud, happy yells as the ship actually went in the direction that the intended to go. From the back of the ship, the three monks were taking turns directing the ship towards the promontory. One would make a dance move that caused air to fly out of his hands then the other and then the third. Taking turns, this made the airship move intentionally. They told him about how they were going to try to connect to the local weather pattern and tap into the wind, but today had been a very slow day for wind. This meant that they had to do this all themselves. Andrew had promised them that he would make an engine that could provide some sort of thrust, but he wasn''t sure when that was going to happen. He was going to place that on top of the rear of the ship, and he had described something that all the humans understand distinctively but that Finley had not really gotten. He was excited to see it to be certain, but he did not know what the heck any of them were talking about when they said rockets. Weren''t rockets just artillery? The main thing that they were testing was how tired the monks would be trying to move the airship. A lot of the team thought that they might be better off in the sea. The ship was still seaworthy. It was just that they didn''t want to deal with the sea monster. They could land the ship on land because of the frame that Andrew had built. It wasn''t going to move once it was on land but they could land it. Hopefully they could move it someplace so that it wouldn''t fly away. Finley had an idea that it was going to float away at some point in time and that might be an issue, but until that happened, he was not going to worry about it. What he was going to do was walk down below the deck and double check on his storage area. Underneath the boat, he was able to see exactly how he wanted. Its interior of the boat was larger than the exterior due to his power and even better, he knew that he could take it. It felt solid in its mind. Now he was ready to move hundreds of pounds across an ocean. All he had to do was get the goats and the humans on board. And also perhaps figure out how the heck to make this thing move on purpose. 3- Nine "...So I wanted to honor those dwarves that we lost here. I''m really sure how to do it," Gigi said. "I lost my entire tribe. I''m still reeling," Finley said. "I understand." The two of them stared down as the group from the Caravan did their best to secure the airship to the ground. At the same time, their view of the port city was the best one that they ever had, despite being on a rocky overlook that rich dwarves had chosen specifically for the view. Perhaps it was the fresh air on that breeze that just didn''t seem to exist on the promontory. Either way, Gigi only had a few minutes to talk before for wild shape would run out of the day. "What do you want to do to memorialize them?" "I wasn''t a follower of the Goat Lord before, but I am given to understand that you are or were. His guidance would be great in this time." She looked so young at that moment. According to her, her wild shaped form was a shade removed from how she had looked before. She had blond salt and pepper hair, the same as her goat form. "I don''t know if some of the guys in the pantheon are more direct with their approach, but the Goat Lord is more of a very flimsy outlines kind of guy. Or girl? Not really sure." "Go on." Gigi and Finley double checked the top end of the ropes. He was scared of the boat, and they had a spare rope which they tossed in to see if they could help the four humans down there. "There are few things that the Goat Lord really wants us to do. A lot of that is turning their bodies into plant food. Or turning them to plants. He specifically likes sunflowers and daisies, but he understands that this unnatural phenomenon is not going to be so easily dealt with. Sonya and I had a talk about what we''re going to do when this was all over and we would have to go through every single town that has been affected by this, which is hundreds of them on this continent, then we would have to spend all day turning the corpses of these zombies into dirt and..." "That sounds like a lot." "It is a lot to ask someone with a limited lifespan like these humans, but I''ve got a long life ahead of me. I may make the time when this is all done." "I don''t even know how long pygmy goats live. But I''m here for this for as long as I can. Someone has to write down what happened here so that it can never happen again." Finley tried heaving a rope back up slowly, but trying it was testing the bounds of what was possible. He wasn''t strong enough to pull the rope. He was going to need to go some way to return it. He imagined a giant field that could reel again, thinking about firefighting horse. A chance encounter with a fire brigade by a river had shown him exactly how those worked. The massive workhorses hauled things well. "Do you think that we could build a little crank right here?" Finley said. The entire airship rocked for a second. Finley looked up, hoping beyond hope that it wasn''t the canvas that had broken. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was just the regular movement of the air. "Do you think that the air travel is going to be a bit like that?" He said. "I know that sea travel can be kind of unpredictable, but we''re not even- We haven''t even left the port and I''m already rethinking bringing bring my wagons with us." "I didn''t know that they were your wagons." "They''re mine until someone else says otherwise. I''m the Tinker King." "Where''s your kingdom exactly" she said teasing him. He knew that she had heard him talk about how it worked before and she was just a little sentimental about Gloucester. Living there for years made her reticent to leave. He dearly wanted to say something, but he wasn''t going to say anything about that. It wasn''t his place. She was going through something, he had been through something and they were going to have to all work together in the end. "I would like to go to wherever that is," She said quietly. "We are going to get there soon. I promise you" He said, meaning that with every fiber of his being. Though it was more of a metaphorical allegory, he knew that they would eventually be heading home. The humans asked them to move the rope once again and with some difficulty he was able detach the ship''s rigging line to the surface. Then they finally looked like they were happy for the first time. In stark and vivid contrast to the humans, every single goat on board that ship looked miserable. The few that were poking their heads up from the storage area below deck did. None of them could speak. All of them gave the clear message that they would rather be anywhere else, but here. Besides their goat stares, all of the stamping and whinnying was getting on his nerves. Finley could not blame either group. He had to regulate their emotions as well as his own. If the horses didn''t like being cooped up, it bled into how he felt. The goats, he could do even less about. Though he did not like the water, the safety was far less. If their ship broke in the water, he would just have to swim. The majority of the inside of the airship was taken up by the horses who tended to agree with the goats. He could not wait to let them run free where they would not be eaten by zombies. He had a thought that perhaps that that might happen where they were, but the world had conspired to keep them together still. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. All he wanted was his bay mares and his wagon. If he had those two things, he would be happy. They would have to tear him kicking and screaming off of the southern continent. He smiled inwardly, thinking about a place where he could set down his load for a night without worrying about zombies. Wherever that place was, that would be his home soon. "What do you want to do about this memorial? Most Tinker memorials involve flowers and a stop at a way station, I''m curious to know what dwarves would do." "I expect there''s going to be an even split between the dwarves that want to be buried at sea in a fire and those that would want to be buried here, understanding that we might have to cremate them. If we take their bodies and turn them into plants, that might suffice. Because I don''t know what they would have wanted. But I know that turning into a plant is probably the best thing that I could ask for if it was me." "If it were you, that''s what you would have wanted? Consciously? You would have chose that?" Finley said. "I think that I would have. The whole thing about the group of you coming back from the dead as goats was just so unexpected." "Just making a stone memorial will satisfy most dwarves. But taking a step further and thinking about the funeral at sea for as many as we can? That will satisfy the rest. Then we can make the stone monument look like what happened to the boats out there." Finley nodded. It all started with them killing even more undead. "Finley- While I''m in dwarf form, I have a favor to ask," she said, moving closer. "Sure, whatever you need. How can I help?" "Can you hold me?" She whispered. "It''s just been so long and the time before was so-" His arms were around her before she could finish her sentence. It felt like they could make it when they were together. --- Sonya had finally worked out a way to get the damn anchor in place. It had taken all of her will to make it, but now when she looked at her world line, she was clearly able to distinguish where the place was. In her minds eye, there was a spot in the academy where she could just easily open up a portal in a doorway, as well as the specific warehouse that was now covered in a meter of snow. This helped her pinpoint the next one, the workshop where they had decided to keep some of the caravans. After all, working in a flying ship was going to be quite conspicuous. Everything that they could store in the workshop, to include one of their wagons, had been placed in there. Her hat trick however was figuring out a way for them to quickly bail out of the ship. One of the walls had an iron outline and she had been able to use it intermittently to transport things in and out. The problem that she was trying to solve was to save several steps using portals. Three of their wagons had made it into the hold where the horses and goats loafed about. Two were of the tinker variety, loud and colorful with the requisite accouterments. One was the specially designed wagon for the orcs. Everything that they needed in terms of food and water had been loaded and cleansed into one side of the hold. Everything that they could offload into the workshop had been loaded into the wagon that they were leaving. At some point in time, they would be back on the ground and the caravan would ride again, but on that day, the caravan would fly. It already had the smell of a farm on a hot day. Now all she needed to do was make sure that whoever was in the rotation for the cleanse card got to spent a good amount of time that afternoon working on it. She definitely would prefer the smell of a horny teenager who thought that tonight was the night that they were going to lose their virginity. The male goats in particular had a smell that she just wasn''t fond of. Not that she was complaining. Each goat here was worth their weight in cards and was a symbol of everything that they were trying to achieve. Taking a new look at the goats around her, they were all just doing their best. She was just doing her best, thinking with portals. Together with portals, she could do it.
"The portal is stable?" Anthony said. "For a brief time yes. I can do about thirty seconds or so, but don''t count on it," Sonya said. "Every day you get hotter, you know what?" He drew her in for a long kiss, oblivious to the people loading crates around them. "Sorry about the smell," she said, when he finally released her. They still stood there holding each other. In that moment, she wasn''t the super powerful warlock that was brute forcing her way through a war. She was just a girl in her thirties holding a man of about the same age, both aching from exertion. His back hurt, but he had convinced himself that he could take it. "We did it in record time," he said. "Thanks to you. You''re really like the captain of the team." "And you''re what, the team manager?" "Like I could take credit. I''m more like the CEO of some great organization that runs itself so efficiently that I''m looking for ways to not hurt it." "You keep talking business like this and I might have a sale for you." "Oh... don''t tempt me. I''ll sell you a bridge, lady." The two of them finally parted, Anthony sad that the moment had to end, but tired and happy after all of their work. "I think everything is ready," she said. There hadn''t been that much left for them to do. But there was always lunch.
Bob, the player manager for team Mork, was making a signature cake. One of his favorite sheet cake recipes was being put to the test. It was a mix that had seen him through some hard times. Valerie and Sonya helped raid the kitchens in the academy. The results were in. He was happy to see that both the cake and the cake pan had survived the oven. He didn''t expect much from the dwarven design. Someone had splurged on it probably another dwarf with more money than sense. The only thing that he didn''t have was a watch. This meant that they had to mark time by some other way. Stella had the bright idea to bring out a book and read a few pages aloud. They had both laugh at the idea initially, but it proved to be the most responsible thing that they could do. Finley had told them that there was a card power somewhere that might help them keep time. All the cards that he had about his fingertips he wasn''t going to go store through them. Not when there was so much that they needed to take care of. A stew didn''t need to be coached with precise times. When it was done, you just kind of knew. And you didn''t burn the pot because you kept moving it around A cake took a long, interminable time. Every cake had a time which it was under cooked or over baked. Bob knew a few of these times like the back of his head. There have been several recipes that they use consistently throughout this entire career that had a specific time between twelve and fifteen minutes that he came back to over and over again. So when Stella started reading, she got about three pages in and they chose said to be a minute or so. Then, they realize that she was reading a smut book and she started reading a sex scene and that sort of cascaded into a few things and suffice to say, the first cake was burnt. The pan wasn''t. Bob, with only an apron on, had to pull out the first sheet cake and dump it. He wasn''t mad, because who didn''t want a little thing that wasn''t expected. He was mad that he would have to use his backup pan and his backup mix. Here we just failed squeeze that enough cake for everybody around to enjoy. And this being his first proper bake since they arrived on Novaria, he really wanted to impress them. Of the people that knew that he was a reality TV star, a few of them have it on him about making something for them. The second cake though, it was a beauty. He grabbed a toothpicks and it went in flawlessly, of course that was about the time that Stella was telling him to take his damn pants off again. All he needed really was an apron, and oh isn''t it too bad that the dwarven aprons were so short on him. She called on him to return. Bob was a simple man, and liked to listen when women told him what to do, especially in this situation. He complied. Later on, when everyone was remarking about how good the cake actually was, Bob could see Borgan crying. The orc nearly broke down for how sweetly made the cakes were. Bob and Stella had a tacit agreement to not let them know that their cake timer had been a romp in the room next door. No one would ever need to know that. But they both got a little thrill from it. 3- Ten The creek of the airship was unsettling. The fact that they had traveled so far on security wheels did nothing to alleviate the fact that Finley did not want to be there. In fact, they were going to have some big ceremony before they disembarked but he did not want to attend that. He found solace underground or rather in the lower decks. It was where his people were as they took off. "It''s okay Gigi," he said to the little girl inside of the goat. "We''re just flying through the air on a perfectly fine airship. Nothing to worry about here. Me? Nope, I''m not worried." Gigi bleated. He was sitting in one of the only chairs that they brought on board. His hands were in his face. Though the chair had been nailed down, nothing had helped. He was resolved to never travel by air again and stay on land for the rest of his life. Surely nothing else could be so rough on his innards. "We''re going to make it. I hope we''re going to make it-" Gigi bleated, disgust apparent in her tone. "Well it''s alright for you to say that. You''ve already died once, technically," he said. "I wonder what it was like in the afterlife for you. Or did you just say in stasis? Maybe that''s worse." Gigi bleated twice. If she could have cuddled him closer, Finley knew that she would have. Without arms, goats could only grab so much. Instead, she placed her head a bit closer. "My first order of business is going to be figuring out how many class cards I can make up here. Maybe the focus on making more cards will keep me from thinking about how high in the sky we are." Gigi shifted a bit, but it wasn''t because the airship had done anything. She returned with a box and his frame. "You know what? You''re right. I need to stop worrying about the future and live in the present. That starts with making another druid card I think." Finley focused on his work, avoiding any thoughts of the air ship.
"Ahoy, hand me the telescope, first mate!" Brianna said. The warrior stood over the prow of the deck. There wasn''t much that they could do from there. But they''d raked up a system of pulley and levers so they could shift to the direction of the wind travel. And then they had gotten airbenders there so they could move the wind. The pulleys, levers and ropes combined with the focused air had given them a direction and a heading. They were now traveling south, over the quiet sea at about what Sophie judged to be three hundred feet. They didn''t have a compass or GPS. They almost didn''t even have a navigator. But they could tell, from context, how close the other death knights were. The first thing they''d done when they got in was to draw the chalk circle in the middle of the boat deck so that they could figure out which direction they were going. It took them five minutes of flying before. Bob began to adjust the rocks. This gave Valerie the numbers that she needed to compute their direction and speed. She did this five times every five minutes, stopping to assess the direction of the death knights. "Fifth reading," she said, taking down the relative locations again into her notebook. Sophie compared notes with Valerie. The angles put one northeast of them, one southeast of them and the last that everyone was sure was closest to the southwest. The flesh weaver was there, waiting to challenge Bob in a game of one on one. "If those readings hold, we''ll be moving at about thirty span per hour," Sophie said. "Is that right?" "You''re close." When she was done they told the crew that they were going at thirty or so span per hour. Then, much like before, Anthony set up a work and rest cycle for those with fire and wind affinity. This news was helped by the fact that they also had cake. Somehow, Bob had smuggled some ingredients out and done a bang up job of making a pastry. The cake physically didn''t do much for her. Mentally, it felt like she had gone to a gas station after work looking for something sweet and ended up with the best thing that was on offer. It rose to the level of a delicious distraction, like the monks and the warriors. She still didn''t know what she wanted. She knew that she could make friends though but because of her previous situation, dating had been very fraught. It was hard to date when you didn''t know if someone was chasing you for the wrong reasons. The air whipped past them and she realized that she was a bit chilly. That would pass though. There were several warm goats that she could cuddle up to below decks. No, really what Sophie wanted most of all was a way to stop her hair from flipping around. Perhaps they took too much from the ship part and not enough from the air part. This would be fine so long as they didn''t hit a gale force wind. Heck if their pace kept up, the quiet sea was supposedly only eight hundred span or so. They would need to touch down, eventually. She already had ideas on how to improve their travel. It all started with putting something between the front of the ship and the crew. She wanted to call it the hull of the aircraft. The frigate they had chosen could easily keep twice their number, but there was nothing stopping the weather. Flying that distance should take them not just to a milder winter, but perhaps to the mildest winter that they would get. Then she saw the look on the poor dwarf girls face. She looked terrified. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Valerie, are you doing okay?" She said, settling down next to the teenager. "What? No, I''m proper chuffed. This is like the best day of my month. You humans decided you want to make this thing and within a month you found the ship and you retrofitted it and this is just amazing. I just don''t have an idea how this is even possible, except for the fact that you''re all chosen." A wry smile appeared on Sophie''s face. "Do you remember when you guys found me? In the bottom? In my parents¡¯ basement? That was the lowest point in my life. But now? This might be one of the highest. This might be the darkest part of my country''s history, for today? Dwarves are flying. We''ve all got hope now. I can tell. All the goats..." There was a loud cacophony of sound and the damn goats sounded like they were singing a bar song below decks. It hasld been resolved that since they were all on four legs, the safest place for them to be was where they couldn''t tip over and fall off the side. There was no consideration for the two-legged fools that wanted to be on top. Sophie found Valerie humming along to the song. Nothing in her life had prepared her for goats bleating along to a song. Or were they just humming loudly? "That is a catchy tune, isn''t it?" She said. "It''s an old dwarf drinking song. You learn it as a lass and never forget. It just kind of comes back to you." "See that kind of thing? We need more of that." "Sophie, I never thanked you for sticking around with me after you found me. I owe you a debt of Honor and someday I''m going to repay that." Sophie placed her hand on Valerie''s shoulder. "Normally, I''d say something like you don''t always do anything, but we''re all in this together. You can sign on for as long as you like. I know as soon as this is done? I''m going to spend some time not doing anything like this." "Do you normally save a girl and bring her back to health? And then have these conversations later on? Because if this is happening to you a lot then we need to talk about maybe it''s a you thing." The ship lurched briefly but returned, more of a bump in the road than anything else. Sophie realized that she was kind of leaning on her class cards. As a rogue, she had to have the ability to be nimble on her feet. The one thing that she was realizing that they probably needed would be either parachutes or something that could connect you to the ship in case it decided they wanted to turn sideways. She added making parachutes to her to-do list. That wasn''t going to happen anytime soon. It would be much more efficient if they just had hang gliders or something else. It would also be more efficient if they just park the thing twenty feet off the ground and just that way. But if I did that, then there would be so many things that could rise if it hit them, especially small hills. They would have to be thinking about all the small things that rose up in front of them that they would have to steer around. They could go really fast, but steering was looking to be more difficult if they were going really fast. She watched as the teams assigned to move the airship got used to the specific touch it needed. She knew that they were going to have to create a few more cards. Finley had taught her some of the tricks, but he had recently gotten to a point where he could create specific cards for people. Sophie hadn''t gotten to that point yet. Unfortunately there wasn''t a card skill that made one better at that, you just had to work at it. "I''m not in the practice of saving girls, but I''ll save as many as I can," Sophie said. "You and me both. I''m glad that Gigi was able to get a druid card. I think that she''s going to be able to do some real damage. If we drop a cadre of trained goat mages somewhere, then we''ll be able to make an instant safe landing zone." "You want to airdrop goats into battle?" "Airdrop? I guess so. Or we put them like cannons on the side of the ship," Valerie said, fully into it now. Sophie loved seeing the dwarf light up. It made her feel that happy feeling of actually getting to see someone on the road to recovery, except hers was more the road to revenge. Sophie was ready for revenge. Even if it wasn''t hers. But first she would have some more cake. Brianna had the wheel, and she had the ear of her newest disciple.
Bob, Mork''s highest representative, had a bone to pick with Stella. His honey bear wasn''t taking her breaks. "You need to take your breaks and let everybody else have a turn." She was filling up the air inside of the canvas balloon. Or really not filling it up but heating it up so that it would stay up. They were figuring out a way to get the open air to be smaller and smaller, like an actual hot air balloon. It would have to land as a proof of concept, but no one wanted to do that until they got to the other side of the quiet sea. They''d only been in the air for a few hours and Finley was already threatening to use his refresh power on one of them, taking them out. There were only a few people with fire affinity. Bob and Stella were the best at it. "Snookums, sometimes you just have to let a lady cook," Stella said, unleashing another ten foot tall flame for about ten seconds. They had worked at a system where they could do this every every two minutes or so and that would be sufficient. This let them recharge their Mana. This also let them stare at each other for a long time as there was once again no way to time anything. Bob would give about three cakes for a watch. He would be so happy. All the ones that they had found in their salvaging runs had been smashed, and the few that looked promising have been heading over to Andrew to see if he can work his magic. Andrew, having a lot on his plate with the whole airship project, hadn''t really taken to the whole endeavor with as much enthusiasm as Bob had thought it warranted. "I really think that a watch would be nice right about now," He said. "What, so we can time how quickly you finish?" Bob laughed. She could always find a way to remind him how much he wanted someone with the same dryness that he''d appreciated back at home. "We don''t need a one minute timer, Stella," he said. "It''ll be useless either way." "Ah! So you knew!" She said, giving him the once over. The new place where everyone was set to meet up was below decks, the first floor below. The balloon that they were inflating was right above a hole that had to be for loading cargo. They were only feet away from the short drop, though they had chosen to lay down in between turns. Once again it was his turn. But then it was her turn again. "There has to be a better way. I''m sure Andrew''s thinking about it already. We just have to hold on until we get back to land again." "That sounds about right. But we''ve got two replacements later so I think that we''re going to be alright," she said. If I didn''t get off shift sometime soon, the tedium was going to get to him. He wanted to bake more. The itch to get back into the groove, the mise en place of it all felt so familiar and it was now within his reach. It had started out as something fun to do with his friends and steamrolled into a lifelong love of baking, and now? In this life? He had a captive audience that wouldn''t mind his experimental cake therapy. "Hey Stella? You want to hear how to set up a cake business? We''ve got nothing else to do," he said, trying to see if she would take the bait. "I mean, sure. You can tell me whatever you want. I feel like we know all of the other stories by now. It has been a month, right?" "This has been a month," he said. "But who''s counting?" Bob spent the rest of the day and night going into great detail about how to make the perfect bake, and then how to sell. By the time their relief arrived, Bob was certain that if she wanted to open a cake shop in Hoboken, she would have a good chance of competing with his old business. Even if it was in Jersey City. 3- Eleven It was two days before they saw land again. At first, no one believed it, but when Valerie and Sophie did their calculations they had gone far enough. Anthony called for a little discussion and it was pretty unanimous that they had wanted to have their feet on solid ground for a while. Anthony called for them to go through the motions of landing close to any place that looks suitable. The whole time, Bob and the scouts were looking for any sign of monsters. The coast that greeted them was full of fjords. Here and there were beaches but any ship that wanted to dock there for any amount of time would eventually meet its demise ceremoniously against a large rock. By this time, however, the monks that had the air affinity had learned a thing or two. Simply by adjusting the amount of air flowing into the balloon carrying them, they were able to slowly descend. That was when a few of them realized that with all the leveling they had been doing for their air bending cards that they were able to fly around a bit. This caused a stir. Brandon, the monk who had chosen the water bending card and kicked off this whole debacle, watched as his two comrades flew around on little Jets of air. "You know what? I think that they deserve that. They put in the work for us," Anthony said to him. "Yeah I mean it seems like it''s broken but now I want that power." "Brandon, you''re literally moving this ship with the power of your mind because you have that water affinity. Let''s not discount that. Also, we have this boat because of you." "I suppose you''re right. It doesn''t make me feel any better though." "You can always ask Finley to make another one of those cards. Apparently he got really good at them." "I''m seeing a bit of a flaw in this plan if we have to land in water every time we''d land," Brandon said as their boat rocked. The balloon had finally deflated it enough that it was not carrying most of their weight. The repair team, led by Sophie, was now looking for places where they could reinforce the stitching of the canvas even as it just decided that it wanted to lay on the mast. "You think that after all that hot air we put into it that it would stay up more?" "Oh, that''s the other thing. Take a look at that," Brandon said and the two of them look back over the water. He wasn''t surprised to see Bob of all people flying over the water in just about nothing but his shorts. Actually, no he looked naked. He was surprised to see Stella doing the same thing. Both of them had one arm out on each side, using spigots of flame to fly. They were flying around like they were sitting on top of a tricycle whereas the monks were in a sports car. Despite all the work that they''d put through, the monks still looked far more natural using their new car powers, perhaps due to the constant need for them to draw an air and push it through. "That''s something you don''t see everyday," Anthony said, gesturing to Bob and Stella. "What, you taking a piss mate? You don''t see Sonya naked all the time?" Brandon asked. "I mean I do. It''s just the flying thing?" "Oh yeah that." Anthony would have glided him but the monk wasn''t looking at him. It wasn''t everyday a guy could see two people trying to fly using spouts of flame below them. "It''s like they have Iron Man jets except they''re only shooting them out of their hands. Hey! You need forward momentum!" Brandon said. "Hold on, let me be right back." With that, the monk jumped over the side of the ship in the direction of them. Them parked the ship as he was jumping causing it to slow down and then jumped on top of the wave. He rode the wave over to where Anthony and Stella were. Anthony, good to hear a fair bit of yelling and before long, both of them now had spouts of flame coming out of both of their hands and both of their feet. Bob briefly tooted a flame out of his butt. Looking satisfied, the monk returned on a wave, getting close enough to death that he was able to easily scramble up and over his side before making the way behind him dissipate. "I think that you''re an asshole if you do something like that." "Yes, but I have flair. Also I can see when. Bob?" "I saw it, yeah." Anthony sighed deeply. These were the antics of the men and women that he had grown accustomed to living next to, until the end of their contract with the gods, and oral agreement that no one had really written down, they were semi sort of bound together. It was feeling less like chains that you would feel at a prison, and more like the chains that you would find in a downtown dungeon in a mid western city. Industrial strength chains that any passerby would appreciate before going to meet their friends from a munch. --- From the spot that the ship had settled on, it was only a short swim to get to land. Sonya was already establishing a gate through to the beach, memorizing the landmarks. Swimming was for plebes. She didn''t even have a good one piece suit. She definitely didn''t want to get her stolen scrubs wet. She stepped through the aperture, finding herself on a silty beach full of sand flies. She walked about trying to find a spot where they wouldn''t harass her but it was no use. The ship was close enough but she was having trouble concentrating on it. Instead of focusing on where she''d portal-ed from, she used the anchor Point in the hold again, stepping through just as fast. Now, if something happened at least she had the memory of being on a sandy beach where the local mosquitoes are trying to eat her alive. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She focused on finding a part of the fjord where she could portal to. As long as she had line of sight, she was able to portal there. But everything looked so rocky, and she couldn''t see the fjords from below deck. Or rather she could only barely make some out to the little porthole. Using the porthole to make a portal, to try to get a spot above everything. This time, instead of walking through she just looked through the portal. Because there was nothing quite like not getting bitten by sand flies. There really wasn''t a place for a step out. It was too jagged and sheer. She tried to do two difficult things at the same time. While keeping the portal open, she used her Earth powers to grade the top of a fjord. "If you can''t find a way around, you must make it way through," She muttered to the goats next door. One of the pygmy goats belated at her. She stabilized her portal, stepping out onto the square that was approximately two by two meters. It wasn''t the best thing she''d ever made but she could work with it. All the material from the peak that she had pushed down was now around her and she smoothed the top. If there was one thing that she was missing right now it was railings around it. Closing the portal and to give herself more active mana. She paused to look around at her new surroundings. The best part about this place? No sand flies. The worst part about this place? No railings. Rather than be sad about her whole situation, instead. Sonya took the time to smooth out a second layer in the rock below her. To an outsider, what looked like the fjord suddenly lost twenty feet of its peak as it reorganized into the top level of a skyscraper. Sonya made sure that the smooth transition stayed that way as she decreased the overall height and tripled or quadrupled the overall flat space around her. Then, she did some fine point work, creating railings out of some of the latent metals she had dug up. The negative space that has existed swallowed up the earth that had been there. She didn''t want to run a delivery service, but she needed to see if they could get a foothold somewhere. She opened the aperture to yell for Finley. "Hey Finley! Get me Bob and maybe Stella up here," she yelled. "On it!" He said. She sent some green flame up atop, giving a clear indication of where she was. Bob and Stella were definitely still working out their issues with their fire flight. The monks saw her and immediately made a beeline for the shoreline. They zoomed along, while behind them, Stella and Bob looked like they were wobbling on training wheels. That had to cost a lot of mana for how impressive it didn''t look. Sonya opened an aperture once again. "Two sets of clothes, please, Finley." A pygmy goat carrying two sets of robes walked through, placing the robes gently on the ground. Then Sonya gestured to see if she wanted to go through. The goat shook her head and then wild shaped into a young adult dwarf. "Ah! Gigi! Welcome to the orcish meritocracy," Sonya said. "Apologies for the nude fire flyers." "It''s amusing how all of you humans are treating this as a moral thing instead of a ''we need to not burn through our clothes'' thing." "It''s that puritan upbringing. Even here in another world, those damn guys are still trickling that shit down. It''s like generational trauma but with extra steps." Sonya realized that Gigi, though a dwarf and female, wasn''t Valerie. She was treating the dwarves and interchangeable "Ah sorry that''s a lot to put on you. How are you doing?" She said. "I''m feeling good. I got wild shape to level two which I was going to test," Gigi said. "But also this whole no clothes thing..." They both smiled. "What did you do before all of this? I worked in a hospital. Valerie tells me that it''s like a medical center here." "Oh me?" "Yeah, tell me about yourself." "Oh, I''m nothing special." "A literal goat God reincarnated you so you could fight with us. Tell me about yourself," Sonya said. It had to be a dwarven thing. Or maybe Valerie was just very outspoken about herself because she had to sell her skills to senior officers who had the positions he wanted. Sonya began to sculpt a bit more as the monks began their initial approach. "I''m disappointed... But I was a barmaid?" She said. "I didn''t even have a good card. I was born with a common Cleanse card." "That is so not disappointing. Am I to understand that you were actually able to use your card to be better at work?" "My Cleanse card? My soul card is level seven." "You are about to be the most popular goat in this damn caravan, Gigi," Sonya said. "Common or not, your powers are in demand. You should charge a premium for your services. The girls and I have been passing this one Cleanse card around because... Periods and all. Do dwarves get periods?" "We do, yeah," she said. "We just don''t talk about this stuff much." Two monks flew up and over the place that Sonya had cleared. They flew past it, far overshooting their goal and it looked like they were going to circle around. "We probably need a landing strip," Sonya said. "But at this point this just sounds like extra work. Just trying to scout out where we are." Where they were was high and on the coast. There wasn''t much else. The general erosion of the coast had made a landing rough. Or if she looked far enough, she was sure that she could see another body of water. Or at least a cleft in the land that could be a river. It wouldn''t be anything like the Great River that she had been promised. "Gigi, have you ever been this far south?" "I mostly stuck to the pubs in my city." That was about the time. The two very naked people came to a stop hovering in midair. Using spouts of flame, both Bob and Stella stood up next to them. The earth scorched where they touched. "Ah! Thanks for this," Stella said, grabbing a robe. Bob wavered, not grabbing his robes, as a chill went through the air. Sonya looked around. "I''m just removing the excess heat. Apparently that''s a thing I can do now," Bob said. "I can''t freeze stuff like Stella, but yeah this will be great for cooking." "We''re going to make so many new dishes," Stella said. "Gigi, you''re going to experience the genius which is Bob." "Oh?" Gigi said. "The only thing stopping us from taking over the world is that we can''t keep time to the life of us," Stella said. Sonya coughed. "Gigi was just telling me how she has a Cleanse card." Bob and Stella looked at her intensely. Stella slid an arm around the dwarf. "Well hello, newest bestie tell me about yourself," Stella said. "What''s with you humans and asking about my life? I feel like I''m some sort of celebrity or something. Do you all want a piece of this?" Gigi said, laughing. "We all just appreciate a really good Cleanse card," Sonya said. "It''s one of those things that you never really miss until it''s gone. And then when it''s gone because you''re the girl who has it, you''re always thinking about it. It''s like your ex that you really want to get back with. You want to ingratiate yourself- get into their good graces," Stella said, walking around the dwarf. "It''s just that it would be great if-wait did you say something about exes?" Bob said, fastening his belt. "We just don''t have a way to tell time and the clocks that we have seen so far are all beyond us." "Oh! That''s terrible. I have a card skill that lets me tell time and-" Gigi said. The speed at which everyone''s heads turned to look at the dwarf nearly shocked her off of the lookout point. "Bob, she is mine first," Stella said. "I already called her my bestie." "You can understand us perfectly when you''re in goat form, right?" Bob said. Gigi withdrew. "Uh, yes?" "So if I said something like, ''Time ten minutes for me''- you could do that?" She nodded. "You are going to be the happiest goat on this planet when you''re back in goat form. Let''s talk business," he said, bringing her into his confidence. The pair walked off. "So... Flying with fire?" Sonya said. "Tell me everything." Stella squealed. 3- Twelve In order to get his air shipping business off of the ground, Finley was going to need to get some more gate cards. This whole traveling by everything himself was for the birds. The literal birds, not the figurative ones. As soon as Sonya said it was safe to go up, he slipped through the portal to the overlook. Expecting to see anything, he was displeased that they weren''t within view of any settlements. What he expected was to see the markings of an orc tribe that had been zombified. Sure. There were some planes up ahead but he couldn''t see that far. Maybe some of the goats would help? "Gigi, do you think you guys could?" He said. "Can''t talk right now. Cake business," Gigi said, in a deep conference with Bob and Stella. The dwarves and the humans wanted to conspire against the one lone elf. He was just going to have to step back and let them do whatever silliness that they were going to do. It sounded like they had a lot of silliness and tomfoolery in the near future. If it resulted in cake, he was all for it. Finley tried to tap into the green but there weren''t any plants close enough that he could interact with. It was probably a combination of the brackish water and how high up they were. They should have some plants up here and he saw a little bit of scrub brush but not much else. The scrub brush didn''t feel like talking and he couldn''t blame it. "Is the idea that you want to park the airship up here?" Finley said. "I don''t think that''s going to work out too well. I was just hoping to not be bitten by sand fleas for like five minutes." "If nothing else, this could be a marker for an air highway. I just don''t think it''s close enough for any action against the zombies." "Do you think that the zombies are just going to stay put? Like they are going to hunker down in their locations? I feel like they''re going to start wandering out looking for us, especially when one of the death knights has it out for Bob. Do you think that they know how many of us there are?" Sonya said, finishing some embellishment on a side railing. Finley appreciated her light touch. Finley inspected the railing. It looked solid but that didn''t mean that he wanted to step off onto the drop. It had to be at least half a span. "There''s a thing on Earth. We call it a lighthouse. Put them on top of the coast. I would light them up so that boats know that they''re getting too close to land or that they can come in closer and get out. In a way, we are a lighthouse for this entire continent. Just us being here is going to draw their attention." Two monks took that time to fly over them, wrestling Finley''s attention away from Sonya. Their slight movements based on the air currents made them look magnificent. As if they were two manatees who had finally gotten accustomed to loading underwater. "Unless I''m selling something, I don''t really want anyone''s attention. I wish it was a way that we could shroud ourselves from them, but I''m pretty sure the death knights have a very good idea of where we are. Not that I''m happy about that," Finley said. "Are you ready to head back over?" Sonya said. "You know if there''s one thing you guys have taught me it''s that I''m okay with being on a boat. It''s being up in the air and on the boat that I''m that not okay with." "You and me both, brother," She said laughing. "You know what? Did you know that Gigi was a barmaid?" Finley hadn''t known that. He was going to let her tell her story in due time. "Did you go back to her about her past or something?" "Let me guess. She''s been through a lot right?" "Yes she''s been through a lot but so have we all-" "Thank you, Finley." "Oh what?" He said. "For making my point so eloquently when I could not," Sonya said curtsying. She, not having a skirt made the entire thing look very official. He might be able to find one for her later. But she would have to get over being smug. "You humans," He said, rolling his eyes. Sonya smirked. He was going to have to work a little bit harder to get them to act like proper tinkers. Real proper tankers didn''t badges someone about their life choices. They just aggressively pushed food on them until they gave up the information voluntarily. Then a thought occurred to Finley. A large tree with yellow fruit cried out to him. Those would do nicely. "Sonya! You see some of those trees down there? They look like banana trees. I haven''t seen one in ages. If the monks are done flying around, let''s go grab some bananas." "Yeah, all right I see them. Let''s go get some. If you monks are done?" She said, raising her voice at the end. --- The arrival of so many long yellow fruits onto the decks of the airship provided a much needed break. It also provided a fair bit of levity as no one was above pretending that they weren''t going to laugh about it. " You really outdid yourself. Thank you so much, Sonya, Finley. This was quite a find. If you found some mangoes too that would just make this even better but-" Anthony said. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Can you describe what a mango is?" Finley said, holding up his fourth banana. "They''re a spherical fruit. Really sweet. The flesh is very tender and it''s yellow on the inside or orange. I was hoping since you guys have bananas that this was something else you might have. I''m just moaning over these bananas. If you got me some mangoes? I might be taking off my clothes," Anthony said. "Why would you be taking off your clothes?" Finley said. "Because you so utterly seduced me with your fruity wiles? I would do terrible things or it may go right about now," Anthony said. "Finley, if you got mangoes, I would make you a special cake that no one else could eat," Bob said, from across the deck. "And you would make one for me too right?" Stella said. "Of course dear," Bob said, clearly stage whispering. "This is all great now but no one has really explained to me what a mango is," Finley said. The assembled humans sat around a circle, eating a fresh lunch of cake and bananas. It was the sweetest thing they''d had in weeks. Andrew and Valerie looked at the cake with an air of distrust, but Anthony indicated that it was safe to eat. They might have taken it the wrong way as he tried to shove a second banana in his mouth, but he was ready for it. "Fresh fruit really hits the spot," Anthony said, in between bites. "And this cake? Perfection." "I''ve never seen a man eat two bananas at once," Sonya said, giving him an extra helping of side eye. Anthony most definitely was done doing that for the time being. He had enough attendance "What kind of adult entertainment did you get up to in Regina that you didn''t-oh wait-didn''t they have to mail the internet to you?" "Har har," Sonya said. "But no, we were connected." "Bob! When are you taking the scouts out again?" Anthony said. Bob looked contemplative. He dropped into a deep thought. He was either trying to avoid the question or thinking about how Stella would take it. Anthony could easily tell that he was trying to find the most diplomatic way to answer that. Bob wanted to keep people happy, but especially Stella. He had just baked them a cake, but asking him too much to give his timeline for his next activity? Probably not. "I dunno. I think they want a day. We''re definitely going to do a sweep nearby. We''ll see if we can find anything on land, but there''s no telling how close the nearest settlement is to us. It could be far away." "Did you want to keep flying then?" Anthony said. "I did not say that. I would like to be fully out of the Quiet Sea in case there are more sea monsters." They both shuddered. The threat of something that they couldn''t see in advance was enough for Anthony to consider ordering the ship up again. "Yeah let''s get on that. I was thinking that you guys could keep looking for that list gate card that the academy should have somewhere with Valerie." The two men looked around, but the dwarf had snuck out, leaving them in the lurch. Then as a unit they both got up to search for her. The unfamiliar ship combined with the overwhelming scent of goats and general body odor did nothing to help. "Upstairs?" Anthony said. "There''s no light downstairs." They ran downstairs. Anthony tossed a mage light up as they ran. At the bottom of the aft stairs, there was a row of doors leading to crew quarters. They had been divided up during the flight several times. Valerie was reading a book under her own mage light. "What?" She said, looking up. "I was expecting a council meeting but a girl has other hobbies." "Ah yes," Bob said. "We wanted to pick up the thread of this missing gate card. You know about this high security vault that it would be in." Valerie closed her book. "Every single Cadet at the Academy learns about the security features of the system. There was even a theory crafting design class about various security features. It is a popular pastime as to how that will be hidden. But it is at the top level of the most secure floor of the academy. We were still working through the first floor last time I checked." "We wanted to see if we could speed that process up a little bit," Anthony said. " I''m sure you''re aware of our situation. I have every reason to think that there are other high value cards up there that we probably need to keep away from whoever is trying to harass Bob here." Bob stood up then and turned away from them. "All right. I can plan something out. You want maps this time?" Valerie said. "As detailed as you can make them. Is Bob up?" "There''s movement." Bob ran up the steps. Anthony shrugged and followed. He indicated to Valerie that maybe she should follow along. He indicated to Valerie that maybe she should follow along. Up on the deck, Bob ran to the triangulation circle. He moved to the center and then held out one arm. There wasn''t a stone in the direction. There was one close to it. He walked straight on to the edge of the circle. "Well that''s not good," Valerie said. "Let me get out my notes here. Bob! Secondary circle please!" The rear circle was the same deal. Bob moved the stone in a similar fashion. "Based on my notes here," Valerie said. "They''re not moving in this direction? That''s odd. Maybe they''re heading to where we were?" "That has to be it," Bob said. "That makes this next mission even more important." Anthony sighed as he checked Valerie''s work. The death knight had gotten closer, if only just. --- Bob, Mork''s best chance, slid through the portal once again in full kit. Behind him, Stella and Sophie began donning their heavy robes. It might not have been snowing on the southern coast of the Quiet Sea, but it sure as heck was by the academy. Up on the rooftop, the dwarves roofing was doing its utmost to dump snow on any idiots in it''s path. Juan and Micheal were joining them. The two monks that had gotten the air aspects powers. They had not stopped complaining about the cold the entire time. "It''s like Jack Frost''s left titty would have frozen off by now," Juan said. "And the right one!" Micheal said. "You can''t forget the right one." "Yeah, you see he gets it," Juan said. "Would you both quit it before I need to call up my mind goblin?" Sophie said. "Mind goblin?" Juan said. "Mind goblin Deez nuts!" Sophie said to the cackling of Stella and Bob. "Guys, you knew we were going into the cold today. You chose to come in a long cloth. So we''re trying to get you set up with that kind of clothing." "Bob, you were flying around naked last time we checked," Juan said. "You barely have a third leg to stand on." "Guys, I think that we can just have Bob heat us all up," Stella said. "Or I can do it." That shut them right up and they fell in line. Bob tested her spear, dropping into the stance he had used over and over again. One practice thrust later and he felt like his old self. "You boys ready? The ladies made it clear that they have better places to be now," Bob said. Bob peeked his head out to check if the coast was clear. It was. His skills.let him know when zombies were close and it wasn''t pinging. It was the two feet of snow in places, of the four feet of snow in others, but the academy felt different now. He led the combined team to the door of the academy. Bob and Stella took turns in lead as they melted a pathway through the snow. The fire bending card was on the track to become his favorite card. If he retired later and became a sexy lumberjack it would help him work in the deepest of winter. But there was a long time before that. Bob got to the door of the academy''s sprawling lecture halls. They had shut it before to keep new zombies from entering. There still were some inside, he realized as they stacked up next to the tall double doors. They were right next to the door, but they were close enough for a pause. "Three zombies on the inside, first hallway." "Damn, I thought we had cleared that floor," Sophie said. "I''m up first." Stella pulled back the door. Sophie put the tip of her spear first as first she then Bob went in. Micheal pulled up behind him, another spear tip pointed in the right direction. Three zombies, awoken by the opening of the door, stood up and began to approach them. "No gods no masters," Sophie said. "Flame on," Bob said, dancing as she created a fire ball which then flew down the corridor, striking one. That power was coming in handy. 3-Thirteen Sophie stabbed another zombie straight in the dick. Her pinning it down gave an opening for Bob to get its throat. Having the zombies come around the corner was another one of those things that she had gotten used to. She didn''t want to get used to it but there it was doing its thing again. The corpse of a dwarf slumped against the wall as both of them pulled out at the same time. It was on Stella to do the double tap. Michael moved up, spear at the ready. The group had finally reached the stairwell and was making a racket to attract more zombies. They would hit their Spears against the wall, the railings, or the stairs to make noise for a little bit. When a few zombies arrived they would dispatch them. This was the third iteration. Sophie, already a veteran of many dick stabbings, was polishing her game. Much to the horror of the men on the trip with her, each time she got a bit better. "Hey! My weapons expertise reached level four! I guess that all those crotch shots helped out." There was a sound of someone throwing up behind. She knew that one of the monks, probably Michael was not feeling it. The monk said also killed hundreds of zombies in their time. This far up close was a little bit different than what they were used to. There was a lot of overlap between what she could do and what they could take. It was a different thing entirely. "Sophie, again, I really appreciate you and all the things you do but could you please not tease the monks," Bob said. "But Bob!" Another zombie popped in front of them and Michael dispatched it quickly. Using his wind affinity, he first pushed against the wall. Then using a blunt strike he pierced its throat. "Oh see now he''s just showing off," Sophie said. "So were you!" Bob said, getting into position. It took a few more minutes of tedious waiting. Any remaining zombies had decided that they weren''t buying the red light special. "There are none on our side of the academy," Bob said. " Who''s ready for the second floor?" "I got first then," Stella said, taking point. "Michael? You''re next." The monk gulped, but did as she asked. Sophie slipped into the rear position. She turned to face the hallway. They had gone through. The large stairwell was unfortunately dwarven sized. There wasn''t much she could do about that. They pressed on getting to the second floor landing and waiting for any more zombies to pop. Bob shook his head, before indicating a direction. "Two," he said. Stella moved at a brisk pace down the hall. She stopped at a door, waiting for the rest of the group. "In there," Bob said. They could hear the weak sounds of scratching. Sophie doubted that one of his zombies were inside. We''ll flick it out, meaning that this was not strictly speaking necessary. For the first time, she considered whether they would be able to skip it. The Goat Lord had given her a card that had one time brought undead back to life. It had since gone grey and no longer had any text on it. She had raged against the injustice of having an ability that restored zombies to life. Even if they were restored into goat form, she wanted to save them all. She couldn''t, which was even worse. In the back of her mind, she wondered how two dwarves had gotten stuck in a cleaning closet when they opened it. Maybe they got stuck there while they were having sex when the apocalypse hit. It would probably be plausible at best. They didn''t have a working understanding of how the creeping zombie apocalypse spread. They just knew that all the people that they came across had gotten it. Sophie made a mental note to talk to Anthony after this. He had the training and understanding and she was trying to grasp it. It was short work for them after that. Before long they were on the fourth floor looking at the warding scheme. "You know what?" Bob said, examining the various lines and occult sigils around the floor. "I think it''s time to call in a friend." He summoned his familiar and in a puff of smoke the cat appeared. "Oh honey," Bob said. "There is a package in there full of high cards. I would love it if you could sneak through whatever is going on here and return with that as soon as you can. I''ll let you eviscerate a few more courses. We left a few strewn on the stairs for you." The cat looked up at him, nodding in a most human way and then bounded off. Bob counted to five five, as he waited for something to go off, Indiana Jones Style. He was expecting things to pop off, but nothing seemed to be working. He was supremely glad to be able to send the cat in on its own. He would have spent his time trying to unravel the trap and wasted a lot of time that he could have spent with Stella. But did he have to? It turned out, he didn''t have to. Stolen novel; please report. "Well look what the cat dragged in!" Michael said, shrinking before the glare of an Eldritch beast beyond his comprehension. "Sorry, sorry, didn''t mean that. We''re all friends here right?" Ca''at accepted exactly one head pat as payment. It was an even exchange of his soul as everyone else had expected. All in all, a fair deal was had. What the cat did bring back was a large body that wouldn''t have been out of place in a comics convention. The entire thing was made of leather and it reeked of power. Bob handed it to Stella for safekeeping after Sophie decided that it was not her job. "Beer anyone?" Sophie said. "My treat!"
"So how do you think that the zombies spread so fast?" Sophie asked, draining her first beer. "Do you think it''s magical in nature or do you think it''s a plague? It could be something like COVID." Sophie was holding court with Sonya and Anthony. But what she really wanted to do was talk to Anthony. Finley was listening in but the guy was a little bit preoccupied with some of the stuff that he had him doing. "You think that this was some sort of virus that went through the population?" Anthony said. "Even if only a few of them were immune to it then that would just make the rest their victims?" "How do they do in the movies? One of them gets infected and then they spread it somehow? But like if you''re infecting everybody then who are they eating. I haven''t seen a zombie eating another zombie. You and Bob have been on the front lines. Have you seen this?" Anthony said. "Because this is kind of speculative and I can''t prove this but what are they eating? How are they surviving?" At this, Finley looked up. "When you say how are they surviving, what are you talking about?" Finley said. "What I mean is that humans need basic things and I''m sure the dwarves needs some of the same things. We need oxygen from the air. We need water. We need to eat food. I''ll discount shelter and emotional needs. They don''t need that but..." Anthony waved his hands. "Something is sustaining them. I''m guessing it''s a card power or some magic. You remember how well you started seeing lots of shards?" "Are you saying that their continued survival has something to do with the card powers or the initial virus?" Sophie said. "Well look at it this way. Let''s say that I''m a virus or bacteria like the common cold or something. I want to spread to as many places as possible. Now a bacteria or a virus. They don''t have a brain like you and I. They act on instinct. They find a place where they can multiply and they go there. Someone breathes out. Zombie spores-" "They''re not zombie spores," Finley said, holding up a drink. "That I would see coming a mile away." "Okay. Hmmm. They''re not a fungus or whatever Finley is telling us. But they find a place where they can reproduce and a side effect is that they turn the person''s brain into mush. Eventually, they will run out of hosts. So how do they keep us up?" "I''m getting very nervous with your line of questioning," Sophie said. "I guess that they keep up by evolving and doing more. Are our bacteria too small to have their own cards? I''m guessing yes. There has to be a size or an intelligence requirement to be born with a card right?" Finley nodded. "Tiny bugs don''t have cards." "Thank the Goat Lord for that," Sophie said. "Maybe we should really think about why someone would do this to a continent?" Anthony said, draining his beer and going to grab another. "I know that''s relevant. Maybe it''ll give us some insight into what we can do about this calamity," Sophie said. She raised her mug to see if she could get it refilled easily. The man was already walking after all. Anthony placed his mug down and grabbed both Finley and Sonya''s mugs. "Anyone else?" He said. "This is a jilted lover scenario. Whoever put this curse upon this entire continent... They must have hated someone so much that they wanted to burn it to the ground. And nothing speaks to that like a jilted lover," Sophie said. "My guess is that he had a bad customer service experience and he wanted to speak to the manager," Sonya said. "Are you both insane? Doing a continent wide genocide? To get back at someone for bad customer service or because they couldn''t get the knob wet? Actually that makes sense," Anthony said, deflating back to the deck. He raised his mug. "To those that came before," he said. Three other mugs raised in unison. "May they be remembered," they echoed. The moment was over far too quickly. "All right, let''s assume that it''s magical then," Sophie said, standing up to pace around. "If it''s magical then why didn''t it affect everybody? Borgan and Song weren''t affected." "Borgan and Song both have Epic cards. Maybe that''s it?" Finley said. "We''ve seen people with epic cards before," Sophie said. "We were at a dwarven military academy. If there''s any place there would be more epic cards than usual, that''s where they would be." "Do you remember that one time that Valerie found the Epic card? What was it? But she found it on one of her Noble classmates?" Sophie said. "That guy looked like he''d been eaten and killed, not exactly turned." Anthony narrowed his eyes at her. She hadn''t expected that one note to bring something out. She remembered being up on the fourth floor of the barracks. That poor kid had been chewed all over. It was the best way to get a card because it was a strong card for what it was. It had to have been the anchor card. Anytime they got something for free? Sophie was a little bit suspicious. Murphy wanted to f*** with her. She did not want to f*** with Murphy. If anything, she did not want to tempt, even the actual gods of this place. "That definitely was the anchor card. Do you think that just having such a strong card would stave off whatever this is? That means that there''s a way through. We just have to get every one of the cards that will stop it," Sonya said. "How rare are these epic cards- the obsidian ones?" "They are quite rare," Finley said. "They are generally a matter of national security. If you''re not born with one then it''s nearly impossible to get one. The concentration might be higher in the orcish meritocracy. It''s their years of campaigns against the elves and dwarves." Finley had a specific part of his heart where he hated orcs. Especially the number of orcs that were accountants. Sophie could understand that. It was something that ingrained upon him since he was young. He carried it like a single issue voter in a last ditch campaign. It was kind of cute in a way. It also showed how much culture I''d played a part in his upbringing. "So what''s the hypothesis here? Epic cards make you less likely to be... Turned into a zombie? Is that how it works?" Sonya said. "Finley, does that even make sense?" "It makes sense. If you have an epic card, your soul is just so much tougher than the average person. You can take more. You can endure more. Do I think it''s the only reason or the only thing? You''re telling me that Borgan and Song should have died? Because they should have returned to zombies? Heck, I should have died except that my card was upgraded right before..." Finley said. "Weren''t you saying that when we met? Your card upgraded to Epic or obsidian? I was scratching my head about that and now? That had to be divine intervention," Anthony said. "It sounds like the gods were meddling with you." "There is not a god of tinkers. But if you''re the last one, you get special powers. I don''t know how the Gods would know that. Wait- that could be how the magic works, couldn''t it?" Finley replaced Sophie, pacing around on the deck near the keg. He was handed several mugs which he dutifully refilled. "The real question here is," Anthony said, "What can we do about it? If you know it''s somebody with a special card skill that did all this. The chances are that they''re crazy. Can we do much with that? I doubt it. It would be great to solve the mystery but in the end, we have a dead continent that we need to what-save for the gods?" His words hung there in the air and they all drank another sip of beer slowly. "We''ve got to do more than survive," Sonya said. "The bare minimum isn''t going to cut it. We have to do better. Whether that means we fix it by killing all of the death knights, or something else... The gods can only ask us to do something. We are the ones that have to push forward on our own." "I''ll raise a mug to that," Anthony said. 3-Fourteen Finley sat there, looking at the thing that had haunted his daydreams. A large barrel with a tap on the bottom stared back at him. It wasn''t right. The last attempts had been awful, in truth. He would get his hops. He would get his wheat. But what he wasn''t getting, so far was a batch of brew that actually tasted like someone professional had made it. It had started. It''s something he was curious about. Brianna, one of the warriors, had talked to him about how to actually make beer and he''d listened for a little bit. She was too busy not making beer somewhere else to come back and help but she''d come in and gave him some pointers. He was grateful for the help. Planning to sell things on the airship was a relief. It was far better than his current predicament. It kept him from being distracted, Their current situation was untenable. "Are you sure you don''t want to talk to Andrew about this?" Zan said, fiddling with the gears. "He''s got enough on his mind," Finley said. "He''s making a conscious decision to let the team down." "He literally made an airship so he could fly all the way down here without having to fight a sea monster." "I stand by what I said. What dwarf in his right mind would not be working on any project that involved beer? It''s like he''s mental or something." The two of them were standing on the front of the deck towards the bow of the ship. When making any sort of alcohol, there was always a small chance of failure. This meant that the barrels could explode. Finley didn''t think it was likely and if there were explosions, this was the group that could take care of it. But still, it was fastened to a piece of the ship away from the goats that wanted a piece of it. "How are we on fresh water?" Zan said. "Oh yeah that''s a problem. I just realized that none of the water here is going to help us out. It''s too warm right now." "You didn''t want¡­ Oh, you didn''t ask? Stella could have cooled it down for you." "I wanted this to be a surprise for Stella," he said. Zan waved around the deck. "You''re doing this out in the open. Stella is a bit oblivious, but not that much." "We only have so much beer left. Of course I''m going to do it out in the open where the other beer is. I''m just going to put up a little sign here, that nobody really tries to go after this. They know it''s a work in progress. I''m just really hoping that this time it works," He said. Zan was waving one of her hands up and down as she had a little flame floating around it. As he watched, she rotated the flame around her hand and then tossed it up in the air. She tossed it to her other hand before returning it to the spinning motion she started with. "Level six already!" She said. Finley groaned. Once again, the Chosen were getting ahead of him by leaps and bounds. Zan had chosen fire as her affinity card and had apparently been working at it day and night. Finley was pretty sure that if he took that card and tried to use it himself, he would just sputter out. He would be unable to do anything with it. He was spent. "I just don''t see how you guys advance so quickly. Like.. " "How long does it take you to advance?" "I was working on my bartering skill. Well, bartering/ appraisal. Before you guys were around? I could only work on that when I was actively bargaining, or at least that''s the only time that it ticked up. But that means that every time that I was traveling? That was all wasted time. But these little things that Anthony has me doing? Giving you guys a salary every week organizing the supplies, that has gotten me to level four." "That''s great! But wait how long did that take? And how long did the first three levels take?" "The first three levels took about ten years. I wasn''t actively trying to do it until the later end." "Ten years?" "Ten years." "Are you serious?" Zan said, taking a mug of beer from one of the kegs that they had actually filled with real beer. Well, his beer was real beer, in a sense that hit all of the pieces. They just didn''t fit together correctly yet. "Skill progression is slow. That''s why these heirloom cards, like the ones that Valerie has from her grandfather, are so important. That''s why good cards get passed down through families over time. But I didn''t have a family. Or Lee did but I didn''t." "Lee?" "Lee is the name of the Tinker that... I merged with." "Oh yeah I forgot about that," she said. "Hold on. Let me let me see what''s going on with my cards. You know that this whole thing with the fire has helped advance my wizard card as well, right?" She showed her card to him and he gaped.
Epic Class Card: Wizard Level 5 Skills: Magic Control Level 5 Arcane Spell Casting Level 7 Learning Level 5 Spell Book Level 6 Enchantment Level 4 This card grants mana. This is a soul card and cannot be removed. As a wizard, you can transcribe and cast spells that you encounter of an appropriate level into your spell book. Your spell book is intangible and cannot be removed from your personal bubble. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"Your spell casting is already at level seven? How and... and also how?" He said, his mouth agape. "Probably some Chosen bullshit." "This isn''t normal?" she said. "This is far from normal. You would have to be literally fighting all day for years to do that and..." "And it''s only been a few months?" "Like here, take a look at my druid card. And my Tinker card."
Rare Class Card: Spore Druid Level 5 Skills: Wild shape Level 2 Plant and Fungal Control Level 5 Elemental Magic Level 1 Survival Level 4 Medicine Level 3 This card grants mana. This is a soul card and cannot be removed. As a spore druid, you have enhanced control over plants and Fungi.
Epic Class Card: Tinker Level 4 Skills: Appraisal Level 4 Identify Level 3 Animal Handling Level 5 Storage Level 3 King Level 2 This is a soul card and cannot be removed. As the last remaining Tinker, you have the ability to induct new people into the family.
"Here''s a question for you," Zan said, closing up their experiment. "Do you think that the travel time has anything to do with it? I see that you have gotten animal handling to level five. You had the horses that whole time, correct?" "I had my mares, yes," he said. "Are you saying that I''m better at animal handling because of that?" "We have to deal with our horses a lot, so yes. In fact, we need to give them a chance to spread their legs down here," Zan said. "Otherwise we''re going to have to send them back to the promontory and have them graze there, right?" "We should probably do that next. That ground is fertile, especially since I had the time to work it. Do you want to go see how the horses are doing?" Zan nodded. When they got downstairs, the horses were feeling restless. Finley looked around for some help. "Has anyone seen Sonya?" he asked the goats and horses, trying to not inhale to the best of his ability. "Check downstairs?" Andrew said. "Why?" "We''ve got to get the animals to graze and probably fill up the barrels. I know that we''re low on hay and they''re a little stir crazy." "Her mission is over. She might be uh... with Anthony," Andrew said. He was by the stairway that went to the lowest levels, tinkering with some switches. Finley rolled his eyes. There was horny and then there were the humans that he associated with. It was like they were all trying to get in something that they hadn''t gotten in their past lives. "Well that''s unfortunate. Nothing we can do about that so why don''t we-" Finley said, talking faster and faster as he moved. "You''re going to have to wait," Zan said. "What are you working on now?" She moved closer, not asking for permission. Another thing that the humans did a lot was get up really close. Andrew held up a half circle of a dark metal. "This is going to be part of a mount for a flame flinger," he said. "I''m trying to figure out how to make a big one to attach to the side of the ship." "More firepower would be useful," Finley said. Andrew handed him one of the pieces. "This is meant to go on the railing. I''m going to have to affix the flinger to the floor as well. I''m thinking that I can get a little larger here." A blueprint was spread out on the small table that he used for work. Large tools weighted each corner and aside from the blueprint, the table was covered in parts. Anthony and Bob had remarked about how much care that Andrew seemed to take with his implements. Finley was just happy that he wasn''t making a larger mess. He knew that the dwarf was capable of doing so. The only thing that was larger than the dwarf smith, was any mess produced by a human. The horses and goats were exempt. Their messes had an actual purpose. "Have you thought about what we would do if we got hit by black flame?" Finley said. "The scouting team has been giving me a few engineering textbooks. I think that I have a found a solution," he said. "Well, what is the solution then?" Finley said. "You''re not going to like this." --- Finley did not like it. Upstairs on the deck, the cannons were now nailed into the fresh wood. He was so glad that the boat had been made a long time ago. Otherwise he would have been able to feel the pain of the trees that had made up its deck. "You think that this flimsy thing is going to hold? You''ve seen the flame flinger right?" Finley said. "I don''t think that the bolts themselves will hold it in place," Andrew said, pointing out a few of the features. Bolts and washers connected the base of the cannon. "What Andrew is trying to say is that the cannons themselves are going to be so heavy that they can''t move. And that''s going to be part of the draw," Zan said. "There''s no reason to make them heavy just for them to be heavy. Does the heaviness serve a function?" Rather than saying anything, Andrew held it a hand to Zan. Zan deposited one moat of mana into his palm. Pulling back a lever, a small door opened. Then, he placed the moat into that door and pushed the lever into a third position. "Stand by!" Zan yelled, causing Finley to jump. "Go!" The boat rocked backwards a tick. Andrew hit something else and a beam of flame flew out. It hit straight into one of the fjords, leaving a burning mark. Where once it had been black and covered in lichen, the entire spot was whitewashed and smoking. "Holy Goat Lord," Finley said, dropping to one knee. "You just... You just made that and it just?" "He''s calling it the Rage of Dragons," Zan said. "If I only had some black flame mana to work with? Then this would be such a good weapon. But this is a normal flame. Normal and magical flame but ultimately normal flame. Something catching fire by this is not going to die a slow painful death. It''s just going to burn up and if it''s resistant to flame, then it won''t burn up at all. But either way it''s going to get hit like a cart full of bricks just fell on it." "A few minutes ago I was complaining to Zan about how you had no time to spend on working on my beer project. Right now? I am kind of worried. If you ever come back then work on one of my projects again that it might turn to Tony''s. So please keep up the good work." Finley, utterly demoralized, stood up and placed his hand over the cannon, no, the Rage of Dragons. "Oh! There''s Sonya!" Zan said. The woman was heading to the top deck when Zan pointed her out. "What the heck was that?" Sonya said. "I know that- holy shit did we do that?" The cannon was still lined up to fire directly at the fjord. She was the kind of human that could put two and two together. She also smelled like she could be heading to a teenage romance novel convention. Finley tended to avoid those, but it was good for business to sell food in the outskirts. So long as he kept the skirts paying, that is. Sonya walked up to Andrew and placed her hands on her hips. "This is my fault," Finley said. "Someone said that you were...uh busy. Andrew wanted to show us the newest version of the thing that will take dragons down for us." "It needs a few test runs, it all." The dwarf man looked about as pleased as a Tinker horse that had won a race. Sonya looked about as pleased as a Tinker chief to find his daughter in the wrong wagon. "You need to let us know when you''re testing things that could potentially destroy the ship. We have people here as well as goats and horses," she said. "Ah! Yeah that''s what me and Zan wanted to see you about. We need to graze the horses and let them run around for a bit. We have a lot of space here but they''re restless. It sounds like you could use some time away from the ship as well." Sonya eyed him suspiciously. "Back to the promontory then?" She said. "I would appreciate that. Andrew can even get to his workshop and exchange some of the things there." "Oh! Me too! I want to be on land for a while and I think I''m close to copying your spell!" Zan said. "Alright. Let''s head to the gateway," Sonya said. Finley tapped into his sense of whether the horses were and pushed them to assemble. Downstairs, Sonya began opening the portal. Zan ran through with her spear at the ready. Behind her, Andrew and several of the goats rushed forward. They came in through the other side and finally finally saw the fresh air and green grass that he had been craving. "Oh fuck yes!" Zan yelled. "I got it now! Gate!" 3-Fifteen "You''re able to use gate now?" Sonya squealed. "Finally!" Both girls embraced and were jumping around. Finley patted Gigi, avoiding the pygmy goat''s tiny horns. "Someday my goat... ahem girl, this whole place will all be yours. And someday we''ll understand what the heck they''re talking about and how fast they can advance. Because this is just ridiculous," he said. If there was a sound that a goat could make to impress upon those around it that it was both in agreement and utterly flabbergasted? It would have been the bleating that followed. The goats were as over their skills of the chosen as he was. "It''s just like their parents handed them something except their parents are the gods of this world. And I understand that the the Goat Lord wants to end this zombie calamity. I really get it. I really do. But just seeing how far these guys are away from the regular guy like me and you?" Gigi bleated. "Even the two Orcs that are with us? I''m absolutely certain that they are baffled by these humans. I can''t wait for them to meet an actual human from our worlds at some point in time. The contrast will just be so..." Gig bleated again. "Delicious. Yes, delicious is the word." She gave him a light headbutt. He assumed it was a sign of affection as they had a pretty good rapport so far. It had been weird when she started talking to him about her feelings about being patted on the head. That had only been in a top ten weirdest things that happened to him the last year or so. He reluctantly agreed to abide by her requests to not pat her head when she was in dwarf form. But if there was any dwarf it looked like she needed headpats, it was Gigi when she was wild shaped back into her normal dwarf form. He drifted back into their conversation. "Now we can do two supply runs on the same day," Sonya said. "Wait. We had to do a bunch of testing to see how many gates you can do at once. And if you can do the thing while you gate to my anchor locations. Because you know the thing about the boat is that it doesn''t sit still." "That is one of the worst things about the boat and I really hope that it would change at some point in time, but I''m liable to be voted down," Finley said. "We could split up a party? Have half go on the away missions. Then the rest of us say back pet the goats and ride the horses and do all the things that don''t involve us getting into a tussle with zombies?" "We don''t split the party," Zan said. "Yeah! Never split the party. That''s just tempting Murphy for no reason in telling him not to smash any of the vases you''ll have to have for him, conveniently next to a baseball bat." "This is just going to give us more options. A girl likes more options," Zan said. "Plus, if there were any goats here that could possibly learn this spell then that would make things extra better for them. They could come back here and and eat grass all they wanted and they could even use the workshop." Several goats turned their heads at this. They had been listening. All the goats that had come with them so far had been from this little Port City. Finley was absolutely certain that they would love to take a residence next to where they once lived. Of course there was still the teenage weensy little problem of there still being some zombies left inside of town. "Are you telling me that they can clean up their own town and then portal back to us on their own time? Once they figure out how to use Gates?" Finley said. "As you say that, it has a certain appeal. And aside from that one town that was completely cleared out, we don''t have a place that we can fall back on as well as this promontory over the Port City," Zan said. "We can use this spot as the beginning of the counter attack. There was a plague and now there has to be a purge." In that moment, it felt to Finley like every single goat was looking at her. They were all staring. She could have sold them all broken down wagons for double the price of a new one at that point in time. He was damn certain of it. "You''re offering these goats a future that they''re interested in. Be careful what you''re talking about because they might get too attached," Finley said. Several goats moved in to nuzzle against Sonya and Zan. A sea of goat was what he would have called it as the waves passed by them. Even the horses looked up to see what was going on because it was so odd for all the goats to congregate in such a small area. Zan was busy trying to do her best to stem the rising tide of happy customers. Sonya took it all in stride. Perhaps it was her affinity to the earth elemental that made her more suited to the task. He let the girls get adored for a little bit longer until he could see that. Even they were just kind of flustered at the idea of sticking around. "All right goats. Let the ladies free," he said. "I can''t use animal handling on you guys because you''re all dwarves on the inside. But I can make the horses come by and lick you all. You all have a very important job to do and need to eat. If you''re done eating then maybe we can test out Zan''s new spell." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Finley found out that day that he could lead a goat to food but he could not make it eat. He sighed, thinking about how much more hay he was going to have to find for them. These goats ate a lot everyday, not to mention the horses who also were eating him out of ship and wagon.
Anthony was stumped. Stella had done her best work and it still wasn''t able to unlock the large card case. Sophie had also given it a try. Chris, the other guy who had chosen a rogue class and regularly stuck to the warriors as ranged support couldn''t crack it, either. The case itself was about the size of a briefcase and had a magical weight to it. It was hard to pick up. Or rather was more awkward to pick up. It was like the difference between picking up a forty five pound dumbbell and a child of equivalent weight. One just went up easily and the other one was a little bit more wiggly. The case felt more wiggly by far. Like its internals had a soul. Whoever had made this had correctly assumed that someone was going to want to steal it. They could also correctly assumed that whoever it was would need to have some sort of Epic skill to open it. Otherwise, he would have had it open already. The damn thing just sat there taunting him. He hadn''t wanted to get the captain''s cabin, taking the main berthing that was on the top deck. It was forced upon him to hold meetings there and everyone used it as a common area. It did open up onto the decks and that was convenient. He just didn''t want the rest of the group to think that he was better than them for any reason. Bob had given it a good chance as well. He didn''t have a rogue class. He had a ranger class. Back on Earth, his work opened doors that would otherwise be closed. Here, he had no such luck. That would have been nice for him to be able to contribute on this, but he did a lot for the Caravan. Anthony, as both the caravan commander and its main healer had to think about where they were going next. In a very short time, all the goats and horses were going to be back into the lower decks and he could prepare them for their next movement. He had really wanted to find a town or a village or an encampment that they could raid. Based off of what he had heard from Borgan''s home, most of the Orcs lived in tribal communities that moved from place to place. This meant that perhaps the Orc zombies would not be stuck inside of the houses. They might have a set of tents and then the Orcs themselves could have drifted off from that starting point. Orchish zombies were harder to kill than regular zombies due to their large stature and tough skin. They were still able to be killed and if anyone could do it, it would be the Caravan but he did not want to face a horde of them. That was exactly why Bob and Anthony had chosen to use some of the monks to scout out the area from the sky. With their new found air bending abilities and their speed, it was something that they were uniquely suited for. They hadn''t been able to fly before and Anthony didn''t want to paint a target they had several days ago before they could reach the southern coast of. After that was done, they would head on to the Southern Ocean and beyond. Hopefully they are helpful to be waiting for them. If not? They would have to charge right back knowing that they did their best, eh. They would be able to find some help at the very least from the Irumian foreign legion. If that was true, they might be able to start gaining ground instead of just fleeing it. There was nobody powerful backing them. The gods were limited in their ability to directly intervene. Although they did meddle... They couldn''t much more effectively if they were very powerful but unable to use that power. Once again, he looked at the map that Valerie had updated upon their arrival. Now that they were on the southern coast. They didn''t have an easy return place to anything that they had already cleared. If they wanted to get back to some place safe, they would have to portal back. Doing so would cause them to lose the ship. He did not want to lose the ship. He looked on the map for Valerie''s best guess as to where the river was. Once most of the repairs were done, they would try to find it and use that as a guideline to get to the Southern Ocean. It was going to be another half a day until they felt confident. But he wanted everyone to get a full two days of rest. That did mean that it was forcing them to do so. It meant that he was not telling them to do anything. Everyone had their own rituals for getting ready. He needed to not get in the way. Some of them were able to rest while they were traveling so he was going to have to make a schedule for when they were It was very unclear how deep that river was. Gigi had said that it was deep enough, but also that she hadn''t traveled through that way before. She''d heard this from sailors who knew. Anthony knew that many of those sailors were trying to get with her. So some of the information might be might be suspect as they were trying to oppress her. Gigi didn''t think so. Valerie did. Valerie had given a very thorough description of how they had to use their feminine wiles to get their way. The academy hadn''t told them to do sex work per se, but to lean on their attributes. A little customer service voice as Anthony would say. Valerie was in her corner still reading her novels. He had shared it with Sonya. They''d read it together which led to them taking the whole afternoon off. His general happiness with the current state of affairs grew. They did not want to tell Valerie what had happened. She would become unsettled by the results. But it was good that she had something that she could keep mine off of. Two months of trialing with them had made her sleep more regular. He knew that she had gone through so much so far. If his sons had gone through that same thing he didn''t know if he would be able to take it. Adopting her in spirit was the closest thing he could do to bridge the gap. He had many speeches prepared from how to drive a car to how to to ride a bike. None had come to fruition given the total lack of cars and bikes on this planet. But if you spent long enough here, he might be able to get that bike thing up and going. He heard the sounds of two pairs of feet landing on the deck above them. "Hey Valerie, it sounds like our guys are back from scouting." He was super glad that there wasn''t any accompanying screaming. That would be his cue that something was off. The two monks came in and walked over to the map. The table, was at least the size of a queen size bed. And the map on top of it almost the same distance. By the way, scuttled in. She used her card ability to create a map of the local region, and overlay that they could. The monks went right to where they best judged that the ship had landed. "We are right here," Michael said, pointing right next next to the large river. "What do you think? Five miles to the river?" "At most ten miles," Juan said. Valerie and Bob looked up from the table. The late afternoon sun poured through as the shadow lengthened. "Do you both think that we can move the ship and still work on it?" Anthony said. Valerie hadn''t quite promoted to the head of engineering, research and development. She had become the liaison between engineering and operations. Anthony was systematizing the fuck out of the Caravan as he''d gotten bored. He wasn''t going to have a scrum meeting anytime soon but Valerie has been on him to have more regular meetings. He would be fucked to waste peoples time on meetings unless there was a real need to do so. Unfortunately, there was no email so he couldn''t do the thing he wanted to. Could he brute force email? Come back to a medieval time and create an email service? He was going to have to talk to Andrew and Finley. 3-Sixteen Finley couldn''t yell at Bob for being late. That would be shitty. But Bob strolled in at least past the time that he should have and it was apparent that he had been working on the circles. If nothing else, the bags under his eyes meant something. This meeting was for the four of them. They were going to hash out some decisions before they presented it to the council. They had tracked a large passage through two steep mountains for half a day. That was the sign that they would all meet up. "We need to figure out if we want to go to the river delta west and then if so do we want to go by air or by sea?" Bob opened the door. Everyone was already conspicuously looking. "Valerie." Bob nodded his head indicating that he needed her to follow him. Finley sat back, wishing that he had brought some fruit to eat to see the show. Valerie didn''t budge for a moment instead. Looking like she needed him to explain himself before she wouldn''t even consider the notion of her leaving a council meeting. "Valerie," Bob said. "They are on the move. I need your brain." All three of them ran out to check. Bob was holding two blue rocks. He revealed the rocks, both with a representation of an orc on them. There was one of these each on the circles. Then there were two Red rocks that were slightly away from the blue. Finley saw that put the green thing somewhere in the north, If he was catching the meaning of what Bob was doing. "Does this mean that the one of the death knights is on the move?" Valerie took knee and brought out her binder of notes, her moving a notebook and a charcoal nubbed pencil. Finley and the two men stood there waiting as she calculated The likelihood of the three of them having to actually do something. It didn''t take long but it felt like hours. He knew because he saw how fast he was scribbling, but he breathed slower and slower. Valerie did not have a flare for the dramatic. What she did have was a real desire to not be caught with her pants down in the middle of a calculation and have those assumptions turn out to be wrong. By contrast, Finley had internalized a strong desire to not push the dwarf to go any faster than she could. Some of the calculations that she was making started to spin in his head as he examined them closer. His accounting card, a relic of his first days with the caravan pinged. He could see numbers solving themselves in the air, grouped into matrices of four and six. That got his attention.
Uncommon Class Card: Accountant Level 3 Skills: Writing Level 5 Books Level 4 Mathematics Level 7 Eidetic Memory Level 9 As an accountant, you can store complex mathematical matrices in your head and perform functions on them.
His mathematics skill had advanced by one point, to his estimation. That had absolutely been not what he was intending. A card level was a card level. And a skill level was a skill level and he wasn''t going to turn any of those down. Any one of those these skill levels could prove crucial in the next steps... Steps that he was certain that they wouldn''t have to take. He had an itch to do some multiplication, a delicious new experience that was all new to him. It felt like the way that cheese tasted. Valerie was close to finishing. Finley checked her math, and she was right. "Where did you get one hundred span from?" He said, making her jump three feet into the air. "How did you know that?" Valerie said. "I looked at your notes and sort of knew. That''s not something that I did consciously. It was a card skill." "Right..." The explanation was going to have to wait. The fact that he could help her with her math now with his accounting card... It meant that they might have more in common that he actually wanted to have with the little dwarf girl. Besides the whole being a survivor of a continent wide zombie apocalypse that is. "All right, I''m hitting one hundred span. Distance? Speed? What does that mean in practical terms?" Anthony said. "The death knight is moving." "No shit, Bob." "The death knight is moving faster than we can or have." Finley looked north as if he would be able to see the dragon by this time. "I have two questions for all of you," Anthony said. "The first question is would it be faster if we were in the river with a wind assist. The second question is how fast can we make this thing go?" Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
After a ton of grumbling and a short meeting with the entire group, Anthony got the consensus. Then he checked that twice. Then he had the heads of each department as he was calling them check twice. What he did not want to do was leave anyone behind. That would not suffice. That death knight had proven itself so capable as to send a messenger. The invitation to single combat, he considered to be behind them. Bob was not going to give him an easy fight. What he was going to do was have the people that work with him make it as difficult as possible to attack them. One on one? How about one on an Army? Sighing, Anthony leaned on his goblin commander card. He set an ambitious plan to make the dragon follow them. It would go through the river delta all the way down to the Southern Ocean. He had Brandon working on the water underneath the ship moving it forward. Then he had a slight lift provided by all of the people that had chosen fire affinity cards. They weren''t off the water, but they did make the ship a little bit lighter. The final piece de resistance was the amount of wind they began to pour into the sails. With one of the monks as a spotter, they steered it past around the fjords and then to the river Delta. Of course, this was asking for them to just light it up because soon after they moved, darkness fell. That was when Stella and Bob began to have to light up the decks and clarify where the river was and where it ended. Mercifully, the river was deep enough for them to navigate so long as they stayed mostly in the center. They spent all night like that, working the way downriver using the monks as spotters. It looked like the promised rest that Anthony had really tried to give his guys was not going to appear. In the back of his mind, he added another thing to his to-do list. Of course he would be giving them all vacations. Once they resolved the situation on the southern ocean and got the help they needed... They would establish a real base operations for the next phase of the campaign. At least that was his intent. Surely, every living Dwarf would want to return to their Homeland to reestablish it. Surely any government of any size and they would want to help out. Their status as chosen might pave the way. He could only hope. When the sun rose in the next day, Anthony only slept for a few hours. Despite there being an enormous amount of goats and humans there was more than enough work to go around. Several goats that had fire bending cards were getting burnt out. The air bending goats broke wind continually that night. The two water bending goats worked themselves dry. He wasn''t fully rested. He could have used a blue ox energy drink and about a triple shot of espresso in his latte. He was still alive and that was all that counted. Not only him, but the entire Caravan was still alive. "Anthony, a word?" Bob said, coming in from the deck. "Please give me some good news," Anthony said. "I''m afraid that I''m all out of that," he said, squinting. "Is it always this dark and gloomy in here?" "I''m keeping the shades closed because I want to look cool. But also-this is key-Sonya didn''t want to get dressed," he said. A pair of scrubs hit him in the head with about the same strength as a newborn kitten. "I got you," he said. "No big deal but I just thought you would know that it looks like they are directly north of us." Anthony''s eye twitched. "Are they now?" "If we''re using the river as a north-south line then yes. It is either on the river or flying over or something." "More dragons?" Anthony said. "Almost certainly. No I wouldn''t put it out of his way to have some contract with the magical leopleuridon. That we all think is going to come attack us at any point in time." "You think that Vanessa''s going to come over here?" Bob gave him the look that I meant that he didn''t want to answer that question. Anthony blinks and a pair of scrub pants hit Bob in the face. He stood there, stoically taking the assault. It wasn''t everyday that he got to get hit by a master warlock. Heck, Anthony had told her that he was a target so he wasn''t surprised. "Say what you mean," she said mumbling under the covers. "We don''t think that but we can''t rule it out and too many things are turning out to be way too correlated or coincidental. Honestly, if I was the Flesh Weaver I''d be tracking us down. Seems like he has powers to do so. This makes him uniquely suited as our enemy because of how much ground we have to cover to get to a safe place." "This is with us all deciding to head to the Southern Ocean and beyond to try and get some support. Do you think that they any chance to overrun us?" Anthony stood up to finally put pants on. For once, he put his old scrub pants on after Bob handed them back. It was like putting on an old glove, except that it smell like Sonya and in no way was a glove. In a semi-darkness, He couldn''t find his scrub top anywhere, but that was all well and good. He could go bare chested. Everybody had seen him naked and they were all adults a out it except for Valerie. He took the time to find his shirt. Out in the fresh bright sun, he reconsidered getting up and also not having black out curtains. He was going to have to ask Andrew if they had paint, or find some paint himself. He was certain that there had been some paint in one of the mansions on the promontory. He would need to find it when he had a chance. Moving to the back to the ship he looked to see if there were any dragons on the far horizon. Seeing none, he checked out the riverbeds on either side. It looked marshy on either side as if he was floating through the Amazon. Several large reptiles took a chance to pop up and size them up. Anthony gawked at the display. The alligator with six legs had to be the worst of the bunch. Swimming alongside the ship, it made him rethink using the water. They were making good time as the balloon got stitched up and reassembled. The local fauna were getting to be a bit friendly. One attempted a bite on the back of the ship, causing him to reel back. "It''s not a zombie. It''s a real life six legged gator and it doesn''t think that the ship is tasty." He realized that they hadn''t named the ship. Was that a good omen? One of the goat dwarves would know better, and ask to use the old name. It wouldn''t capture the magic of what Anthony wanted to do with it. He looked up, consider his next move. Far north, he could make out a spout of black flame. "Alright," he said. "We know that they''re coming for us. How do we lay a trap here?" Bob sidled up next to him, Valerie in tow. "I told the adjutant that she has to be mindful that we are all adults here. Sometimes that means we will be in various states of undress. We''re all basically professionally homeless wanderers right now," Bob said. "Professionally homeless? That''s about right," Valerie said. "Oh fuck. There they are." Valerie pulled out a silver embossed looking glass to examine their quarry. "Bob! Are you ready to fuck with these guys?" "Am I ever. You think that he is just going to lay himself down on a plate for us then?" Bob said, cracking a smile. Some of the caravan didn''t mind killing the undead. Bob and the scouts lived for it, or they were masking some serious trauma. Either one would be enough for him to call in Sonya. "All right, Valerie. I have one idea. I assume that you have a good idea here as you want to set a trap for them." "Do you want me to make this plan and then you''ll sign off on it? I''m ready for that. Put me in, Coach," she said. Anthony''s side eye game was legendary but he couldn''t make heads or tails about how she had known that idiom. "Stella told me that would throw you off. I guess that means that I owe her a steak or something," Valerie said. "A plan, Valerie, give us a plan," Bob said. "Besides running away? Well I guess we could use the natural environment or advantage. If we''re down here on the ground, will be easy pickings for them. In the sky they''ll have the advantage as they can move faster and turn better. What we need," she said, pointing to the mountains they just passed. "...is something like that where we can catch them. We need to make them fly through that passageway. Then we can find something to spring on them." "A falling rock trap? Fire trap? Crossbow assault?" "All of the above." "This sounds like a goat rodeo, uh no offense Gigi," Anthony said. "Let''s see if we can do this. Ring the bell to get everyone up. Playtime is over." 3- Seventeen Bob, Mork''s cake guy, was pulled aside after Valerie gave her plan. "Bob. I think that it''s tracking you." "No shit, Valerie," he said. "No. Listen to my words. It think that it''s tracking you in particular." Bob felt off. Of all the possible things that she could have said to him... The fact that he was being targeted personally meant that perhaps he could draw their followers away. "So what do you want me to do about that? Do you want me to try and pull them out?" He said. "Well this is a theory, right? My theory is that if I put you someplace then that is a place that they are going to head towards. And again, I understand, you''re one of the strongest people here. You''re not going to go fight one of the death knights one-on-one, correct?" Though he had said many times that he wouldn''t, Bob wasn''t above doing what was necessary if it fell into his lap. It just so happened that this one had really decided to come right to his lap. And oh, wouldn''t you know? Bob had exactly the right implement to deal with this exact problem. Bob flexed his crossbow arm. "Bob?" "I mean yeah it''s that sounds totally reasonable. But what specifically do you want me to do?" "Now that Zan has the gate spell unlocked, we''re going to put the two of you together. Yes with Stella so she can save you." At the mention of her name Bob smiled. Things have been good between them and with the possibility of another death knight kill on the horizon, he was pretty pleased. He just needed that chance to do what was necessary. Sonya had gotten the last one through trickery. He would get this one. "Alright. Storytime," Valerie started. "Back in the quiet wars, several pirate groups decided to break the truce of the Quiet Sea. It''s fresh water so it''s an enormous resource for all four kingdoms. One pirate decided that they would use their fleet to take advantage of it. They would run thick steel cabling in between two boats and then take out the main mast of smaller boats. It took the combined might of several dwarf and human ships to take them down. Since then, every ship has a steel cabling that is kept in the lowest decks." Bob gave her the look that he reserved for his most interesting customers. She wasn''t buying a cake right now. "Where do you want me to be?" He said. "Am I in the center of the action?" "Right in the center. You have that grappling hook card, right?" Bob smiled. --- Finley could not believe how absolutely ridiculously stupid the humans were being. They were literally tempting a death knight to attack them, and the two dragons bearing down on them within a minute or less would be able to make quick work of Bob. Of course they figured out a way to run a cable across the cleft between two mountains. They figured out a way to hide the airship under some of the foliage on the far side. Of course they had all gotten into position and then briefly rehearsed their next steps. Finley knew his role. He was the backline support, trying to kill or capture a dragon with a net. More than likely he would be just helping the monks with the flow of the fight. "I thought that they would make some noise," Brandon said, from his side. The drop into the water was precipitous. Finley was so unsettled by the idea of falling that he had put an air bending card into his soul deck. He had even spent some time working with it so that he wouldn''t be a menace to himself. Others would probably see him as one. Once this was all done, he was definitely staying on solid ground where there was no chance of him falling. He didn''t much care for the act of falling, but the landing part really ought to hurt. So there he was, waiting for the humans to put another off color scheme into motion. "I really hope that we don''t do this too often. Fighting dragons is becoming too normalized for this crew." And far too normalized for himself. Maybe it was just him trying to adjust to this new world, but he didn''t think that he would ever see one dragon in his life, much less three. There was something to be said about facing down dragons. But he wasn''t going to be the one to say it. Preferably if the topic was brought up next time? He wouldn''t even be in the room. He''ll be far away from the violence that was about to erupt. Giant green wings beat against the air, desperately trying to keep the two undead zombies up. They approached the cleft with the single mindedness of a prom queen. Any other flying animal, feeling suspected would consider going around. But these two monstrous beast locked in on the man standing in the center. Bob stood, defiant as he stared down the two of them. Finley readied his spell. They would only get one chance at this. The dragon in the front did not stop, swooping and trying to inhale Bob. Bob, knew the plan. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. He launched his grappling hook towards the far side. Without any time to react, the first dragon''s wings sheared off. One second, the dragon was falling with him. The next second two wings and the dragon''s body were falling in different directions. The intense amount of force shook the mountain that he stood on. It made him question his new career. Finley lost a bet that day as the second dragon began to hover. That was when Finley realized that he''d only had an approximation of what true fear felt like. With a start, he realized that not only did he not like it, every fiber of his being wanted to be somewhere else. He gulped. He closed his eyes and tapped into the green. The last time he used so much mana on one thing, he had paid the price. Today, before he committed to such an act, he was going to see how much the dragon needed. Dozens of rocks pelted the hovering beast. Most of them from overhead. The goats were working their magic from higher up. Finley concentrated on the shape of a net. It would have to be the largest net he could create. He was trying to make a fishing net out of plant matter so that they could capture it. He checked, watching as the dragon reoriented itself to the new threat. Either the death knight was with these two dragons, or and this was the worst part, a third. Plant matter flew out of him as fast as an sprinter. It got a rough shape as it got closer to the attracted wings. He could feel time slow as he approached. The wing beats which had taken so little time previously now felt like they were slowly making their way up and down like a stroll. Then he saw it. As the plant matter was due to contact the dragon, the wing dropped down upon it. It misdirected the action of the net, pouring the net into the empty air below the dragon. All of a sudden all of his efforts in mana were dashed against the rocks. Finley didn''t have a name for this particular mountain that he was standing near the top of. But if you could name it, it would be something like the amount of despair, or the cleft of hope. Finley fell to his knees, spent. He was going to have to wait a little bit and recharge. He gripped his spear. "This will have to do," He said. --- Bob, Mork''s best bait, slammed into the wall. It''s not agree with him. His moving out of the way of line of fire, caused a flurry of attacks from the goats. Using their innate ability to climb steep areas, the goats laid down suppressing fire on the dragons until it was knocked out of its flight by its own hubris. The second one narrowly dodged Finley''s net attack. Bob cursed the rock he was holding on to. He really didn''t want to burn up his clothing but it was looking more and more like he was going to have to. Bob drew out his crossbow and loaded the bolt, siding down towards the beast. Several magic missiles contacted the side of the dragon. He could see the icons moving about in real time. Wherever the flesh weaver was, it was probably inside of the dragon. That just gave him a few more questions. Was the flesh weaver part of the dragon? Or just the dragon itself? A torso appeared halfway down. The dragon, as if it was a rider. Both sets of eyes looked down upon them. Bob, wished that Stella was there to soften her making this stupid mistake. But this damn had chosen to come and do his grounds and he was going to do his best to make sure that it''s stuck around. As it turned out, well, just a little tweak to his instructions, his grappling hook had two hook ends. Bob was about to attend his second rodeo. All things considered? This was a low amount of rodeos for the thing he was trying to do. But as the train looked around, it finally found him. This gave him the strength to carry on. Bob flung the rope towards the beast. He wasn''t expecting much. But now that he has full and undivided attention, he wanted to show it a few things. As he threw, his aim was off. The rope banged the side of the rock face narrowly missing it. It started to gain air as it got higher and higher up the mountain. The goat attacks continued, growing larger and larger. Rocks were now joined by gouts of flame. The dragon began to shoot black flame at the goats. Bob winced. "Come down here you coward," He yelled. Either his words weren''t loud enough, or it really just didn''t want to listen to him. If he was a dragon, he wouldn''t listen to anybody. Bob had only had a few tricks unless it was going to stay close to him. He cursed as he pulled yet another bolt out of his quiver. This one was going to have to count. He did not want to have to track this thing down. It had come through their trap unscathed. That meant there was some sort of intelligence behind it. Otherwise both of them would have modestly flown through. There was a very small chance that he could be bag himself with death knight in the very short-term. But those chances of getting one more remote as the dragon continue to climb, and now ascending to over the mountains. --- "Fuck!" Sonya could hear Bob from the top of the mountain. Too bad for him. Sonya''s resolve was ironclad. She thought to ground herself in so lightning against the dragon but that hadn''t worked. It had created a lot of sparks and given both the goats and interesting static to their hair. The next time she talked to her patron they would have words about the specific encounter. She had gotten a hot tip that there would be two dragons. She passed that information on to the rest of the caravan. Kara had also informed her that she would be giving her a special boon. That is, if she could kill the dragon. A nice easy challenge. It sounded like a challenge, and Kara made it clear at all that Sonya had to do was to listen and follow along. There was something between her earth elemental affinity and the grounding of lightning. She was going to have to look into it later. But if a patron had wanted her to do something, that day all it had done was to top off her reserves. If there was one thing that Sonya wasn''t going to do, it was waste all her mana. The dragon could do that that, she didn''t have the time. She itched the look down and see what had happened to the dragon who had fallen into three chunks. She supposed that it would have to wait. Instead, she took a second to cast magic missile on the undead abomination. Rather than hope that one of her big moves would take it down, she would do as much damage as possible. She continually pelted it with the same spells. Each one was little force blast and knocked off a chunk of the flesh that was holding the dragon in place. Slow and steady would win the battle if she had anything to do with it. The dragon kept flying up. It was apparently not impressed with their antics. Neither was Sonya. She hadn''t thought they had it. Everything easily was in hand, but she was kind of hoping. Especially if a boon was on line, she would put a lot into it. If the dragon was just flying out of range, then she wouldn''t even get a clear shot. Sonya could barely make it to the lightning. She wanted to strike the ground and also that dragon as well. Touching the ground beneath her, she willed it to be ready to receive a lightning blast. All she was doing was preparing the Earth to receive the blessing of one of the clouds above. It slowed. Would it be bad if there was a dragon in between those two points? She was not going to have a lot of time to dodge. What she did have was the ability to step through a portal and then activate it. She stepped through to the other side, pushing her mana into the ground behind her. She had jumped from the top of one of the mountains to the other. A goat bleated at her. Above, a lightning arc across the sky contacted the ground below her as well. It also went straight through the dragon. Of course that didn''t mean that it fell so it just meant that part of when wine was damn blackened and on fire. Still, a win was a win and she was going to take that. That is until that they focused on her and began to dive. 3-Eighteen Above, the dragon circled again. Anthony was sure that it didn''t want to fall into another trap. He was also sure that it didn''t see any traps. Or the very least it was taking its time now. This was perfect for the next phase of the operation. "Andrew, you''re up!" He yelled. The cannon was rotated it into a vertical position aiming straight up or close to it. Anthony grabbed a ball of mana, infused it with healing magic and then passed that to the artificer. He opened the back door to the cannon, loaded the shot and then closed it. The energy flowed out of the cannon nearly destroying in a line of offensive healing magic flew straight up towards the dragon. Whatever they had been trying to do was obscured by the width and girth of the beam. The shaft of magical energy stretched upwards to the sky and for a second Anthony was jealous. It wasn''t that he had any degree of performance anxiety; he was well and happy with what he had. But the grass was not only greener where Andrew enhanced it, but it felt like he had used steroids, but also male enhancement pills. But again, Anthony was not jealous. He could be happy for the dwarf. He couldn''t be happy with the dwarf''s aim. The beam went wide, not close enough to hit the dragon. He was going to have to work on his aim. There was no reason for them to miss unless the dragon was really intelligent. The dragon did a aileron roll. "Well shit," Anthony said, gulping. "That can''t be good." "Ready for another shot?" Andrew said. "With pleasure." Anthony squeezed out another mote of mana into the artificers hands. Andrew held it briefly, charging the cannon. Thooom! The cannon went off once again, shaking the back of the now obvious airship. Anthony had no practical notion of being a captain that would go down with his ship. He wasn''t a romantic in that sense. He did want to kiss the dragon with his large shaft of life giving magic though, just once. The thick shaft of magic nearly hit the dragon. Andrew was definitely improving his aim. The dragon, too, took note, banking further away as it pulled out of its downward spiral. Then it launched a ball of fire at them. Anthony didn''t appreciate the large bulbous orb of black flame. He cast a large area defensive spell, an instinct that had to be his class powers taking over rather than anything that was his own. The counter was immediate and wide ranging. The magic hit magic coalescing into an ear splitting sound. Anthony''s ears popped and then went silent. The dragon fully changed course, diverting away from the large holy dome. Through the transparent shield, the dragon''s limping flight away was visible. "Is it coming back?" He said. He couldn''t hear anything. His own words sounded like he was underwater. "WHAT?" yelled Andrew, pointing at his ears. "I said, DO YOU THINK IT''S COMING BACK?" When both man and dwarf realized that neither could hear the other, they reverted to orc hand talk. By now, both were practiced hands at it. Song, standing on the opposite side of the ship, signaled them, asking if they were alright. Anthony signed, ''Hearing problems'', and got a thumbs up. They tracked the dragon for a bit, before Anthony began signing for Bob. The ranger would have a good handle on the distance of the dragon and if it was going to make a counter attack. He could find any zombies within five span, a point which made him a bit jumpy. Anthony never wished for that ability, but was certainly glad that someone had it.
Bob, Mork''s purveyor of souls, couldn''t hear anything. The dragon that had lost it''s wings had decided that it wanted to live. It was currently smashed into pieces on a riverbank. This would be the first time that Bob was glad for the many legged crocodiles. Though the match up seemed to be uneven, without the dragon''s ability to fly, it was just another meal for the crocodilian. That is, if the two could figure out who was the dominant one. Any other time in his life, Bob would be patiently waiting for the two to square off and taking bets on who would win. He nervously watched the skies. He had been close to the death knight and the two would have to clash again. The dragon made up of orc flesh had to have some weakness to the iron trap jaws of the larger than life crocodile. Bob realized with a start that the death knight had retreated out of his range. He still had an idea of where it was, but as he watched the two beasts tussled, it was only the icon that moved. The only zombie within five kilometers was down below, and he wouldn''t let that one go. He climbed up towards the airship, seeing Song at the side to relay signals. He signed ''Prepare to take off'' to the orc. Song signed back, ''Ready when you are.'' Bob brought the funk and the fire, making his way up and over to light up the airships canvas balloon. He could make it move on his own and he only needed one person with air affinity and then he could move around picking up everyone. Already he could see the goats making their way down the mountain. By the time it was up and running, there were only a few people left that he needed to get. Anthony and Andrew were setting up for another shot. Or rather, Anthony stood by when Bob arrived and Andrew was fiddling with the gears. "I saw your attack. Good work. The other dragon is out of range. We can get that one," he said pointing over the side. "If they are still engaged in mortal combat I think we have a chance to take out the grounded dragon. It''s going to be like spear fishing in a barrel." Anthony looked over. "Ah, you weren''t kidding huh?" He said. "They''re really going at it right now." The crocodile was missing one of its six legs and the dragon looked like half of its face had caved in, but it was still going. It looked like a small child had torn off parts of each. But they were still fighting. Joe, he was really glad that they were keeping a fear distance from it. As much as Bob wanted to smash a dragon like any bard his age, this was not the kind that he was looking for. Plus he was in a pretty committed relationship with Stella. Perhaps he needed to ask her about a dragon costume. "Hey Anthony, what do you think about cosplay?" Bob said. "That''s a bit of a question to ask right now, Bob dare I ask why?" "No reason. I just remember all the hot cosplayers who would come to events nearby and they all had some great sewing abilities and perhaps that''s the kind of thing we need in this group. Seeing as how your shirt and pants always get stolen by your girlfriend." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "She prefers the term work wife." "You don''t fuck your work wife, Anthony." "No, we make love. Maybe you don''t?" Andrew, who was about a foot shorter than both of them came between them and gave them both a keeping dose of side eye. "You learned that from Stella didn''t you," Bob asked. "Yes, and you''re both ridiculous. Get the ship up into the air so I can shoot that abomination right in the snout."
Finley was one of the last few to get on board the ship, just in time to get rocked by the cannon fire. He walked up to the back of the deck. The ship had been expertly flown so that the rear-facing cannon had a great view of the slug fest between the four-and-a-half-legged crocodile and the half-blinded undead dragon. He took it in. The mages took turns shooting and charging. The cannon kept getting closer and closer as Andrew got better. The action of cycling through motes of mana from different sources meant that Andrew and Valerie''s aim got better quickly. Caught up in the moment, Finley brought out his frame and a handful of uncommon card pieces. He went through the motions on auto pilot, feeling possessed by the Goat Lord himself. Pieces were placed in just the right spot. Mana flowed out of him, as he drew in the energy of the battle. The iron pieces became a card as he snapped back into the present. Whatever had happened had completely taken him over. He held up the card, the image of a cannon shooting at the fore.
Uncommon Skill Card: Cannoneer Level 1 Load, aim and fire. The wielder of this card has an instinctive knowledge of how to work cannons.
"Andrew, put this in your soul deck," He said shoving it into the dwarf''s hands. "What? Okay I''ll do it, Canonneer? This is great! Thanks, Finley! Finley went to pull out another collection of iron card pieces. Now that he knew what he was doing, he repeated the process creating a second card. When he finished it, the moment was gone and he passed it on to Valerie. The Goat Lord shone down on him that day, or perhaps he was connecting the dots. Whatever it was, he felt like all of the cards he had made before were now playing into his skills in a way that he hadn''t expected. It was a bit overwhelming and he had to think about it. Either he had figured out how to reliably make the same card over and over again, or he was getting little nudges. He was ready to call it a day. He wondered if the horses would be alright. Valerie could take care of them. Then, leaning against the side of the deck, he took a nap. The soft thoom of the cannon punctuating his sleep.
Finley woke up, not knowing what time it was. He was so groggy and out of it that for a moment, he thought that he was in his wagon. He checked and he was. Then he opened the flaps and realized that he was, of course inside of the ship. It being dark, he cast mage light in a dull red. He did his rounds, checking on the horses and the goats. Both groups were undeniably smelly. The amount of feed left was low. The water needed to be topped up as well. He had to find Sonya or Zan. Probably Zan although how fast were they flying already? He headed upstairs to check on their progress and see who was on watch. The air benders had made good time and they were past the jungle. Finley arrived to see Stella at the helm. He waved to her and then moved to inspect the canvas that was giving them life. They were not in the water. For the first time he realized that that was where he wanted to be. He wanted to be where the people were. But also he wanted that place to be on the ground. He wanted to check out their whatchamacallits and doodads from the safety of his cave. He didn''t even have a cave and he wanted to be safe inside of one. Maybe a dancing fish would help him out? He''s snapped out of it. Stella waved him to come over and join him. "How you doing up there?" He said. "Good but you were sleeping for a while. Some of us were worried. Those cannoneer cards? Those were clutch. They saved us the battle. Or at the very least, made it easy to mop up the dragon. The other one hasn''t made it back." He came up to stand next to her. Happy so often, she would spit out a gout of flame. "It looks like the balloon is holding well." "Andrew does some amazing work. And the fixes, now that we know what we''re trying to do? Those were amazing. Without him working so hard on all this shit we would be lost. Or at the very least he would still be very far north of here." They rode on in silence for a while, the only punctuation was the wind. As they were heading into the dark Finley didn''t expect to be able to see anything. "How''s Bob doing?" He said. "The man is a specimen," she said. "He is a piece of work to be sure. He is fine, but..." "But?" "One of you guys needs to speak some sense into him. He really is thinking about this one-on-one battle with the Flesh Weaver. That invitation? He''s been obsessing over it. And you know what the last thing was that he obsessed over?" "I''m drawing a blank here." "Well the answer is me. But before that it was the other death knights and way before that it was his image as a small business owner who was just trying to make ends meet in a hard world. But out here? He doesn''t need that because he''s one of the strongest of us." Finley let that sit there for a moment. "He''s concerned with how he looks? Is that what you mean when you say image? I don''t think that he looks... ugly?" "I think more in terms of him as an idea. We all look up to him. The goats do at least. Valerie does both because of his position and because the three of us saved her life. We had to live up to that. That''s a tough ideal to live up to." "If he''s thinking about how other people think about him, that shows that we are getting past the survival phase." Stella waved her arms around. "Finley. We are here in a first of its kind airship which probably needs a name by the way, and we are traversing most of a continent in less than a week. That is incredible and that is something that has never happened on this world." "You want to name the ship?" "Don''t Tinkers name their wagons?" "Maybe a family name. I''ve never named mine. I just think of it like my wagon." "I think that we can get the Union on this and make a great name for ourselves. And we can also, make a great name for this ship which deserves one after what it''s done for us so far. I''m sure you agree." Finally, shrugged. Without the need to set a watch over, it was a lot more free time. It was so freeing to be in a place that they did not have to worry about zombies all the time. Maybe he was going to spend some time figuring out a good name for this ship. Hopefully, Stella would help him with that. 3-Nineteen "Can we land anywhere? The horses need to eat," Finley said. "And it would give us a good reason to check out that seam on the starboard side. Plus Valerie thinks that we will hit the southern coast tomorrow." Anthony gave him the look. "Might as well. Sophie had been clamoring about a union meeting anyway. We can have the monks scout out a good field." The tension of the dragon the day prior had evaporated. It was the hunger of the horses and their desire to roam free that had brought new worry to Finley. Even the goats were a bit stir crazy. If he had some time today he would make some of the base cards to create more druids. Once his horses were happy, he would be happy. He hoped. Sophie was waiting by the front, trying to scout out landing sites and talking. "Sophie, Anthony said something about putting a union meeting on the schedule. We''re about to land. If you want to assemble them, I''ll be ready to meet your demands." Sophie smiled and he knew that he was in for a world of hurt. "As it so happens we have an agenda," she said. "Wonderful. I''ll be grazing the herd," he said. "So come get me when you''re ready." Sophie rubbed her hands, a sign that Finley would once again be scratching his head at human antics. --- Sophie helped set out the picnic. A crane with pulleys had been set up on the starboard side. Its ability let her put her box easily on the ground. She stuffed her box full of meat. A lesser box wouldn''t have been able to take so much sausage, but she wanted it filled up. Of course not every woman could handle so much meat at once, but she had a plan. She had enough lubrication to fit it all in. Some of the meat had been beaten yesterday. Beaten thoroughly and marinated with some dwarves special sauces. She couldn''t wait to cook the meat over an open fire. Charcoal briquettes were laid out on a raised barbecue grill. "You''ve really outdone yourself here," she told Andrew. "I did what needed to be done," he said. "I want your meat in my mouth." "I''m going to deliver." "Good because I have been craving sausage. Stella had been going on about Bob''s special sausage... Or was the sausage special?" He said. "I have a feeling... she was raving about something else," Sophie said, putting the first of her meats onto the grill. They sizzled. "You know back on Earth... They say that if you eat a sausage? You become a sausage because you''re like a larger casing for the sausage," Sophie said. "Earth is a weird place. Is the grill to your specifications?" "Yes. I just hope that no one asks about what kind of meat this was." She raised an eyebrow to the dwarf, as if asking him to comment. He did not ride to the occasion, much to her amusement. The grill was large enough for a commercial operation at a county fair, exactly what she needed. Bob arrived with his gear. Cutlery, knives and most importantly spatulas that wouldn''t ruin the faux cast iron. Both Sophie and Bob were on the side of not scraping the cast iron. Two new dwarves joined them to help. They had decided to use their half hour or wild shape time to bus the picnic and also serve a copious amount of beer. The only person that Sophie had expected to see that hadn''t shown up was Stella. "Have you seen Stella?" She asked Andrew. "She was on the night shift. Then she asked to scout things out with the monks," Andrew said. "There are no zombies within about five span," Bob said. "She was looking for signs of life. Also, confidentially, I think she''s trying to cut back." Sophie nodded, working her way around the grill to make sure that it was fully lit. It was evenly cooked. "Alright, Bob we are set up. Anything in particular that I''m missing?" She said. "Yes," he said, rummaging in his side bag. He pulled out three aprons and three chef hats. "This may not be strictly necessary, but I thought that we could use these. I have one for Stella when she gets back but-" "I love it. I think she will love it too," Sophie said. "Thanks. It''s kinda hard to get someone a meaningful gift when you are fighting for your life on the regular," he said. "It''s the everyday things that matter. This caravan of people, we are all here together. It might look silly but it''s-things like this matter." "Aww Bob, that''s super sentimental," Sophie said. "You sure are a romantic. How does this sausage look?" She turned over a sausage. It was either browned or burnt, but she wanted an expert opinion. "My mouth is watering. That dwarves'' spice pallet is going to make us run out of beer and water." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "Hot sauce?" Sophie used a pair of custom tongs to grab and move her meat. She picked a good specimen and gave it a nice old sniff. "I don''t think it will need it," She said, letting Bob had a sniff of her sausage. "Oh this will be good. I''m so glad we went the extra mile with that grinder last night." "I know! We should turn more animals into sausage!" Bob smiled. He took the tongs from her gracefully. He began to check through the meat, mostly ribs, that would make or break their cook out. --- Sonya squealed. Their small picnic was off to a good start, and the food was good. "This actually tastes good. Fuck we need to find more crocodiles," she said. "Spoilers!" Brianna said. "Like we all knew that this was something we killed but that''s giving away the game." "Sorry? Should I have kept that from you?" "Look. I was vegan back on Earth but I saw that crocodile. He was an asshole. I don''t mind eating him one bit," she said. "Ah yes. Back on Earth." Brianna leaned in. "We all know that you used to be a social worker. It''s one of the most endearing things about you. But I worked as a dispatcher and yeah, this place feels like something else entirely." Brianna had long braids that Sonya wanted to touch, but they hadn''t been that close. "Are you saying that this place is heaven? Hell?" "Closer to purgatory? With magic?" Brianna said. "Look, we level our cards fast here. We have an impact even if we can''t see it much. We''re going to have to kill what, an entire continent? One that has already died once?" There was some debate over whether they weren''t heaven or hell for a while. Sonya fell strictly in a camp that was outside of that normal rhetoric. And as such it should be treated separately. "You''re thinking that this is purgatory? This isn''t some long running NBC drama series where the writers don''t know how to end it," Sonya said. "We can write our own ending." "All I''m saying is there''s just a lot going on and if I was going to design a hell I would make it a bit more hellish. Why extension, if I was going to design heaven, it would be much easier than this. This isn''t going to stand for the fact that I could have asked for this and then had my brain wiped." "That''s a very far leap. But yes, I understand what you''re saying." The two of them went back for seconds. "Has Stella come back yet? I haven''t seen her and it''s not like we used to be where there was only like 16 of us. With all these goats around and horses, they can easily hide. I didn''t know she''s mad at me or something. I doubt it," Sonya told Sophie. "They''re due back in any minute now. And I can hear the horses off that way so you''ll fall asleep first soon." So when it was earlier to see your friend coming back over the ridge. She was happy to see the monks with her as well. Had she been paying attention? She could have seen them, floating around. That small perspective shift made her remember. Now everyone had a lot of powers related to movement or air affinity. She needed to take those things into account. "Do you think they found anything useful?" Brianna said. "That''ll be great. But I really hope that they are excellent. Absolutely nothing of any I know. I would love for them to come by and have some meat." Brianna did a little dance. "I would love some more of your offering. Being out of the cell is safe and sounds nice. I am sure that you want to talk to her about all the things she''s seen." "If we stay here any longer, am I able to start creating a Tower Defense to mess here. Maybe you should start to create one- a memorial." Those words came spelling out. She wanted to honor the dead. She also wanted to bury them to make sure they did not rise up again. So I didn''t know what to do about a memorial. She''d thought about it at a great length. Though she had seen many good ones at a time, the calamity that had caused this had done so much to upend society here. It was effectively gone, only some remnants remaining. "A memorial," Brianna said. "Like a stone slab with all of the victims'' names? No, there were far too many. It would have to be a simple, universal design. Sorry that would stand the test of time. There''s no icon for this. There''s no pre-made artist rendition of the morning after the zombie apocalypse. But if there was one, I would hope that it looks something like hope. This place eats. Hope. It may never recover." "The best we can do right now is to make sure that it doesn''t spread further. Then we can take stock of what''s going on here," Sonya said. "Ah I see that Sophie is about to call this meeting to order. Good stuff." --- There weren''t that many things to address. People asked for more of the same meat. People ask for more druid cards. People ask for warm mug cards. The only thing that everyone was satisfied with was their bending cards. As Finley had gotten really good at making those, he was able to fill in this demand very easily. Now, he had 6 now, he had six druid cards for the goats. He was going to have so many new friends that he wasn''t going to know what to do with them. The union talks peered out without resolution or direction. Perhaps it was the excessive amount of alcohol that they had brought or perhaps it was the fruit, from all the meat. Either way, the uproar that he was expecting to have happened did not show up. He was really hoping for something like that. But in the end he didn''t get it. Oh well, that was always next week. He was going to have to find another crocodile. If this one worked so well. Again, the people to be happy and content, what would another one do? Soon, they would have finally reached the southern ocean and passed into Sunderland. That part he was training the most. In their travel to pick up a book or two about Sunderland. It was mostly lizard folk villages on the coast. With some elvish and dwarfish enclaves as well. He did not expect them to be able to get what they wanted. There was no big industry. He was hoping that Valerie would be able to recreate what they needed, once they got closer. Finley made a mental list of what he was trying to put together. First of all there was another butt load of meat. Then there was the cards for the rest of the goats. That would have to be on the highest priority as it would help the goats to even more for them. Then there was things that he thought they would need to get their way in Sunderland. If they were trading, Dwarven ale was very favored by the lizard folk. Dwarf and beer as well would be great. What do you need to do? Was to raid a winery or some noble wine cellar. He wasn''t surprised. That was his next step. Several mansions held a good supply of wine he could offer. He had wanted to drain them out with a supply. But once they were fully in Sunderland it would be child''s Play to get all the wine to the people that needed it. That he would have to make sure that he got some beer going as well. Come think of it, if he found the people that knew how to work a brewery? He could just take over one of the many breweries that dotted the kingdom, the dwarves. Who would challenge him for that? Nobody. If he combined his idea for air delivery air and fire benders? He had a viable business opportunity. He would use his airships to ship beer, wine and ale. Then he would use those connections to complete his plan for economic domination. His biggest outstanding question was what did the lizard folk actually like. He had no context for this. The best you could guess was probably just something that everyone knew, we just to say their preference on how they do meat. He only had rumors to go off of. He had avoided any ridiculous questions from the humans when he sat down. That was what he got the attention of. He waved it off, trying to make sure they knew that he was there but he just wasn''t available for that right now. It was the second voyage. Watching the air might be more appropriate. He settled in to pet the horses. He brought his fresh. Just see if you could arrest you on some mains. The entire time that they had been with the ship, he hadn''t gotten a break. Now? When he had a chance to pick a break, he doesn''t even take one. This was something that he must have picked up from humans. They almost seemed a crazy way away from normal, Just the same as he was. Perhaps? They were rubbing off on him. It explained so much. 3- Twenty There was an argument for staying. If Bob was making the argument as he often did that they could head straight to one of the death knights and take it out. He did not get any buy in, except for from Stella. This two did not comprise a voting block in any sense of the word, especially when they had added all of the goats. "Bob, that''s just like signing your own death warrant," Anthony said, over the map. "We need to be thinking about how to persuade the nation of Sunderland to help in our cause." "I distinctly remember from class that they''re not really a nation so much as 13 warring tribes that keep a foothold onto the continent?" Valerie said. " And then of course you have your enclaves from the different races." "You see, this was kind of a pertinent thing that I was looking for. There are two things that I''m looking to get down there. One is an army. The other thing is supplies. It doesn''t is no good to have one without the other." It becomes some sort of unspoken role that whenever they thought that things would turn out one way, Valerie would speak to them about how things actually were on the ground according to her latest historical textbooks. No one was quite sure how accurate that would be. Sure, there were gates but they didn''t go everywhere. "It is a sad fact of life as a dwarf that we are outnumbered everywhere else we go," Valerie said." But if we are able to negotiate a deal with them then? I''m sure that they will trade all the supplies we need for some of the cards that we get. And yes, I know if Finley hears this, he''s going to remind me about how the orcs just wholesale took up a generation of elvish wealth." "Not these orcs," he said. "These Orcs were not part of that excessive colonialism." "Is colonialism even the right term?" Bob said. " The way he''s describing it it sounds more like the British museum; just taking what they want." "I guess this really depends on whether or not cards Can be made or destroyed. I have every thought that all the card pieces that we are reconstituting into cards here are part of a larger picture." Two men turned on the dwarf as if waiting for a response. Has the three of them were the only ones inside of the command office, the silence was brokered only by her breathing. She shrugged. "Before the calamity? There was so many different theories, but the two main ones are that there is a constant amount of cards in the world and the other one is that the world can grow cards based on people living and dying. But also remember that we have so many heritage cards that we pass on." "Interesting. Well at least you guys aren''t on the gold standard. Finley was mentioning about how I used to trade using gold currency and then sometimes carts depending on what it was training for. But each card feels so powerful on its own that I can''t imagine trading one away unless I was getting something equally valuable in return. And I never feel like that. I would feel put out," Anthony said. All the cards inside of him felt like they were heritage cards. Or soul cards. He didn''t want to take them out. They felt like it always been there and even though he gotten a few new ones, the court cards like his class card felt like home. It was ridiculous to imagine that people would trade cards, but he had to remember that not everyone was able to get an epic or rare card. And then his thoughts spiraled. "If we''re going to ask them for something, chances that they''re going to . We need to come there with something worth selling. Or trading. Besides the dwarfish foreign legion which you have assured me will fall into you as the queen," he said. "We''re going to have to pay for any mercenaries that we get. Unless you think that we can wipe this continent out with a legion." "That would be a very very long campaign, If we had to do that. We would need Bob to portal around the country and verify that no zombies were around. And even then there are all these little hamlets that he would just have to go to in person," she said "We will have to set up a gate network." That was going to be more work for his girlfriend in the future. That was okay because he wanted to spend more time with her. "I feel like while we have nothing else to do, we can start mapping this out. The first kingdom we want to hit is this one?" Bob said, pointing to the map. "The first thing we have to do, Bob, is kill the other death knights. This is getting ahead of the game. If we''re going to have to fight against intelligent undead that''s going to be our first objective. I was just dreaming about a day when we could outsource the zombie killing." In a fight, no one would have any issues against the normal undead variety that they got exposed to. It was those under the command of another intelligent undead that was going to cause him a group of headaches in the future, if they survived. At least so far as Anthony saw it, the only thing that this was doing was providing them with a good thought exercise so they could stretch their brains for the next phase of the campaign. And that''ll change on them being able to convince people to come fight for them for a continent that was already fallen. "How do we convince people to come join this fight?" Anthony said. " I''m in it to win it but I''m a true believer." "Any red-blooded dwarf will lay down their trade to fight this," Valerie said. " When we tell them what happened to their cousins? They will sign up." "And when they realize that you''re the only member of the royal family because we made you the queen, they''re not going to question things?" Bob said. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The map overlay flickered briefly, the light returning just as fast as it left. "Since when am I a queen in anything less than theory? There has to be some nobles hiding in the legion. Surely someone else will take up the mantle," she said, her eyes pleading with them. "Don''t you read all of this books with the secret royalty? You''re going to win us the war with your strategist class card." Her face said be serious, but her smile said to continue. "We ought to have Finley make you a queen of battle card," Anthony said. "That would accurately sum up who you are." "Guys, stop it!" She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "But really don''t." Now the map was about as bright as he had seen it. Something was clearly going on, probably hormones. He was going to have to ask Finley. His teenagers went through a very hormonal phase and that was when he spent a lot of time outside of the house intentionally. "I think we need to ask a few questions then. What do we do about the goats?" Anthony said. "Now I know what you''re thinking. But they are all enlightened and would probably follow Valerie in a heartbeat. Do they each get a vote when we put things up to a vote?" "Would it be fair any other way? Maybe there''s a hidden prince among the goats," Bob said. "I need to address my people," Valerie said, imperiously. "My royal subjects." "Sounds about right. Or your herd?" Anthony said. --- As it turned out, none of the goats was willing to acknowledge any nobility. The standard query that Valerie had worked out did not inspire them. As a work around, Finley had the dwarves swap two of the druid cards in an attempt to level them up faster. Each dwarf would get them for fifteen minutes or so at a time-until their wild shape time ran out. Then they would take the card out of their soul deck and pass it on to another dwarf. Doing it that way, Finley found out that it took them the better part of a day to rotate each of the dwarves through the two cards, and by the end of the day, they were both at level two for wild shaping. This was the first time that most of them had been able to speak freely as well. The nautical symbols that they had been using to send messages back and forth were still there. Most of the dwarves now had an elemental affinity card, a nautical communication card and whatever their soul card had been. Only ten had druid class cards. The system that they were working on was advancing the ten that they did have quickly. "You''re saying that you already have wild shape at level four?" He said to Gigi. Gigi bleated. "Aah sorry. Habit," she said. They were riding on his two bay mares around the grass fields. They needed to get away from the group for a bit, as the extended vacation had brought several items to light. Most notably, that they could all actually have enough exposure to each other. Space was at a premium on board the ship, despite it''s size. "But yes. Level four which according to my timer skill is two hours or so. Long enough to feel like a dwarf again, with long breaks as a goat." "You know I have had my druid wild shape at level four for only a short while," Finley said. "It''s the situation. Didn''t you level up your bartering skill when you negotiated with the union?" The mares trotted along, stopping at a stream. "The first time, yes. But it''s like I''m up against a wall. I have this idea of setting up an airship company and then shipping things back and forth, but now I''m a bit over flying." "I hear you," Gigi said, dismounting to kneel by the stream. Finley dismounted as well. The two of them sat at the stream for a second tipping their toes into the water. But some unspoken agreement. Neither one wanted to call the other one out on being barefoot. "Those are nice boots," she said. "Shame that I have to borrow a pair when I''m around for this long." "How else would you... Oh yeah naked when you wild shape. I''m so glad that I grabbed extra robes. I never meant for them to go to you in particular, but it''s..." "I catch your meaning. You know what? Your boots look a little worn out. Maybe it''s time to do a swap." He looked down to her feet. "Here''s a question for you- what size are your feet? And are they always the same size? When you wild shape?" She looked down as well, examining the two meaty bits that were submerged into the water. "You know what? I never thought about that. Sometimes these robes are a little loose I guess I have been getting better as imagining myself as a dwarf again." "That''s rough. I''m glad that you seem to be close to where you want to be though. Two hours a day? I wonder if the next one will be four or eight hours." "I''ll tell you when I find out. I''m hoping that is soon. I love these little breaks where I get to be a dwarf again for a little bit. It really makes me feel normal. Thank you so much for this, Finley." They smiled. The amount of time that she thanked him for thinking about wild shaping and then putting that into practice was a whole bunch. He was honestly getting tired of hearing it. But if he ever told her that? He would punch himself in the face. Repeatedly. Because when he would have said his lowest, the tinkers took him in and gave him food and shelter. Right now? She was at her lowest and he wanted to give her the same hospitality that he''d been given before. "Think nothing of it," he said. "I would have done it for anybody in your situation." "But you did it for me. So I''m thanking you for doing it for me." She was just so earnest that he couldn''t help but smile. All the dwarves were starting to grow on him. "Do you thank Sonya the same amount that you thank me?" He asked, skipping a stone down the stream. "She''s more to blame for your predicament." "You might see it as the weirdest curse ever. Being reborn as a goat only to have to fight your undead countrymen. We see it as an opportunity." "A business opportunity?" "When all this war business is done, yes." She grabbed a few stones to skip them herself, passing a few to him. To their surprise, both of the horses waded into the water and splashed around. He played along, playfully splashing them and then Gigi. She laughed, splashing him back and forth for a bit. He rolled up his cloth pants where they had gotten wet, then got less serious. It was all fun and games until one of the mares splashed Finley. Then it was on. As it turned out, Gigi had gotten a water bending card. Finley had known that in the back of his brain, that she had one of the four. But he had forgotten which. It had never come up, unlike the wave that she created that enveloped him. Finley was absolutely drenched after one hit. He stood there for a minute, catching his bearings. Even the horses looked shocked. "Uh, Sorry!? Are you okay?" She said. Finley also had a water bending card. He stepped into the stance of a wave technique. "I''m about to be!" He said. Her uproarious laughter made him smile. The waves hit her hard nearly blowing her off her feet. The horses began to move a bit further away to keep from being covered. This just spurred him on to get deeper into her defense. "You can''t stop me!" He said, sending a wave up to her waist. "I am in every way your equal if not better!" She took his wave and turned it around her body. It rose up like a short cyclone, before crashing down on him. He was only under water for a second, but he was impressed. "That''s excellent control!" He said. "It would be a shame if-" A wave twice as tall as he was splashed over him. It took his breath away as it also took him away, washing him across the stream. There hadn''t even been that much water to work with. "I yield!" 3- Twenty One "What''s in a name, really?" Anthony said, staring up at the moored airship. "Hopefully a lot? I think that we put out the feeling into the world that we want. But no, we''re not naming it the Enterprise. And the union turned down, ''A new hope'' as well." Sonya had crossed both of her arms but hadn''t stopped chuckling at him. They stood in front of the grounded ship, it having landed in a small lake. "Drat. I suppose that the ''Phantom Menace'' won''t work. Or Air Force One?" Anthony said. "Might as well go with my suggestion: Regime Change. They said no to that." "I still can''t believe that we left the naming to the committee of dwarves." "Still, they are a part of this war band. We need to include them in some decisions. It''s not a strategic decision. It impacts nothing," Sonya said, threading his arms around her waist. "You''re right. They need some skin in the game. We''re giving them a military mind who can go the distance. They''re giving us everything," Anthony said, breathing in her hair. He could feel her relax. "I should just do this more often." "Watch as a couple of dwarves are lowered off the side of the ship to paint it? I mean we could do that. I wonder how this would work with salt water." The two dwarves finished their work, the stark lettering up on full display. "The Queen''s Con? Really?" he said. "It''s about the long game, honey," Sonya said, nuzzling in closer. "Well, now that it''s done, we can finally get to see the ocean, right?" She twisted back to see him, her lips just below his. "I always knew that you would take me places," she whispered. "I''m so glad that we made something together." Anthony gulped, his heart racing. Then she continued to whisper into his for a bit, his face getting more and more red, before the pair decided to climb up the ladder and take a long break.
It was far too soon when they got back onto the airship to continue their trip. Finley wasn''t ready. He had so much life to live and yet he was still here, floating high enough to cause sheer panic. Sure, he had the air bending card, but that only helped a bit. He was considering power leveling the card by passing it through the dwarves and having them use their mana on it. The visceral fear of falling would never go away. Even if he fell, he knew that his body wouldn''t survive. At least the elf parts wouldn''t. At least he had time now to go through his lengthy to do list. Most of that was to make useful card out of his card pieces. After making nearly two dozen druid cards, he was getting a bit low on options. He didn''t want to just quit, but he needed more uncommon cards that were close enough to wild shape that his mana could bridge the gap. It took him two more days of travel to run out of card pieces. Every common card that he made was for a purpose on the master list of requests that the union has put forth. He was going as fast as he could. Every time he came up for air, if felt like the ocean was the same. He was going to ask the sailors about their romantic ideas of the sea. Several of the dwarves had been sailors, and it was all getting so mundane. It was three days before his unease turned into disinterest. He was utterly over making cards all day, punctuated by the thrill of going outside to take in the brisk air. Despite being so far south, the air hadn''t gotten that much warmer. What it did instead was get stickier. Not a fan of sweat, Finley had to deal with that above deck. It got a bit worse below decks where he couldn''t dodge the smells of the herd, no matter what he did. Their daily trips to the promontory to graze was the only time he could get away from the warm soup that had become his life. When he returned on the third day, it hit him even harder. He wasn''t very pleased with returning, and immediately sought out the person with the cleanse card. Then, once he was clean, it only took five minutes for him to sweat through his clothes again. It was a hard to accept this change. The dwarves were no help in this matter, as they just lounged around all day in between working shifts on deck. It wasn''t until the fourth day that the began to see signs that the ocean would be ending.
"Fishing boats," Bob said. "You''re sure?" Anthony said. "They''re not flying a country flag. They have fishing nets. What else could they be doing?" The two men looked down. "It could be a pleasure boat?" Anthony said. "With the threat of sea monsters so high? That would be nuts." Behind them, Valerie coughed. "When you say nuts, you refer to general craziness, correct?" she said. "And not make gonads specifically." "Yes. That would be deez nuts, not just nuts," Anthony said. "What? Someone had to teach her right." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Bob gave him a blank state. "Please stop teaching the queen bad slang." "Better watch out for the mind goblins!" Valerie said, snorting. The three of them shared a silly moment. "All right, who should we send there to talk to them?" Bob said. "Gigi? She has a water bending card. It will keep her safe. Not like they will know much. The important thing is that we are not heading to a continent with an active zombie outbreak." "I''ll get her," Valerie said. "This ought to be good. Do you want to send anyone with her? Finley maybe?" Bob said. "Where is he?" "I think he''s trying to pretend we''re not up in the air. Yeah, Finley would be a good option. He might speak their language. I''ll get him." The pygmy goat and elf were quickly rustled up. Bob explained the game plan. "You want me to do what?" he said. "First contact," Bob said. "There''s more than ten chosen and you want to send me to talk to some fishermen?" he said. The elf was not impressed. "And bring your great talker with you. She said that she knew the lizard tongue," Bob said. "If they don''t speak common then we will be a bit lost." The pygmy goat turned her neck, putting her indifference on display. "I''ll take that as a tacit understanding that you understand what we''re looking for," Anthony said. "You''re coming with me though, hero," Finley said. "That''s part of our contract." "So long as you two do all of the talking until we can figure out what''s going on. They look like they are humanoid at least," Bob said. "You go with them Anthony." Anthony sighed, already stripping off his gambeson. He replaced it with a thin white shirt. He took a second to put his hair into a man bun before facing them all again. He was super pleased that his chest of clothes were in the operations office. "I might as well be comfortable, then."
The airship lowered them enough. Anthony and Gigi both had water bending cards. Despite having all four of the affinity cards, Finley had only really used the air bending one. When they jumped off the rope to land in the waves and surf their way to the large fishing boat, he used a bit of canvas to propel himself down. It worked far better than he had expected. The humans laughed a bit, and he felt like he was recreating some romance novels plot where the duke¡¯s son jumps out of a tower to meet his lover. Except for all the water, it felt similar. He didn''t even fall that much. The three-lizard folk on deck watched the two people arriving on deck and then the third arrived via the air. Their stoic expression y no but him realize that perhaps he would be able to talk to someone new. He needed to not come across too eager. He heard how the lizard folk tribes were very insular places, not really leaving their little fiefdoms unless they needed to. "Pardon our rude interruption," Finley said, speaking in common. "We come from Noveria with terrible news of a calamity. Please tell us that the thirteen tribes have not been affected." The three lizard men looked to each other briefly. "A calamity? And you arrived by air?" he said. Finley was sure that the yellow lizard tongue darted between a row of sharp teeth. "This is terrible news." It came out and they''re telling that they were further out from the normal because they were looking for certain kinds of deep-water fish. They took in the tale of the zombies on Noveria with a solemn note. Meeting actual living enlightened was refreshing. In a short time, they found out that the calamity had not struck Sunderland. "There have been no outbreaks of zombies on the southern continent. We would have heard of it," the one called Zac said. He was the captain of their fishing crew and had been very interested in their story. "Even if it was far away, we head to several ports with news, but this? This is new and it explains the complete absence of orcish and human goods," his companion, Gary said. Finley shrunk to the deck, hearing this. He would have a place for his horses after all. The relief was palpable. He could rest. "This is true? We''ve traveled across a continent, fought our way past several cities and..." he said. "Be calm, old one," Zac said. "You will find a safe place in Sunderland. If not among the Bright Tails, then with another tribe. I would hear all of your adventures, but alas I am not here for pleasure." "We may need to cut out expedition short, boss," Gary said. Both lizard men had brought yellow tails that trailed behind them, although they didn''t appear to do much. He would have to find out, his only exposure to the lizard folk was the one roving Tinker trader that had grown up on Novaria. "The more you can spread the word, the better this will be. We are going to try to take back the gun that I would need every single spear that we can get," Anthony said. The two lizardmen talked between themselves for a bit. They looked like they were interested in helping out, but the price was probably a little bit too high. "Even if you''re not the ones that help us, can you help us recruit more people?" Anthony said. "Once we get to Sunderland, we''re going to try to recruit people and we need to find out why the dwarven legion is." "The dwarven legion?" Zac said, scratching his chin. "I haven''t the foggiest idea, apologies" There''s a little bit more talk about the specific specifics of what they were trying to get out there. And that was when Finley had the idea to pay for some of their food for the first time in a long time. "You say you''re fishing, correct?" Finley said. "I can see a bunch of sea bass in there. I have many hungry mouths above me. Do you also cook what you catch?" "We could cook it. We have a galley but perhaps ours would be smaller than whatever you have up there. Are you interested in buying some extremely fresh fish?" I did that note, finally left over to see that several of the fish were still jumping around. He couldn''t remember the last time that he had good fish. But those fish right now in front of him? They looked so delicious that he would eat them raw. "Maybe you could just quickly explain how you would cook them, and I think I''ll buy enough to feed about forty dwarves," Finley said. "Make that fifty," Gigi said, smiling. By this time, the airship stopped in a circular waiting pattern above them so they could easily be pulled back up when they were done. "I can pay you in common and uncommon cards. I have a very special card that I''ve made several of that. I think that your crew would get the great use out of. Would you like to have the car that two companions use to get into this boat?" "Yes, what was that? Several of us were trying to figure out what it was," Zac said. "If you have two of those cards, then I''ll even toss in some of our favorite spices so that you can really make something good out of them. These do well with the light coating of salt. You can get a good amount of salt just from refining it from the ocean, but we already have it ready for you." Finley turned out his pockets and found two water bending cards. Then he grabbed an air bending one. "Because you gave us all that information and have been so nice so far, I''m going to throw on this third card which well you can see how what it does." Zac''s face bulged at the three cards he was staring at. Finley knew the thoughts that were going through his mind. He had seen what was possible with these cards and now he held three of them in his hands. "This will do very nicely sir," he said. " Now let me prepare a basket for you guys. Do you have a way of signaling a ship?" "I can handle this part," Gigi said. Above her, a smattering of nautical flags appeared as she faced the Queen''s con. Neither had no tails of it but he knew that one on the door was on board. Wouldn''t understand their message. Before long a rope was dropped down and Gigi brought a basket over to hook up to it. "And you say you made these all yourself? This is impressive. I am very certain that you''d be able to sell these very easily back in Sunderland. And if you had a lot of card charts you''d be able to make even more?" "The right card shards will help me make more. Those bending cards are all uncommon." "Finley my dear traveling sales elf. I''ve never sold fish to someone while I was still on my boat, so this is the first for me. Thank you for that. But I do have a cousin back on the mainland which if you''re going straight South you''ll hit very shortly, who would be interested in buying more from you. I won''t be there in time, but if you find autos and Magical Emporium, you might want to go and check out his wears. He''s in making a decent living off of selling cards for a while and I expect that he will want to offer you a better deal than I could possibly provide." Finley smiled. Finally, a chance to check his skills. 3- Twenty Two The fish bake was one of the first things that they got to experience that was totally part of the new continent. It was the first time that Finley had made a bartering agreement on the spot in a while. It felt good to be back in the groove of things. This had felt like he was back part of an actual trading Caravan for once. Even though most of the deal was him buying lots of fish to eat, he could feel the skill working on it. And then the best part? He got more delicious fish to eat. "I have to say, Finley. This is probably the best that we could have done. You got some information; you got us a map on where we need to go. You have some information about that tribe, the Bright Tails, and to top it off you got us enough fish to last us till we get there. I understand that some of us are a bit sick of food that has been intentionally cured to last longer. This is a lot." "Thank you," Finley said, accepting Bob''s hug. "I couldn''t have done it without the people that made me be the face of this organization. And that is you, so thank you but don''t ask me to do that again. We have Valerie... Or Gigi." "But you did it so good!" Gigi said, in between bites of fish. The fish was so good that she had decided to use her time as a dwarf to eat about two of them. Not every dwarf had landed on their final druid card so about six of them had to swap out cards with others so they could all get a chance. Gigi made sure that they didn''t leave anyone out. It was one thing for him to trade away three highly powerful cards It was quite another to deny others some fresh food straight from the source when they had been eating jerky and tubers for months. "I don''t really care who does the talking, but we can''t leave Valerie exposed. If she really is going to take the mantle of the queen, that means that he''s going to need an Entourage. Or at least a security detail," Anthony said. "Plus, she''s underage and even though we all know she''s smart, we have to get her to survive this next trip if we want her to win the war." "Don''t you think it''s a little bit much to put all of this onto a former bar maid and a traveling sales elf?" Gigi said. "That''s all we have. I don''t have a special chosen with diplomacy skills. What I do have is the two of you and I''m asking you to do this for the good of the cause. You don''t have to like it. I don''t like it. I don''t think that I have any value in doing this. I''m usually dealing one-on-one with mothers and their partners, not trying to make a treaty with a tribe of lizard folk." Finley paused, taking another bite of the sea bass. He had never had this kind of fish before and it felt lovely and there was enough. Each bite just melted in salt content that, after following the lizard folk¡¯s instructions, had tasted divine. Sure, he wanted more now but what sales was? It wouldn''t want to entice their customers to buy from them only. "You know what I think?" Finley said. "While we''re just sitting here cooking? We can buy more fish. That will give Gigi the opportunity to work on her bartering. It''s a low threat environment. I''ll even give you stuff to trade." Gigi laughed at him. "You want me to go back down there and buy more fish? That''s easy. I can do that all day. You know I perfected my customer service voice, correct?" She dropped into a lower voice. " Excuse me sir, would you like the darker beer tonight or would you like some wine? Our special is the Sunderland sea bass." Finley got chills. He had to check to see that he wasn''t in a tavern somewhere, about to be swindled by a mutton dish that didn''t include a side of home fries. "That was something," he said. "Anthony, I might have a bartering skill, but she has a natural ability. I want her to order the beer." Gigi remained in the customer service voice as she got up. Taking his mug, she refilled it. "Will there be anything else sir?" She asked in the same voice. Then she switched into deadpan. "I can do this all day." "That was impressive. I would start a slow clap for you if everybody here knew what that was, but I think I would only get about a third of the people here. Still, the job is yours if you want it," Anthony said. "And I get to work with this guy?" She said, pointing to Finley. They were close, already. "Of course, of course. Once we get the contract. Actually, maybe we need to do contact with our buddy here because if I wasn''t in charge I might think about splitting and taking a very long and well-deserved vacation." "Anthony, the gods summoned you here to deal with this problem. You might have to take care of it, but we are not here on a mission from the Goat Lord. I''m here because I like you and all these people. And because some of you guys are family, I guess I''m going to stick around," Finley said. "That doesn''t mean that I don''t want to leave right now." "In my opinion, you should ask her to join the Tinkers. She''s like a sister to you. I know you guys started off weird where we didn''t know that you guys were enlightened and as such, you were kind of his pet?" Anthony said. "Yeah, we don''t talk about that," Gigi said. "But if you''re offering to make me one of the tinkers, I would gladly accept. Especially if there''s a bartering skill or a class card involved." Finley had to remember that not everybody had a class card despite being around overpowered chosen for the past months, he could remember. Just because she had a Tinker class card didn''t mean that they had a second one. He was going to have to do a lot of work to make a Tinker card for her. She was worth it.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "If you want to become one of the family, all you had to do was ask." The tiny dwarf nearly bowled him over.
The first bit of land popped up and Anthony was so grateful that it wasn''t more fjords. What he saw stretching from both sides of his vision. All the way out to his right and left were sandy beaches. They were even palm trees and what had to be coconut trees as they got closer. But the thing that made him realize that he was back in Civilization was the Yellow Tail ships floating around the large surf side City. He fell onto his knees, invoking a silent prayer to Yil, God of the dwarves. "If I may find just some small rest before I head back out, I would be so grateful." People meant trade and trade meant fresh food. He had never wanted fresh foods so much in his life. They had made food for each other, but they had to heat out of the stores of dead dwarves. This would be the first time that he ate something prepared by someone in this world that was all fresh. Something that hadn''t sat in a pantry for a few days at minimum. The fish the day prior? That had been a godsend. If you''d asked Anthony before having sea bass if he''d liked it, he would have said no. He might fuck with some crabs or lobster, but sea bass was a step too far. And they probably had microplastics or something like that. Here? In a world with no plastics, he ate that shit up. With horror, he realized that every single person with them was going to feel exactly the same. And they were all going to try to cash in their chips at the same time. Finley had already warned about this but now, realizing that what he wanted was going to be probably the same thing that everyone else wanted, Anthony had some hard decisions to make. Someone had to watch the airship. They also have to figure out if they were going to put it in the water or keep it up in the air. If they put in the water, then they didn''t need any one to continually pump flames into the hot air balloon. If it was on the water, then for the first time since being on this world, Anthony had to worry about thieves. He knew just who to ask. "Stella! I need your help!" he said. She came over quickly and gave him a sloppy salute. He rolled his eyes. "What can I do for you? Do you need me to ice you up?" "No, nothing like that. I just remembered that you had the rogue class. Don¡¯t cross your arms like that. I just realized that if we park the airship in the water, then we''re going to have to worry about people trying to sneak in and steal what they think are valuables. Now you and I both know that there''s nothing valuable on this ship. But you''re a rogue, tell me how you would ransack the Queen''s Con." "Well first off," I said pointing upwards. "I wouldn''t fly that Irumian flag." Behind her, several of dwarves were unfurling a large white flag that was just now making its way to the top of the mast. "And why wouldn''t I do that?" "It''s just putting a target on yourself. Like, oh hey, this is an official envoy of this government, we''ve got money! Come on down and rob us!" Stella said. "That sort of thing is like candy for thieves." "What did you do back on Earth?" He said, narrowing his eyes. "I was a student." "Right." Her eyes begged him to inquire more but he shut down his own line of inquiry fast. It was probably better that he didn''t know at his point in time. Whatever it was, he wasn''t going to believe it anymore. His impression of Stella went from a capable woman to femme fatale in one minute. He remembered that she wanted to be a trickster, that was her explanation for why she chose the Rogue class. He had gone back and forth between the Paladin and Cleric class cards. When it was clear that the Cleric could heal better and for longer, he chose that option. "Anyway, do you want to be the head of security? At least for when we''re parked over here," he said. "If not, I can ask Sophie." "Does this new job title involve a raise?" She said, smiling. "If you need to get paid more to keep us safe, I will find cards in the budget." "Excellent. Now I think you''re thinking about this all wrong. We have two people with the gate spell. We don''t have to land right next to the city. That''s a convenience that we don''t need. Instead, what we can do is set up a watch like we normally do and just portal people in. I realize this is not going to work for the horses, however. Did you see any grass? I know Finley''s going to ask." Anthony hadn''t seen anything. He knew that there had to be something, as they had been informed that they were coming into a very tropical climate. It might be winter up north, but it was the cold season here. All this meant was that instead of sweating through two shirts in a day, he would only sweat through one. It wasn''t his favorite tidbit of information. It explained how the lizard folk were always basically naked. Anthony was considering a stripped-down version of his fighting clothes for official purposes. He was also considering just staying on the boat and having Gigi and Finley handle everything. He knew that the lizard folk would respect him as a chosen. But there were so many chosen in his group that he could send forward to take care of these things that he didn''t know that he would be able to handle every little detail. Little details like grass that only popped up when you realize that horses need to eat. "I didn''t say anything, but that was one of the questions that we should have asked the fishermen." Stella went on about her idea that they needed to park it a little bit further away from shore. If they could set up a gate, then they could anchor that gate and roll out one of the wagons. That could be their recruiting stand. Then once they started recruiting people, they would send them straight over to the promontory and reestablish their camp there. Despite going there every other day, they still had to make sure that it was clear zombies before they let the horses run free. Really, all Anthony wanted to do was to let the horses free over here and use goat labor to move the wagons. Or perhaps, he could convince Andrew to make an engine for their wagon so that they could propel themselves. After all, they did make an airship. How hard could an engine be? Stella made several great points about setting up a gate and wagon as a figurehead. There they could sell cards and try to recruit mercenaries. Whoever went would get their pick of street food. At the mention of street food, Anthony''s mouth began salivating and he realized that once again, he might not be the only one looking for delicious street food. This was the point that made him realize that he''s going to have to staff two places at the same time. This meant that he was going to have a schedule for the watch, and a schedule for their outreach branch. And then if things went well, they were going to have to figure out a way to keep people moving between those places. It all began to sound like a math problem for someone in business school to deal with. And Anthony knew exactly who we wanted to put this problem to. It wasn''t his standard, tomorrow, Anthony. This was going straight to the top. He was sending this math problem to the orcs. "Stella," he said. "Once you have an idea of how many people you want to put on duty, let me know so I can tag them to do so. We''ve got to make sure that we are not arriving to have our ship stolen." Stella gave him the same sloppy salute, her fist hitting the center of her breast. He smiled, saluting her back, pounding his chest with his right hand. 3- Twenty Three "Any day, your last day might come. You can''t hide, you can''t run?" Finley said. "It''s a pretty terrible slogan. But if that''s what you want to run with, we can do that." "What I''m trying to get across here is that the zombies could easily spill over to here. Probably the only reason that they haven''t is because we destroyed the death knight that wielded the gate card." "And we''re also assuming that none of their powers are the same as the others," Finley said, putting the sign up reluctantly. The lettering was fine, but he wasn''t sure that he agreed with the message. He didn''t like a hard sell. Finley and Valerie, along with a few people that needed some shore leave, were heading into Yellow Tail. The first order business of was to establish contact and see about buying some land or renting a space. This way they could have a physical location for their shenanigans. Finley wasn''t entirely sure with the way that Anthony was going about this, but the two had been together for a while. Eventually someone was going to wonder why an elf, a dwarf and a human were all working together. Sure, there were commingled communities where there was a melting pot of races, but aside from the Tinkers, they were few and far between. The mostly wooden one- and two-story homes poked over the outer wall of the city. Thick bamboo mixed with large green leaves to provide the roofing. Inland, there was a strong tree coverage as most of the jungle towered over the outer walls. Several city blocks of distance were between the walls and the jungle, the space having been clear cut long before. Deep grooves and scratch marks on the reinforced wood let Finley know to not let his guard down. There was a singular large tree in the center of town that shaded a great mass. As they got closer to the docks, a lizard folk guard waved. Gigi bleated from behind Finley, because of course she did. "Steady girl," he said. "We don''t need to give away our secrets right now." In his pack, he carried a set of clothes for her. They had decided to let her stay and go for him until she was needed. No one would suspect her of being a double agent. And she might be able to get some good information. However, there was another thing that he hadn''t considered. "How much for the goat?" The guard asked. "She''s not for sale. Hard pass," Finley said. "That''s rather unfortunate." The yellow tailed guard was in full battle garb, which turned out to be a loincloth and a spear. Finley still wasn''t sure how to tell the difference between male and female lizards, absent the mammaries. He hoped to figure out soon. "You are sure that we can''t sell her, Finley?" Valerie said. Gigi bleated louder. The guard raised a scaly eyebrow. "Did that goat just call you a dirty name?" he said. "Because that sort of sounded like-" "Do we need to show any papers to get in?" Finley said. "Uh, no but..." The guard looked lost. "Then may we enter?" Valerie said. "Uh yes. Wait, apologies, where are the five of you coming from?" he said. "I''ve had my eye on the ocean for a while and you didn''t dock here so? I would have noticed and elf, a dwarf, three humans and..." Gigi bleated loudly. "I''m sorry! I didn''t mean it! I swear!" He said, clutching his spear. Having never seen a goat intimidating a city guard, Finley was impressed at what she could do with so little. "Gigi, it''s okay. He is at work. He didn''t mean anything by that," Finley said. "Please don''t turn the lizard folk into a steak," Valerie said, patting the pygmy goats¡¯ horns. The guards¡¯ eyes went wide. "Right this way. Please check in with the...guild? Are you all adventurers?" he said. "No, we are a diplomatic envoy from the Iranian Kingdom," Valerie said. "Pardon my not knowing this, but is there an Irumian delegation here? Or any dwarves?" "There''s a small dwarf neighborhood by Newtown. That''s on the jungle side," he said. "I don''t know about official delegations. I can direct you to the captain of the watch, and she can get you an audience with the chief." "Please do," Valerie said. They left with a few directions.
"I can just set up anywhere?" Finley said. "So long as you can pay the tribe what you owe them," the small lizard folk said. Before they went to see the captain of the guard, or the chief, they spent some time at the market. It was mostly the difficult customers and lizard folk vendors, though there was the single elf and two dwarves selling things in the back. Finley made a note to talk to them at the end, but first it was going to talk to all the lizard folks that he could. Thankfully most of them spoke common, as it was the trading tongue. One offered a common language card in trade, which Finley accepted. He had grabbed five of them when prompted and all it cost was one uncommon card.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "But again, I have to pay someone before I sell anything?" he said. "Or a percentage? What is keeping me from opening a shop outside Yellow Tail?" "Probably the dinosaurs?" Brianna took that moment to interject. "I know that I''m hearing this wrong. Did you just say terrible lizard?" she said. "Terrible lizard, dinosaur, whatever you call them. They''re what keep us inside the tribe¡¯s area. No one is stopping you from setting up shop outside, but then you won''t have the protection of the tribe. They''re also a major part of our trade. My mother''s mother grew up on dinosaur mat and so did I." "But like, large? Maybe feathered? Eats enlightened beings our size?" Brianna said. "Should I be worried about this?" Finley said. "I feel like I should be worried about this if you''re mentioning it again." The lizard folk chuckled. "Of course! You should be worried about it! No one wants to be eaten." Gigi bleated contempt, before coming to the side of Brianna. "Oh! How much for the goat?" He asked, looking closely. "She''s not for sale," Brianna and Valerie said. "If you are going to cook her, let me know because those haunches..." Gigi bleated surprise and scrambled to between Finley¡¯s legs. He gave her a knowing pat. "There''s a good girl," he said. "They don''t mean it." "I think we''ve gotten all we need here," Valerie said. "How about we leave Mister-" "Mister Tally," the small lizard folk said. "How about we leave Mister Tally before Gigi causes another incident." Mister Tally gulped. They made their way over to the center of the market. Then they found the stand that was being run by an elf. The elf in question, a tall and lanky fellow, ran a card shop. His variety was small, but he made up for it in volume. He looked intently at Finley. Valerie couldn''t help but stare at the tall blonde elf, which was even more unnerving. "Finley of the Tinkers," he said, holding out his hand. "Tasha of the wood elves," he said. "So good to see another brother of the leaf, and so far from home. What brings you to these lands?" Finley remembered that he was going to have to give the news. Either he would, or someone else would. He girded his conviction. "Sunderland is a nig-inhospitable area," Valerie said. "My buyer here is looking for some quiet life. Things up north have been calamitous of late." The elf paused to turn to Valerie. "Calamitous? How so?" "You might want to sit down for this," she said. She explained the situation in Noveria. Then Tasha called the dwarves in the next stall over, and they asked questions. Then they sat down and closed their booths for the day. Finley took that time to get Gigi her clothes and she turned into her wild shaped dwarf form. Valerie had her explain it. The whole time he was kicking himself. He didn''t know how to tell them about the bad news, and it stuck in his craw a little bit. He felt responsible for the events, despite having nothing to do with the cause. They still didn''t know the cause. Heck, they still didn''t know where the legion was, but this seemed like the wrong time to ask the five dwarves that had crowded around Valerie and Gigi. He knew that it was the wrong time to even ask where the legion was, so he just stood in the background as Valerie and Gigi went over their stories. The tears flowed freely. Finley wished that he could say that it was going to be alright, but he couldn''t know that. There was only today and surviving to establish a safe area there. Winter would end eventually, and then they could fully embrace Anthony''s campaign. "Finley?" The girl''s voice said, breaking him out of his navel gazing. "Oh? What? Sorry, what did I miss?" he said. Gigi held his hand. "Are you alright?" She asked, drawing him in close. Their height difference made it so she came up to his chest. Despite this, her strength was palpable. He could feel her holding back. "The... I choked there. I didn''t know what to say." "You don''t have to say anything. This isn''t your fault. We''re not... We don''t blame you for this. You shouldn''t have to explain the news about how their families all died. That''s not your problem. We can tell them. You?" She smiled. "Just keep running the show from the background." He wept. "I just wanted to tell them that it would be okay and-I can''t even do that because it won''t be okay. It''s never going to be enough." She pulled him in closer, waving off the rest of the group, still in discussion with the merchants. Perhaps it was telling that a lifelong merchant would just close shop to hear about a tragedy. It said a lot that despite meeting five dwarves, Finley didn''t even know what they sold. He knew that they were merchants and that they spent their time in this market, but they had all closed. The group, closed very early for that day and brought them back to Tasha''s house. There, Valerie explained what they had seen, from her parents turning to the events on the Quiet Sea. It was well past lunchtime when food was brought around. In quick order, Finley felt like he had eaten his body weight in steak, to say nothing of the tea. "This has to be the best reception that we could imagine," he said to Gigi. "We landed and we met some friendly souls. Sad that we had to give them this talk before, but the news from the homeland was important." "It was necessary. We couldn''t have not let them know. Especially if they were asking about it. Finley, you''re the last Tinker. Rather you were the Tinker King until you started making some of us Tinkers. I''m still waiting for my card by the way." She nudged him. "Oh, your card? You''ll get it soon." "You''re usually so lively and full of life. This whole depressive thing doesn''t really feel like you." He¡¯d been cooped up in a boat for a long time. This was now going well. He got uncomfortable with the Gigi and Valerie. He was not being pushed inside of the ship. All he was doing was making more cards. He needed a day like these where he met with a lot of new people to expand his horizons and work on himself. In the end, the only person he had to blame was himself. He would have thought if he had thought what he should have. Thought, he would have predicted this. People were going to want to know about the news. He was going to want to have to tell them. And if his self-preservation kicked in, then he would let the lady dwarves handle it. Heck, Valerie was a queen. In training, of course, but for all intents and purposes she was going to be one. She just needed a few more subjects.
Tumble and Fen swam up on the side of the ship. Someone had added mesh lining around it, and clamped it into a harness. Neither one had ever seen that exact set up before. The two amphibious lizard folk decided that they were going to pause there, as the curious ship did not want to park by the dock. This was fine as it made it easier for them to steal from them. However, once they climbed up the side of the ship taking their bearings and decided to pop over. Something stopped them. Neither one wanted to continue moving up. That was just something in the air that smelt off to them. Together, they both realized that perhaps this wasn''t the best day for them to go through their lives. There was another loot to be had, and other dinosaurs that they could kill. On top of the deck, a beast in black sat there observing them. When they looked down, it had between five and seven shadows floating around it, just pulling light from the ambient air. It also appeared to have prehensile hands somewhere. Both lizard folk realized that for once their lives, they did not want to tangle with what it had to be an overpowered mob boss. Tumble tried to carry on as if nothing was happening. But internally, he screamed. This was not his best work, and now he was going to convince all the planters that the water and this continent worked a lot better. The Eldritch beasts stared them down on blinking. Both now seriously considered their Fates. There was a small chance that they might end up being fed to the cat. Neither one wanted that. They sat there for a long time, trying to get out of the courage to head up and over. After all? How bad could it be. It couldn''t be that bad if the boat was still floating in the water. ¡°Do you ever get the feeling like we''re going to be the part of a joke here?¡± He said, appropriately delivering the gravitas that it needed. That was when the gravitas that they didn''t need arrived in the form of a very angry human. But with lizard folk decided that this was a time to cut sling load and get out. That was when the net trap sprung. 3- Twenty Four Sophie and Stella were watching the two Yellow Tail lizards attempt to climb into the airship. It was the first of many attempts that they had expected to repel. Sophie had asked if she could be the first one to let them know and no uncertain term. That said, there was nothing there that was worth their lives. But Stella had other ideas. Using some actual preparation time as they watched the two lizard folk come by, and assuming that they weren''t some sort of tax compliance officers, she got dressed up. Sophie''s ideal image of the Grim Reaper involved a black hooded cloak and a scythe. Stella had done her best to imitate that design except with a spear. Neither of them were able to use the side in combat mostly because they didn''t have one. Stella also had grabbed a card that gave her red eyes, he nearly used this uncommon that let her see an infrared. It was a trade-off, because privilege is seeing the infrared also made her eyes change colors and glow. So when the two of them climbed up over the side of the ship and picked their heads over, they were greeted by a tall dark figure with pulsing red eyes and a spear. "Welcome to your doom!" Stella said. Both Yellow Tails shrieked, before a splash was heard. Sophie, not one to be left out, initiated the choppy seas. All the available water benders began to make the ship rock up and down as the waves grew higher and higher. So far, it had proven to be effective. I didn''t want to kill to lizard folk, Just make it so that they didn''t come into conflict together. The waves quickly washed them back onto shore. A few seconds after the Yellow Tails showed up on the beach, somehow the waves subsided. Sophie gave Stella a high five. The waist height railings on the outside of the ship covered up their antics a little bit more than the distance had. The two sprinted down the beach, As that, they''re being followed by an army intent on cooking them for lunch. "That worked out pretty well," Sophie said. "And you got to play a trick on them!" Stella dropped the cloak on the ground and returned her eyes to a non-disturbing normal. "I''m so glad that I didn''t try to board the ship anyway. That would not have been in their favor. I guess I''m going to have to wait to see what is actually going on down there," Stella said. The doors to the operation center opened up. A disheveled Anthony walked out, his legs all wobbly. "What the hell just happened? Was there a tornado or something?" he asked. "Just a few rich people''s Yachts passing by at high speed," Stella said. "All right then," He said returning to the door. Five seconds later, yelling could be heard from inside the cabin.
"Tasha, we want to thank you for all of your hospitality," Valerie said. " And we understand that you''re going to take some time to process all of everything we talked about. We will return. As I mentioned here isn''t done yet but we need to talk to the captain of the guard or some government representative about our status here. Can you point this in the right direction?" Valerie had stopped them after the second beer in memorial of the people of Noveria. You couldn''t stop it during the first one, because that one was about all that they''ve lost. You couldn''t stop them after the second one because that The one where you talked about all that could have been. And if there was a third one, Finley would have stopped them himself. "We are here on a diplomatic mission," he said. "We''re also going to be looking for people to supply the war efforts. Mostly I think what we''re going to need is fresh food. So if the group here is able to supply some fresh food in bulk, we would pay handsomely for it." The normally talkative merchants all kind of grumbled around for a bit. "Lad, we''ll talk business tomorrow," a dwarf merchant said. "Today is for those that we lost." "Understood. Just know that we are going to do our best to reclaim the territory, and we will need considerable support." They said their goodbyes and left the merchants with the promises of another visit the next day. This time, they would eat at an establishment that all the merchants liked. Outside of the merchants home, Valerie directed them towards the center of the city. "I feel like we need more landmarks here," Brianna said. "Nothing is distinct. All the buildings are the same. How would you tell the difference between say this building or that building when they are just pallet swapped versions of the same thing." "And none of the buildings have numbers or letters on them," Juan said. "There are no street signs. Just these little candles every so often." As he spoke, the group passed a small candle lit in the center of a street, when family got close enough, he could spell that it was giving off a scent. All of a sudden he could smell more things in the air. "You can''t distinguish them. However, the lizard folk can," he said. " Each one of these places smells different." "They do what now?" Brianna said, stopping to turn. Her ebony skin was on full display. She had been given the customary Yellow Tail garb; a loin cloth and a bralette. She was extremely impressed by the elves wares and he had noted that his ex-girlfriend had left it there and he wanted it gone. She had taken him up on his offer. "Everyone here has a sense of smell that will distinguish between locations. So you think they can''t distinguish things because they can''t see it. They can see it with their noses. Maybe even with their tongues," Finley said. " I heard stories about this but I''ve never seen it in action. It''s impressive."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "I need to signal the ship," Gigi said. She had remained in dwarf form to facilitate their time, but it was clear that she was only going to have so much time left. "We''re not splitting the party. Anthony''s orders," Brianna said. "I can signal it in goat form," she said, stripping naked and handing Finley her clothes. He took the clothing and put it away. "But you''re staying with us," Finley said. "Five people tried to buy you off of us and I think that they all wanted to eat you." Gigi quickly morphed into goat form, then moved to be right next to Finley. They made their way to the only building that appeared to have a stone foundation. The larger, near Central building was larger than any of the homes that they had seen by far. This building has several lizard folk guards posted around it. "Well, let''s go ask some questions," Valerie said. The group was stopped out front. "No goats are allowed inside after the Short Tail incident," a tall yellow golden lizard folk said. "This is my uh..." Finley said. "It''s his emotional support goat," Brianna said. "He takes it wherever he goes because of his support needs." What she left out was that his support needs included heavy magical artillery. "Still. You can wait out here with your goat then," the lizard folk grunted. "Who do you need to speak to, exactly? Statz your business." "I am here as a diplomatic envoy from the Irumian Kingdom. I bear terrible news." "You name?" "Valerie Lightfoot," she said. "I would request an audience with the Guard captain. Or the chief, if they are available." The golden lizard grunted. "Very well. Understand that out chief is not here currently, but I can potentially get the Captain to talk to you." He waved for another guard to take his spot, then walked inside. Gigi nudged Finley, expectantly. He didn''t know what she wanted, but her bleat was insistent. He pointed to his pack, then brought out here clothes. In front of his eyes, she turned back. He shielded her nether bits from view. She emerged into the clothing much to the shock of the guards. "I was going to offer you money for that goat," one said, dejectedly. "That''s a druid, not a goat," Finley said. The golden lizard returned shortly to escort them in. "Where did the goat go?" He asked, gruffly. "And I swear that I only saw one door for four. What happened?" "We had a goat. She got better," Valerie said. He let them in to the building. A large open area greeted them and there were several functionaries scrolling things onto Scrolls around the corners. On the far side, a red lizard with feathers all over his arms and back looked up. They related right to him. He stood and formally classed both flawed hands against his chest. "Pardon me, but I''m to believe that you are an official delegation of the Irumian Kingdom?" He said. "Welcome. I would offer you tea but as you can see I''m a little bit short-staffed. I am Captain Terrence of the Yellow Tail guard." Finley looked around. Though there was a lot of empty space, he didn''t think that the lizard was making a joke. Perhaps there was a busy period when this place was full? "Yes. We are. My name is Valerie Lightfoot and I have grave news that it must impart to you, from one enlightened to another. This may be difficult to hear," Valerie said, now a practiced hand at giving the short story. "Please. If it took you this far from home, then I will hear it." He gestured at the center of the hit where a dip left spots to sit comfortably. "Before we start," Valerie said. "Gigi, our druid is under a curse which necessitates that she turn into goat form every so often. She''s going to revert at some time during our discussion and that isn''t a threat to you. It''s just part of her now." He nodded, before sitting in the center. He waved two other lizards over to join them and they say in the back as Valerie went beat by beat over what was happening far to the north. The lizard folk listened in rapt attention as she regaled them with her tale. Captain Terrance even waved several scribes over to have them transcribe her words once he realized the importance. Once she was done, she sat down. "I think that the chief will need to hear about this," he said. "We''re going to send a runner to the closest outposts with the news once it has been transcribe several times. It truly is an honor to be in the presence of someone who has survived such an attack. My heart goes out to you. Anything that I can do for you, I will." "We would like to speak to the chief to formally request aid," she said. "But more importantly, we wanted to find the Irumian Foreign legion. I was told that they have been posted here in Sunderland, but I was not high enough in the hierarchy to grab their disposition." Captain Terrance considered her words. "I can send a note. I''m not aware of where they have been working, but if one of the other tribes know, my signature will let them know the gravity of the situation." A scribe arrived with an inkwell and eleven copies of the same scroll. In quick succession, he dipped his hand into the yellow ink, leaving a hand print on each of the brown scrolls. It stood out. Then once they were dry, the scribes rolled them up and he sealed them all with wax. "Take five outriders each," he barked. "East and west to the tribes. Ride until your legs hurt. We will send word other ways, but this... calamity... knowledge of this must spread." The bustle of lizard folk moving temporarily took over the room, and just as quickly, it ended. "Now. I would like to hear about how exactly you came onto land when no one saw a boat of any kind leave your ship," he said. "Your arrival caused a stir and I''ve been waiting all day to speak to you about this." Finley nervously shuffled on his feet. The gate card was an important part of their arsenal and the sun, though high was starting to dip. They didn''t need to give everything away but perhaps if they just mentioned that they had a wizard? "If I may," Finley said. He displayed his water bending card, making the two dimensional image appear in front of the lizard folk. "Water... bending?" he said, unsure of the wording. "It lets some of us surf on the waves without going in. But also, there is this..." He displayed his air bending card as well. "Air bending? I''ve never heard of these. Has there been a shift in the card magic?" The red scales of the Captain glowed under the light of the two cards on large display. "These cards have been affected by some of the men and women that we have been traveling with." Captain Terrance got up. "All chosen, I suppose?" Finley nodded. "You two are chosen?" he said, addressing Brianna and Juan. They stirred awake, having been lulled into a state of rest. "We both are," She said. "Two chosen at once, this is a great boon," He said. "May your days be filled with strength and honor." "Two?" Juan said. "Oh no. There are fourteen of us." The lizard folk had a moment where Finley was sure that he was going to die. His face went through an onslaught of emotion, from surprised to rage to fear and then back again. "Fourteen?" he said in a dead pan. "Fourteen chosen have come to visit my city. Forgive this humble servant of the Yellow Tail tribe. I need to call the chief." He stood up imperiously. "Please avail yourself of our afternoon tea," he said. "Make yourself at home. I will find you suitable accommodations shortly." Captain Terrance ran off faster than Finley had ever seen a humanoid creature run. Perhaps it was the tail. Or perhaps it was the tale. Either way, the Captain could book it with the best of them. "He is so fast," Valerie said. "Also why did you go and tell him that there were so many of you? That''s a little bit need to know, isn''t it?" "He''s going to be on out side. We need to get as much help as we can get. He might be an evil guard captain, but he isn''t a stupid one," Juan said. "He isn''t evil. He is an honorable lizard man," Brianna said, fixing her outfit. "He is just trying to do his best to not get yelled at by his boss." "Oh man there is no world in which Anthony doesn''t yell at us about this," Juan said. 3- Twenty five Anthony sat across from Stella. "The Grim Reaper, really? I thought you were a bit more creative than that. I really had high hopes for you. I think you scared those two lizard folk out of their skins though." "They won''t be back," Stella said confidently. She crossed her arms. There was a distinct lack of lizard skin. There was no world in which Anthony knew that she would take criticism on this. At least she wasn''t flounting his demands. He had given her the security role and she had protected the ship from what was potentially thieves or looters. "I just would have liked to have had a conversation with them." "We have a whole shore team. Anthony, that''s their entire job. Let them do their job. You asked me to be the Head of Security." She drummed her fingers against the wood. "That was before I thought you were in a crime family. I''m not saying that you were. I''m just saying that your actions really are making me think." Stella pouted. "Just because my parents owned a Italian restaurant that just so happens to never have anyone inside of it doesn''t mean that I was part of a crime family. I could have married into a crime family. Or they could have become a crime family against my will. You know it''s just there''s just so many ways to do crime. Do you know the biggest crime?" "No go ahead." Anthony sagged in his captains chair. "Tell me what the biggest crime is." "Wage theft is the biggest crime. And it''s not even something that''s reported a lot. So if some things just a disappear off the back of a shipping truck, and then get reapportions to people that need it more who''s to blame us? It''s all fake money anyway. The insurance is going to pay for all of it. And don''t even get me started about insurance. That''s a bigger racket than racketeering. Do you know that people can just sell whole life insurance?" "Uh-huh..." Anthony said, looking down to his notes. "All I''m asking you to do is to keep in mind that we are here on a diplomatic outreach. If we''re going to pretend to be the last bastion of the Irumian people, then we need to act the part." She smiled to him, the most unnerving smile that he had ever seen in his life. He had seen it with his sons before when they were trying to hide something from him and were very blatant about what they were doing. She was going to get away with it because she did the right thing, he just wanted her to know that he knew what she did. "Honestly Anthony, what else would you have done differently?" She said. "I don''t know. I think that''s the problem. We''ve been dealing with undead who have had no manners." "We had never had to set a place at the table for them, yes," Stella said. "Think that they would eat with their elbows on the table or something?" "Worse, they would eat their neighbors." "Why the heck didn''t I think of that? Yeah that would be a terrible tea party. Not for the zombies of course, but for the rest of us? Also why will we have a tea party with them?" "This metaphor is getting beaten into the ground," Anthony said. "This horse isn''t getting out of the stables." She flicked a dagger out from somewhere. The places she could hide things had multiplied exponentially once they were able to stay for an extended time in Gloucester. "Did you want to take some time to spar? It looks like you''re a little worked up." He had to agree with her. He needed it, she needed it. "Rules?" He asked. "Blunt spears or hand to hand. We''ll switch between the two." She reluctantly put the knives away, again someplace he couldn''t see. "Bring it on," he said. Five minutes later they were in the ring. It wasn''t so much a ring as it was a chalk circle around the center of the hold around them. The dwarves were shit talking. He had was to win first and fast. Stella was quicker than him and had much more experience. As this was going to be his training session for his benefit, she had offered to go easy. He had told her not to. "Ready? Fight!" Sonya said from the sidelines. Rather than rushing in the way that he expected her to, she just sat there for a little bit sizing him up. He was hoping that fighting someone that wasn''t a foot shorter than her would off her game. Any advantage would be great. With a cry she landed a savage blow on his right arm. He hadn''t even gotten the spear in a position yet to block. It was a probing strike. "Get your spear down!" someone yelled from the crowd. Anthony tried to oblige but then he was running. Rather than retreat like his brain wanted to, he started to move sideways. He just barely missed another thrust from her blunted training spear, the leather top glancing past his left arm as he dodged. If this has been a real battle, he would have been squirting blood from his arm. She just resumed her basic fighting stance and turned to face him keeping the spear between herself and him. They lowered his spear, nearly touching hers. "No docking!" Sonya said. The crowd laughed. There was a moment where she feinted trying to make him think that she was going to slap his spear with her spear. She dodged right and thrust again. Footwork saved him but only just.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Anthony might have been dancing the Macarena, but she was a champion Tango dancer if he''d ever seen one. He idly wondered if a crime family would send their daughter to ballet class before getting poked in the stomach. He had never been so grateful that he hadn''t eaten lunch yet. He dry heaved, holding up a hand as the distinct jingle of card pieces changing hands was heard from the outside. Someone had just won big. He took a knee. "Are you good to go again?" Sonya said. "Yep," he said, his voice strained. "Point to Stella!" A dwarf yelled. They began again. This time, a slow dance. He needed to get inside of her guard. She was keeping him out with a combination of feints and thrusts towards the center and mid line. He was already impressed with her for what she did with the scouts, but seeing her in action as a foe? He was terrified. He stepped back to parry a blow and then she came at him, relentless. There was a moment of fear-he realized that his boot was stuck in the ground. He just took the blows, several piercing shots glancing across his chest. He would have several black and blue bruises later. This finally gave him the opportunity to get her within his grasp. Abandoning the pretense, he tossed his spear at her face and then he grabbed her spear and pulled her in. She immediately let go of hers, but it was too late. He grabbed one arm, turning into an arm bar swiftly, bringing her head down to the ground as he levered her arm up behind her. Her face was a mixture or awe and pain. "I yield!" She yelled, pain evident on her face. He released her arm. She rubbed it and she got back up standing. He handed her a spear and then returned to the opposite side of the training ring. Stella took several revolutions through a spin of her arm. Checking to see that worked right. Anthony was prepared to cast a healing spell as he took both arms up and pulsed holy magic through them. She looked at him and shook her head mo. Whatever she was feeling, she wanted to feel it and he would let her. After this was all done, if he wasn''t a stinking pile of messy muscles, he would do his best to restore her to where she was. He could definitely hit her with a refresh and she would be right as rain, while he was going to be a pork chop sandwich. "Both ready? Alright get your bets in for round three," Sonya said. "Ready," Stella spat. "Ready," Anthony said. This time, she did not approach him. She merely took a few steps away from the edge of the circle and kept her spear pointed out further. As the spear was about six feet tall, it extended to nearly half the radius of the circle. Anthony kept his spear close, tucking it in between his right elbow and chest. His right arm felt up the side of it and his left arm extended the spear out. There was more shaft behind him. This was the standard fighting pose that had worked so well. He sunk into an evenly matched stance, neither leaning forward nor back. This time, Stella let him attack. He came in slowly and cautiously probing her defenses. She would not let him close enough to attack. Every time they tried to close the distance, she either repelled him or she tried to push him with a spear. This meant that he was moving a lot while she took up a spot in the center as he circled her. And then it clicked. She was trying to get him to use all of his energy. Well all she had to do was turn. Anthony made a faint slap between their two spears and then went to do the real thing when he realized that she was only holding her spear loosely. "No docking!" Sonya said, giggling. This surprised her and he kept his spear up grabbing it with both hands as he pushed her sphere to his left. Then, he let go of his spear with one hand grabbing for her spear with the other as he tried to circle in closer to her. She jumped backwards, narrowly missing his grab and his attempt to disarm her again. Satisfied that he could attempt that again, Anthony was summarily tripped. Falling onto his face, he realized that she was about five steps in front of him. Better than the ten steps he expected, but still too many steps. Instead of rolling over, he just sorta sat there for a minute. He totally wasn''t feeling sorry for himself. Stella patted him on his back. "You''re still decent," she said. "I''m just glad you are our commander and not our best fighter." He took her offered hand and got up. "No spears for a round?" She said. "Might as well." The squared off unarmed. In this, he knew that she had the advantage. Sophie had explained how their sneak attack ability worked at length and to his satisfaction. Still, just because he knew about the skill didn''t mean that he knew how to defend against it. He was trying to brute force a win against her and it just wasn''t happening. Every time he closed in on her, she slipped away. For every action he tried to follow through with, she could react and counter it faster than he could. She was still afraid of his size. Next to her frame, he had the height advantage. He wanted to use that. She dodged an attempt at a throw for a third time. He attempted to feint over and over again, but she continually kept him moving. While she moved to the back or the side, he continued to tire himself out moving to intercept. He couldn''t be moving that far, but he felt like he was continually trying to keep up, instead of getting ahead. Then, she went on the offense and it was all he could do to cover his face. He wasn''t able to cover his twig and berries which bothered him, but he had always known Stella to be honorable. And then he remembered that she was going to throw in some strange and- She hit him in the lower abdomen. It wasn''t his second favorite organ, but it was close and the proximity set off several alarms in his internal sense of self. Suddenly, the fight went out of him. "What the heck was that?" He said, panting on the ground. "Sneak attack," she said. "Apparently, a non lethal version of it." The crowd roared their approval. "You done, Goblin Commander?" She said. "Not in the slightest-" he said, then quickly reconsidered. They had been going at it for the better part of an hour by then. "Actually no... I think I''m good." "Great, because Sophie wanted next and I hate to keep a lady waiting," Stella said, waving to her adoring fans. "You''re up!" Sophie jumped from a low squat into the ring as Anthony slowly made his way out. The area around the ring became a chorus of bets passing hands and bleating. A few of the horses even stomped their hooves in anticipation. Anthony took the first mug of what he hoped was water and drained it. He found out far too late that it was the bad batch of beer as another set of card pieces changed hands. The one who gave him the mug smiled. "I trusted you," he said, looking the conspirator right in her bold beautiful eyes. "Oh get over it. It''s mostly water," Sonya said. "What do you always say? We can''t just drink purified water? We need sources of minerals and shit?" Anthony wiped the distaste from his mouth. He would get her back, eventually. She was too cute for any other outcome. "Have we heard from the shore team yet? They have to be close to finishing their initial assessment of the city by now. I want to be able to give everyone else a chance to go do something fun." "What?" Sonya said. "Some actual rest and relaxation? Why Anthony, you know just how to open up a girl''s heart and blouse." "Yes... I''m... hey!" He said, catching up to her. "We have been working hard and there are things besides fighting zombies in this world. Plus we are only a short gate away from several hot spots. Once we link up with the legion, they will help us figure out the next steps." "I am glad that''s a when, not an if. That is reassuring." Sophia and Stella began their match. The stark difference between the dance between the two women and his fight showed him how much Stella had been holding back. She was considerably faster in this fight than she had been against him. Sophie and Stella traded blows nearly faster than his brain could process. It took him a minute of shocked processing to realized how screwed he would have been in a real fight with her. Even against Sophie, it would be pretty hard for him to score an actual win. He had never been so grateful that they were on his side. Sure he had started out fighting, but he had soon realized that his talents were better around the battlefield not in it. Brandon called from the upper deck. "Uh, Anthony? The goats are talking with Gigi on the ground. They are requesting a gate." Sonya grabbed Anthony''s hand as they went up to an area that had been cleared for gate travel. The aperture opened into the beach and the five they had sent moved through. They looked a bit more confident, or perhaps it was just the light playing with their perception. Anthony would have to ask. The first thing that happened was Gigi and Valerie gave him the stories. Then the conversation turned into the pragmatic and serious one. 3- Twenty Six ¡°So you saw a lot of the Yellow Tails. You met with some merchants and you think you have a lead on the Irumian foreign legion? Anything else?¡± ¡°The captain of the guard is very interested in how we got onto the shore without, as he said, using boats. So that might be a potential issue. Also, I can¡¯t tell the difference between the males and the females,¡± Finley said. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any females,¡± Valerie said. The room that the council was meeting in was pretty warm, and it just got hotter the longer they talked. With just a small taste of their adventures, Anthony was already talking about the next steps. ¡°Did we secure a spot to sell goods out of? I thought we could use some dwarves to sell stuff. As they¡¯re not Chosen, this would be perfect for them,¡± Bob said. ¡°Yeah, how about that?¡± Valerie said. ¡°No goats.¡± ¡°No goats?¡± Anthony and Bob said. ¡°No goats.¡± Gigi bleated. ¡°At least six lizard folk attempted to buy Gigi off of us. And we¡¯re pretty sure that they wanted to cart her up and butcher her so they could have her for lunch. So yeah, let¡¯s not do that to them.¡± Anthony flinched back instinctively. Bob got a sour look on his face. ¡°We also have Borgan and Song,¡± Bob said. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to talk to them about that.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need to man a booth. We just need to establish a foothold and then we can take shifts there,¡± Finley said. ¡°There¡¯s not a lot of grass, either, so we will not do any grazing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell Sonya. Well, that¡¯s unfortunate. I guess we can keep... hmmm,¡± Anthony said. Anthony took a second to wipe everything off the table dramatically. He had been waiting to do that for quite some time. To be fair, it was only a few charcoal nubs and a piece of paper with a drawing on it, but still. He placed a piece of paper down on the desk and wrote what needed to happen. ¡°All right, so here¡¯s what we got. We have three teams. Our first aim here for the Sunderland team is to establish contact with the legion like we¡¯ve been trying to and to get some support. What that means is we need to find lizard folk that will sign up for this either as a mercenary contract or hero for hire or something. Someone who can negotiate and bargain for access to what they need access to would serve this team.¡± He nodded at Finley. ¡°The second team is going to be whoever is here in the airship. As this is our only safe location where we¡¯re not subject to zombie attacks or potentially teenage lizard folk who want to make a name for themselves dealing with the humans. This place also has the advantage of having an anchor point. As of right now, we don¡¯t really have an anchor point for moving things en masse to the Yellow Tails. So that should be the next thing. I already nominated Stella to be the head of security and I think she would do good being in charge of this.¡± Bob nodded. On the piece of paper, Anthony had drawn a small sketch of the city with the name Yellow Tail over it and a pirate ship. ¡°So either Zan or Sonya are going to have to be with the pirate ship if this is the way station. I suppose that we¡¯re going to need to figure out a way to transport lots of troops quickly if we get the support that we¡¯re looking for. That is where the promontory team comes in. There are enough small towns near the port city that we can begin our efforts to reclaim the kingdom there. And since it¡¯s next to a source of freshwater, that should be the first stop.¡± ¡°What about the sea monsters?¡± Bob said. ¡°They can come play too.¡± ¡°And this is, of course, after we do the thing where we have some vacation time? Right?¡± Valerie said. ¡°Right. Some of us have a bit of work to do, but I believe that it¡¯s far easier to talk to the tribes than it is to fight zombies. For one, they¡¯re on our side.¡± Anthony thought that was a significant point that he made. The intoxicating idea of being able to talk to somebody about something instead of just fighting them felt great. Not that he didn¡¯t enjoy talking to the rest of the Caravan, but there was only so much. In time, you had to lie down your head to rest, and you had to trust the guy next to you was going to protect you. Anthony trusted everyone here, but he wanted to build up a community where perhaps he could take a day or two off himself. Aside from their trips to places, they¡¯ve had to build up defenses to even exist in a place. To stick around here? That would be ideal. Another thing that came up in the discussion was that most of lizard folk did not speak common. They had five translation cards that they could spread out. Obviously, Finley was going to get one of those. And then the priority would go to whoever else was with Finley. ¡°All right, so it looks like we¡¯re at an agreement. I¡¯m going to say that except for specific things like feeding the horses and goat crew, we are going to wait for our audience with the chief. It¡¯s going to take them a few days to get the notice to the other tribes and then who knows what else is going to happen? And you have to go back in tomorrow to speak to the merchants and captain again?¡± Anthony said.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. They nodded. ¡°All right, then. I¡¯m going to say we¡¯ll have another meeting in two days and I want to attend the next audience with either the chief or the Captain of the Guard. I want to be clear that we can all head to the city if we want to. But I want everyone to stay in groups of three or four. This includes our dwarves contingent, who should remain and dwarf form the entire time. I will take the watch tonight.¡± He knew that by volunteering for the watch tonight all night that he was going to get help from Sonya. Or she could do whatever she wanted. ¡°You going to be on watch yourself there, huh?¡± Sonya said from the side. ¡°You are welcome to join me, dear. I understand if you have more important things to do as a person who¡¯s able to pick people up from the mainland.¡± She smiled at him. But there was no way that she was going to let him be alone all night. He barely got to be alone during the day. It was the smile that made him feel good on the inside. --- The next day, Finley brought Anthony and Valerie back to speak with Captain Tasha. They had a lively debate about how best to figure out which street foods to buy first. No one could recognize any of the meats. Normally, this wouldn¡¯t be a problem except that for this adventure, Gigi was present and in dwarf form. This put a time limit on their adventure. She could now hold her wild shape form for four hours, which was a vast improvement. It had begun over fifteen minutes before. ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask one local what the meats are?¡± Anthony said. ¡°Or one of these merchants that you guys have made friends with?¡± ¡°That¡¯s besides the point. You¡¯re supposed to pick it out without knowing. You should be able to tell just based on the scent, but since everyone here uses their nose to see, it¡¯s just so much more difficult,¡± Finley said. Now knowing about how all the lizard folk used their sense of smell, Finley had become a quick study. He hadn¡¯t needed to smell anything deeply. This was a change of pace for himself and his nose. It comforted them that they could all find that way if they just knew what everything was supposed to smell like. This didn¡¯t help the humans who had problems distinguishing between multiple smells layered on top of each other. The poor humans even had the combination of the loud smells of the street food vendors to compete with the more subtle sense produced by lizard folk glands. ¡°You have Bob¡¯s shopping list, right?¡± Valerie asked him for what had to be the fifth time. Bob had promised to make the best cake that any of them had ever eaten if they got what he wanted. Valerie was going to ensure that he got the ingredients he needed. Brianna was lock step with her and the two had formed an iron clad voting bloc. Finley didn¡¯t disagree, which was how he had gotten to pass all the street food vendors. ¡°This is all great, but someone has to get a salad for Bob,¡± Brianna said. ¡°Though I think they don¡¯t do meals to go here.¡± ¡°That could be a problem,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll need to make some food containers or something.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell Andrew when we get back. Also, what do you mean when you say food container? Like a bag?¡± Valerie said. ¡°That would work,¡± Brianna said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think that they have paper products here except for the scrolls?¡± Finley shrugged. They had seen a few scrolls at the markets, but most of the bags looked like they were made of the hide of a different reptilian species. That felt a bit off to him, but there was no arguing with lizard folk sensibilities. They were worse than humans in that regard. At least humans didn¡¯t sport bags made of dwarf skin, so far as he knew. He made a mental note to ask one human if they had ever done something like that. He briefly considered asking Anthony right now, but it didn¡¯t seem like the time. ¡°Eggs, huh?¡± Anthony said. ¡°Do you think that they have chickens here?¡± ¡°I saw some yesterday,¡± Brianna said. ¡°The thing I¡¯m trying to figure out is who would sell flour. Half these street stands have some sort of breading.¡± They passed by a lizard folk hawking some kind of iguana on a stick. Finley raised his eyebrow at the price. Three for one common card piece or two silver was an interesting price. He didn¡¯t have any of the local currency and he wondered how they would look at the hundreds of gold coins that he had squirreled away in his wagon. They now had a purpose again. He had thought for sure that there would be no respite, but once again he found himself surrounded by enlightened and in a market of all places. Though he had gone to one the day prior, it still gave him that same giddy feeling he always got. ¡°It feels good to be shopping,¡± he said. ¡°I missed this.¡± He parsed through several blank scrolls before selecting a few that could carry the notes that he needed, as well as enough for Anthony and his constant need to clear off a table to lie out a map. He briefly considered buying a map, but thought better of it. The entire idea of going down the markets felt meditative to him. He breathed in the smells of commerce and it felt like home. A home that long ago he''d left, and was only now just returning to. In so many ways, he was so pleased that he could begin the thick of it. Once again, he had almost forgotten about Anthony requesting him to settle the booth somewhere so they could unload some of their less desirable cards. Then the other elf merchant saw him and waved him over. ¡°Finley, good to see you, brother,¡± he said. ¡°Good to see you as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve inquired on your behalf about setting up a booth here. The department of commerce said that you could set up near me if you wanted. I was also thinking that perhaps we could set up a deal where I sell some of your goods. I understand that you¡¯re trying to get a lot of fresh food and basically I¡¯ll fit in the army in time, correct?¡± ¡°Something like that. If we can get things going? I¡¯m going to need a lot of food. Also, do you know where I can get flour?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some right here for you. This one is on the house.¡± The package that it was in felt sturdy. If Bob was going to use the package, then eventually the sack that held his flour could be used for something else. It would for sure make a better bag than anything that these lizard folk had made. Considering the purse that he¡¯s seen so far. It just felt distasteful to wear the skins of your enemy on a purse. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have sugar as well? And by the way, we have a primary cake maker in our ranks. None of the people you see here are our baker. Tonight I¡¯ll be making cake for us if you want to come on board our ship.¡± Finley held onto the hope that he might work out a good deal. And now that he had the elf interested in a potential trade deal, he could get a footing here. And despite the market being very much focused on local goods and sustenance, he knew there was something there. Especially if you could solve some problems? He might make things so much better for so many people here. And then he still has something that he had to have. He heard the street food that he desired calling out to him from across the way. ¡°How¡¯s it going to be okay? I can¡¯t want to try your hot sticky buns,¡± he said. Brianna came over to him and they both kind of looked at the street vendor for a little. He gestured it to her, and she returned the gesture. They walked over and bought some sticky buns. That first bite? It tasted like freedom. 3-Twenty Seven Somehow, someone had given Finley, the tallest person in the group, the task of holding all of the things they bought. He didn''t mind, as he had brought the large sack to put everything in. He just wished that everybody else would help him out. Their next stop was to speak to Captain Tasha, and it was going to look odd with all of their shopping list, but he wasn''t willing to risk not having fresh ingredients. He could live with people thinking that he was weird. He could not live without freshly baked things provided by Bob. It was pretty easy to retrace their route back to the distinct building with the guards. By the time they got there, Finley was ready to trade off the sack to somebody else. Everyone else thought it was his responsibility, so he just left it by the guards. He offered them a common card each, but he had a bunch of copies of cleave to give up. This was exactly why he had his wagon. He didn''t want to have to do this kind of thing. He did it because he cared. And because he didn''t want to have to pay someone to watch his gear. Once inside, Valerie led them in. She began taking charge, much to Finley''s surprise. He had expected Anthony to take a larger role in the proceedings, but he, too, wanted to sit back and see what the dwarf was going to do. After all, it wasn''t everyday you got to train a queen, or at least a potential queen. Even the dark days had some sunshine. "Good day to you, Captain Tasha," she said, bowing. "Adjutant Lightfoot," the lizard folk man said. "I''m pleased to say that our messages would hit the first of our neighbor tribes. If they''ve heard about the movings of the foreign legion, then they will report back," He glared at a scribe who held up to fingers. "...in about two days. I understand that this is of the utmost concern for you. I have sent word to the chief, but she is far inland on a monster quelling quest. She will return with the rest of them when she is ready." "Thank you. My quartermaster here would like to set up shop. We would like to resolve that today. As well, I have brought the commander of our forces," Valerie pointed out Anthony. "Anthony has a request if you have the time." "Commander Anthony?" "Just Anthony is fine," he said. "We want to set up shop here. More specifically, we want to set up a staging grounds and recruit. But seeing as how this job was just given to me, I don''t want to impose, and I understand that it''s strange for a human to come into your lands and request for people to sign up on a mercenary venture." Although Anthony hadn¡¯t mentioned that Yil had appointed him, it was understood. He also had intentionally not showed that he was Valerie''s superior in the ranks. That might complicate things. Their current story was that Valerie was the adjutant to an ambassador and had now assumed their role because of the calamity. The red face lizard man rubbed at his scaly chin. "You are trying to recruit other humans and dwarves, I take it? There aren''t many of those here." One scribe pulled up a sheaf of paper that had to be a register of humans, elves and dwarves. He began flipping through it. "We don''t know what we want. But we''ll take whoever wants to sign up. The pay will be good, and they''ll get experience fighting undead," Anthony said. "They''ll get cards to fight and full bellies." "Ahhhh. That is something that many people sign up to do. You''re offering the opportunity to kill the undead?" Tasha leaned in, sniffing deeply at Anthony''s musk. Finley had to stifle a chuckle. "The...er rewards would be great. There''s just so many... There''s just so much we have to deal with. Even finding the legion can only do so much," Anthony said. "Can you step back a little?" "Sorry. It''s a card scale that tells me the truthiness of someone''s statement. It doesn''t help if the person doesn''t know the thing isn''t true. So you are serious about people coming to help you kill Undead..." His eyes were hungry. Finley was surprised, because he had never seen true hunger in a lizard folk before. He remembered the adage about wanting to sell to a hungry crowd. Perhaps the lizards might be interested in the cakes that he had to sell? He was going to have to ask Bob about what it would take for them to prepare everything so that he could sell cakes. The idea made him giddy. He realized he had missed a bit there when everyone looked at him. "Hey Finley, are you okay?" Anthony said. "I''m sorry. I was thinking about all the cakes that my pack is going to make." His stomach gurgled. "Cake?" Tasha said. "Anyone who signs up will get cake," Anthony said. "You guys are not making this easy for me, you know. I worked my tail off for this position and then you offer me an opportunity to kill undead and eat cake? Gah!" Tasha said. "It''s enough to make a grown lizard cry." This had the effect of disarming the surrounding Caravan members. Even the scribes looked up, awed at how easily the lizard folk seemed to be captured.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "If you''d like cake that much, we can have some delivered," Valerie said. "We can consider it a gift between nations." "That would be fitting," Tasha said, wiping away a tear. "I would humbly accept any cake as a gift to my peoples." "I suppose you will submit to being the official taste tester as well?" Valerie said. "Of the Yellow Tails, of course." "This humble guard captain would.be so honored to do so," Tasha said reverently. If that was all it took to open diplomatic relations, Finley would be a professional in no time. He checked and his bartering skill had already risen to level five. The scribe came up with an answer in short order. "There are a few dozen dwarves in Yellow Tail as well as less than ten elves. There is only one human family," he said. "This information is as of the last census, which was several months ago." "That''s great to know. Now as to the other thing. Perhaps we can find a spot for an official...." Anthony leaned towards Valerie. "Diplomatic Mission from the Irumian Kingdom. Or the MIK for short," she said. There was something about an acronym that pleased the humans to no end. Finley was indifferent to them, but apparently the dwarves'' military had the same persistent urge they did. That she had already come up with the name on the spot gave credence to her ability. "Can you set up the official mission West of Yellow Tail? I will need to confirm this with the Chief, but once she signs off on it, you would be clear to set up walls." "We can set up there. For now, we wanted to sell in the markets," Finley said. ¡°Unfortunately, the merchants'' guild oversees those.¡± "Where is their area?" Anthony said. ¡°Technically, the entire interior of the city is part of their area.¡± Of course it was. Finley was going to have to work against these dark mysterious merchants, who definitely didn''t have the same purity of cause that he did. All he wanted to do was kill zombies and make money. Or rather, have someone else kill zombies and profit from the entire enterprise. "That''s something that we''ll have to work with then. You''ll see us when we make our move," Valerie said. "But we are going to take a few days in a land that isn''t infested with zombies to rest." "By all means, take your time. When the chief arrives I will can a messenger to your ship?" Tasha said. "That would be great. I think we may park a little closer to the docks now that we have an understanding," Anthony said. The group exchanged pleasantries and departed from the city center.
Sonya was having a heck of a time linking the two anchor points. They were far from each other. When she used the skill to look at where she had been so far, the entire map of the world had now gotten so large that the anchors meant so much to her. She tried to zoom in on her location and it got a lot easier to make a gate back for everyone. Anthony had them move the ship close to the docks. It was the calm ride by the docks that let her get back into the groove. The horses needed to eat. The Sunderland jungles were completely inhospitable for any horse. She had even seen dinosaurs roaming around on the beach now and then. These truly fear some terrible lizards towered over what her height would have been and were quickly driven off. She knew it was a card skill when they started flinging large balls of flame and lightning. She took a lot of pride in seeing how they ran the large scaly reptiles off. This was definitely a mature operation. Without these specific interventions, that the city would have been leveled within a day. Two tall walls were nothing towards a dinosaur with enough leg muscle. Thankfully, it seemed like there was a pleasant stream of warriors and guards ready to defend the city and tribe. Sonya had a job to do. The horses need to be fed and Finley was going to yell at her if she didn''t take them out today. She was just waiting for him to arrive back so she could escort him with the horses and the goats back to the promontory. While they were gone, someone was going to go through and use the cleanse skill to make the boat smell like new. She could not wait. On the other side of the gate, the air was no longer a stifling humid. She welcomed the cool crisp air that made her feel like it was autumn. As soon as the gate was open, the goats charged through fell by the horses. Then she stepped through, waving to Zan. They had an unspoken agreement that one of them was going to have to stay with the airship for the time being, while the other one would have to be on call. Either way, the fact that two of them can now use the skill or spell meant they had so many more options. The first thing that Sonya did was to take a stroll with Finley down to check out the fortifications. They had closed off the Tower Defense when it was built, but there were still zombies lumbering around. Bob had joined them for this expedition as he needed to get some target practice in, so he slunk over with Stella in tow. She at least looked happy to be back here. Sonya was happy to be back, but was almost certain that her face didn''t show it. She had gone from the jungle beach all the way back to the land of dwarves and men. One thing that had come up in their time on the road was that the Kingdom of elves and humans were close enough that they had just missed them by a bit. The elves were east of the promontory and the humans were southeast across the water. Finley has been very cagey about the elvish kingdom and she had to ask Anthony to have Valerie fill in some blanks. Instead of speaking with the queen regent, she was just taking the time to raise the horses and make sure the goats had enough to eat when they were in their goat for him. Apparently, they could eat more while they were humanoid, but it wouldn''t carry if we''re back to their goat size. Thus, their goat sizes remained static. Once Bob gave the all clear, she could freely walk about. With his ability to sense how close any zombies were, all he had to do was to pass by the other large mansions on the raised bluff to make sure that none had made their way in. It had really only been two days and every time they returned; they spent more time trying to make sure that the zombies from the Port City never made it past the sheer volume of Earth that they had placed between them. However, the grass around here was looking a little off. They were going to have to find another place to graze soon if they kept returning to the same spot. That or they were going to have to find the farm that had stalks of hay. She found a pygmy goat in the crowd and approached it. She nodded to the goat. She might return to dwarf form and speak with Sonya. If so, Sonya had several questions. But if she didn''t return, she was going to ask them, anyway. "Now I know you can hear me, understand me. But I don''t need an answer right away. I''m thinking about our problem if we overgraze this area and what we can do next. My first thought, and you can correct me if wrong, is to find the closest farm that has bales of hay that we can take." She patted the goat¡¯s head. "If we find that farm, we can solve us having a damn chair in here every time. But also you''re from here and you might know if there were any farms nearby without having to look it up. I like a local starch. Plus, I know you will not bullshit at me." Gigi bleated. "Of course we can go apple picking. We can go to the winery. I don''t particularly care. But if it''s less than an hour''s walk from here? Then if we can make any girls¡¯ trip. After all, the Earth is my domain." Sonya smiled, blinked several times and watched as the little goat turned into a fully grown adult dwarf. "That felt really great," Gigi said. "Let''s talk about this winery thing, as I have several options for you that are within striking distance." "Truly? Well, this has been an interesting test of our teleportation powers, no matter what we do." 3- Twenty Eight ¡°Now that you know we¡¯re going to be spending some more time out here, I want to make it feel like home. Especially if this is going to be one of our forward operating posts,¡± Sonya said. The two of them were chattering by the mansion in question. She was shaping part of the over-grazed lawn into a raised garden bed. This bed, one of many, had the potential to eventually grow food for the caravan and anyone who was unwise enough to sign up with them. ¡°The way that you say forward operating post makes me think we are professional organization and not a youth soccer league team,¡± Anthony said, planting another seedling. ¡°Though this place feels like home. We¡¯ve been here a lot. We¡¯re pretty settled on that one mansion.¡± Anthony indicated the mansion on the west side of the promontory. They had spent a lot of quality time there. Their building had about twenty bedrooms, which meant that it would serve really well for sleeping quarters. It would also serve really well for people that wanted to disappear for an hour or two to get their kinks out. Sonya eyed the man, wondering if she was going to get the promised back massage tonight. ¡°I mean, if you want to make it some more personal thing, we could do that. It would be great to hang our stuff up for the night. Think of it, Anthony... our own place,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ll always have the mansions of the rich dwarves that didn¡¯t make it through the zombie calamity,¡± he said. ¡°Their loss, our gain.¡± ¡°Oh Anthony, you¡¯re such a romantic,¡± she said sarcastically, completely meaning it. Sonya regarded the mansion. It was sufficient. It had a kitchen. But she would make it so much better. The only thing that didn¡¯t have was a workshop. The mansion next door did. That workshop was key in their plans because it specifically had the anchor gate she used daily. ¡°So I¡¯ve been thinking, and just between us, we need to figure out how to bring people on, so we make sure we¡¯re not bringing on assholes,¡± he said. ¡°Why would you think we¡¯re going to bring in assholes? Is that something that you think we¡¯re going to do?¡± She said, stopping her plowing. ¡°I just think if you tell people they¡¯re going to win the lottery then they join us, then we might not get the most moral characters to come on board. Especially as mercenaries. The legion doesn¡¯t really have a choice. If they want to reclaim their homeland, they have to come with us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s always going to be a few rotten apples. What do you want to do to combat that?¡± She said. This is the first time that Anthony was bringing this up to her, and she was wondering if he had already worked out a plan. It would make sense for him to have something ready to go before he presented it to her and then to the rest of the council. ¡°It¡¯s about trust, isn¡¯t it?¡± She said. ¡°We can give people a trial run and put them next to other veterans. If they mess up, no harm, no foul. We send them home.¡± It made sense to her. If you were going to get a therapist or a social worker who was going to spend their entire time in session ranting about something, you didn¡¯t need that person. It would be much better to have no person than the wrong person. But this wasn¡¯t residential services. They had to work from what they got because there were no alternatives to the mercenaries that they intended to hire. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve reached civilization, we can spend some time connecting with the peoples of the other continents. If we can¡¯t find help here, I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to be called the commander or a captain or something like that, but we need to have ranks. If we start new people at the lowest rank and have their peers recommend them for promotions, this will make you accountable to each other.¡± Sonya looked over her work. Most of the plots were done. It looked strange having raised earth beds without wooden planks around them, but she had hardened the outer edges to make them more like stone. This would hold them. This also meant that around the raised beds that the ground was about as barren as it could be. She used her hands to rub her head, fending off the headache that she thought would happen with all that mana expenditure. When it didn¡¯t come, she smiled. She hasn¡¯t done so much with mana before, raising large walls and creating mazes in the dirt. But this finesse work of creating small plaque gardens was doing her in. This was the fourth garden around one mansion. The first three had given her a headache, so she had expected to have to take a rest and then do it again. The finesse and brute force work that she did to raise the dirt towers were like a different class in college. Something may have carried over, but she needed both power and control. Later, Sophie and Finley would do their best to make the plants grow. It was the least they could do, being druids and all. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t be around for a while. ¡°What do you think about raising chickens?¡± she asked. ¡°Here? I mean, it makes sense. I don¡¯t know the first thing about chickens.¡± ¡°I think it would be nice.¡± ¡°Going from war to raising chickens would be a wonderful change of pace. I think that Bob and Stella might have picked through all the easy targets by now,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Do you want to take a break and go see where they¡¯re at?¡± He nodded, placing the bag of seed on the ground. She put her arm inside of his as they moved to the edge of the bluffs to look for the pair.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Far below them, there were several dozen zombies milling around. The zombies were trapped between the high walls of the promontory, the tower defense maze, and the city¡¯s outer walls. Of course, they could head straight south into the quiet sea, but that was unlikely. From their vantage point, they could see Bob and Stella taking turns firing their crossbows and attracting zombies towards their position on an earthen wall. ¡°I¡¯m so glad those walls have been holding up so well.¡± ¡°Were you worried about that? Trust in my work. Tell me I did good.¡± ¡°Okay. You did a good job.¡± ¡°Now, mean it,¡± she said, wrapping her arms around his torso. He gulped.
Bob, Mork¡¯s faithful marksman, shot another bolt. It felt good to have a very large supply of crossbow bolts. Previously, they had to scrounge up a couple every time they stopped at a town. Now? He could get batches made by the Yellow Tail merchants. This was speeding up both his skill gains, and the kills needed to sanctify the city. Sanctify. That was the word that the quest had said. He needed to clear it out for some reward, but there were just so many targets. So he had asked Stella for the assist. Together with several back up goats and the orcs, they had been dispatching zombies by the dozen. With his summon cutting out the cards, they had only one problem. That problem was dwarf bodies. They were clogging up the maze and several times they were getting close to overrunning the initial parts of the maze. Zombies were bad. Zombies on top of the maze that was meant to contain them? That was really bad. In response, they had gotten Sonya to cut out relief points along the sides of the maze and set up wooden planks next to those spots to act as bridges. They had used the same formation before to great effect. Now, with a hefty chunk of life and battle experience combined with an industrial base that was hungry to make crossbow bolts, he was ready to get the port city under control. ¡°Bob, they¡¯re slowing again,¡± Stella said. ¡°The lure isn¡¯t working. I can sense a mass of them in the center. Stella, do you think we can steal another ship and then use it to fire from the canal that splits the city?¡± ¡°I thought Anthony had told you that wasn¡¯t a good idea?¡± ¡°Well, if we are going to make a fleet of airships, then where else are we going to get the materials? Reduce reuse and recycle, I say!¡± ¡°Did you ask Finley about this? You know his plan for us after all this is over, involves some sort of air shipping business?¡± Bob finally stopped unloading bolts to look at her. ¡°They have teleportation and he wants to start an airship business?¡± ¡°I mean, it¡¯s a bit romantic, isn¡¯t it? And we had airplanes, but we also still had ships and shipping businesses. It would be a good way to move drugs across borders.¡± ¡°Teleportation would be a good way to move drugs across borders. Not that I¡¯m trying to start an intercontinental smuggling ring, of course.¡± ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Stella said. ¡°But if you did, I would be right there with you.¡± ¡°That whole thing about the business front. That was real, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Stella just smiled. ¡°Alright, when we rotate back, I¡¯ll ask Anthony about getting a second airship ready. I¡¯m itchy to be back here for good,¡± he said. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t you want to spend some time on the beach? I had Brianna get me one of those skimpy numbers and...¡± ¡°I can see myself taking some more time off,¡± he said, his aim wavering. ¡°We should probably call it a day now, anyway.¡± --- If one had the time and inclination, one could simply move a house. Simply being the operative word carried a lot of weight in this instance. It certainly wasn¡¯t easy by any means. Starting with one beam at a time, Sonya and Zan meticulously moved the wooden frame of a building across hundreds of span to begin construction of their Yellow Tail area. Andrew had worked out all the details to make everything just right, and was on hand to direct the movement to the site. They had chosen a spot next to the city, but close enough to walk back and forth easily. This would give them the autonomy that they needed. Once they could make a stand here, they would be in business. They had worked out a system of transferring goods to the ship and then moving them onto the docks and into their new diplomatic mission. The only thing that was missing in this puzzle was their talk with the chief, whose monster killing expedition had taken an extra two days at least. ¡°What do you think is holding up the chief?¡± Sonya said, passing the beam up to Zan. ¡°Honestly, I think it¡¯s Murphy. I think he followed us all the way here,¡± Zan said. ¡°Fucking Murphy again. He always shows up at the worst time.¡± ¡°What do you think she is hunting that she had been out for so long?¡± ¡°If I said big game, would you believe me?¡± Sonya said. ¡°Valerie said that they were pretty cagey. Something about not talking about the hunt.¡± ¡°Schrodinger¡¯s Hunt, eh?¡± A loud trumpeting sound rang out, echoing three times from far off. Then from somewhere in the city, there was a corresponding ring. ¡°We¡¯ll see pretty soon, I gather.¡±
Tumble and Fen ran through the jungle. Their only recourse was to get her. They ran as if their legs were on fire. The regular hunting grounds weren¡¯t that far away from the tribe proper. But it wasn¡¯t like they would just come back and sleep inside of the drive. Not when the chief was hunting such a big game. They would follow the game around and try to find the best time to take it down. It was the honorable way. Having to tell the chief about their dishonorable activities, having nothing to show for it, stung. Almost as much as being held by the guard. The guard couldn¡¯t hold them. Or they wouldn¡¯t. Their crimes did not rise to that level. And they had a powerful backer that would be home soon. But they needed to get to her first before things got a lot worse. Bad news never got better with time. And they were sure that the humans were going to complain about what they had done. Once they found out that someone had played a terrible prank on them and that the guard knew, they didn¡¯t really have a decision to make. The guard had already decided for them. They had to get it out ahead of the narrative, and that meant getting out to the hunting grounds. They skipped around, running in between the trees. By the end of the first day, they were within the distance that they needed to be. That was the first time that they slowed down. By the dawn of the second day, they had made contact. Both lay prostate before her as they attempted to explain the situation to her amused face. Fen went a little off of board in his description of the monster that they found, but it was all good. Tumble didn¡¯t particularly need to explain himself. But someone compelled him to. ¡°So, what you¡¯re telling me is that you both decided on your own to swim out to a brand new boat, and that boat just so happened to be part of a diplomatic mission?¡± She said. ¡°Yes, chief,¡± they said. ¡°And you realize that I¡¯m going to have to speak with these people, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, chief!¡± They said. The large female lizard in front of them shuddered. She held her heads in our hands. ¡°I know that you¡¯re both smart. But this was just a very low reward, high-risk situation. I expect better from both of you.¡± Both lives at folk lay prostate on the ground as the weathering comments slowly would let them down. They might have been on the path being molded now, but this was surely an enormous step off the path, if not a leap. ¡°I have worked so hard to keep this tribe afloat in these troubled times. And you come here telling me about things happening in the north? This is rubbish. You can¡¯t come out here half cocked. If you¡¯re going to come all the way out here, bring more information.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Fen said. ¡°Okay, mother,¡± Tumble said. ¡°Thank you both for coming out here. It¡¯s telling. I believe it¡¯s time for both of my sons to learn how to hunt, as I do,¡± she said. 3- Twenty Nine In the morning, the note came. Valerie, who had decided that this was the day they would open negotiations, woke Anthony up. She slapped him in the face with the single sheet of paper. He woke up with a start. She left the letter on his head, the envelope lovingly ripped to shreds. Anthony wordlessly inspected the mail. ¡°Are you ready for this, kid?¡± he said, shirtless and leaning over his side of his bed. ¡°I guess I¡¯m as ready I as can be,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Is Sonya¡­ okay? She looks like she¡¯s buried under blankets.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± The muffled voice said. ¡°Just naked!¡± Valerie turned bright red and got up to leave. ¡°Stop saying things like that to her, dear,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Get Finley.¡± He kissed her hand and got up to put on his best robe. Their gambeson had proven to be too warm for everyday wear. He wanted something that evoked the image of the goddess Yil. It felt incredibly luxurious to wake up clean and put on a fluffy robe. Anthony found Finley outside with Valerie''s deeper discussion about their campaign strategy. He had the image of a renaissance painting gone completely fantastical as a Dwarven Princess held court with an elvish trader on board a flying ship. ¡°You represent the country. You have so much to give. We can give them preferential treatment if they decide they want to help us with our internal matter,¡± he said. ¡°But I don¡¯t feel like I represent the country.¡± The dwarf girl had gone through so much. Standing next to the tall elf, she really looked small at that moment. She was so much more than she had been. In front of her was a woman who had gone through the trauma of seeing both her parents turn into zombies, and then a fight to stay alive. She had even fought the internal demons of wishing she were dead repeatedly. He wanted to tell her all that, but he knew she wouldn¡¯t take it how he meant it. But what he could say was the thing that he felt in his heart. ¡°Valerie. You¡¯re amazing. You can do this.¡± Both the elf and the dwarf looked at him as if he was coming out of left field. He was clearly in the bleachers, watching both try to catch the same ball. Their familiarity shredded his image of a fantastical painting. They were a family now. ¡°I know that,¡± she said, clearly telegraphing that she wanted him to continue. ¡°No. You don¡¯t understand. There is no one better suited to do this negotiation than the two of you. We are talking with living enlightened beings. They want what we want,¡± he said, knowing that this was going to hit her right in the sweet spot. He let the silence hang there for a second. She was accustomed to his mentoring and his exhortations that she was good at what she was doing, despite all of her terminal imposter syndrome. It wasn¡¯t something that he was pretending was true just so she could feel better. They had been together for a long time now. Most importantly, he didn¡¯t want to do it. He wanted her to do it. He might talk a good game to Sonya, easily able to build a rapport with another healthcare worker, but that wasn¡¯t always going to translate. ¡°All right. Thank you. Do you want to pretend to be the chief?¡± ¡°With pleasure,¡± he said. Letting her attempt to woo him and his pretend tribe had been the thing that Finley had suggested. That and bringing enough cake for everybody. It had been his selling point. She gave her pitch several times to him. By now, she had practiced her pitch, and knew all the points she wanted to emphasize. She was a diplomatic envoy from Noveria. She represented the Irumian Kingdom. Because of the calamity, a much smaller nation needed friends and allies to come to its aid. She was there on behalf of the beleaguered nation to reclaim it. She also represented the Green Fang tribe as much as they remained. What she was looking for was military aged fighters able to go on a long campaign or even a short one to join them. If Yellow Tail could not supply these, she would pay exorbitantly to outfit what little people she had. By the third time, Finley was ready to leave, and Valerie was just doing her final assessment of what things she could offer to the queen. She gave him a curious stare. ¡°If she asks, can I offer your hand in marriage?¡± Valerie said to Anthony. Sonya, passing by with her morning tea, did a spit take. Then, without saying anything, she just stared at Anthony with her head cocked to his side. ¡°I think that might not work so well? Given that I¡¯m in a relationship with the chosen of Kara.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure that she¡¯ll be okay with it if we do that,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Make sure that they know that they¡¯re going to be getting into a situation where their future husband has a mistress,¡± Sonya said. ¡°I guess that¡¯s-¡° ¡°Marry a lizard woman, Anthony, see how that works for you!¡± Sonya said before slamming the door. The door immediately rocked back out, so she was still visible as she walked into the cabin. ¡°Thanks for that Valerie.¡± ¡°Anytime.¡±
¡°...and so, we propose a formal outreach program between our two nations to heal the calamity that has befallen the continent of Noveria.¡± Valerie impressed Finley. She had introduced herself and given the entire presentation as if she was a pro. She didn¡¯t even need to change her dress because she was sweating so much. He would have had a change of dress, but he wore the silent meditation robes that he had gotten so far to the north now.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. What he hadn¡¯t expected it was the sheer size of the chief. She was easily a head taller than any of the other lizard folk that they had met before. She also had feathers adorning her back. At that moment, he had realized that every single citizen that he had met up to that point had been male. The amount of female lizards in the tribe had filled in the gaps that day as they realized that every single one had been on that hunt with the chief. The Chief¡¯s tail thudded on the ground in the center of them. She had asked to meet them at Center City where a large open space let people be social and interact with each other. ¡°I have heard your request. I thank you for your time. This matter is most grave and upsetting. We understand that you have some ability to transport yourself back and forth to the northern continent. I would like to see this myself,¡± she said. Finley felt a rush. This had not been part of what they had tried to get through to Valerie. They had tried to think about every single situation in which she might have to respond. The chief asking for proof had not been one of those situations. Valerie smiled. Finley was worried that she was about to offer the lizard folk a deal that might destroy a lot of what they offered. A line of several female warrior hunters stayed on the side of their negotiations. Each one rippled with muscles and had copious feathers on their backs. ¡°That is something that we can arrange for you, should you choose.¡± ¡°I choose it,¡± she said. ¡°If you want to deal with us, I need to see.¡± Finley coughed. ¡°We are going to need a few days to set up a gate here. But we can consider that a part of these negotiations,¡± Finley said. ¡°Having a gate here will open trade and potentially we can link the thirteen tribes together,¡± Valerie said. ¡°We will need many enlightened to kill these zombies.¡± ¡°Call upon me when you have a gate ready. In my absence, I had much to attend to.¡± The chief stood up, causing every sitting lizard folk to do the same. Clearly done, she nodded to them. Valerie got off and moved out of the way. Finley trailed after her, with Brianna and Anthony bringing up the rear.
¡°You thought you would buy them out with cake,¡± Bob said. ¡°The cake was great. If they had decided that they wanted to eat the cake, then we would have been in. But they said that they would take it for later.¡± ¡°You always got to let them sample the products first,¡± Bob said. ¡°The first one is free and all that. Have you heard of that? Get them in. Get them hooked.¡± Bob was the last person who finally thought was going to give him some advice on how to barter and negotiate. But with his background as an independent business executive selling cakes? He had come into his own as an unlikely ally. Bob was the entire force behind his baked goods arm. His new pop-up shop was selling cakes and cookies. Thanks to Bob¡¯s efforts, he had stock. Bob was also helping him sell. ¡°Pardon me, gentle elf?¡± The lizard of him in front of him said. ¡°How much for this uncommon card?¡± He held up a base fire bending card.
Uncommon Skill Card: Fire Bending L1 The wielder of this card can bend flames and create fire with their will. Flames are created through martial ability. This cards grants fire affinity.
¡°Five commons, or three uncommon shards. Though if they are common cards, I want to see them first.¡± ¡°Where did you find this, by the way? I have never seen a beast drop this,¡± the lizard said, pulling out five common cards.
Common Skill Card: Survival Level 1 Survive harsh conditions instinctively. Improves field craft and related abilities. As this card advances, the wielder will become more hearty.
Common Skill Card: Chomp Level 1 Empowers your jaw for a superior bite attack.
Common Skill Card: Forage Level 1 The wielder can find good, nourishing fauna easier.
¡°One survival, two chomps and one forage?¡± Finley said. ¡°I¡¯ll take that deal.¡± Bob took the cards on his behalf and the happy lizard folk continued shopping. ¡°I have never seen chomp before,¡± Bob said. ¡°It¡¯s something that would help a creature without arms, I think,¡± Finley said. ¡°Hey, do you know what dropped this card, perchance?¡± ¡°One of the raptors dropped it,¡± the lizard folk said. ¡°It¡¯s somewhat common.¡± They took a second to examine the card again. ¡°Lizard about chest height? Long fangs?¡± Bob said. ¡°Clever girls?¡± ¡°Yep! But don¡¯t go out there hunting them. They are a bit difficult to take down and they work in packs so I would take a team of at least twelve,¡± the lizard said. ¡°How much for some cake?¡± Finley started to say something, but Bob held up a hand. ¡°The first piece is free if you got some more information for us like that,¡± Bob said. The lizard folk smiled. Finley wasn¡¯t mad about losing the sale. He was distracted that it hadn¡¯t been him to offer a free sample. One didn¡¯t give free samples of cards or card pieces. But if they could bake cakes? ¡°The game has changed,¡± he whispered. Bob cut a slice of cake for the lizard. The lizard devoured the cake, finishing the whole slice in two big bites. ¡°What do you need to know about?¡± ¡°It would be great if we knew a bit more about the city. Tell me something that an outsider wouldn¡¯t know at first glance.¡± ¡°Let me see. What can I say? You know about the merchants, but the main thing that the hunters bring in is terrible lizard meat. There¡¯s a huge trade in large chunks of that meat. There¡¯s not much agriculture to speak of, otherwise we mostly eat fish. How much for a whole cake?¡± He asked. ¡°Three common or one uncommon card pieces,¡± Finley said. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an interesting conversion rate,¡± the lizard folk said. ¡°What¡¯s the rate in town?¡± Finley leaned in. ¡°One uncommon is worth four common right now.¡± Finley was going to have to speak to the merchant¡¯s guild. If he was going to undercut them, then they might do something retaliatory. So far, all they had done was set up a temporary booth outside of town and began to prepare a space for a gate. ¡°That¡¯s our current rate, but only for new customers. We¡¯re also looking for language cards if you find any. Tell your friends that we have cake and a lot of common cards,¡± he said. ¡°I will!¡± The lizard folk said before darting back towards the gates. They were close enough that the guard on duty would drop by when he got bored. Finley insisted that he try the cake. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t. I¡¯m on duty and though Captain Tasha said that he likes you guys personally, that¡¯s a whole different...is that chocolate cake?¡± He said. ¡°You¡¯ll love it. There is some coco leaf here that we didn¡¯t know about until this morning. Bob had been working nonstop in our galley,¡± Finley said, indicating the ship that was on the docks due north of them. ¡°One slice won¡¯t hurt, I guess,¡± he said, his yellow tail switching back and forth. ¡°We¡¯ll watch the gate for you,¡± Bob said. ¡°I need someone to tell me if my ganache tastes good.¡± Stella had already given it an unconditional thumbs up. This meant that she was sad when he made some not intended for her use. The other women made a fuss, something that felt odd to Finley. Humans were odd. He didn¡¯t know why it was the female of the species that was so up in arms about this cake. There was also some mention of an animal called a beaver and its glands that got muddled in the discussion. It ended up that Bob was going to have to apologize to many people about his looking for the wrong type of beaver for the wrong reason. Finley honestly didn¡¯t know the right reason to look for the wrong kind of beaver, and he was afraid to ask Bob what he had meant by that when the two of them had stormed off the deck. Bob had to explain that he was looking for a particular type of river dwelling rodent to kill some and harvest some of their meat and glands. He couldn¡¯t make some of the spices that he wanted to make without them, and he only knew that because of his extensive work as a chef on earth. But the good news was that the ganache tasted good, and the guard was now looking at them with unfavorable terms rather than immediately dismissing them outright for just being who they were. Finley was happy to start negotiations off at the lowest level, if he really had to. If he could buy the populace with Bob¡¯s cakes? He would do so. It was just weird how Bob kept calling his cakes thick with an emphasis on the ¡®c¡¯. Humans. Of course, they would be weird about the strangest things. 3- Thirty It took Andrew three days to set up the gate. They had to put walls around their compound, which was growing large by the day, at least internally. The outside walls had been set up to a distance that would house a small warehouse. Once everything was on the level, they were going to shift goods from the Academy Warehouse down here to sell. On the fourth day, Valerie asked the chief to accompany them on an expedition. She accepted, which is why Anthony headed back to the promontory. They exited the gate on the outside of the mansion which housed Andrew¡¯s workshop. Instantly, she was on guard. ¡°Why is it so cold here?¡± She said. ¡°We¡¯ve traveled nearly eight hundred span. This is the mild winter of the North,¡± Valerie said. ¡°This is the mild winter?¡± ¡°I¡¯m from a part of the country that is much further north than this. This is mild.¡± Valerie took her down to the side of the promontory where they could see Bob slowly working through another wave of zombies. They hadn¡¯t worked it out that way, but the pile of Dwarven zombie bodies next to the Tower Defense maze was a very specific sight. Normally, they were going to bury the dwarves and turn them into mulch for the Goat Lord. They had held off on that for a day or two and just so they could give an impression of how large of a problem this was going to be. ¡°You really constructed all these earthen walls just to kill these zombies? This is miraculous.¡± ¡°This is the work of a Chosen. They can leverage things to change the tide of battle,¡± Valerie said, eyeing Anthony. They stood there for a bit. The icy winds went past them and the largest lizard folk chief shivered. Her personal guard of four lizard folk looked displeased, and were hiding their discomfort badly. Anthony wanted to lead her down there, but he had let Valerie know it was her show. She was going to be the one to seal the deal. ¡°We can head down if you want to inspect,¡± Valerie said. The chief put a hand on Anthony¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You are one of the Chosen.¡± ¡°I am, yes. This is my task. Whether we have your help, we must reclaim this continent. Without your help, it will just take longer,¡± Anthony said. Her hand lingered there as if she was testing his resolve. She had an iron grip that he was unaccustomed to. ¡°Show me what goes on down there.¡± They took her step by step down the earthen walls through the maze, showing her where bodies of undead doors had just piled up. There were so many bodies that it was going to take days to clear them out. They went after harvesting the useful cards, thanks to their powerful effort. Bob¡¯s summon could only do so much in a day. Once they got down from the high point, it was much easier to see the flow of dwarves coming out. Having worked through all the easy pickings, Bob was now trying to lure out zombies that remained inside of houses. Stella and Sophie were taking turns opening doors on the roads that were directly next to the Eastern Gate. Then once they were open, which they could do about four at a time. They ran back to the gate. If there was a zombie inside of this house is on the first floor or able to get down to their first floor, they would hear the girls running and follow them. If there were no zombies, then the house would be marked. Only once had they opened four doors and had zero zombies come out. Bob called that a miracle. Anthony agreed, based on how much work they were putting in. ¡°So they go house to house?¡± ¡°They go house to house and every time they clear out a house they mark it with chalk. If they don¡¯t know about the second floor, they¡¯ll leave the door open. Once they¡¯ve cleared a house, they chalk out the front door and close it up. We¡¯ve got several hundred houses left to go through.¡± For a while, they just observed the goings on of Bob and the scouts. The fighting had gotten so specific that Bob had a little pop-up tower he had made up with Sophie¡¯s help right outside of the Eastern Gate. The tower itself was about four dwarves high and held multiple rope ladders. If the girls brought back over four zombies, then they would climb back until Bob dispatched them. They were saving their magic when over ten showed up. By this time, most of the easy ones had already been dealt with. They established a three-block radius inside the city, opening every single house and destroying any zombies that were inside. ¡°Allow me,¡± the chief said, pulling out her spear. Sophie and Stella were returning from the gate with ten zombies in tow. She ran to the gate, getting ahead of Anthony and Valerie. Anthony shrugged and broke into a jog. Valerie broke into a cold sweat and sprinted. Anthony waved down a surprised-looking Bob. He gave the hand talk for back off. Bob applied affirmatively, but kept his crossbow at the ready. And Sophie ran past the chief, luring their clutch of dwarf zombies ever closer. As fast as they were running out of the city, the chief ran in the opposite direction, joining the battle.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Her spear flashed red as it struck again and again into the zombies in front of her. Her four guards flanked her on every side, carefully taking a shot now and then when one would evade their Chief¡¯s attack. Anthony stopped behind them where Sophie and Stella had climbed up. Then they all watched as Sophie and Stella quickly killed the zombies. ¡°That was too easy,¡± the chief said. ¡°Bring more.¡± Stella and Stephanie looked at each other, then clicked one fist to their chest and ran back into the City. It took them five minutes to bring back nearly a hundred zombies. Anthony stood next to her as her grin got wider than it had any right to. Slowly, the light of understanding grew upon Anthony. If she was just using them for cheap gains in her combat skills, then that was probably not a partner that they wanted long term. He was going to have to talk to Valerie about this. He would not shy away from conflicts, but he didn¡¯t want to just fight. And if that was all she wanted, then they were going to have a long, hard talk about expectations and expectation management. There were potentially millions of undead dwarves that had to be killed and turned into something that wasn¡¯t a threat. And this is before considering all the elves, orcs and humans. They hadn¡¯t even seen any undead elves or humans yet because they were just trying to get a foothold where they could build up a counter-attack. There were three entire kingdoms where they had done nothing. They had only just passed over the orcish lands. And only just that, though, they skirted the orcish and human kingdoms that bordered the Great River. This would not end soon. This is more like a generational project, like building up a hospital system instead of setting up a clinic somewhere. It would take a lot of money to build one. Anthony didn¡¯t have any money here. All he had was some skills and some friends. But that was all that he needed. If the tribes want to sign up? He would take them. He would take every single person. Lizard or dinosaur that wanted to fight. He didn¡¯t care. He just needed warm bodies or even cold-blooded bodies to take care of this threat. The chief had to be that way with her. The only things that she wore were her spear, a very understated robe of office, and a small pack. By this time he had expected her to quit but she was just going to getting into it. A long time ago the hospital assistant they worked for as a nurse had asked him to talk to somebody else just to sell that they were a charitable organization. His role was to escort them to some charity gala, although they thought that it was important in the long scheme of things that he did he had to dress up and play the dog and pony show for somebody else. He didn¡¯t mind doing that with his family, but when it would have been so much easier to have a functioning healthcare system. But every year, until he was ready to go on his own, he was called up to be that person who showed off what was going on. After all, it wasn¡¯t often that you met a man that was delivering babies unless they were a doctor. He had been a special case for the labor and delivery department. He felt the vibes. After all their hard work in planning the event, would they even consider sharing a table with someone else? Instead of him being the show pony, the fight against the undead was the show. She was here to rack up some kills so she could get back to her friends later. If this is what it took? He would grin and bear it. After all, they still need to kill most of the zombies of this place for Bob to get a special quest done. How would one expect the negotiation is to extend to this kind of fighting? He hadn¡¯t. But if this chief was the key to unlocking them, the other thirteen tribes? He could only hope that it would be this easy. She still hadn¡¯t said yes yet, but by the look on her face as he walked around to heal the four of them from all the scrapes of the zombies we¡¯re giving them, she was it. She was in, and he knew it. She knew he knew it because he saw that bloodlust. A zombie tore off the arm of one of her guards, savagely rending it and then beginning to eat it. They were nearly overrun when Bob fired a crossbow bolt and Stella froze a line of zombies. Anthony rushed over to regrow the lizard folks arm, before leading her away. Sophie took her spot, backed up by Valerie. ¡°Ah! The negotiator has joined us!¡± the chief roared. ¡°This pleases me.¡± Valerie looked like a child again. And Anthony really wanted her to step back. She had been practicing with the spear, but it had been secondary to her learning to lead everybody around her. Just like nobody expected the healer to be deep in combat. Anthony never expected the adjutant to fight in every battle. ¡°I tell you what, young dwarf, you have given me the thrill of a lifetime. We have a deal. But first, I need to see that you can fight these zombies as well.¡± Anthony was afraid of this. He had so many reservations, but it really was Valerie¡¯s fight to win. If anything happened, he could heal her, but he didn¡¯t know it would happen to himself-he didn¡¯t want to see her get hurt. At the same time? He couldn¡¯t stop her. Not only that, he needed her to land this. ¡°You are on,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Scouts? Another wave please,¡± the chief said as she finished the last of the group. Stella and Sophie looked up at the Tower. Bob raised an arm, showing a southern neighborhood. They ran off. The chief looked over at her injured guard. She knelt, examining the regrown arm. ¡°With this healing, many of my people will be saved from a deadly blow. Thank you, Chosen.¡± ¡°It was nothing I wouldn''t for anybody,¡± he said. The muscle bound female lizard looked up to him. ¡°But you did it for my people.¡± He smiled. ¡°And I would do it again.¡± She turned, whooping. ¡°Let us see what you can do, Valerie of the Irumian Kingdom!¡± Valerie tightened her grip on her spear. Anthony came up to her side. ¡°You got this,¡± he said. ¡°I know!¡± Wave after wave of zombies hit them as Sophie and Stella worked further and further into neighborhoods. Before long, it was going to get dark if they kept it up. Valerie was a bloody, sweaty mess. Most of the blood was not hers and most of the sweat was. However, she did not want to call it the end of the day before the chief did. Anthony respected her for that. It was tough to keep on fighting past what you thought was your limit, but she had kept it up. He was proud of her. ¡°Chief, the darkness will be falling very soon,¡± he said. ¡°Your guards looked exceedingly tired. Perhaps we can continue this fight tomorrow?¡± ¡°Hold!¡± Bob said, alerting the whole group. Instantly the tired mess of fighters resumed their stances. ¡°Huh? That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°What is weird? Is weird good or bad?¡± The chief asked, trying to speak to the man on the tower. A glowing card materialized in front of Bob. Anthony gasped. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± The chief said. ¡°Pack it in guys,¡± Anthony said. ¡°The city is clear now.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± the chief said. A bright purple flare went up over the city. That was Bob¡¯s handiwork. He was calling the scouts back. Anthony wasn¡¯t sure about the color, but given the time of day, he was just happy that it glowed. ¡°Card skill. He knows if there are any zombies within a range. If he can¡¯t detect them, then we can¡¯t either,¡± Anthony waved the ranger down. ¡°Bob!¡± Valerie yelled. ¡°No zombies? Is this true?¡± ¡°None. I have to walk through the interior, but this skill-Mork-has never been wrong.¡± They waited for Bob to descend. Behind them, the scouts arrived. ¡°What¡¯s this them?¡± Stella said, running back. ¡°Too dark for the chief?¡± ¡°No,¡± Valerie said. Bob reached the ground. He raised his hands in supplication, as his body glowed, lighting up the twilight. A wave of pure, holy light washed out of him as a wave, enveloping all of them. The ground was as clear as day and a feeling of serenity passed through Anthony. ¡°It¡¯s over,¡± Bob said, embracing Stella. ¡°We got them all.¡± Anthony smiled at first Valerie, then Sophie came in to hug him. It felt amazing. 3- Thirty One Bob, Mork¡¯s night shift worker, examined his new card. Those quests were really coming in handy.
Rare Spell Card: Sanctify L1 Casts Sanctify in an area, the size of which is determined by level. Undead below a certain level cannot enter that area. If cast as a ritual, this can be made permanent.
It was exactly the thing they would need to take ground and reclaim it. Already, he was thinking about ways to make a giant spell circle to cast the spell. Putting it into his deck, he could see the utility. He could feel what it would take to make a large circle. It felt like it was going to be a lot of energy just to make the ritual circle. Then it was going to take more mana than he had available. But if he could make this a threat warding tool? This could change everything. They could actually rest safely without an extensive watch at night. There would have to be tests. Perhaps, Anthony with his divine spell-casting could use this to better effect in the same way that Zan could pick up the gate spell from Sonya. Bob doubted he would get a second card of this type, though Mork had been pretty good with the quests. At least when Bob got to finish them. He was still bitter about Sonya taking the Gate card. Sure, she had actually killed the death knight, but she knew that he had it as one of his quests. There had been no small amount of him wishing that they could fight it out, but Stella had kept it from boiling over into conflict so far. The other person who might benefit this from this was Andrew. He could see the runic script that was going to be used for this spell. In his mind, it was a big circle that rotated through the various letters in this Irumian language. He was definitely going to talk to Stella about it. There was a lull as the twilight receded back into true dark. That was a signal for their team in the back. Up on the promontory, several beacons were lit. Bonfires the size of humans stood tall along the side. ¡°Sonya calls for aid!¡± Bob said, smiling. ¡°Are you ready to return home, Chief?¡± Valerie said. The extra large lizard sniffed the air several times. ¡°There is no honor of killing zombies. There is only the cold, rational need to exterminate them before they kill us. I believe that we may be close to a deal. Let us reconvene tomorrow.¡± It took them about fifteen minutes to walk back up to the promontory. The gate that they used to transport back to Yellow Tail City was the second mansion in. Zan was ready upon their arrival. The asian girl waved Bob over. ¡°Bob? Is this true? The city is clear?¡± ¡°I got a quest reward for it being clear. I think Mork is leaning on the side of things being finished rather than me doing it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s amazing. The locals are going to appreciate it,¡± she said, before turning to Valerie and Anthony. He held up a hand. ¡°Zan, I think that Stella and I are going to stay out here tonight,¡± he said, turning to face both Zan and his girlfriend. ¡°Stella, I didn¡¯t tell you about this yet but this card...¡± She cocked her head. ¡°This could change the war.¡± ¡°Well fuck, tell me more,¡± she said. So he did.
The next morning, Anthony and Valerie were in good spirits. The chief had appreciated their efforts and the two of them were ready to seal the deal as it was with the Yellow Tail tribe. All that was needed was for all parties to agree on the provisional agreement. Once everything was made, then Valerie could bring it back to her people, and the chief could bring it back to the tribe. They already had some inkling that the tribe would agree to what little they were asking for. There wasn¡¯t much for it. They were just reopening diplomatic ties and establishing a mission there so that they can deduct trade. That it was going across the world was immaterial to the merchants and the merchants¡¯ guild. But the merchant¡¯s guild could exist in a large part because they had an agreement with the tribe. It wasn¡¯t an exploitation to provide services, but they benefited from the security of having a tribe of muscular lizard folk. ¡°You¡¯ve drafted our final agreement with the tribe, Valerie. Are we ready to sign on the dotted line?¡± Anthony said. The short walk there was full of street vendors trying to sell them more and more meats. Valerie had to stop them every so often to ask where they were getting this meat from. Invariably, it would be some combination of goats and/or dinosaurs, as those were the only things they could grow or raise. Dinosaurs were treasured for their meat, bones, teeth and claws. ¡°I think you should get one of these nondescript sandwiches. They are the size of your head,¡± Valerie said."You need to work on that ego. Sonya said that you have some swagger when you¡¯re talking about the things you know about."If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°If you want to talk about how to deliver a baby at home, I¡¯m your guy. To talk about world cleaning games and tactical games. Also, your guy. If you want advice on how to make a large lizard folk woman do your bidding, I¡¯m not really the person to ask, but you don¡¯t really have anybody else, so you¡¯re stuck with me.¡± ¡°How about this? If you eat this giant leg of what seems to be a raptor, no wait, not that... If we sign this today, eat one of these raptor legs,¡± Valerie said, pointing to a street vendor that specialized in velociraptor thighs. ¡°I will make that deal because those smell delicious.¡± The stand vendor smiled at both of them, displaying his wares. The group took it in. ¡°You guys are both ridiculous,¡± Sonya said from behind them. ¡°I love you both, but you are both ridiculous. I think we need to talk about whether we want Anthony to have his meat beaten or rubbed.¡± Anthony nearly choked. ¡°Pardon?¡± Anthony said. ¡°I know this one. Mr. Velociraptor legs guy. Do you beat your meat or rub it?¡± Valerie said. ¡°Well, if you want tender meat, then you will want to beat it,¡± the tall lizard folk said. ¡°However, for this? We want to rub the meat in with spices. What we never do is raw dog our meat.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± Anthony said, his voice rising an octave. ¡°You neighbor makes raptor sausages, but those aren¡¯t great for humans. You see, he makes the sausage dogs raw for people that just want to put fresh meat into their mouths.¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t recommend raw dogging?¡± Sonya said, inspecting the merchandise. ¡°I don¡¯t recommend raw dogging for my customers, but I¡¯ll beat their meat or rub it for them. What do you say, stranger? Would you let me put my meat into your mouth?¡± The lizard man was so earnest it disarmed Anthony. ¡°What does it cost?¡± Anthony said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you one of those Chosen? I¡¯ll give it to you for a copper piece,¡± he said. Valerie dug through her pockets, producing some of the local coinage that had been totally given to her from their little trading post. Anthony was going to have to talk to Finley about that. Seeing as how the elf was behind them still trying to haggle for some large vegetables, he could wait. They had learned this time to order it to be delivered to the growing compound. ¡°I take it you have been reading Valerie¡¯s books?¡± Anthony said, gnawing on a leg of velociraptor. ¡°Ah. Tastes like... gator.¡± ¡°Gator?¡± Sonya said. ¡°What tastes like gator?¡± Finley said, butting in. The group pointed to the overly sale-mode lizardfolk. ¡°Why, just the finest meats this side of Sunderland! Step right up and let me put my meats in your mouth!¡± He said. ¡°Pass, respectfully,¡± Finley said. ¡°Also, you need to work on your sales pitch or people might think that you are propositioning them.¡± The brown scaled lizard folk turned burnt umber. ¡°Propositioning? Perish the thought! I¡¯m just selling the way my father sold his meat, exposing it and its great taste to the public and-¡° ¡°And I think we¡¯re done here,¡± Anthony said, walking away. --- Tumble and Fen were nervous. Mother has asked both of them to sit with her while she finished the last set of negotiations with the humans. The scary humans that had been a nightmare through both of their dreams daily since their arrival with their soft pink skin and hair- it was offensive on a base level. Mother had employed both of them to be strong and not think about the humans as possible monsters. Just because they didn¡¯t grow up with Soul cards from birth didn¡¯t mean that they were terrible. They were also enlightened, and so could be reasoned with. It wasn¡¯t like the terrible lizards where one had to just kill them for the tribe. There were only a few terrible lizards that were ever domesticated, but those posed no threat to them. The humans had been thoroughly embarrassed. Their mother needed to save face. They needed to be shown to be saving face. The tribe could not have two of its sons be so dishonored. It didn¡¯t matter what they were doing when they had been caught and turned away by the scary humans. All that mattered was that they stop haunting the brothers'' dreams. After all, after you get so far underneath their scales that they would even consider asking their mother for help, it must be serious. It had to be. Mother had listened to them.
¡°Good morning Chief. On this wonderful day. Let me just say that the fine vendors of your tribe make the best meat that my commander Anthony here could ever possibly eat. Why he is stuffing his face with that meat right now as we speak?¡± Valerie said. ¡°Good day to you. He looks happy with a mouth full of meat,¡± the chief said. Anthony continued eating the velociraptor leg, a comically oversized cone of meat that really was the size of his forearm. He was taking his time, savoring every single bite because if they were going to toss innuendos at him, he was going to dodge. And if the innuendos became a delicious snack for him? All the better. ¡°This really is great,¡± He mused aloud, the tangy spices hitting the roof or his mouth as the flesh melted onto his tongue. ¡°Ahem. As I was saying, I¡¯ve had an initial agreement drawn up for our two nations to come together. It covers all the points that we talked before about our status here and our agreement. It also goes into the use of military force and governs how we can ferry and send our troops here. We understand we will not be putting our military here for very long, but while they are here, we want them to shop in the local economy. We also want to freely trade with you guys. Both you as a tribe and the merchants'' guild.¡± She held out a scroll of paper as if it was a baby, clutched close to her chest. She waited for the chief to extend into her high end. She passed it over to the red and yellow scaled woman. ¡°This is well and good,¡± the chief said after quickly reviewing it. ¡°I will have my scribes read it as well.¡± Finley produced three more scrolls, each an identical copy of a previous one. Because of a skill from one card that Finley had, it was easy for him to reproduce works. The verbiage was easy enough for Finley to write individually, then copy. Rather than taking five people a half an hour to do with the entire the of the transcribing, it took him about an hour. The time was spend going through each of the items and confirming that all were correct. Anthony was loving the effect that the card powers could have when they were used for good. ¡°While they are reading this, I must talk about something else that¡¯s on my mind before I can sign. It concerns two things that are near and dear to my heart.¡± With that, the chief turned and two Yellow Tail lizards stood up. Neither one wore the anything remotely distinct. dIn fact, they looked like they were off duty sailors wearing only pants. Neither one was female. ¡°Who is this?¡± Anthony said. ¡°These two are my sons, Tumble and Fen. There was an altercation between my two sons and the crew of what is the name of your ship?¡± ¡°The Queen¡¯s Con, chief,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Well apparently, someone on your ship has scared my two sons so badly that they are experiencing nightmares daily. And I need you to answer for that. Before I can sign anything. This needs to be resolved. I understand that this was before we had met and before you had a chance to meet me because I was on hunt. I apologize for that. It is my duty to quell the larger monsters that attack our tribe and keep this place safe. I was not here to rein in my son¡¯s. However, I must ask that we resolve this.¡± Valerie looked speechless. Anthony could do with some damage control. ¡°We understand that this is a personal and family matter. I have already spoken to my subordinate. Going forward she will not permit such activities. It is my understanding that they were going to raid our ship and try to steal whatever they could. Had that not been the case, this probably would not have happened and we would not be talking here. I apologize in my half of Stella who assumed the guise of the undertaker.¡± ¡°Pardon me, but what did you just say? They were trying to raid your ship?¡± ¡°Yes, chief, it is our understanding that the two of them were trying to pick apart an easy target and steal something valuable. Though they swam to our boat, they both had large nets. It is to our understanding that both of them can breathe underwater temporarily or permanently.¡± ¡°I can see why we have a problem,¡± she said. ¡°Boys, I¡¯m going to need to see you both in the back right now.¡± 3- Thirty Two An urgent message arrived that afternoon. The legion had been found. ¡°This is a message from the Yellow Tail runner himself,¡± Valerie said from the compound that Anthony had just got under control. ¡°That could be good, right?¡± Anthony said. ¡°He has not spotted them except for a few outliers that were convalescing. Coincidentally, they are only about two hundred leagues away,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Are you ready to try this out? This idea of flying the airship to where they are and then having them transfer here under the diplomatic protection of the tribe?¡± He thought they were going to want to go straight to Gloucester. That¡¯s what he would have wanted to do. But it was between Valerie and the commander of the legion. She, unfortunately, didn¡¯t know who that person was yet. There was a strong tradition of people in the legion leaving a region of the Kingdom, changing their name and then joining. Then they would stay their entire career there, moving through the ranks. Every so often, the legion would return home and trade in some fresh middle management before heading back out for another quest to benefit the kingdom. ¡°I think, looking around at this place now that we¡¯ve had maps put up and desks and doors and finally a roof that we are ready to have this place set up for good. And now that everyone knows they can get a special teleportation service, we can ask the Yellow Tail tribe if they want to teleport to meet their cousins?¡± ¡°They call each other brother and sister. I assume you¡¯re going to need myself, you and Brianna or Finley?¡± Valerie said, straightening up the map that was on the wall. This one showed the Sunderland coast, which was hundreds or thousands of span long. It was just through sheer luck and coincidence that they had landed at the one that was south of the orcish meritocracy. Anthony looked around the main chamber of their diplomatic mission. The once tough interior had given way to a very manufactured place. Wooden planks had replaced the sand floor that was common for buildings in the city. They had a desk and a filing system. They even had paper for once. Finley had started actually going through and making an inventory on paper, which was the most remarkable thing, as he had only been doing that in his head before. ¡°If we do this, then we¡¯re going to be splitting the Caravan into three spaces. I know we discussed this before, but now that Bob can sanctify parts of the promontory I think that he¡¯s going to want to do that. He¡¯s going to be setting up for legion arriving.¡± ¡°Does that mean that you¡¯re going to be coming with me?¡± Valerie said. ¡°Two hundred leagues is what, a few days? Three to four days of travel? They ran out and returned?¡± ¡°Those city runners are quick. Though they didn¡¯t wait around for a response from the legion.¡± ¡°I really wish I had a bunch of monk class levels,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Then I might run there myself.¡± Valerie disapproved, letting him know with the pot she had painted all over her face. ¡°Or I can send someone else?¡± He said. ¡°Two lizard folk have approached us about joining up.¡± Anthony was stunned. He had expected no one to come out to join the outfit, but maybe their sales pitch was getting better. The offer of cake was tempting. ¡°I guess you¡¯re ready to implement the tiered membership thing now, then?¡± ¡°Yes. Everyone that¡¯s already been on board is trusted. Everyone new that comes in will be initiated until several trusted can vouch for that person. It¡¯s all part of the charter that Sonya and I made. Did you read the thing that you signed?¡± ¡°You know that I never read things I sign. It¡¯s actually one of my big character flaws as a person,¡± He said, scrambling to find the charter inside of Finley¡¯s desk. ¡°You really need to read things, Commander,¡± she said. Anthony spread the charter out in front of them. ¡°I really need to read things before I sign them,¡± he muttered. ¡°I got rights to your first-born child here in clause thirteen,¡± Valerie said. ¡°First born? I have two sons back on Earth. They are most definitely not here,¡± Anthony said. ¡°I can give that away.¡± ¡°Wait, I didn¡¯t know that. I mean I did, but uhhh. I think we need to update the charter,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe you need to read things before you sign them,¡± he said. Sonya showed up at the door with Gigi. The head of the Gloucester branch division was in dwarven form. ¡°Anthony! Lunch date?¡± She yelled. ¡°Sounds good! Where are we going?¡± He said. ¡°There¡¯s a lizard man that wants to put his meat into your mouth,¡± Sonya said, giggling. ¡°Right. Gigi, have you ever eaten velociraptor?¡± He said. ¡°Because this is the type of meat that you are going to want to eat regularly.¡±
¡°You want us to show up for training?¡± Tumble and Fen said. ¡°They have a card that can keep you feeling warm. They are going to just let you have it. It¡¯s an uncommon card that helps you with wind and air affinity. You will pay your penance.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. When mother spoke, her sons listened. When she promised them riches beyond their wildest dreams and a chance to help the clan, the brothers listened. Then she revealed the truth about the undead, leaving the brothers shocked and horrified. However, when she told them to go get jobs working for the humans, that was a bridge too far. Then she made it worth their while. --- ¡°Air bending cards?¡± Finley said. ¡°Yeah, I can make two for both of you if we don¡¯t have any in stock. They are level one. You are going to have to work on them with the division. Brianna, Juan, and Iggy are the front-line fighters and they will work with you.¡± He found two of the cards in question. Expecting that they would come in handy, he had devoted all of his rare pieces to the endeavor. ¡°Thanks,¡± Tumble said, putting it into her soul deck. ¡°Oh wow. This power is incredible.¡± He was going to have to find more pieces at this rate. They had killed little zombies since they had arrived. They were going to have to increase production in time. He had no other option than to get many rare shards and kill many monsters quickly. They hadn¡¯t killed a lot of monsters recently and they were feeling the pinch. He was going to have to send a note to Anthony or Bob that it was time for them to move up their expeditions. Although Anthony was planning on taking a trip to see two other tribes, this was going to have to be one of the top things that they discussed. They were going to split the Caravan three ways. Finley was not ready for that, but he was going to be doing his part to set up the entire back end. War was expensive, after all. Already he had several new people through the paces with the veterans of the group. Soon, the word would get out, and they would have enough for a dedicated training class. Then perhaps a class of mage trainees and martial trainers. Tumble and Fen were done with the minimal paperwork, so they spent some time going over basic airbending techniques and then working with a spear. Finley explained the footwork as he worked through a basic air movement technique. Then they jumped into the surf to cool down several times. ¡°This one is the evolution of our base form,¡± Brianna said, dropping into a low horse stance, then moving to either side. She moved the spear into an attack pattern and then quickly pierced two nearby targets. Of course, as they were on the beach, the targets were worn coconut shell halves on a line. No one had taken them seriously as targets initially. Two hours later, as the scorching sun beat down, they all took a dip in the ocean. It was then that Brianna showed off the technique. She only corrected Finley three times. Finley appreciated her candor. He was keeping up with Fen and Tumble, but only just. Their upbringing as hunters made it easy for Fen and Tumble to take on their forms. She had to correct far less once they got a feel for it. Finley had never been happier to have the blessed protection of the Chosen thrust upon him. He would not have made it otherwise. Still, it would have been far easier for him to work on selling more stuff and making sure the inventory looked good. He wasn¡¯t selling everything, just some things, but every new card shop brought interested parties.
In the caravan''s subbasement¡¯s command center, there was a small room that had stored wine. They cleared out the wine room because they could sell the wine. Several choice casks remained with markers on it of great significance. There were 12 marked, one for each of the tribes. Those were the ones that Valerie had hand picked for when they had completed each treaty. There were four for the death knights and dealing with the calamity. Then there was one marked ¡®retirement¡¯. That was the one that she wanted to open today. Unfortunately, it was far too soon. Kara had other ideas. ¡°Everything is in order, then?¡± Kara said. ¡°I¡¯m flying with the ship,¡± Sonya said. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose that helping create a new method of travel would get me any brownie points then? Air is technically over land.¡± ¡°I suppose I could add that as something that my followers could worship me for.¡± The goddess looked to the world like she was ready to skip another class at her prestigious high school. ¡°Well, if we can¡¯t have that, I¡¯m open to other deals. Once again, we could do a quick exchange of power so that I can take down one of the death knights or something like that. None of them are nearby. I hope. If I could figure out how to deal with this flesh weaver, then things will be a lot easier. We are terrified of being attacked by dragons.¡± ¡°Those constructs probably deserve to be called dragons. It is only through this misuse of magic that this may survive.¡± For as long as they¡¯ve been talking, Kara had been very particular about what words she used when she referred to the calamity. Perhaps, she knew more than she was letting on. So when you really wanted to press her for that, but as the person who was her magical sugar mama, that was probably not going to be good. It could stir up too much drama. ¡°I can tell that you want me to say a little more about that, don¡¯t you?¡± the goddess said. So she kept her face blank and neutral. This was the way to get more out of the Goddess; keep her talking. Sonya had been training her entire life to keep people talking. Now she was having to employ these skills to butter up a mystical being of unimaginable power, who might to drop hints about things that she could use to shortcut her problems. Sonya leaned in. ¡°Your humble servant, be grateful for anything you could tell me about the cause of the calamity. And especially anything we can do to keep the flesh weaver and his dragons from attacking us in the night.¡± The goddess posed there as if waiting for the paparazzi. As she posed, it really looked like she was trying to get ready to ask Sonya for some of her lunch money. She didn¡¯t have money. All she really had was the furniture she came along with and the scrubs that she had stolen from her boyfriend. Everything else kind of belonged to the Caravan. Everything else, except for her time and her expertise. ¡°I¡¯m going to say this as neutrally as possible. The entity that created this calamity... Let¡¯s just say that they have had a lot of, shall we say, personal problems?¡± Sonya was stunned. This was not how she thought things were going to go. She was hoping for some insight into the magic behind the calamity that had actually done a zombie apocalypse. ¡°If I told you one of our guesses, could you confirm or deny it? I understand that we have a relationship where you give me stuff and I do your bidding. Sometimes. We suspect that the initial wave of this attack did not take down anyone with an epic card or better.¡± Kara¡¯s face was strictly neutral. It gave exactly nothing away. But she opened up her notebook and scribbled down some notes. Sonya hoped that was a good thing. ¡°You may know more than you¡¯re letting on to.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Now, as to the other matter. I want you to put in motion the idea that Finley has had about this air shipping empire. It would make me pleased. I understand that you have an important role now in the Caravan with your specific gate card.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be difficult for me to do that personally, but I can ensure that it happens. I need to talk about this deal because I cannot do everything myself. I physically cannot. Because of my role. And I understand you want me to do that.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be you. But I would like to see it set into motion. And if the Goat Lord doesn¡¯t make him do it, Finley¡¯s going to take forever to start this happening. The faster happens the better. In fact, what I¡¯m going to do for you is I¡¯m going to give you an offer that you can¡¯t refuse.¡± Sonya perked up at this comment. ¡°An offer I can¡¯t refuse? Go ahead.¡± ¡°I need you to get three boats prepped to become airships. You do that and I¡¯ll get you an epic level card that will help you immensely. This is my promise. Boat. Harness. Canvas. Three of each. They''ll be so pretty. I would appreciate it if you named one of those after me, perhaps the third one.¡± ¡°If I get to them early enough, we can have them all named after you. But I think they might think of other names before that. Now, I would like to open up an inquiry about tapping into some of your considerable divine power.¡± 3- Thirty Three Anthony and Bob milled about as the horses moved through the opening. Having a mobile portal meant they were never going to be that far from each other. Physically, they would be separate, but whenever Sonya or Zan used the gate, they would connect one of their four iron gates. Absent the gate at the academy, there would now always be people nearby one of them. ¡°So, at noon everyday we¡¯re going to send a few people over here for shift change. Then you guys are going to send people over to the compound?¡± Anthony said, ¡°I¡¯m going to have a team ready to go when the Sun is high. There¡¯s not much to do here, so really I¡¯m just going to be having the local talent sort through the city. Did you know that there¡¯s like 5,000 houses there?¡± ¡°That seems about right, given the size of the city.¡± ¡°There are only about 200 boats, so Gigi and her team are going to go through and catalog them all. We¡¯re going to see how many are worthy. Not every single one is going to be good for us. I¡¯m happy you gave us Sophie, though,¡± Bob said. Far below them, Sophie was digging a canal, moving it with Earth Magic. ¡°If Gigi says we need this canal for what Andrew is planning that I will not argue with either of them.¡± ¡°Are you ready for the big push?¡± Bob said, flexing his muscles. ¡°Ready,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Ready!¡± Valerie said from the inside of the gate, tossing them both a large, thick rope. ¡°We¡¯re not pushing rope here, right?¡± Anthony said. ¡°Definitely not,¡± Bob said, pulling the rope like he was an extra at a bellhop convention. Both men slung a cord of thick rope over their shoulders. Both men leaned forward in a sprinter''s position, as if it was going to actually help. ¡°Disengage the brake!¡± Bob yelled through the gate. A loud audible thump clicked. Both men fell flat on their faces. Just as quickly as possible, they got back up as one of the Tinker wagons rolled through the gate. This wagon was one of the first things that they had salvaged on their trip and it had become more than a memento of their trip. On the side, members of the Caravan had scrawled about their historical deeds, slaying zombies and taking names. Now it was going to take up its spot as the beacon for their efforts. Wherever this Tinker wagon was, that would be the main effort for the Caravan. Bob began pulling ahead of Anthony. The line got more slack, and Anthony redoubled his efforts. ¡°You know, there¡¯s something poetic about this. We¡¯re reclaiming this land for the first time. We spent so much time ceding the land to the zombies and now?¡± Bob said. ¡°We could be less metaphorical and more physically present to pull this rope?¡± Anthony said, picking up his slack. The actual work was easier than any kind of math that Anthony was ever presented with. It was just that every single muscle appeared to need to be strained to let them pull the cart through. Finley had wondered if his storage power could increase the weight of a thing that he was using. In that moment, Anthony was absolutely sure that this cart weighed more than it possibly could because of the magically increased storage capacity. It was really good to get out of the airship though because the smell was getting a bit much. Without the horses? He could finally deal with the smell. He eagerly anticipated a shift where the air wouldn¡¯t be filled with the smell of horse dung and goat all day. Some goats were coming, but they were not majority. In fact, how about half of the Chosen were heading east with them when they left. ¡°You know what? I¡¯m really sad that we didn¡¯t leave this here when we left initially. But I¡¯m glad it¡¯s back,¡± Bob said. ¡°It¡¯s going to be the new meeting spot every morning when everyone from the promontory gets together.¡± ¡°You going to put shift change at the Tinker wagon? That sounds like a plan.¡± They pulled the wagon entirely through and it was on the other side in the promontory. Valerie called for a halt and set the parking brake. ¡°Ready to take the other one through?¡± She said. ¡°Let¡¯s do it,¡± Bob said, setting down the rope. He then disconnected it, preparing to walk through the gate. In a flash, they were back inside the deck of the Queen¡¯s Con. Valerie was there, adjusting the another brake, this one belonging to Finley¡¯s wagon. ¡°Anybody else for the promontory?¡± Sonya yelled. ¡°All right. Closing it up! Next spot is the compound! Just to move Finley''s wagon. Stand clear again!¡± Sonya stepped back and gave Anthony a peck on the cheek. ¡°These things are heavy,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re a big man. You can handle it,¡± she said, casting the spell. Well, once they could see out over the promontory into where the wagon had been placed, now they could see the inside of the compound that was now a buzz of activity.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Prepare for the Tinker wagon!¡± Anthony yelled, checking that I had to clear out the spot inside. There was enough of a wooden surface underneath the compound to support the Tinker wagon. Bob returned from the ship, going through the portal with their two large ropes. Friendly waves to Bob as he went through. They pulled Finley¡¯s wagon through tug-of-war style. ¡°Mind the carpet!¡± Finley said, as the giant wooden wheels hit the dirt. ¡°I can¡¯t see how we could?¡± Bob said. ¡°Where did you even get this carpet from?¡± The impressive animal skin rug appeared to be a shaggy beast that just donated way more than it had ever needed. ¡°You ever heard of a wooly-¡± Finley said, before dodging the two insistent men. ¡°-right there.¡± Anthony heaved his last big pull. After this, they would have to use the storage inherent in the airship, like peasants. He much preferred the bespoke wagon to store his things, but he would take an airship cabin. ¡°What the heck is this thing?¡± Bob said, testing out the shag on the carpet. ¡°It¡¯s an ambush predator. They call it a wooly blanket,¡± Finley said. ¡°The guy gave me a deal, since he knew a guy who raises them. They are sought after for their comfort, the same thing that makes them the perfect parasite in the jungle.¡± Anthony immediately stepped off of it to a corner. The single large room had desks, a large iron portal gate and now a large wagon in the center. It was more a museum than a gift shop. On a way, it was a museum of their journeys so far. Finley would have to move the wall to even get the wagon out of the compound. ¡°Oh, hey Anthony! In honor of your trip, I had the meat vendor that we love deliver a special package!¡± Finley said. ¡°Anthony got a special package from the meat man?¡± Bob said. ¡°And I got nothing?¡± ¡°He said that it was a special package for a special man?¡± Valerie said. ¡°And something about how I was so happy to deliver his special package so he can put his meat in a special man¡¯s mouth?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way that he actually said that. There¡¯s just no way.¡± Finley picked up a package and waved it at him. ¡°He even did us a great job of wrapping up his package before delivering his load,¡± Finley said. Bob snorted. Anthony wasn¡¯t that amused, but he would play along. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that I have a special delivery man that delivered me a package of meat that he wrapped for my pleasure? I suppose there¡¯s some creamy goodness that he left as well?¡± Anthony said. ¡°We don¡¯t mix sweet and savory in this outfit,¡± Bob said. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want cream getting on our nuts.¡± Anthony blinked several times. Of course, they were going to milk this for as long as they could. He knew that there weren¡¯t enough chances to have a good laugh until recently. ¡°All right, guys. I¡¯ll take the velociraptor meat. We¡¯ll going to see most of you soon, but for the rest of you? I think I¡¯m going to walk back to the boat.¡± Anthony says goodbyes before doing the walk of shame. Anthony devoured the meat of dubious origin. ¡°Huh. I guess meat is back on the menu.¡±
When Anthony and Valerie arrived at the Peace Turtle Tribes¡¯ holdings, the changes surprised them. Between them and the Yellow Tail, the Peace Turtles look to be way more prolific and mercantile. Each had an armored carapace, but they were clearly the same species as the previous tribe. Valerie had advised him to go straight to the encampment that showed the promise of speaking to the Dwarven legion. Once they had that in hand, the other tribes would be much easier to talk to. The legion, numbering at least one to two thousand, was going to be the bulk of their problem if they signed on board. With Valerie as acting as the queen, assuming no other person in the legion asked for the honor and it was of Royal lineage, they should fall under her. That she already had thirty loyal followers at Gloucester, and was leading the rebuilding efforts as they reclaiming more and more land, meant that she had a claim to the throne that could only be greater by adding the legion to the ranks. ¡°Hey, I know you¡¯re still the same person who we met only recently, and this is difficult, but are you ready to be the head of a nation?¡± Anthony said. ¡°I guess?¡± ¡°On Earth we have this old language that we refer to all the time called Latin. We have these things called ''de facto'' and ''de jure''. The fact is, it was what you are right now. The queen, in fact. De jure, that is like by law. We just need to square the law with the facts.¡± ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that I am the queen, in fact, but not by law,¡± Valerie said. ¡°And I don¡¯t even have time to become a princess for a while?¡± ¡°You can be a princess for the rest of the trip!¡± Sonya said from the breakfast book of the cabin. ¡°Don¡¯t let anybody say you can¡¯t be a princess because you are. We can all be princesses.¡± ¡°Once again, I¡¯m not setting a fake harem just because you want me to pretend that I am some sort of royal consort,¡± Anthony said. ¡°If I have to marry someone to secure a trade deal, we cross that bridge when we come to it, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s going to be a lot of humans interested in a late thirties male midwife who got summoned to their planet to quell a zombie outbreak.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you in your mid-forties?¡± Sonya said. ¡°I have spoken,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Wait, how old are you really?¡± Valerie said. ¡°You don¡¯t look that old.¡± She looked straight at him, sizing him up. He took that moment to burp into her face. ¡°Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s rude to ask a male consort his age?¡± Anthony said. ¡°My apologies, your grace,¡± Valerie said with a curtsy. ¡°Your grace, the small folk are restless,¡± Gigi said from the open cabin door, imitating the tone that Valerie had just made. ¡°How you doing in your druid training right now?¡± Anthony said, moving to the door to bump fists with Gigi. ¡°We are almost all day with the wild shape. Getting our chewed glasses to level three or two sometimes has really helped. Now we can basically be a dwarf all day except for when we go to sleep,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s excellent. Praise the Goat Lord,¡± Anthony said. ¡°In that case, are you ready to drop and do some street negotiation?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard that the street major is excellent,¡± Gigi said, putting a lock of hair behind one ear. ¡°So you should be satisfied.¡± Anthony turned into his girlfriend and adjutant and gave them the look that he gave his sons whenever they did something wrong. ¡°I¡¯m not mad,¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯m just disappointed. She was such a nice dwarf top before you corrupted her.¡± ¡°Hey Anthony?¡± Gigi said. ¡°Do you remember how I told you? I worked at a bar next to the quiet sea?¡± ¡°Yeah, I remember,¡± he said, straightening up. She walked over to him, then beckoned for him to lean over so she could talk into his ear. For the next two minutes, she dumped expletive after expletive into his sorry ear. Anthony¡¯s face went from red to amused to frightened in short order as she got lower and lower. He knew she had a low brow sense of humor in tune with what Stella was giving off, but he didn¡¯t really know the depths of it. She kept talking, even as Valerie and Sonya tried to edge in to hear what she was saying. He waved them both off twice. She stepped back, finally giving him room to breathe. ¡°... and so that¡¯s why I don¡¯t think you want to mess with me,¡± she said. ¡°That is noted,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Please never be on the opposite side of me in any argument or fight because I don¡¯t think that I could win that. You are clearly a superior orator and I feel you must understand that I am not looking for a marriage, but I have been told that if needed, I will be a royal consort for whoever needs to be married.¡± ¡°Strictly speaking, that won¡¯t be necessary,¡± Gigi said. ¡°However, I understand there¡¯s going to be a lot of single male dwarves in the legion, and I need you to scope some out for me. So as penance for dragging me into this ridiculousness that the two of your close female friends have brought upon me, I¡¯m going to need your help.¡± ¡°Whatever you need,¡± he said, still by the door. ¡°Awesome sauce,¡± Gigi said. ¡°Now Valerie said that there were some dwarves at an infirmary down here? I think that they¡¯re going to be getting a visit from not only their princess but also the new duchess of Gloucester.¡± Valerie squealed. ¡°You¡¯re accepting the position? I¡¯m so happy.¡± The two dwarves danced around, jumping and holding hands. And Anthony stepped back to the breakfast nook and accepted a mug of tea. ¡°Did I miss something here?¡± He said. ¡°Oh yes, the princess has decided that she¡¯s going to establish a duchy in the heart of Gloucester. And what does every duchy need? Besides land?¡± Sonya said. ¡°A duchess?¡± ¡°A duchess.¡± 3- Thirty Four ¡°We really need to make some gliders,¡± Anthony said. ¡°So we don¡¯t have to wait until they park the ship.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you pick a water bending card?¡± Sonya said. ¡°Plus, we can always gate down there.¡± Anthony didn¡¯t want to leave the ship, if would be undefended. Of course, there were several people on it, including Gigi and Stella, the head of security. The ship would be secure. He just didn¡¯t want to fall. As the ground got closer and closer, he felt a lot more balanced. He could deal with battles. He needed to speak to the legion commander.
Cedric Alexander, commander of the seventy-sixth legion, was not having a good day. There were reports of a messenger directly from some sort of noble or princess that had crossed the Southern Ocean to Sunderland. He hadn¡¯t received a full report yet, but the word on the street wasn¡¯t good. And then earlier that day, there was an interesting flying ship that just took up residence above the town. It was his time to return to the Peace Turtle tribal lands, to check in with his wounded veterans and see about his requisition requests. He hated leaving his legion out in the jungle, but his sub-commanders had become faithful and very well trained in how he needed them to be while they were here. He might begin wrapping up the campaign and moving on to another area if there was a request. There was never an additional request. But he still had to figure out a way to raise money to fund their ongoing efforts. Cedric was happy that the hospital that they had sent up on the southern border of the Peace Turtle lands had become a hub for trade. It had been a constant problem for the legion to interface with the public of a foreign nation, then get permits to do things they wanted to do. They weren¡¯t mercenaries. Under the Irumian Kingdom¡¯s flag, they operated. They just every so often went back home. If there was a partner to the kingdom that needed some help to quell a monster uprising, then that was where they would go. Arriving at the front of the tent, two of his legionnaires saluted him. He returned the salute, a stiff motion placing one fist over his chest. Inside the tent, about three dozen dwarves sat there in various states of unrest. A third of their number attended to them and their needs. ¡°Where is nurse Ameliah?¡± He said, scanning the workers. ¡°Right here, commander,¡± the voice said. A blonde-haired dwarf with long braids washed an apron off next to him. A large basin of water was reddish brown with the color of dwarven blood. ¡°Ah. Please clean up and then, if you would, your report?¡± She smiled, continuing to scrub. ¡°Commander,¡± she said. ¡°We will have three dwarves returned to duty by the end of the day and another dozen by the end of the week. The rest remain. Have you heard the news?¡± ¡°No. Please apprise me of the news. Have the turtles decided that our lucrative lease is up?¡± He said, admiring her quick work. She changed her apron, which made her look fresh. The dried blood underneath her fingernails gave him pause. He wasn¡¯t a dwarf to shy away from a fight, but he didn¡¯t have the stomach at the moment. ¡°We are expecting a Chosen to visit us soon,¡± she said. Cedric blinked several times. ¡°One of the Chosen? Here?¡± he asked. He had seen the weird floating ship. ¡°The messenger from the Yellow Tail tribe was very clear about this point,¡± Ameliah said. ¡°They met with their chief and received a message, but unfortunately I didn¡¯t hear it directly.¡± Cedric cursed. Everyone had heard something, but no one knew who had heard it first. The rumor mill was churning out facts and figures that he wasn¡¯t able to support. It was getting ridiculous. He had half of mind to walk down to the center city where the airship had been parked and go get them a piece of his mind, but that had nothing to do with his duties. He did not go to the Chosen. The Chosen would come to him if they wanted to talk. And his youth, one of his mentors, had told about chosen coming in to help and the dire situation that had led to it. Chosen might be powerful, but they were still people. ¡°Sir, did you want to talk to them?¡± Ameliah said. ¡°Of course,¡± he said, following her lead. He spent the next hour going through and talking to every wounded dwarf in the field hospital. Despite the situation, they were all in a good mood. The high morale pleased him. When he was done, he felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the rest of the day. Ameliah led him outside. ¡°Are you heading over to supply next?¡± She said. ¡°Unless those Chosen decide that they¡¯re going to come down here from their line contraption soon. If they are the Chosen,¡± he said. ¡°Sir,¡± the dwarf on guard, probably Standish, said. ¡°Standish?¡± He asked.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Sir, they fly the Irumian flag. My soul card enhances my vision,¡± Standish said. For as pleased as Cedric was that he could name the soldier on duty, now he was concerned. ¡°Send a representative,¡± he said. ¡°They will look for whoever is in charge.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Standish said, running to the rear detachment command tent. Cedric was going to have to follow along at some point and check in on that sub commander, but he felt no urgency. They would come.
Anthony and his small crew of six had gotten directions from one of the Peace Turtle guards. With a promise to not break the peace of the tribe, they could drop an anchor near the business district. ¡°I¡¯m really grateful to Finley for getting us that long rope ladder,¡± Sonya said. ¡°It¡¯s really coming in handy. I¡¯m also glad that you gave me some pants so that I can traverse down the rope ladder with ease and no one can look up my skirt.¡± ¡°Whatever you need, dear, that¡¯s what I¡¯m here for,¡± he said. The tropical climate was one that made him still wear as little as possible. She was wearing his scrubs, which he had long slimmed down too much to use. His lean figure was because of months on the road and hard fighting. Though he hardly ever walked anywhere, it wasn¡¯t like there was a bodega on every corner for him to shop at and get snacks. In fact, every meal was a deliberate thing that had to be done. Just another task that he could give down to somebody else to take care of on his behalf. The road was empty. As they walked up to where the guards were telling them to meet with the dwarves, they kept passing by more and more ornate buildings. ¡°What is going on with all these buildings? It¡¯s like they were all mined from the same vein of marble?¡± Sonya said. ¡°Maybe they all shop at the same place?¡± Anthony said. ¡°For sure,¡± she said. ¡°Lizard Depot?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± They passed by hundreds of lizard folk just doing their thing. Mostly, it was walking around and talking. Every single lizard folk that they saw was talking to somebody else, either in pairs of two or more. Walking by themselves unless they were walking with an extreme purpose that radiated in their actions. They continued southward up a small hill where the marble gave way to an open plain and a sandy expanse between the city and the southern jungle. There, Anthony could see actual dwarves doing actual dwarf shit. Mostly standing around and drinking beer, though a few were on duty. He turned to see Valerie and Gigi, arm in arm, both crying profusely. ¡°Valerie, are you ready?¡± Sonya said. ¡°I guess,¡± she said, her face snotting up. ¡°I never thought I would see this day.¡± ¡°Anthony, let¡¯s let them have a moment,¡± Sonya whispered. She motioned to the monks that were pulling a security detail and they stepped out, giving the dwarves a perimeter. It was the least that they could do. Sonya led him to the side closest to the drinking dwarves. One let out a belch before wiping his mouth. They had built up a small tavern out of palm tree wood. It had to have been some sort of project of love. Somehow there were day drunk dwarves dilly dallying around mid day. They were singing something, and Anthony itched to join them. ¡°Humans?¡± one yelled. ¡°What are humans doing here?¡± ¡°Leeroy, didn¡¯t you know that they¡¯re sending their best here to buy up our legion contracts? We¡¯re going to be rich!¡± The second one said, slurring regularly. ¡°And then we can retire, right?¡± Leeroy yelled. ¡°You keep saying that, but we¡¯ll see. Hey human! Are you here to buy us out?¡± Anthony chuckled. ¡°Not particularly!¡± He said. ¡°We have other things for you to do.¡± ¡°See! They¡¯re not here to retire us, so stuff it!¡± Leeroy said. ¡°Oy! What are you humans here to do, then? You want some of this thick dwarven muscle?¡± the second one said. ¡°Am I being cat called by drunken dwarves?¡± Anthony said. ¡°I love my job.¡± ¡°Oh, stop it,¡± Sonya said, squeezing his arm closer. ¡°They are too short for you and probably too male. You wouldn¡¯t know what to do with one of them, anyway. Though their beards are nice.¡± Anthony pulled on his own beard, inspecting it. True, he was smaller than the dwarves, but he would not get beard envy. He was secure in his masculinity. Then he looked, and he saw both doors were missing at least part of one of their legs. He really wanted to ask about what was going on there, but he did not know what to ask and he didn¡¯t know them really well. He went the distance, trying to see if he could get something out of them. And that was when he saw what had to be someone in charge. This dwarf was wearing full plate armor with very well polished silver. As he walks, he had a following of at least two guards and one person wearing an apron with blood caked all over it. More importantly, he was making a beeline towards Anthony, Sonya and the rest of the group that he walked in with. Anthony turned to face the man, his red hair a fresh sight among the usual brown and black-haired people that he had encountered in this world. The man stood for the dwarf four paces. In between them. They locked eyes. Both men stood tall. He stood and raised a fist to his chest in how Valerie had instructed him. The dwarf returned this alone. ¡°I am Commander Cedric Alexander, leader of the Seventy-Sixth Legion. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?¡± Suddenly, Valerie and Gigi flanked him. Valerie held a salute. ¡°I am Commander Anthony Hernandez, Chosen and commander of the Queen¡¯s guard. This is my adjutant, Princess Valerie Lightfoot, and duchess Gigi of Gloucester,¡± he said, showing one, then the other. ¡°We have come here with grave news that we must talk to you about, regarding the state of the Kingdom.¡± Cedric stood there, standing at attention. ¡°Your graces,¡± he said, addressing both with a bow. ¡°Please be at ease,¡± Valerie said. ¡°We have a difficult thing to tell you, and it might be best if you gather some of your senior leaders before we do so.¡± ¡°I would ask the Chosen to tell it, your grace,¡± he said. ¡°Which Chosen?¡± Valerie said. ¡°Which...?¡± Four people turned to look at him and salute. Anthony, Sonya and Brandon and the monks all stood at attention. ¡°Five chosen?¡± He said.
Cedric Alexander dropped to his knees. In the darkest hours of the Kingdom, when they were to overcome terrible odds, the gods sent one chosen to guide the people. Today? They had sent five. ¡°You¡¯ll pardon my lack of decor in your graces, but this is an unprecedented act in our entire history. Never have more than two Chosen appeared at once and to see five?¡± He said. It felt like he was being stomped in the gut. For this many people to show up? It must be an incredible event. An incredibly destructive event that heralded in something that would change his life forever. ¡°These are only five of the many that have been summoned,¡± the princess said. His mouth was dry, and all thoughts of lunch disappeared from his mind. He was going to need a lot of time to process this, but he didn¡¯t have time. He had a legion to manage. There was a thin line between management and leadership. Right now, he needed to manage his feelings and lead his people. ¡°What has happened?¡± He said, his voice cracking. He straightened up, standing a strong, tall dwarf for all to see. His moment of weakness would go down as one of the things that changed him. ¡°The kingdom has fallen,¡± Gigi said. ¡°It has been overrun by a dwarven zombies. Shells of their former dwarves¡¯ selves have claimed every city. It is the same for every kingdom.¡± Behind him, one of his retainers coughed. Another threw up. He didn¡¯t feel bad about feeling bad about it. He did what every dwarf would do. For the kingdom¡¯s needs, he wished for a secure Homeland so the legion could spread good faith and diplomatic efforts. He sent a messenger to convene all the leadership back here. They were going to have to make some sound decisions in the next coming days. To have not one but five chosen to show up asking for him and his legion meant that the easy days of taking monster quelling quests were over. The legion was going to have to go home. Considering the work he¡¯d done to build a profitable business, he could finally pay his staff. It wasn¡¯t necessary for him to do all that. He just loved his people so much. He hadn¡¯t been home in so long. That was going to be so much movement and paperwork in the next couple of days that his head hurt. Just thinking about the meetings and the planning that was going to have to go through. But he had people for that. Now. They have been trained and gone through the fire, being baptized and returned stronger. Now he was going to take them and throw them into the fire again. His legion was going home. 3- Thirty Five ¡°If I recall correctly, they¡¯re called lizard folk, not turtle folk,¡± Sonya said. ¡°So, why is this tribe the turtle clan?¡± ¡°I feel like we should not answer that question in mixed company. I also feel you shouldn¡¯t ask them.¡± Anthony leaned in. The beer was excellent. The company was better. He was so happy to drink from someone else¡¯s keg he was three beers deep. That was before he realized how high his tolerance had become. He had a lot of skills that helped him heal and apparently those skills recognized alcohol as something that he should heal from. It felt like bullshit, but that was part and parcel of being one of the Chosen. The craftsmanship of the wooden mugs suggested a maker with a three-generation family legacy, inheriting their grandparents¡¯ trade secrets. He didn¡¯t see any glass mugs, but that was probably because they were so far from any place with a reputable glasswork. The legion was always on the move. The entire setup for the tavern was modular, and apparently they could move it within a day to fit back into a wagon for transport. That was a concentrated morale delivery package that he needed in his life. There would be conversations soon about shipping them home, and he knew that this would be work to move. At least that¡¯s what was told to him by the proprietor, in a middle-aged dwarf who was not actually part of the legion, just a contractor attached to it. ¡°You think this will look good next to my summer home?¡± he mused. ¡°Maybe we should ask some people that have been here about what they call themselves?¡± Sonya said. ¡°They call themselves ¡®the people¡¯,¡± Charles, the bar manager, said, handing Anthony a mug of water. ¡°I don¡¯t think you should call them that. Mostly because that¡¯s not accurate and they ask us to call them turtles.¡± ¡°Well, when in the foreign lands of a lizard folk people with hard shells, you call them what they want to be called,¡± Sonya said, raising her own mug. ¡°I will drink to that. Cheers,¡± he said. ¡°So, what is going on here?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been working through the problem the Peace Turtles have been having with these large monster spawns. They keep showing up at the worst time and the peace turtles, though they will fight, do not want to have to deal with it repeatedly. So they hired us for a quell quest. It¡¯s mostly avians that we have to kill. Or rather that the legion is searching for,¡± Charlie said. ¡°Avians?¡± Sonya said. ¡°Picture a creature with wings the size of a human. Now make them shit everywhere and eat other animals raw and you¡¯ll be close to what I¡¯m thinking about,¡± the dwarf said, cleaning a mug. ¡°The Peace Turtles are not good at dealing with flying enemies, I take it?¡±. Anthony said. Charlie sighed deeply. ¡°They can attack whenever they want, with impunity. It¡¯s frustrating.¡± Anthony wondered what cards they gave if they were killing him that many numbers, but he didn¡¯t want to push the issue. They had to reveal the extent of the calamity several times that day before Cedric had just gathered up all the dwarves. Every dwarf now had a mourning band, and Anthony was not sure how they had gotten so many so quickly. However it happened, and that impressed him. That spoke to an ability that they didn¡¯t have. If he¡¯d asked, Finley would have been able to get them uniforms. It would have taken far longer one day. So either they had those bands already ready to pass out or they were and seeing as how they just gave us the news earlier that day in its unredacted form, he expected that they already had them. In the front of the temporary building, Eugene and Valerie were whispering. They had taken a booth to themselves as they were going to discuss strategy. They had discussed the potential that there was another claim to the Royal line. Valerie¡¯s claim was tenuous at best and paper thin. If the commander of the legion had decided that she wasn¡¯t a princess, then she wasn¡¯t a princess. Her political power was only as good as the people who believed in her. By extension, her appointing Gigi as the duchess of Gloucester and creating that entirely new duchy meant that she was going to have to live up to a lot. ¡°Do you think Gigi is ready to become a duchess? I mean, it¡¯s too late if not, but don¡¯t they have to send her to school or something?¡± Sonya rounded on him. ¡°I feel like she¡¯s great for the job. She works customer service for years and she knows how to deal with irate people asking for things that they will not get.¡± Anthony considered her words. ¡°That¡¯s about the truest thing I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± Anthony said. ¡°I like your customer service representative to a politician or royalty pipeline.¡± Sonya flipped her hair towards him. The mousy brown hair which had once had been far shorter had grown in the months they had been together. Now she had to spend a bit of time every morning braiding it with his help. He valued that time and stared at the braids far longer than he should have. She was cute and braids kept her hair from being in the face with the possible exception of the tiny bangs that she kept. Even that was beautiful to him. It also kept her from cutting her own bangs. ¡°I mean, what is political power, anyway? It¡¯s just people agreeing that you¡¯re in charge. When the people stop agreeing with you, they are in charge. That¡¯s when things change,¡± she said, tugging on her braid.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What is it we keep saying? The people that are in charge want you to go through the system because they know it will not work for you? Yeah, go through the established channels, which will not help. Every single thing we¡¯ve gotten has been through violent or non-violent protest.¡± ¡°And stabbing zombies in the chest?¡± ¡°I did not come this far to forget about stabbing zombies in the chest and how that feels,¡± Anthony said. Sonya, finish your drink and turn to look at the two dwarves in the corner again. ¡°What¡¯s it like being chosen?¡± Charlie said, returning to the bar. ¡°It¡¯s like being fantastic at doing something that you don¡¯t really want to do. But you have to do it because everyone¡¯s relying on you,¡± Sonya said. ¡°That sounds rough,¡± the dwarf said, plopping two more waters in front of them. ¡°Should we be drinking so much water here?¡± ¡°You¡¯re in a tropical climate. You¡¯re not even recognizing how much you¡¯re sweating because your body¡¯s just gotten used to doing it,¡± he said. ¡°Oh! That¡¯s my hyperhidrosis. My body has just decided that it wants to always be slick and semi sweaty,¡± Sonya said. ¡°I am not thirsty.¡± Bartender pushed the mug closer to her. Close enough that it touched her hand, and Anthony chuckled. They had talked at length about her condition. She had thought that it had driven people away before, but he found it adorable. It just meant that they needed a breezy bed, or that they had to wake up and take a bath together. It was a win-win for him. This, combined with the cleanse card, meant that for the first time in her entire life, she could take a break from being covered in wetness. ¡°We need to talk to someone from the tribe. This campaign is going to take a lot. We are wondering if you know anyone that might help us address these issues with the lizard folk here,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Are your hiring mercenaries or are you getting more people to add to the legion?¡± He said. ¡°Does legion recruit lizard folk?¡± Sonya said, tipping her glass back. ¡°The legion will recruit your mother if she so desires to sign up.¡± In one go, Sonya doing her entire mug of water. Charlie grabbed her empty mug and returned to pour some more water into it. She had apparently been thirsty, but just didn¡¯t want to inconvenience him. ¡°You got to ask for what you want, Sonya,¡± he said. ¡°I was thinking about that. I think I¡¯ll have another beer.¡± --- The commander of the seventy-sixth legion called his small council together. Because he was back within the tribal lands, he only had some of the support specialists on staff and the people that interfaced with the population at large. ¡°You¡¯ve heard the story about what¡¯s going on at home. I¡¯m going to call for a rapid pullout of our deployed companies, returning the legion back to here so that we can assess where we can go. It¡¯ll be a very far distance to get back to the country and the chosen have a way for us to get there quickly. I need to hear your thoughts about what we need to do with the legion next to make it ready to move.¡± The transportation officer in charge of the movement of food and water spoke first. This was the first tour of the lieutenant and his five-year commitment would have been over already had Lieutenant Gray just went home. But he was enjoying himself too much. Cedric trusted Gray with his life, and, more importantly, his beer. As beer was washing down the front lines, the lieutenant could deliver exactly what was needed at the right times. There was only so much that the legion could carry on its backs without having to use a large staple of pack horses, mules, and carts. ¡°I hope you¡¯re curious to see how they want us to get back to the continent. They only have one airship which might hold 90 dwarves at most. I think that there¡¯s something else going on that they haven¡¯t told us yet. Given that they are Chosen? It¡¯s almost a certainty,¡± Lieutenant Gray said. ¡°Sir, how do we feel about the Chosen? Are we going to ask them to lead some companies?¡± Captain Ewing, the commander of Fox company said. ¡°They might have some magic that we are not familiar with yet.¡± Fox company was to get everything out to the legion. Nearly one hundred support dwarves made up the physical plant that moved wherever the legion went. Their only job was to get all the supplies that legion needed, where it needed to go. ¡°We¡¯ve already sent the runner, having most of our forces prepared to return,¡± Cedric said. ¡°I don¡¯t think that we¡¯re going to ask the chosen to lead our companies directly. The leader of the chosen, Anthony, has told me they have a method of getting us out of here quickly. This reminds you, they want to park their airship closer.¡± He leaned over to the Lieutenant on his right. Lieutenant Gray nodded. It would be done. Cedric was glad to say they could count on the dwarf to manage things on his behalf without ever worrying. Once he had resolved the internal issues with his people and then they would go talk to Anthony about his claim that he was bringing a princess and a duchess to meet with them. What he didn¡¯t know was if anyone from the Royal Line had survived. He wasn¡¯t familiar with Valerie Lightfoot. Her appointment of a duchess as well as creating a new duchy gave him pause. He had been to Gloucester before. The legion had departed out of there the last time they came home. He didn¡¯t know that it merited it being reclaimed by the duchy, but he didn¡¯t know the situation on the ground. It sounded dire. He was going to have to ask his people to go there. ¡°Do you think we could recreate their design for an airship in time?¡± The assembled dwarves all looked at each other as if someone was about to say anything resembling anything an answer. Instead, all he saw were dwarves more puzzled than he was. At least I¡¯d answer that question for now. That the chosen had been pretty forthcoming information, and he didn¡¯t think that they were going to hold back on them on any account. He wanted to work with them, but they were humans. If what they were saying was true and he hoped against hope that it wasn¡¯t, then he was going to have to do a lot in the near term. That any Chosen had shown up at all gave credence to their words. Perhaps it was just ignoring the inevitable, trying to deny things. He remembered his training and thought about the scout mindset. He would have to send some scouts out. They would give him the actual situation on the ground and he could make an educated decision. ¡°Do we have any scouts back here?¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve got my scouting squad, sir. They¡¯re ready to go if you want me to have them spun up?¡± Captain Ewing said. The dwarf almost never wore his full plate armor as it impeded his actual work, fitting in with his soldiers. It had initially worked for Cedric, but then he tried it himself and had grown accustomed to things just being different from where the supply trains started. ¡°Send them,¡± Cedric said. ¡°Sir? If I may?¡± ¡°Go ahead, Gray.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re sending scouts to investigate, and I¡¯m guessing they have a gate spell available, I would like to head out with them.¡± Cedric turned to his sub commander. Captain Ewing nodded his ascent. ¡°Granted. Paint us a good picture, Lieutenant.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Lieutenant Gray kept her chain mail on unless she was loading or unloading boxes or doing extensive manual labor. She has a spark inside of her that Cedric wanted to turn into a roaring flame. One day, she might rise to take his position, and he wanted her to be ready then. ¡°Anything else before we speak to the chosen as a group?¡± Cedric said. Seeing nothing, he sent a runner. They received some time to get accustomed to life here. He had put them up at the bar while he assembled his people. He wanted the time to give this moment the gravity it deserved. Any legion member would take the chosen as one of the greatest days of his time in uniform. The tent flap wrestled, and every single dwarf in the command tent stood. Five chosen walked in. Twenty fists hit twenty chests, saluting. The rough semicircle welcomed them in to the center. As they were chosen, they would be the one leading in the discussion. The gods had handpicked them to save their country. Cedric had never felt more like he did the first day of the academy at that moment. These people were so much more powerful than him, he could sense it. They crackled with power as they saluted back. 3-Thirty Six Good things could gestate just as well as bad ones. Bob, Mork''s good thing, itched to branch out. Around him, the horses grazed and the dwarves druids all had began to expand the earthen fortifications. There was something there. The idea of slowing gaining ground back in a more permanent fashion itched. "Are you brooding again?" Stella said, coming up besides him. They had picked out a balcony that let them look out over Gloucester and the work that was being done. She pressed her chest against his back. "Why can''t a man brood alone?" He said before realizing that she wasn''t wearing a shirt. He wasn''t either but he knew that already. It was later afternoon, but they didn''t have anything in particular to do. "You ever think about what it''s going to be like after all this is over?" She said. " Or is that all you''re doing? Because that''s all I can see you''re doing right now. Not that I don''t think it''s hot." He growled at her, a low guttural thing. "Oooh." "It''s just that we have to kill some of these dwarves. I know they''re already dead but there''s just so many when I think about it. I just get weary. Even if all the other death knights were here right now and I killed them? There would still be millions left and the smell?" He didn''t want to admit that the smell was getting to him but they both knew it. Because they were back hit the promontory, they had been given the cleanse gas card. Finley was doing his best to find a replacement but coming up short. The fact that they were on the front line against the zombies meant that they got something great. They got to be able to be clean and feel it. Who cared if they smelled like they were horny teenagers? Stella surely didn''t. "Were you a pacifist before, Stella?" "I mean I''d fight a bitch but I wouldn''t murder anybody," she said. "I really want to go track those death knights down. Like this... this isn''t me speaking. I want to be safe. I want us to be safe." She squeezed him closer. "I want that too. It feels a lot closer now. If all else fails, we can head to Sunderland." "Oh you want to be safe? Then you need to respect the safe word!" He said. She pushed him against the sturdy railing. He pushed back, playing along. "I''ll respect the safe word. But this whole thing? Look I know you want to run off and go slay monsters. I get it." He turned to face her. She was tearing up. He gently lifted her chin up so her mouth was just underneath his. Then he summarily pushed her against the interior wall, leading her with his hand on her back. "Stella, you are the best thing that had happened to me here, probably ever. I wish that we had met back on earth. I would have died happy. You''re-" She kissed him passionately, pulling in closer. Her arms gripped his back as he grabbed her by the waist picking her up. She in turn, wrapped her legs around him. "There''s so much more to look forward to," she said, biting his ear. "I know we said not to make promises in the heat of the moment but..." "But?" He said, taking in her warm scent. He kissed her savagely, then let her up for air. "What would you think about our own cake shop?" --- Anthony and Cedric had been talking about what could be done once they were together. Their mere arrival had changed so much that Sonya barely got a moment alone with him. She knew that he felt it too. They were both tired and wired, the dwarves having a secret stash of coffee that they had given to the chosen. The secrets of their hot bean was was going to be something of great import for the remaining chosen. The familiar old wood of the cabin called to them. "Can we stay with the legion tonight?" Gigi said. "It''s been a while since we have been around this many dwarves and..." "You don''t need to spell it out. I get it. We are old potatoes." "It''s just that Valerie needs a wing woman and-" "They are not going to spend a day mourning or something? And isn''t she underaged?" Sonya said. "She looks underaged. Do I need to give you both a curfew." Gigi looked at her ward. She was chatting excitedly with all of the dwarves at the bar. To the rest of world, she appeared to be holding court. Anthony and Cedric were still going on about potential troop movements using the map that Valerie was projecting in the center. "Well if you don''t let her stay, that new commander will be sad," Gigi said. "He keeps her using her powers in several different ways. Some of the guys are calling her the princess general." "Better than the princess bride, I guess." The map was impressive, but what was most impressive was that none of the dwarves had walked through the image. "She''s been holding that map up for hours," Gigi said. "But every time she tries to take it down, Cedric gives her a look and I swear she has worse PTSD from the academy than from the calamity. He just had he shut right up."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "That''s a feat right there," Sonya said. "It''s hard to make her shut up when she''s on about her special interest." The women shared a knowing glance. Sonya would have diagnosed her with something common, but it was easier to just help her along with it. It was comforting to see that she was among both her people and her dwarves. "She''s changed so much in such a short time," Gigi said. "But we all did, I guess. Gods, I remember not even having the consciousness to know I was on board and now the seventy sixth is going to be a part of this?" Sonya raised her mug, this time a strong beer. Seeing her, Gigi raised hers. "To the princess general!" "To the princess general! Long may she serve the kingdom," Gigi said. She then slammed her entirely full mugs. "Another!" They waited for the bartender to come back around. "How about you? Are you going to make an honest dwarf-er man out of Anthony?" Gigi said. Sonya gave her a look that was intended to make her with her beneath it''s intensity. Of course she has wants ans desires, but they had only been together for so long and they had been through so much. "I''m just using him for his body. For now," she said. "I mean technically Cedric is using him for his body right now. His brain ia part of his body. Also his body is there," Gigi said. "Should I even ask about you?" Sonya said. "Are you going home with anyone here tonight?" "To their tents? I should think not." "It would still be an upgrade. I mean you could use our cabin if they won''t freak out being that high up." Gigi smiled back at her. "Don''t offer something that you''re not ready to give. I''ve seen your guest bed." "The guest bed is yours if these two men take any longer." --- "What we want to do here is open up a dialogue about potentially using you as a vendor of choice. Now we understand that you rely on Hunters to supply your meat," Finley said to the meat lizard man. "We''re going to have a lot of needs to fill and I''ve been told that your meat can our needs. Honestly, we''re hungry for your meat to fill our holes." "And I want to fill your holes too. I think we can come to an arrangement where I get to meet and I stuff it into your calls and we both walk away satisfied." The vendor, who went by Steve relied on a network of people selling him meat directly. He would then prepare it and using some card skill make it more shelf-stable. Finley just wanted some meat, and he knew that he was going to need it in volume. That laughing with few options. He wasn''t going to raise cattle. He wasn''t going to raise a herd of goats because of the implication. That left asking somebody else to Ranch for him or just just getting a third party to take care of that on his behalf. He didn''t have any experience with farming beyond getting things to start growing. I think her lifestyle wasn''t one that let him sit around in an open field all day herding something. Learning how to take care of and bring up horses was a part of Tinker culture but they came along with the wagons on their route. If legion was actually going to show up and help out, they need to figure out a way to feed them. If they had a way of treating that many dwarves already, then he just needs to bridge the gap. Plus, Caravan have been traveling a long distance and without any towns that could actually serve them food, they had been used to eating very salted fried meats. They couldn''t trust any of the meat that they''ve got on Novaria so this was a huge change. Sunderland, the southern continent did not have a zombie outbreak. Nothing there was suspect. "Steve, let me ask you another question. Do you have any experience ranching?" "Ranching? A big commercial Enterprise? There are a few Yellow Tails that can do that but only two of them here do. You need a lot of land. And it''s much easier to hunt. Mostly what they do is they raise up bait for the other animals. That seems to be lucrative." Finley gnawed on his velociraptor leg. The Tinkers had a policy of non-violence, but they wouldn''t let any meat go to waste. There was enough violence in this world. That was why he had sought out Steve. If they were going to actually wage war on continent than they needed help. They needed connections to suppliers that could actually come through with what they needed. Money wasn''t an issue. They can get all the money they wanted. Even if they had to change their common and uncommon library into local currency, they would still have whatever they needed. What they didn''t have was a guy that could supply them fresh foodstuffs. What it did have was a local who knew everyone in the market by their first name and scent. Who would know better than the guy who lived off of selling his wares in the market? "Would you be able to provide some introductions?" Finley said, already knowing in the answer. The best questions got answered before they were asked. "Of course we could do that. I''ll always take care of my friends," Steve said. "And I''m pleased that you call me your friend. Because that means that we''re going to get their friends and family discount, right?" He said, fully knowing that he was about to get stuck with an unimaginable bill. "Everyone that gets their friends and family discount. It''s just what we do." The bill itself was going to be five common cards. Finley had already checked and he was down to eight hundred commons. It was going to be a daily bill for continued service. Steve would deliver as much meat as he could prepare to them and Finley would have to get more and more cards to pay the guy. It might be cheaper to just send out his own hunters. If they owned the means production, then things would be cheaper. "Steve, what would it cost if we brought you the meat to prepare?" "I could go thirty percent less," he said. "But you understand that I have mouths to feed too." "They can eat what we catch," Finley said. "You have a family?" Steve shuffled a bit looking like he was put upon. "I have two little ones. They''re in school now but eventually they''re going to need to follow in their father''s footsteps, or their mothers. It''s a tough life out there, either way." With the threat of imminent riches coming his way, Steve was going to make damn sure that he was able to get a piece of that pie. Finley, on the other hand, just need to make sure that they were taken care of. If he had the recruit Steve into their organization then that was a whole other thing. Steve looked like he wouldn''t be able to hold up in a fight despite his angular clawed hands and sharpened beak. He sported a gut that made Finley thought that the lizard man had been eating well for quite some time. It was either that or he was pregnant. He didn''t know which one was more likely though and he sure as heck wasn''t going to ask. "Steve, we''re going to need to open up a dialogue with the other tribes. You understand the situation. What are your thoughts? We need their support to reclaiming the continent." "I only really know of deals with the peace turtles as they have a good established trade route over sea. You outside is wondering if you were all together but each tribe is its own nation into itself. We send representatives back and forth to discuss monster quell missions that are larger than a single tribe can handle, but that''s about the extent of our cooperation." Steve shrugged. Behind him the market was bustling with activity. Finley would have appreciated it more if he hadn''t picked a spot next to Steve. Steve had been talking his ears off all day, and it was only now that they were beginning to get serious. He felt like he was courting the married lizard man with the amount of work that he had been putting in. "What do you think about the peace hurdles then? We just sent a team over there to make contact and negotiate trade with it. I understand they try the Yellow Tail is a tribe of warriors and hunters. What is the peace turtle tribe about?" Steve grimaced. "They are about fleecing you of your money, unless it''s in their interest. They are the shrewdest negotiators.... something that we both can appreciate." They had bonded over both being merchants. For Finley it was a family affair that he had grown up into. For Steve, it was mere survival. Of Elizabeth tribe were smaller than the women, leaving the women to do all of the hunting. Lizard men were faster and better as back on fires where they could wield a spear or a bow to defend. They just lacked the musculature and fat stores that the women had that kept them fighting on the front lines. It was those same things that made them able to have clutches of eggs. A young lizard man stopped in front of Finley''s booth. They cut off their discussion and finally looked directly at him. "Hello there! Have you considered joining the Caravan of Blades?" 4- One ¡°Good things can gestate just as well as bad ones,¡± Stella said, handing the package to Finley. ¡°Just like these mushrooms we found.¡± The elf accepted the package readily, but eyed it to make sure that he wasn¡¯t getting a dud. ¡°This is the second batch, right?¡± He said, turn it over and giving it a sniff. The warm pleasant aroma was certainly that of a mushroom adjacent smell, but he didn¡¯t know exactly which. ¡°Yeah, Bob says that we can keep growing these, and he has plans to make a few more gardens just for spices. The goat company is going to be working extra hard on growing crops when it¡¯s not winter anymore. Which, by the way, how long is that from now?¡± The elf shrugged. He weighed his arms around gesturing at the tropical beach. ¡°I can¡¯t really tell from here, but maybe another month or two? I hate to say that I lost track of days and the lizard folk here are no help.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± a voice called out from inside the compound. ¡°Sorry Steve!¡± Finley said. ¡°What I meant to say is that Steve has been a great help.¡± He mouthed the words no. Stella laughed. Steve wasn¡¯t out of earshot, but he couldn¡¯t see either of them. ¡°Anyway, Zan is here, and I thought you wanted to talk to her?¡± ¡°Ah yes. I wanted to talk about the frequency of the portals. Twice a day is getting to be a bit too little if you catch my drift,¡± he said. ¡°And as head of security, I¡¯m concerned that I¡¯m going to have a buildup of product here that needs to get to the front lines.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pickle,¡± Stella said. ¡°But we are thinking about that a lot. With the ongoing troop movements between the Peace turtle clan areas to Gloucester, that is taking up most of their gate time.¡± Gate time was his most pressing concern. Finley had long ago got to where he had enough supplies to support the war efforts. Now it was a matter of getting it to where it needed to go. He had access to a single gate through Zan that could reach across the continent of Sunderland to the seventy-sixth dwarven legion. ¡°I just need more time,¡± he said. ¡°I think that this is the most important thing for the caravan.¡± Stella held up her arm. A small dwarven clockwork piece sat there. Andrew, their artificer, had made tiny clocks at the request of the humans. It was something about synchronizing their schedules, a soup of words that only came from a Chosen. They had so many turns of phrases that it make his elf brain spin. His clock, of course, sat on his desk where it belonged. Not on his arm. ¡°You can have more time. It sounds like the legion needs to do one more big push through and they are just about ready to leave their staging grounds. I¡¯ll speak to Anthony about making more time for you guys to do more transfers,¡± Stella said. ¡°Thank you.¡± It had been two months since the Caravan had contacted the last remaining bastion of the Irumian military, the seventy-sixth legion. As they were the only part of the military deployed abroad continuously, they were not home when the calamity struck. That calamity was a continent-wide collapse in which every single person became a zombie or was eaten by one. The caravan, Finley¡¯s group, had spent months escaping the continent of Noveria before flying south to the long, wide continent of Sunderland that stretched across the equator of their planet. In Sunderland, they contacted the Yellow Tail tribe, a group of lizard folk that signed a treaty with them. The Yellow Tail tribe was one of the thirteen lizard folk tribes that had established themselves on beachheads along the northern coast of their continent. ¡°Do you think that you¡¯ll be ready to come to the council meeting tomorrow?¡± Stella said. "Now that we have to plan out everything deliberately?¡± Council meetings were another thing that humans insisted on. They wanted to sit down and talk about things frequently. Frequently for an elf was once a week. For an elf like Finley who had spent most of his life as a traveling merchant across the content of Noveria, it was a lot of contact. He didn¡¯t mind it, but it was a change from his time alone with the two horses that had pulled his wagon all over. ¡°I¡¯ll be ready. I don¡¯t really have much to report, so it¡¯s going to be more of them asking me for more things that I have to go find for them. As usual.¡± ¡°We are getting into the academy¡¯s stores, so at least we¡¯ll be able to outfit the legion with new stuff. And all our recruits can have that boiled leather that they¡¯re so keen on.¡± Finley nodded along, opening the crate of spices. ¡°This has got to be one of the best things that you guys have done so far. It¡¯s going to make everything taste so much better. I¡¯m so glad you went with this,¡± he said, holding out a spring of parsley. ¡°I have always wanted to decorate my velociraptor legs with something tiny, green and ornamental.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re in luck because today I have a very special offer for you Mr. Elf.... And that is you can have this whole box for free. It¡¯s just going to cost you your soul,¡± she said. ¡°Oh, this is the souls are a thing and have a monetary value thing, right? I already sold my soul twice today. Once for an uncommon card and once for a velociraptor leg.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s on you for offering it for so low. All right. I¡¯ll take a firstborn child instead, if that¡¯s what you want to do?¡± Finley considered the offer. As he wasn¡¯t likely to have any children, he would gladly give one of those up. ¡°I¡¯ll take that deal,¡± he said. ¡°Though...¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°The deal is made,¡± she replied, bowing. ¡°I shall come collect the child when it is ready.¡± ¡°You can take Steve whenever you want-¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Steve shouted, coming out to see them. ¡°Oh! Miss head of security! Good day to you!¡± He popped out from behind the log wall, his large lizard snout comically oversized and red. ¡°Did you get into the honey?¡± Stella said. ¡°Because there were still some bees in there and...¡± ¡°I did no such a thing-¡± he said, his nose clearly getting larger. ¡°Right,¡± Stella said flatly. ¡°Just like a man to deny what¡¯s going on right in front of his face.¡± She looked at the lizard man closer. Finley tapped into his healing magic, preparing a spell to make sure that the lizard wouldn¡¯t lose his ability to breathe in the short term. He walked over to Steve, patting him on the shoulder. He pushed a wave of mana into his spell, causing the lizard¡¯s face to resume its normal yellow tone. Zan took that moment to walk out. Her dark black flame hair stood out over her white robes with a gold trim. ¡°Hey guys, ah yeah, he was a mess, but he didn¡¯t want to say anything,¡± she said. The light-skinned girl, another Chosen, was the only member of the caravan that had chosen the wizard class. She had apparently been from some place called Asia before being called to his world. He didn¡¯t know about it, but all the human Chosen had known. Because of her card class, she could easily learn new spells. Finley had a caster class. His soul card gave him druid powers, but from what he had read in every single book on the topic, he was going to need to get his card spell casting level up to ten. It sat at five, a huge advancement he chalked up to being next to some of the most powerful enlightened beings in Steve¡¯s world. It felt like he had done a lot to get there, but he knew that he still had a long way to go. He looked down Steve¡¯s face. ¡°You have to listen to the wizard, lizard,¡± he said. ¡°Otherwise, I can¡¯t save you. Especially about food.¡± Zan crossed her arms. ¡°See I told you, Steve. Always listen to the wizard.¡± She raised a hand, chanting something silently. A white ring emanated from her, entering all directions and then stopping. Suddenly, Finley felt fresh, and he could once again smell the salt in the air. ¡°The fuck was that?¡± Stella said, tears streaking down her face. ¡°Did you copy the cleanse card... As a spell?¡± ¡°I got it, girl.¡± Finley sighed. He hadn¡¯t even considered it. Of course, she would be able to learn a spell just from seeing a card power enough times. The Chosen were so ridiculously broken and powerful. But that was what they were going to need to take on an entire continent. Bold, beautiful, powerful women who would put a lizard man in their place, which was apparently next to someone that could heal them. This was due in no large part to the fact that they had no visible survival instinct outside of their tribal territory, which is why the lizard women tended to do all the hunting. ¡°Alright, I got like twenty minutes before I have to open up for the portal from here to the airship,¡± Zan said. ¡°I only see the one crate, is that right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I got some cards for the advance company? And goat company. Less than what I had hoped for, though. I got one summon card, which was an uncommon, and I¡¯m trying to replicate it,¡± Finley said. Zan gasped. ¡°You found a summon card?¡± She said. ¡°Show me!¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Finley said, arranging his hands to show the card. A little opening in the one and a turn of the other left an image of the card floating.
Uncommon Summon Card: Micro Raptor Level 1 Summons a micro raptor twice per day for thirty minutes at a time. Summon duration and frequency increase each level.
¡°Have you tried the wild shape trick?¡± Zan said. ¡°Giving it to someone else to level?¡± ¡°I thought that the Goat Lord shone upon us with that time. That or summons are a whole different category. But it worked. Apparently it¡¯s slow to level,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. Have any of the Chosen...?¡± ¡°No, not yet, but-¡± he said. She held out a hand. He drew the uncommon card from his soul deck, wincing at the feeling. Every time he took a card out, he felt the difference, like the ability had just wiped itself from his mind suddenly. Zan summoned the tiny red raptor. The magic woven a red construction of bones, skin and hide that in half a second became a tiny dog sized summon. Finley knew the little thing well, but unfortunately, could not control it well. If he were to put a label on his level of control it would be, ¡®summon it and try not to get bitten¡¯. Zan hadn¡¯t waited for the explanation. She had to be so sure of herself at that moment. It looked at her like she was his next meal, despite only coming up to her delicious ankles. ¡°Aww it... why is it looking at me like that?¡± She said. ¡°Control it!¡± Finley said. ¡°You¡¯re in charge.¡± ¡°Zan! It¡¯s going to-¡° Stella screamed. *Chomp!* The micro raptor bit the air as Zan full on evaded it. Then it disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Zan had cleared three times her height in the time it took the summon to deliver a smashing bite to the poor sea air. ¡°Glad I took that rogue card,¡± she said, panting. It might have been a card skill, but it clearly wasn¡¯t one that she had been too diligent about working on. ¡°They¡¯re great, aren¡¯t they? For evasion, I mean,¡± Stella said. ¡°Though I think you need a bit more training. Sophia and I are available...¡± Finley accepted they had an unfair advantage, but he didn¡¯t remember that class card being anywhere near so capable. ¡°I will think about it. You were hoping for a goat, weren¡¯t you? I take it?¡± Zan said. ¡°I think a goat summon would be perfect,¡± Finley said. ¡°It would at least ¡®keep with the theme¡¯, as Stella keeps telling me.¡± ¡°Goat Lord, goat summon, tomato, tomato,¡± Stella said. ¡°I just want to know when I can get a summon.¡± Finley frowned. He had only just begun to feel how a summon would form. He thought that there had to be more to it. ¡°I have to ask you if you can speak with Anthony then. Apparently, one tribe has a special group of summoners... and...¡± Finley had only so much attention to give, and in that moment, it all bore down on Stella. ¡°Tell me more,¡± he said. ¡°Clan Kerberos has a group of summoners. They are one of the furthest of the clans and word from there almost never makes it back... Except when it does.¡± Stella shrugged. ¡°That was in one of the daily reports. You read the reports, right? You don¡¯t just try to make deals all day?¡± Finley rolled his eyes. Another thing that he had picked up from them. ¡°I have been meaning to read those,¡± he said. There were a few trading vessels that brought news along the coast, but anything that arrived would be far out of date. Apparently, Stella had been scouring these reports and news with the zealous fervor of someone who really wanted to know about the tribes. This had been something that the traders had casually mentioned that she was investigating. Stella wrote notes for the council, passing them between the three locations that they had set up in. Then she would get feedback and update them the following day. Every week, the three Chosen who led the caravan met at a unique spot moving. The airship that hosted the most recent meetup was east of their location along the coast. Through the power of anchored portals, they could leave through the gate inside of their diplomatic compound and mission. Finley went inside to check the most recent notes from Stella. Holding it out, he skimmed. ¡°There¡¯s no mention of a tribe of summoners here.¡± ¡°There was in the one two days prior,¡± Stella said. ¡°Keep up.¡± ¡°Yeah. She doesn¡¯t write this for fun. It¡¯s meant to be actionable intelligence.¡± Finley sighed. His promised fleet of airships for his world tour of the lizard folk tribes wasn¡¯t finished on schedule. They so far only had one airship up and running, mostly because of the need for highly processed canvas. He would be happy when he could buy a ship locally. He could bring all of his talents selling to a new market. He could visit several markets. If he ever found out how to cast gate himself, he might trade in several of the markets in a single go. That would be the ticket. 4- Two ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to be pushing out further than we are,¡± Anthony said. ¡°We have to support the front line efforts, yes, but we need to take down towns and clearing them. Then we can move on. Sanctify will have to be a secondary objective.¡± Anthony, former midwife from Brooklyn, was arguing with Bob, the former d list celebrity chef from Hoboken. Both men had something to gain and as the caravans commander and scout leader, respectively, they had butted heads a lot. But now they needed to make peace together, by force. We jump. ¡°Yes, boss. I understand. I just need to know when to come in and do it. If we jump from place to place, then we might forget to sanctify a town that we already passed through. Plus, if the legion wants to do its own thing, it¡¯s a bit beyond my control.¡± The seventy-sixth legion had sent a mere two companies through to reclaim the lands of their kingdom from the zombie hordes. Save for a few casualties, they were in good spirits. ¡°They¡¯re using our tactics to whittle down the horde. Sophie and Sonya have been worked to the bone,¡± Anthony said. ¡°You can join them on the front line, more often if you¡¯re feeling like you haven¡¯t been doing enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy as shit myself. I have to scout out the next places with the monks so we can direct the legion. Plus, there is the whole sanctification ritual that only the two of us can do.¡± Anthony pounded the ornate desk lightly, just enough to make a noise. ¡°You trained the scouts. You don¡¯t need to be on every scouting mission. Valerie needs you as well. Cedric needs you. Maybe you need to do something behind the scenes? We need a spy master, not just a great scout. Delegate, motherfucker.¡± Their talk before the actual council was one thing that Bob had man handled Anthony into having. Anthony was against having a meeting about a meeting, but Bob had insisted. Cedric would be there shortly with Valerie. ¡°I¡¯m... yeah... okay... Point made,¡± Bob said. ¡°I will consider it.¡± Anthony was concerned that Bob wasn¡¯t getting the message, but he was more concerned that Bob was going to go rogue. None of the chosen has a better suite of powers to deal with the zombies as a whole. Bob could detect any zombies within three miles and he knew the locations of the three higher tier death knights. Mork, the god that summoned Bob, had really put a hefty investment in him. It was as if his company had offered him a golden parachute into the new world. Yil, the good that had summoned Anthony, by comparison, had made him a powerful healer. Anthony got the company match. He also picked up the job of the group¡¯s healer because everyone everyone else had picked an offense based class. Now they were all running things. Anthony was already a leader. Both men had run businesses before. Anthony¡¯s more personal business as a midwife with his two sons helping him meant he had to have a strong relationship with whoever he worked for. Bob baked the cakes and then had someone else sell them most of the time. They clashed the most on Bobs expressed deep-seated desire to just go and murder the death knights personally. Anthony could wait. Valerie opened the cabin door. ¡°Anthony, Bob, good to see you both,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve got Cedric and Duchess Gigi here.¡± The young dwarf girl wore a uniform that looked a size too big. She had gone from being a military cadet to Anthony¡¯s adjutant to the Princess General of the Irumian military. Behind her, the commander of the seventy-sixth dwarven legion walked in casually. He wore a gambeson, even in this heat, a small crest the only adornment on his chest. Despite his youthful appearance, gray hairs dotted his black beard and hair. A short sword, a representation of his office, hung on one side. Behind him, a goat wandered in. She bleated at them. ¡°She¡¯s feeling a bit off today,¡± Cedric said of the goat. ¡°We let her stay that way for a bit.¡± Gigi, the pygmy goat, bleated. ¡°Welcome back,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re only missing our elf companion now.¡± Anthony itched to pet the dwarf, but seeing as how she was a duchess in charge of a large swathe of land that they were currently reclaiming, he waited for her to approach. She had been turned into a zombie and later turned into a goat because of the external pressure of a powerful single use card. Someone gave her, along with over two dozen dwarf zombies, a second chance at life. She was making the most of it. ¡°Let me just grab a robe for... oh, you¡¯re already wild shaping, aren¡¯t you?¡± Where the pygmy goat had once been, a taller dwarf woman in her mid thirties now stood. She was, as he had worried, completely naked and totally distracting. ¡°We¡¯ve got to stop meeting like this,¡± Anthony said, holding out a white robe. ¡°Otherwise people are going to say something.¡± ¡°They¡¯re already talking about your girlfriend and you,¡± Gigi said, extending to her full height. ¡°Also, you chose...¡± ¡°They are strange,¡± Cedric said. ¡°But rather than gawk at the gorgeous lady dwarf, why don¡¯t we get down to business? Daylight is burning, and the legion is going to want to hear from me after this. But not too fast because I don¡¯t want to go down that rope ladder again soon. Whoever designed it, making it human sized, maliciously complied with the order.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Andrew later,¡± Bob said. ¡°He¡¯ll appreciate the compliment to his work.¡± Cedric raised a hand to say something, but must have immediately thought better of it.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The door opened, and everyone turned. Finley and Zan stood tall at the entrance. ¡°Ah, fair elf!¡± Gigi said, running to hit him with a pint-sized hug. ¡°Gigi! Good to see you,¡± Finley said. ¡°Zan!¡± Gigi said, throwing herself at the next person to walk through the door. ¡°What is that about?¡± Anthony asked Cedric. ¡°She said something about living life to its fullest and giving the people she cares about big hugs when she sees them,¡± Cedric said. ¡°But she hasn¡¯t given me a hug despite my attempts to court her.¡± ¡°Yeah, good luck with that. She can only keep dwarf form for half of the day,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Maybe a bit more. She didn¡¯t run and sprint and hg me either-¡± The breath got knocked out of him as Gigi bowled him over. ¡°I didn¡¯t have any clothes on, you jack wagon,¡± she said. ¡°Now, I do.¡± Once the rabble died down, they all took seats around the large table. Valerie made a magical image of the new duchy of Gloucester. The top-down image of showed the towns that the seventy-sixth legion had already reclaimed. From the seaside port city, they had driven in to over twenty towns, clearing the dead as they went. Caravan practice was to have a druid or warlock of the Goat Lord to perform the last rites. ¡°Are the amount of goats sufficient for your needs, Commander Cedric?¡± Gigi said. ¡°Four per company is currently sufficient. My apologies that it is taking longer for us to wrap up our commitment to the Peace Turtles. Their clear-cutting efforts in Sunderland still occupy the remaining eight infantry companies. I expect we will detach two more this week and another two next month, then we will reassess.¡± ¡°Well, that answers that,¡± Anthony said. ¡°One chosen per company works out well then, I take it?¡± ¡°One chosen and two goats? I guess we can make it work if we have to, but the current situation works exceedingly well.¡± Cedric pointed to the capital city. ¡°Moving on, unless there are any more questions about troop movements or exchanges? No? We need to talk about this next part of the campaign then. Chosen Bob, please tell me your thoughts here,¡± Cedric said. Bob stepped forward. ¡°There is a death knight there. I have spoken with Anthony. I would like to take it on. We don¡¯t know this what talent this chosen has, but seeing as one had the pathfinder ability, one had the gate skill and the third that we have met so far has been the entity we are calling the flesh weaver...¡± ¡°We are all concerned with whatever ability has caused it to stay in place. Clearly something is going on and no one thinks it is good,¡± Anthony said. ¡°There are a lot of possibilities, and no one thinks you should go in and recon the situation personally.¡± Bob clapped his hands together. ¡°But it would be for the glory of Noveria!¡± Bob said. ¡°We know about your quest skill, Bob,¡± Gigi said. ¡°We all know. Please stick to the plan, chosen.¡± The sass dripped off of her in waves. Anthony smirked. She had definitely taken a page from his girlfriend. He was proud of how she had grown up, even though he knew they were roughly that same age, just raised up on different planets. ¡°I think we can all agree that Bob is far too useful to the war effort helping to direct the legion,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Thanks to him, we have been easily able to counter anything that has appeared. Luckily, we didn¡¯t really need to worry about that as they¡¯re all well. Let¡¯s talk about the other problem I have. Yesterday, what am I advanced scouting platoons went up against something that resembled fortified positions?¡± A gasp went over the group. ¡°We were about twenty spans away from the Kingdom? A real tough shot leads this squad. This leads me to believe that the fighting closer to the kingdom may become more difficult.¡± ¡°If you ran into intelligent zombies that far up away from the capital, then maybe we need to speed up our movements. Nobody knows the range of the chosen control but-¡± Anthony said, turning to Bob. ¡°Sorry guys, I didn¡¯t get a quest,¡± he said. ¡°This is worrying. The last time we had to fight intelligent undead, they actually had a game plan coming in to attack us. Now? We¡¯re coming to attack them,¡± Finley said. ¡°If they had time to set up fortifications, then we might face some resistance.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to need siege weapons,¡± Valerie said. ¡°If we have to go through fortifications. If I was this death knight, I would use the walls and structures that the capital already had.¡± Anthony considered her words. There hadn¡¯t been a time at which they had had to fight the zombies as a group in a while. All the fighting that they had to do now involved a group of dwarves fighting a single undead one at a time. The legion repeatedly crushed them because of their lack of organization. This fresh development changed things. Now they would have to consider what the enemy knew and how to get around his fortifications. They had a lot going on in terms of raw firepower and they now had some manpower. They had judged that the capitol had at least hundreds of thousands of dwarfs, if not millions. If they could set up a roadblock or fortification twenty leagues away from the city, all the zombies inside that radius were under the thrall of that death knight. That was a lot of concentrated death and destruction. ¡°What do you think about setting up a network of fortifications starting?¡± Cedric pointed to a city just south of the place where the fortifications were up. ¡°Hey not for nothing, Commander Cedric, but how do you know exactly where this scouting party went?¡± Valerie said. ¡°This is a gigantic map.¡± ¡°The scout was a local, and he mentioned a tavern that I know. They passed by it and yeah, that is why I have them write this stuff down.¡± Cedric traced a line back from the spot to where one of his companies was operating. Those companies were to know that Charlie¡¯s been further from the capitol. If they had wanted to, they could have sent a portal from there back to the promontory staging area or all the way back to Sunderland where the rest of the legion were. It felt like a waste when there was a well-established system of delivering notes and supplies between the two places. ¡°You want us to get the early earth shaping extended all the way up there? We can do it. I mean, as long as you can support the two of them. Sonya and Sophie are glass cannons,¡± Bob said. ¡°They¡¯ll do it, but you better be damn sure. But you¡¯re ready to commit to this. Can we head around the Capitol region and see if there¡¯s another way in?¡± ¡°There are always the airships,¡± Finley said. ¡°Drop exploding stuff on them. Clear them out.¡± ¡°He is talking about bombing the city,¡± Bob said. ¡°Well done, Finley. You are officially over this as much as we are.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying that we have the airships now. Besides this one, the fleet is over there,¡± Finley said. ¡°When are you heading back to join us?¡± Anthony could feel Finleys gaze upon him. Someone had to work with the lizard folk tribes to recruit more people for the cause. There were other continents for them to visit. If this war continued on for much longer, they would be stretched too thin. They needed more, otherwise they would have a bit more than a thousand defenders trying to steamroll an entire continent. It was possible, but highly improbable. ¡°How goes the recruiting efforts, then?¡± Cedric said, turning to the elf. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose we can look to elvish communities abroad for help?¡± ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know of any,¡± Finley said sheepishly. ¡°But if I did, I would...¡± Anthony watched as the elf¡¯s expression went through a rage. ¡°You know where there are more elves?¡± Finley said. ¡°You might be surprised to know that it was going to be our next stop,¡± Cedric said. ¡°I have a full dossier on the dark elves?¡± ¡°How far are they from here?¡± Anthony said. ¡°They have an island that they operate out of, several hundred span away from here. They work closely with one of the tribes. I think they wanted us to quell a population of monsters on the interior of their island so that they could change some things. I¡¯ll have my historian look into it.¡± ¡°If we can capture the interest of another group, then we will be well on our way to reclaiming Noveria. I don¡¯t suppose you know any human or orc settlements, do you? No matter.¡± Anthony scanned the room. ¡°We are going to need to push on all fronts here,¡± he said. ¡°To that end, who wants some coffee?¡± 4- Three Finley''s barter skill had gotten to level six. It was a testament to the amount of wheeling and dealing that he had to do with the tribe. The fact that they had only made real contact with two of them so far and there were thirteen tribes meant that he had a lot of work in the future, but right now he had to focus on developing relationships. It was a rare time when all of the tribes would get together to talk. "I''ve only seen it once," Steve said. "Representatives from every tribe were sent to the Peace Turtles to keep the peace. The hardest thing they had to agree to was when the next meeting would take place and where because the Peace Turtles are the most equidistant." The continent of Sunderland was long, but eventually it ended on either side giving way to ocean. The two furthest tribes to the east and west had circumnavigated the globe and found out that they could make their way across the rift. The distance was far, but there was no other way to get to the southern hemisphere except for heading through hundreds of span of thick jungle. "So when is the next one going to be?" Finley said. "Too far in the future. You should be asking where." "I suppose it''s going to be here? This is close enough to the Peace Turtles that it makes sense. Especially if their people are coming from east and west far distances." Steve looked pleased. Of course he did. He loved getting in those little jokes and innuendos that led to better jokes. He was also committed to getting people on his side which is how he became fast friends with Finley. There was no faster way to an elves heart than to commiserate about how things were going. That or buying something from their shop, or in the most extreme case like Finley did basically hiring a shop full-time to work for him because they needed the meat and he had the connections. "Well, if it''s not going to be anytime soon, I''m not going to be worried about it. But us having an airship makes travel a lot easier and safer, especially if there are so many terrible lizards around as you think there are," the elf said, stacking another crate for the shipment. It felt strange. Stacking up crates of meat that were not going to be eaten where he was but it was needed on the front lines so he was going to do his best to get it out there. He wasn''t one of the children so he didn''t have to participate in the fighting anymore. It was both a relief and not the same time. He could do more for them just by doing what he had to do out here. Once they had enough supplies and land they could start farming and then he would make his exit back to his home continent. He might swing by the dark elves first though. "There are a lot of lizards. And when we don''t set up a city like this, they are more willing to head out to the beach to go catch some fish or any adventurers that have decided that their lives are not worth it anymore." Having only eaten the meat of the terrible lizards, Finley could only guess what that would look like. His best guess was that it would look delicious. He liked delicious things. Those sold well. But it was probably just his Tinker brain trying to remind him that before all this he was just trying to get better at selling, having failed so much. Tinkers didn''t have to pay for their wagons, but if he hadn''t had one handed to him, he probably would have been in arrears for a loan to an orcish accountant somewhere. Then he remembered how many orcish accountants had died recently and his face returned to a mask. At that time, the gate opened up. Through the aperture, Finley could see a new area. "Hi Finley!" Sonya said, stepping through. "We''re coming straight from the front line here. My guys are hungry. Do you have anything for them?" It was not yet lunch time where Finley was but he had already prepared the meals for the two companies that were in the thick of it. "This right here is ready for you," He said pointing to four crates and a large pot. "Of course, he''s going to need to have a specialist move the pot because the stew is getting to that point where it''s almost ready to eat." Steve disappeared to the front and returned quickly with a barrel under each arm. His scaly arms couldn''t fully reach around either barrel so it looked a bit precarious. "Here are two barrels of water for you," Finley said as a handful of dwarfs stepped through the portal. He motioned to the barrels which were quickly picked up. "Do ye have another?" A bushy bearded dwarf said. Steve indicated for the dwarfs to follow him. The dwarf returned with two more full barrels. "I''m going to need the empty ones too. A pleasure doing business with you," Steve said. The dwarf grunted a reply before heading through the gate. "How''s the fighting going?" Finley said. "You know what I never expected? A trained group of soldiers without any classes. It''s like some of them only have a card or two. Sure, they''re good cards but I expected them to all have like a warrior class or something like that. Turns out only some of the more veteran ones could afford those things." Sonya took a mug out from beneath some of her robes and walked over to Finley''s personal water supply. She poured herself, a mug, drink it, and then filled her mug again. "We really need to figure out how to get more beer into production," she said. Sonya, having been very pale when he met her, supported a deep tan underneath her brown mousy hair. That accented her full sleeve tattoos on both arms. Those tattoos were on full display as she flaunted her sleeveless mage robes that sat over a pair of hospital scrubs. She was from some far northern province on earth where they took the cold seriously. "Aren''t some of the dwarves locals to Gloucester?" Finley said. "They would know where to find more of those small breweries." Finley was itching to find a brewery where he could just sit for a few hours safely. Sure, he was safe in the lizard folk lands, but they did not cater to the specific needs of the more humanoid races. Everything was meat and complimentary of meat. Only small group of humanoid merchants in town where able to commiserate with him. "I''ll put a call out for the location of a brewery. We''re going to have to seize the beer before everyone else shows up and tries to drink it dry. These soldiers have already done that to two breweries and I just hadn''t thought to mention it to you." The nature of soldiers everywhere was to drink. The natures of these specific soldiers was to drink him out of any ability to stock up beer. If he was able to get any, it would disappear faster than the Steve''s meat did. This meant that though he was able to get some things to keep the army moving, the things that they really wanted they couldn''t get. He could take care of the needs pretty easily. "Any chance we can get some beer?" A dwarf loading a crate into his arms said.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. "We''re fresh out. I''m sorry," Finley said. "It''s okay." The dejected dwarf carrying a large crate of meat. "It''s tough when you can''t get the thing that they want," Finley said. "We''re not going to win this based off of beer alone," Sonya said. "It just helps with morale. And yeah they are killing their countrymen but... This is about as tame as we can get. Killing a man or a dwarf...It just feels unnatural now. Like it''s become commonplace." Finley nodded. She sounded like she was in a venting mood so he wanted to let her have that. "Have you ever thought about it? Just like how many we''ve killed? We all had families and hopes and dreams before they became zombies and now they are a more." She got a little choked up. Dwarves moved about her. He knew that she was holding the spell open for them and would probably do so for about five minutes before she needed to take a break. That she could hold the gate for so long was ridiculously overpowered in his view. Just the amount of strength to talk to hold the gate open for a minute- that felt like an unattainable goal. "Why would we not feel terrible about this? It''s like it takes away from you to kill somebody. But the thing that it takes away you never get back." "That is a little real for lunch time," Finley said. "Sorry to just dump it on you right there. I know we were talking about beer and I got a little bit carried away. I''m just... I''m ready. Take a break from all this." Her mind was definitely not in it. With activities ramping up now that they were moving troops forward to the battlefield and moving the battlefield around? All to try and get a look at the Irumian Capital? All the Chosen had been asked to go to the front lines. This meant that they didn''t really have a break like they used to when they were just taking the Caravan around. Even Anthony, the leader of the Chosen, had to ground the airship and hand over control of it to the seventy sixth legion so he could set up a field hospital. The illusion that they had of time to rest had quickly and been dashed. Travel time had dropped to zero. "Where are you headed to next?" He said. She sighed. "I''m headed to the Peace Turtle land. At least I''m going to be able to take a break there because they''re going to have to assemble a full platoon to send through. I might be strong but I can only do this holding open the gate thing a couple times a day. They have Zan moving troops around the front lines all over. She''s also relaying reports from the four commanders back. And then once the reports have come then she has to take the orders back to the three companies so they can adjust what they are doing and... It''s just a lot." Finley blinked several times. She had the card, which meant that she was going to have to do a lot. Zan''s ability to learn the gate spell had done a lot to alleviate the groups burden. Of course, this just meant that they could do more with more once the dwarves figure out how to employ their powers. Valerie had already been working them nearly to the bone regularly. "Cedric and Valerie are doing this to you guys aren''t they?" He said, completely knowing the answer. She shrugged. "She''s good. I''m afraid of getting a skill up now that will enable me to do more between the defense walls and the gates...then Valerie will find out and ''optimize'' me." "I too live in fear of the coming optimization. Damn dwarves always trying to get more out of people. Ah it looks like that is the last box, then. I don''t suppose you can stick around for a bit longer? It''s getting a little silly here is all and I miss you guys." "It might be the forced trauma bonding, but I miss you too. We all miss the easy life traveling across the continent. Still, duty calls." They embraced and said their goodbyes. Sonya would be back the next day and he was going to have to have more meat for them then. He regarded the camp beyond the gate. It looked like it needed a bit of work and he itched to join the dwarves. He didn''t want to fight, but he missed the camaraderie. The gate closed and the view of his home continent disappeared. There had been a bit of the smell of sweaty dwarf, something that he didn''t want to miss but it felt contemplative. "Hey boss," Tumble said, his snout poking out from behind the front door. "Tumble. Why are you here?" Finley said. "Checking the order for tomorrow," the lizard folk said. Finley found his desk with the requisition stamp on it with the official seal of the office of the legions commander. "Oh, well isn''t that interesting?" He said. "They''re asking for double rations tomorrow. Do you think that is possible?" Tumble shrugged. "I don''t know. I just get the meat. That''s what like two of the larger beasts, right?" "Based on the weight alone, yes. We''re going to need more boxes as well. Ah, they didn''t bring back the old boxes. Of course they didn''t. I gotta yell at them." Finley looked around. He had precious few boxes left. They had to be specially prepared. He had been looking to standardize the box sizes as he was working with whatever he could get his hands on. Well if they could ask for food, he could ask for them to return their boxes and get more. "Tumble do you have a lead on anyone who makes boxes in town? Know any wood workers?" The lizard folk purses his lips. He shook his head no. "How were the walls made, then?" "Card skills." "Of course. It would be card skills." "Ah. Then those cards must still be around then?" Finley said. "Unless the carpenters that had them died gloriously in battle," Tumble said. For a moment Finley realized that the young lizard folk had been serious. "Seriously?" He said. "Wait, what does the tribe do with cards when elders die? Especially soul cards." Tumble was great at combat. He and his brother were not great at planning long term. They had come to the caravan because they thought that they might make a quick study of their airship and make off with something valuable. They both learned a strong lesson that day about not crossing the Chosen. Both brothers has signed up with the Caravan of Blades company, acting as recruits to help out the larger campaign. As they were locals to the Yellow Tail tribe and the sons of the tribal chief, they had gotten the dubious honor of checking that the requested supplies arrived in a timely manner. They also potentially knew a lot about the political reality inside of the tribe. It seemed however, that they were not understanding some fundamental things about how cards got into circulation. "That... Uh....hmmm." "If you can''t tell outsiders, then I understand but most cultures pass down their cards." Tumble looked adrift. "How about I explain how things work for the Tinkers, and then you can tell me if that is how things work around here?" 4- Four "They''re doing what?" Anthony said. "Circling the city?" "No, encircling it," Valerie said. Anthony gave her a contemptuous look. He had been a father before and she was being the kind of kid that answered a question with a question. This was not a good look for the Princess General. The forward command base where all the Chosen had been shuffling in and out of was very close to the front lines. The fact that they even had front lines was a big change. They had been fighting zombies for almost a year by the time they were ready to approach the Capitol City. It was the first time that they were actually facing resistance and not immediately running away. Running away from zombies kept you alive. Although Anthony loved large earthen works that his girlfriend had put up all over the place, these zombies were not taking the bait. "They''re not dumb. They know what''s going on here. They''re planning something," he said. "Are cards fireproof by the way?" "Our airships aren''t even here yet and you''re already trying to deploy them?" Cedric said from across the table. It was that weird time in between meetings and receiving reports. When they had sent out the new guidance and were only waiting to hear back about requisition requests for the day. It would have been a good use of Anthonys time to go and shoot a bunch of holy magic bolts and get some target practice in. Unfortunately for him, and you''re constant stream of dwarfs head come by to get healed. Not enough for him to be constantly working on them, but enough that he couldn''t leave his post for too long. He missed his cabin and the airship that had been given to the seventy sixth legion in Sunderland. The Caravan would be getting its own airship refitted with all the lessons learned from Gloucester soon. They had really stripped out every single large sailing vessel. They could to use the wood for existing ships or to create floating platforms. "Coming through," One of the guards in front of the tent said. Two dwarfs came in with a stretcher. An animated dwarf yelled incoherently as they placed the stretcher on the ground. "We can Like I bloody told you guys. It''s nothing but a tiny wound and you had better. Let me go back to the front lines now....oh hey it''s a human...where did all of this blood come from?" Anthony knelt next to the wounded dwarf. An arrow had clearly pierced through at least two lobes of the dwarfs lung. Anthony, who had been a quick study of Dwarven anatomy was impressed at how much volume that dwarf could still muster when he had only had about half of his remaining air capacity. The shafts of the crossbow bolts or arrow had gone through his chest plate But did not reach through to the other side. Pulling apart the dwarves armor keep even as he complained, Anthony cast a diagnostic spell. It was amazing how fast he got an idea for the internals of the dwarf. "Hey guy, you could have died. If your friends told you to come here and see me and they had to strap you down to this stretcher as I see... They had to strap down all four of your limbs to get here?" The yelling stopped. The dwarfs looked up to Anthony and golfed. "I don''t want to die, Chosen." "Valerie, pull on three," Anthony said. Valerie got into position. "Nononono..." the dwarf said, closing his eyes. "One.... three!" Valerie pulled the crossbow bolt out of the dwarfs. Once she had it clear, Anthony compressed the dwarfs chest. He poured Mana into it to try to heal the wound. He would have words with whatever dwarf had done this. They were probably doing something and had a friendly fire accident. It took nearly a full minute for him to close up the door''s chest carefully putting it so that he wouldn''t be internally bleeding anytime soon. He nodded to Valerie. "Whoever did this to him, I need to see them now. I also need to see someone with the cleanse skill." The two dwarves next to him who had been carrying the stretcher had collapsed on the ground next to the now sedate dwarf. "Alright, was it one of you two that fucking did this?" Anthony said, standing up from his kneeling position. The two dwarves both looked at him, shell shocked. "Sir, you''ll pardon me," one said. "It wasn''t one of the legion." Anthony stared down the dwarf. There was only one other potential group that could do this and he was about to have words with them. "Which one of the Chosen did this?" He said narrowing his eyes and getting up to go. "Sir," be increasingly pale and frantic said. "It wasn''t one of ours." Understanding dawned upon Anthony slowly, like a subway train that wasn''t running express service. "Fuck."
Bob, Mork''s frontier fighter, had seen a lot in his day. He had been through the two financial crashes, the pandemic, and that was all before he had been invited onto reality television. It was safe to say that he had seen a lot of things in his time. This new development, however, where he was trying to find his footing bothered him. There were no mentors for his position. He was just doing the best he could and trying to make it work.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. So of course Mork, The guy to death had been very overbearing with his quests. It was almost like he wanted to get all the glory without including any of the other gods. He would never say it out loud for fear of being smited, but he did really want a break. Sonya got to talk to her. Patron and her patron spoke back. Sophie got to talk to her patron and her patron didn''t talk back. Mork gave cryptic messages and quests to do things that he would get special rewards from and that was about it. It wasn''t terrible but when he got a quest to kill five intelligent Undead and he wasn''t expecting any of them anywhere nearby, it gave him a small thrill. Quest defeat five intelligent Undead. Time limit 20 minutes. The fact that he had been given a quest meant that it was possible. The addition of a time limit meant that he might be walking into an ambush. Two months ago he would have scoffed at the idea of an ambush except from a death knight. Now he was afraid that he would be getting more and more ambushes. He was further afraid that it wasn''t going to be him receiving the ambushes. He at least could detect the zombies when they came by. Everyone else was kind of lost in the sauce. But it was the fact that he was able to detect zombies around him. They gave him the biggest fright. He could attack zombies within around 3 mi which is a large distance. He probably couldn''t run that far in that minutes, which meant something else was going on. He held up a signal for the scouts to halt. Then they all crouched in the under brush. If there really was an ambush, he did not want to walk into it. If they were going to bait him out, they were going to have to put in the work. Bob did not walk into ambushes lightly. "What''s going on? Bob? Quest?" Stella said. Behind Bob and Stella, twelve dwarves which he was pointedly not calling by any nearly trademarked names waited. Hi could of course call Stella Snow White whenever he wanted. "I got a quest. Kill five intelligent undead in less than twenty minutes. The problem is that I''m not detecting any right now. The quests have never triggered for something impossible. It''s always possible." "A twenty minute time limit and there are none in range?" She said. "Fuck where was that road?" The dwarf behind her pointed to a direction that they hadn''t traversed in a while. "What are you thinking, Stella?" He said. "I''m thinking that I''m in charge right now. Follow me." It took nearly five minutes according to Bob''s clock to get to the well worn road. They had been avoiding the roads, trying to head up along a dry creek bed. With Stella in the lead, Bob moved to her left side. He kept a distance far enough to shoot a crossbow bolt, but near enough to close the gap with his spear. Stella pass the word to get down and then Bob felt his pathfinder card ping. The zombies were moving fast, if his skill was an indication. Too fast to be on foot. They were heading in their direction, or perhaps just along the road. Of course they would take the road. Zombies didn''t worry about enlightened, they just kept moving, looking for food. Tapping Stella''s leg, Bob pointed in the direction of the fast approaching zombies. Then Stella held up the hand signal to prepare their weapons. Though they only had enough crossbows for half of the squad, each dwarf had gotten a master class in their usage. They were proficient in it. If you even had skills and those are the ones that generally carry the crossbows. Everyone else just carried extra bolts no matter what. As I waited it was clear that something was coming. I''m bothered here. A car rumbling down the road and he began to think about what it would take for a legion of zombies to figure out how to make carts work. They had to figure out how to get the zombie horses or regular horses to pull them along a road. Then they had to have enough intelligence for these things to work together. Then they had to find a road and go down it. I doubt they wouldn''t be able to make their own roads or their own carts so they had to do with what they already had. It was a chilling. Thought to think that they might be able to make their own cards at some point in time. As they waited, the sounds we were closer and was clearer and clear that the songs would be arriving with the wagon whenever it arrived. And that was when Paul got his first glimpse at the green tinted Undead horse pulling a cart with four zombies in the back. If it was one short, then he was going to be pissed. Stella gave the fire at will command. All along the outside of the road dwarves prepared card skills. Bob, Betty just crossbow aiming for one of the front legs of the horse and when it finally got into range, he used skill to shoot out and break. Its femur. At the same time. Six other crossbow wolves flew two of them striking true. Bob was already summoning his Eldritch card collecting summon. Even as the cart squeezed to a halt. Two zombies jumped out and brandished swords as they started approaching the cops of trees that they were hidden under. Faster than he thought they could go, they cleared the distance in between and Bob found himself loading another vault and shooting automatically like he often did. Did. Once again he aimed for a leg trying to forestall the zombies reaching him in any short time frame. He was able to easily kneecap his second hit, and it slumped down. Finding zombie lunged at the first dwarf online. My fist wasn''t fast enough to stop it and he could hear a terrifying crunch as it appeared the zombie was trying to to chew into the dwarves arm. As this dwarf was only about 20 ft in front of him, Bob took out his third and hopefully final bolt and then hit it straight in the head. As soon as he loos the bolt from his crossbow, he dropped it. His dwarven sling kept it on his back as he picked up his spear. Bob was the man who liked to watch horror films back on Earth, so he always did a double tap whenever he encounted a zombie. However, he was the most highly skilled in magical healing. So before he went to do his double tap, he was going to need to check on the dwarf that had lost a big chunk of flesh on his left arm. Bob was terrified to see that it looked like the zombie had been through to the bone. He thrust his spear through the zombies head and chest quickly before resetting and pushing man into the man''s arm. It wasn''t just the healing touch that he was trying to get. He was trying to get a regenerative healing so that regrow after he disinfected it. Disinfection was just one layer of the healing he was applying. "Tell to me straight, Chosen. Am I going to live?" He said, fear in his eyes. "Keep the faith, brother," Bob said. He found that unless he said to these guys a little less painful, it was when they would potentially die. As such, he had trouble whenever I wanted to introduce them to himself and tell him the life stories. Sure, he would listen to the last stories, what else would say to do in a long campaign, but it was hard when you knew somebody and they lost a big chunk of their arm. Arm. You felt what they felt along with them. "Thank you," was his response. Wasn''t he able to feel how much better it was without an open gaping wound that could turn into a zombie infection? Or was he just thinking about his own time. Bob and so far gotten out unscathed, but he felt like his luck was going to run dry soon. He could only do so much and he was becoming more and more important to the mission. "Get to the back of the pack. Get your spear up. You''re going to be heading home for a bit after this, no excuses. Common Sense has been chasing you but you''ve always been faster." Stella rolled her eyes as she came in to check on the door for self. She waved to the back of the squad. Short order, both Bob and Stella were able to double tap the zombies, ensuring that they wouldn''t have any surprises. Except for his birthday, probably hated surprises. Especially as a guy who made the cake, those were the worst surprises. Common Sense had been chasing him before and not getting to him, but now he was trying to be methodical leader and doing the best for the seventy sixth legion. "Well fuck they have fucking carts now and horses? This is getting ridiculous." He checked his quest card. "Hey! The horse is still alive!" He yelled. *Thunk.* "Thank you so much! Ooo, shiny!" 4- Five ¡°Hey Finley!¡± Gigi said upon his arrival back into the promontory. He was taking the day, swapping duties with Borgan and Song just to experience something that wasn¡¯t the sun beating down on him constantly. ¡°Hello my dear,¡± he said. They embraced, giving each other cheek kisses. ¡°It¡¯s so good to see you back here. A little birdie told me you needed an expert.¡± She smiled. The smell of fresh manure hit him as they exited the mansion that held the workshop and goat company. Several small goat sized buildings with fresh hay as a base surrounded a newly raised barn. ¡°You¡¯re all sleeping in the barn, I take it?¡± He said. ¡°It is that or having to keep dwarf form all night, which is... Well, it gets easier around level five, but it¡¯s a bit of a drain.¡± ¡°Most of the dwarves are at level five now, or greater, though?¡± Finley said. They moved to a series of raised garden beds. Where there once had been a packed dirt road, now beat rows of gardens took their place. Several of them were actively being worked on by dwarves. Two dwarves with wheelbarrows ran past them, their pace nearly frantic as they raced each other. ¡°Hey! Save it for the front lines!¡± Gigi yelled. ¡°Yeah, everyone has at least level four, but some of the ones that got their druid card last- they... it¡¯s like they had to get in sync with their cards.¡± Finley frowned. ¡°Power is power. What are you saying?¡± ¡°They had to adjust for the difference. Like they could stay in wild shaped form for longer, but their soul wouldn¡¯t let them.¡± They stopped in front of a raised bed of mushrooms. ¡°Oh, I can see the problem here,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re trying to take the mushrooms. They demand to be free.¡± Gigi looked at him, defeated. ¡°Alright, I know that the Goat Lord works in very mysterious ways, but what?¡± The raised bed had two half logs retaining the soil. Then, on either side, the earth sloped down. The design was fine if they were dealing with normal plants, but these were not normal. Finley tapped into the green, looking at the soil and the surrounding grass. The previous owners could afford to have a front lawn of an ornate non native plant. It was like spitting in the face of nature. Finley would never spit in the face of nature. ¡°You¡¯re trying to....¡± he said, searching for a metaphor that would resonate with the dwarf. ¡°Put beer into a wine cask.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± The mushrooms wanted to do their thing and Finley could feel a slight pressure. That pressure had to be the effect of the druids around the area, all trying to ¡®tend¡¯ to the garden. ¡°You¡¯re trying to tend this garden. You need to let this be wild,¡± he said. ¡°Mushrooms like this can¡¯t be penned in. You gotta give them some more space.¡± Gigi nodded. ¡°Alright. So...?¡± ¡°I can see what¡¯s happening here. You¡¯re all trying too hard. You need to try less hard here. Put your effort elsewhere,¡± he said. That was what the mushrooms were telling him. Of all the druid cards he had made, none of them were Spore druids like he was. He could tell that the little mound of mushrooms was straining against their imposition. He had heard of other plants that did this, like truffles. They would reject anyone trying to cultivate them. The rebellious plants were delicious, but rare. It was just like the plants that he worked with to decide they didn¡¯t want to do the thing he needed them to do. ¡°Do less? Yeah, we can do that.¡± ¡°What else is going on?¡± He said. ¡°You have something big to show me, right?¡± It hadn¡¯t slept since his notice that they were not looking down at Gloucester. The formerly sleepy Port City dominated the view beneath the promontory, but they just hadn¡¯t been there yet. Gigi had been leading him around by the nose. ¡°Let¡¯s go check out the new fleet,¡± she said. ¡°Or perhaps Armada is the right word?¡± As they crested the side of the promontory looking down, Finley smiled. There were several dozen airships in various states, all looking like they were ready for battle. Half that many smaller crafts were moving around. On the ground, even more carts were moving large wooden poles around, bringing them from a far off lumber yard. He could fully see a brand new ship taking shape in a small dry dock. This one looks to be nearly ready to fly or float. ¡°This is a new design. Once the war is over? They are all yours. I know you want to do your shipping empire and I thought you might set up shop here permanently once this is all done.¡± ¡°I have never been so proud,¡± he said. ¡°You have made me the happiest elf.¡± Several of his ships now sported a new design with sails that could be turned. The rough systems of pulleys and levers were now replaced by a more elegant design. ¡°Can we take a closer look?¡± Gigi flashed a pageant winning grin. Above her, several flags appeared all at once. The nautical flags all displayed a different combination of colors. It was their way of speaking far off. All the former goats in the goat company had a nautical card that allowed them to interpret and make these signals. One of the smaller skiffs turned towards them, displaying a response to her call.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Someone had been paying attention. Gigi was a duchess, after all. Despite making said cards, Finley could not understand any of the flags. He was societally the kind of person that wanted to stay firmly on land at all times. He would allow himself to be transported on an airship briefly, especially if it was one of the more contemporary designs that he was seeing, but he was done with being over water. The skiff came over. Finley was surprised to see that it had two people operating it. It had room for at least ten. ¡°May we come aboard?¡± Gigi said once it was ten feet above them. ¡°Please enter, your grace,¡± a dwarven voice said, dripping with sarcasm. They flung down a rope ladder. Gigi ascended, followed by Finley. He was always surprised at how solid and the airship felt anything down. He understood that ships were solid and that he was in on top of one, but also he was in the air. The dwarf at the helm released a gout of flame, causing the skiff to ascend upwards. ¡°I¡¯m just showing our elf friend here what¡¯s going on,¡± Gigi said. He recognized the dwarves as being part of the original thirty that had been transformed from zombies into goats. They were the same enlightened that had been given a druid card that he had made. It had come at a great cost, but every single one of them was now a goat who could wildly shape into a dwarf. They did it a lot. This had been so worth it. ¡°So we¡¯ve been wondering about getting some specialty cards made,¡± Gigi said. ¡°There are a lot of things that we need to do and we¡¯re the only one overworked artificer. We have a bottleneck that is causing us to slow down. He can teach people it, but we only have that one.¡± Artificer was a very rare class to begin with and the fact that one of the Chosen picked it meant that anyone else with the class card would be able to learn from a master. Andrew, the dwarf that had been summoned from another world, had been working around the clock to create the blueprints and plans for siege weapons that would take the undead down as fast as possible. But he was only one dwarf and if he went down, they would lose so much. They flew around a bit, circling to get a sense of what was going on. Finley was happy to see that it moved smoothly. The normal feeling he got of needing to vomit had disappeared. He saw the new lines of the earthen walls that now made a maze into the port city. Several groups appeared to be clearing out houses to load trash into carts, as he saw one dumping loads of trash into a large pot on the western side of the city. ¡°That bridge is new,¡± Gigi said. A crack running down the center of the city separate east and west. It had been shaped and formed up by the Chosen to fill a pool of water north of the city. A brand new foot bridge wide enough for the carts stood there, defiant and new, leading from the burned half of the city to the half that had been saved from the black flame of a dragon attack. ¡°That looks like an expert made it, though I can¡¯t see much from here,¡± he said. ¡°One of the dwarves from the legion is a master carpenter. He has been helping us with the buildings. Fox company, the support company all works out of the city. They¡¯re clearing it for the rest of the legion to camp out. I guess it isn¡¯t camping though if they¡¯re sleeping there.¡± ¡°The word you want is garrisoning, your grace,¡± the fire bending dwarf said, winking. ¡°Ah yes. This will be the garrison headquarters,¡± she said. ¡°We are expecting to have to house and feed them all. Can you touch down or hover next to the new mess, please?¡± The pilot grunted. They stopped a bit north of the bridge where a plot of land large enough for a city block had been razed. The Tinker wagon that had joined their retinue so long ago sat there next to a large tent. Finley knew that it was where the fox company would run its operations, shifting the necessity supplies around from a central location. ¡°We cleared this a while ago,¡± she said. ¡°The black flames are all gone. Because it¡¯s centrally located and next to the bridge,bridge, we are going to put the kitchens and mess here. Andrew is dropping a gate framework here. This is where we¡¯ll be putting the first of the new permanent buildings.¡± The piles of lumber across the way gave it away. The spot they had picked was large. ¡°Water from the lake, I presume?¡± He said. Gigi nodded. ¡°If you put... A pipe from here to there it will be easier to fill up a tank and...¡± Finley thought it through. ¡°You¡¯re going to need someone with a cleanse skill, aren¡¯t you? Clean is a common card. I think the problem is that it gets snapped up quickly and no one wants to give it up.¡± Gigi shrugged. She pointed out a few more things before they were one again airborne. ¡°I need to come by more often, but...¡± ¡°But we need you in Sunderland,¡± she said. ¡°Everyone is doing the most that we can. You especially have a role to fill. Heck, we might be growing livestock here soon if the legion can swing it. Their camp followers are rumored to be bringing something special soon.¡± Camp followers were an integral part of a war expedition. Whether it was husbands bringing their wives, or fletchers making things, there were a lot of non-combat roles that needed to be filled by any available dwarf. This fell to the camp followers, a motley collection that follower the legion wherever they went. Some of them had even made their way back to Noveria, settling into houses in Gloucester. They passed by a pub on the east side of the port city. ¡°Hold on, is that an open pub?¡± He said, looking down at a building on the north side of the city. ¡°Ah yes. That is the pub that I used to work at,¡± Gigi said. ¡°It¡¯s mine now. And it¡¯s the only game in town. Would you like-¡± ¡°Yes!¡± They got unloaded right nearby, Finley supremely pleased to be back on firm ground. A group of pleased dwarves sat outside, despite the midday sun, their full mugs tempting Finley. He wanted to drink, but he was more than ready for the company of his people. Tumble and Fen were fine as companions, but they hadn¡¯t been through what he had. He identified several members of goat company that had gone through the long journey with him. ¡°The duchess!¡± One said, raising a mug. ¡°Welcome, your grace!¡± The group of about ten dwarves raised a mug each. ¡°Thanks guys,¡± she said. ¡°They do this every time I drop by, despite me living upstairs. It started getting weird when the legion did the same thing. Now the joke of me being a duchess has transformed into like... Me actually being in charge.¡± ¡°I feel like this is going to be excellent for your career,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re a real dwarf of the people.¡± They entered the pub. Someone had put a lot of love into the decor and it looked like it had been cleaned to a specific standard that hadn¡¯t been reached yet. It was a breath of fresh air to step inside the pub. An atmosphere that he hadn¡¯t encountered for what felt like years hit him. This was what he was missing. It was the people all along. Through his travels with the Tinkers, he had met so many people and really bonded with them. Sonya had said that there was no bond mile a trauma bond, and he knew that everyone in there had lost someone. He had lost everyone. ¡°Finley? Are you crying?¡± Gigi said. ¡°No, it¡¯s just... I got some dust in my eyes when you opened the door. I¡¯m just so happy to be inside of a real pub.¡± ¡°Finley, so many people owe you so much because of your connection to the goat lord and how you saved Anthony and Bob way back when,¡± she began. ¡°I know that we are far from completing the important work, but I think that we need to stop from time to time and recognize how far we have come. As such...¡± She motioned to a large painting above the bar. It displayed a picture of a Tinker wagon on the promontory over the city that they were in. ¡°We can¡¯t just survive. We have to thrive.¡± He inspected the painting, moving up close. He just stood there for a long time. It had been a long time since he had seen art of any kind. The Yellow Tail tribe was particularly allergic to any kind of aesthetic save for statues of strong, muscular heroes of the people. They had an entire park of female heroes in the center of town, made out of worked stone. But this? ¡°This is beautiful,¡± he said. ¡°This is what I have been missing.¡± ¡°You¡¯re always welcome at the Duchess¡¯s.¡± 4- Six Sonya embraced Anthony, kissing him with abandon. Then she just as quickly departed. ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon, my guy,¡± she said, disappearing through yet another portal. A squad of soldiers followed her. He ached to follow her. There had been so many times recently when she was called on to get another squad into position. The map of the area surrounding the Capitol showed a half circle of entrenchment around the already large city. There were even two purple sections that showed the intended place for the next companies to finally deploy. Every time the Chosen went out, they brought at least a squad of ten dwarves. A sergeant led each line of ten dwarves. There were ten lines in each company. Anthony had been rotating through brave company lines when he wasn¡¯t working in the field hospital. Today, he was going to see what the front lines looked like, and hopefully get some target practice in. The sergeant assigned to him, Samantha Ginko, had been up his ass all morning, like a child waiting for ice cream. He thought of his two boys and how they were. ¡°Sergeant Ginko!¡± He said, nodding to the middle-aged dwarven woman. ¡°Good to see you, Chosen,¡± she said. ¡°I heard them calling for a nanny service today, so I¡¯m here to ferry you to the front and back.¡± ¡°Ah, but you¡¯re too kind,¡± he said, bowing. The dwarf stiffened as if attacked. He drew in a sharp breath of the area, wishing that he had that clean spell that several of the caravan had gotten once their spell casting got to level five. His own card skill had only just reached level four. Perhaps it was lack of him being in actual combat and just using it to heal. Or maybe it was a lack of things to heal when he was presented with the opportunity. Either way, he had to find an attack magic that he could use. When everyone else had picked a fighting class, he had picked a cleric. They had made him the leader. He had argued against it, but then if he hadn¡¯t, they would all be listening to Bob. They still listened to him, but he was there in more of an advisory capacity. Sergeant Ginko wanted to be a leader. He could feel it. For that reason alone, he respected her. She asked a lot of her soldiers and they both loved and respected her for the difficult thing that they all had to do. This meant that whenever he could, he would do things to make them smile. Things like him bowing to the Sergeant when she should have saluted him. ¡°Sir, you and I both know that isn¡¯t appropriate, and I am tired of your antics,¡± she said, sighing. ¡°I¡¯m here for you, Sergeant Ginkgo,¡± he said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be here unless you needed me.¡± ¡°Be that as it may, please don¡¯t make me add to the list of things that I¡¯ll be taking up with the Princess,¡± she said. ¡°The princess general,¡± he said. ¡°Did she tell you I trained her?¡± ¡°She has yes,¡± she said. ¡°She also said that you were a midwife and haven¡¯t been married here and that she isn¡¯t against making you get into marriage to strengthen political ties.¡± She came in really close and breathed into his face. The warm breath smelled of beer and meat. ¡°And I just so happen to be the last living daughter of a Baron, so watch out or this living situation could become more permanent.¡± ¡°But,¡± he sputtered. ¡°I have a girlfriend!?¡± ¡°She can come too. I¡¯m not above having a mistress or my consort having one.¡± Anthony gulped. She was threatening him with marriage if he didn¡¯t stop his antics. He would stop. ¡°I¡¯ll stop. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°All right now, stand and salute me,¡± she said, standing up straight and tall. They saluted each other in the manner of the dwarves. The right fist to the chest clenched and then dropped. ¡°Sergeant Ginkgo reporting for duty. Sir, the front lines need you.¡± ¡°Understood Sergeant. Let¡¯s go.¡± Behind them, the fifth squad of Brave company formed up as they moved out. The dusty dirt kicked up, marking a spot where many feet had tread. They exited out the company area, following a line of dwarves that we¡¯re moving in and out. His drop-off point wasn¡¯t that close to the front line. Intentionally, the company leadership kept himself close to the lines, and that was where Sonya had to appear. It was a few days before any of the Eric ships would be battle ready, and it was Anthony¡¯s last chance to scope the battle lines out and see if there was anything they could do differently. It took them nearly an hour to reach their intended spot. The smell of sweat and piss permeated the area despite their hard work trying to get it to disappear. It had to have been a while since one of the Chosen had come through able to cleanse the area. ¡°We¡¯re doing a quick check of the perimeter,¡± Sergeant Ginkgo barked. ¡°Volunteers to hit the top of the wall?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Four hands went up. ¡°Alright, anyone who didn¡¯t raise a hand, you¡¯re up top. Let¡¯s go. Move like you mean it.¡± Anthony found the vine made ladder and climbed up after the first pair of dwarves. It would do him no good to show up and miss all the fun. Once they were up, a secondary wall about his height was on the far side of the wall. Every ten feet, there was enough room for a dwarf to fire a bow from. Even though he had seen the wall, he still marveled at how fast it had gone up. The great wall of the Iru, they had called it, as it would eventually envelop the entire capital if they kept going. Thankfully, the ladder wasn¡¯t directly against one of the dwarf sized slots. When they came up, there was a little of a break there. A soldier took every third or fourth slit up. Every so often, they would move. He found a spot. Anthony peered out of the little bow sized window and decided that it was going to take a shot or two. The zombies had brandished weapons. Previously, I haven¡¯t thought that they could not do so and so she coordinated the Manor, but they had proved a lot of their previous rules were no longer working. Sure, the zombies outside of this region where the normal dumb zombies and those efforts to clear those towns continue downwards, but these? These zombies were unequivocally planning something. And it was right in front of their eyes. They had dug a trench. Anthony could see that the trench was high enough for the zombies to hide behind, and every so often, he could see a fair bit of movement. He didn¡¯t know what they were going to be doing. But he could see a pair of bean eyes. Looking at him. Anthony raised his hand side of town under his arm as if it was a gun and then fired a holy bolt. His aim was true, and the zombie kicked its head back. This began a flurry of movement as several zombies rose out of the trench and attempted to charge the wall. Luckily enough for him, several of the soldiers that were on duty had ready to bows and had helped him with his small project. Of course, he wanted them to take all the kills. So what he did was shoot as many as he could. He was trying to level his fill casting skill, and he had half a mind to not leave until he had gotten to the next level. He was so close to getting clans. He could taste it. Or rather, was at the fart of the one in the door that just passed him? Yeah, that was one fart. He could smell it and taste it, and it was disgusting. ¡°I know who just passed by and farted, but you need to get more fiber in your diet,¡± he yelled. He continually shot holy bolt after holy bolt. He took aim more and more, focusing on the intent of using his spell casting. Every time he fired, he was casting a spell. He knew this, and he needed the car to know that. And every time that he cited down it, he was using his card skills to cite and shoot the enemy. So, of course, with his intent, he might get to a solution faster. He didn¡¯t know what was going to happen next, but he sure as heck was going to keep firing. In about five minutes, zombies stopped coming up over the trenches. That had been dumb of. But now Anthony was bringing one tool that Android had made for him out. He cited down the small tube and adjusted it a bit. Satisfied that he was ready, he dropped a moat of magic in. Then he activated it with a slight touch. There was a small squishy explosion as the tube shot out his mote of mana at rabbit speed as it arched up into the air and down into the trenches. He had turned a set of piping into an artillery piece. His first shot went a little farther. He took a second to adjust the angle. His second shot went a bit too close. He realized that he¡¯d over corrected. He lined the tube correctly and shot off a shell of magical artillery. He wished there was some sort of whistling noise or as something to show that his Mana had just flown into the enemy lines. Now that he finally gotten it into what I wanted, he needs to adjust it to hit a wider area. He did a double drop of Mana into the pipe. He positioned it and threw another two shots. Behind him, he could feel the eyes of the sergeant as he continued to lay waste to the fortifications that the zombies hadn¡¯t thought to reinforce. He could see that he was doing damage. He could also see that with every shot, he would clear an area just because it was holy magic that he was using. He was so clap at that point to have a divine blessing that had pulled him into this world. Of course, his use of the blessing likely differed from what the goddess intended. There was no way that the goddess had nominated Sunderland to get a legion of working dwarves to come back and combat the Undead ones before they begin their sweep of the continent. Or maybe she had wanted to do exactly that. He didn¡¯t know. All he knew was that he landed on Finley¡¯s lap, and from that moment, they had been working towards this day. It was the day that they would take the death knight inside the Irumian Kingdom seriously. Anthony was ready to take it out himself. Now what? He had to give the air shifts the time they needed to arrive. They would be especially good. Having airships would establish air superiority. I guess a ground-based foe. I had seen neither hide nor here of the dragons. He was absolutely certain that the flesh fever was going to be creating more dragons. It¡¯s an important time, but I just hadn¡¯t reached them yet. With all these new tools, though, he was going to make a dent in the perimeter out of the intelligent undead. Anthony moved down the line. He could find several spots where he didn¡¯t have to do much adjusting on the pipe. He just put his Mana in and shot him out. In this way, he was surely had killed at least 20 before he moved on to a state location. Sergeant Ginkgo was still sitting behind him and washing him through all this. She didn¡¯t say anything, but he was pretty sure that if she didn¡¯t have to be on the war footing, she wouldn¡¯t even be here. Anthony had to really dig into her. The individual members of the legion had stuck around for so long. Why? Presumably out of a sense of honor. Although it could be something else. In the back of his mind, he was thinking about how they were going to replace the population of a kingdom of hundreds of thousands of dwarves. If not millions. It was going to take a lot of fucking and child rearing. ¡°Sergeant Ginkgo, again, I know that this might seem odd, but have you ever thought about having children? Understand that this is not me propositioning you.¡± She stared at him slack-jawed, as if someone had asked her to give him a piggyback ride into the center of the Capitol. She would have done it, no doubt, but she would have grumbled internally the whole time. ¡°I don¡¯t have any kids. I don¡¯t really want any kids. But again, I am looking for a husband if you know anybody. And I¡¯m not too picky, especially if I get my Baroness position,¡± she said. ¡°I would have to be in a great position to have a child.¡± ¡°Do you know how many women are in the legion?¡± ¡°Off hand? No, I don¡¯t. Maybe two or three hundred? That¡¯s a very specific question. Why you ask me that?¡± Anthony dropped another holy bomb into the trenches that the undead had set up. He was blanketing it with his holy Mana one foot at a tie. He would keep doing it if he really had to. He knew that he just really want to anymore. ¡°I think that there¡¯s going to be a problem if none of you have any children. Unless there are some dwarven enclaves somewhere that I¡¯ve not been tracking, I¡¯m going to assume that that means that not only are you one of the few that could have children, you¡¯re probably going to be asked to do. Otherwise, you won¡¯t have a population soon.¡± ¡°And when you say replace us? I think you¡¯re...¡± She looked off into the distance. Then she grabbed him with both hands and shoved him to the ground. He was so surprised that he didn¡¯t even react, just following sacked potatoes. Then, she set up like a potato mash. ¡°Maybe we should talk about what¡¯s going to happen to Dwarven society after we save the Dwarven capital city. Do you think we could do that? Anthony?¡± 4- Seven Small bits of loose debris pounded up into the air and causing cloud after cloud is Anthony kept at it. As he moved in one direction every so often, the clouds would slowly follow him. It was like a slow-moving fart. If it had been a fart, Anthony smiled because when he was almost full of mana, he got a notification that his divine spell casting had finally reached level five. He itched to check it, but this wasn¡¯t the time. He was going to need to hit his daily quota today before he disappeared. Then he would have a nice walk back to the company area while his mana recharged. ¡°Sir, you are needed over there,¡± Sergeant Ginkgo said. ¡°We¡¯ve got a situation.¡± Apparently not content to just be fired upon without returning fire, a group of zombies were now trying to ram one of the earthen walls. That was when he noticed the shaking. He had been focused on firing round after round into the trenches. Now? He should have taken stock of the full fight. Had he known, Anthony probably would have vomited. A large group of undead was taking a battering ram into the wall. Several groups next to them were setting up ladders to scale the wall. Something perplexed Anthony. The legion had a lot of archers nearby. Why weren¡¯t they doing anything? Aside from a few glancing shots, nothing was happening. Were they not taking this seriously enough? He needed to know. ¡°Why aren¡¯t the archers doing anything right now?¡± A wave of card skills rolled down from the top of the wall into the zombies. Two large fireballs exploded onto the battering ram. There was no door for them to batter down, so why would they... ¡°Sergeant, pull the troops out!¡± He yelled, frantic. His only hint of what was to come hit him straight in the chest. These zombies worked with a purpose. They never sacrificed themselves. ¡°What? Retreat! Full retreat!¡± Her voice was so much louder than his. He had to believe that she had card skill doing the heavy lifting. The word was yelled down even as he saw it happening. The battering ram was abandoned. All the undead scattered save for one large, bloated one. It took about two seconds. He felt the immense pressure to lie down as a whole section of the wall exploded. It hadn¡¯t been a battering ram. It had been a battering bomb. The shock wave caused his ears to pop and go silent and all he could hear was the slight whine of what he assumed was universal background noise. Bits of dwarves flew as the undead claimed land from the living once again. The horde waiting behind the hole in the wall rushed to the front in the confusion. Anthony held his ground as the fifth squad centered around him. The wall was wide enough to support all of them easily, letting two dwarves fight side by side. They had work to do. His ears popped as they healed. The damage from being so close had to have been severe. Anthony cursed that he had spent so much mana firing death into his enemies. He wanted more to push into any wounded. There would be casualties, but he could stem the bleeding. It was time to pull out his spear. He could feel his card skills pull him into the right form. He was rusty. It was time to knock off some of that rust. The squad formed around him, a phalanx, as they moved to close the hole. He quickly identified five zombies doing most of the work. He activated his water bending card and moved with the flow. Then his goblin commander card came to the fore as he prepared those around himself with an aura spell. Two things happened at once. He fired both with his off-hand into the largest zombie, and another closed ranks with them. Sergeant Ginkgo brought her sword to bear, moving as if she was dancing. The zombies that had made it to the top of the wall fell to her attacks. Every step in her move was like a beat of a drum, and rank Anthony could almost hear it. She was playing a rock and roll song in her mind, based on the tempo alone. She drove her sword through the zombie¡¯s chest, then hit a second one off to one side with the blunt edge of her sword. Her second dispatched it. Anthony fired another shot. Then he was in it. The beautiful thing about spears was that you could be close enough to hit your enemy, but they still would need to close a gap. His spear drove through the chest of first one, then another zombie. He let his water bending card take over the martial aspect of his fighting. The spear cut through the water as it pushed back the tide. ¡°There¡¯s too many of them!¡± Sergeant Ginkgo said. ¡°Slow retreat! Don¡¯t let them cut us off!¡± Behind them, more living dwarves were running to seal the breach. He could hear the faint call of a horn. ¡°That¡¯s the general alarm! Hold the line!¡± The wall above was looking like a better option the longer they stayed there in the breach. Until and unless a pile of zombie bodies hit the ground there, Anthony was going to keep the high ground. Anthony rolled up his leaves and did what he did best, keeping the doors around him safe and alive. Alive! He fought on for a while that way, losing track of time.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The only time he stopped was when his mana needed to be topped off. Then he would head back in to get a few jabs. It was when Sergeant Ginkgo finally rested that he felt safe. They are trail rations right there over the bodies and he realized with a start that someone was going down the line checking in people. It was probably the Brave company commander, as this was his group. He groaned, sitting through the bodies. Anthony did not envy the man at all. The only good thing was that the man kept moving down the line. Even if one dwarf had died, what would he do? Write a letter to their family? All the dwarves¡¯ families were dead, so far as he knew. They had talk of a memorial wall or something, but Anthony did not know about the little details. Someone would tell him. When they wanted him to show up. It was almost like they were not going out of the way to include him, but just letting him know that his service was not needed. He appreciated their candor, but he really wanted to be in the center of things. It wasn¡¯t for another hour until another Chosen shot up to relieve him. This time, it was Brianna. He went down to talk to her about the situation and once she was satisfied with what he said; she let him go. He was going to have to go back to talk to Cedric about this. --- ¡°What I don¡¯t understand is why we can¡¯t do something like have a cell phone or something like that. I know it¡¯s magic and all, but can¡¯t. We have like a message spell or a send Expo? Something to let us talk to each other from a distance. It¡¯s anathema to travel if we just send messages, but...¡± ¡°But on back Earth, that¡¯s what you did. Here, we don¡¯t have every little convenience just laid out for you.¡± The goddess again appeared to Sonya as if she was trying to find a way to skip a class in school, without it reflecting on her grades. She also looked like she had read the student handbook back to front several times to avoid many specific situations. ¡°I¡¯m just saying that if you can make a new spell like that, I would appreciate it.¡± ¡°While it is true that. I need a way.. I hate to sound like I am ungrateful... But the next death knight is right there. Come on.¡± Sonya shrugged. She didn¡¯t really have much of control over what¡¯s going on in the big picture. She definitely did have a good control over what was happening in the small picture, even though after what she was doing with carrying people around back and forth all day and night. But only so much. She was tired of the got us trying to tell her what she could and couldn¡¯t do. She had something very attainable that all she needed was a little of sign off on. It¡¯s just the goddess that wants to give her it. He wanted more integration with their cards, which is despite being great. Cards were still new to her, especially the minute changes. All she really wanted was something to talk to the rest of the Caravan from far distances. If there was a spell, she could learn it. But it seemed like there was no such Stella. So the next best thing was to ask the gods for them to create a spell. If it just created it, they might give it to one of her people. ¡°I need it. Or something like it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t kill the death knight unilaterally. I can¡¯t even get too close. I¡¯m constantly surrounded by people that are trying to protect me. It¡¯s stifling. I presume you don¡¯t have the same problem.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m just a little guy doing little God shit when you¡¯re not here. You know we talk about you guys, right?¡± Sonya nodded. ¡°I assumed so. How else would we get you guys to gossip about the Chosen?¡± ¡°Well, you don¡¯t make it easy. They can only watch you have sex so many times before we kind of get bored with it. But you¡¯ll be a place to know that I can get you the other thing that you¡¯ve always wanted.¡± ¡°Is it true? You¡¯re going to get me a puppy?¡± ¡°If you do what I asked you to do, then yes. And this ties into the other thing. I¡¯m going to be taking over airships as part of overlaying travel, so it¡¯ll be easier for you to cast bills on top of one. This isn¡¯t me trying to not do it anyway, but just think of the possibilities.¡± Sonia was already playing through some possibilities in mind. Luckily, she had been all over the wall once it had been created, and she had done her best to make it look really nice. Then they had threatened her boyfriend. No one got to threaten her boyfriend and live. She was already planning a revenge tour against that particular death night. She was thinking about how it would look if she had just started causing an earthquake over the large area of the Capitol. There were several reasons they didn¡¯t just bomb the shit out of it. The first being that they were sentimental about it and the second being that every single dwarf inside of the city had a card. They would miss out a lot. That didn¡¯t even consider all the potential card shops they could raid. There were also the dwarves that had a full deck inside of their souls. These were things that legion was going to need. If they were calling, to have any staying power. It was going to be an uphill fight to have them take on the other three nations¡¯ zombies, but it was going to be a necessary evil if they want to survive. They only had a handful of dwarves by comparison, so every little helped. ¡°I thank you for your kind wisdom, Kara. We will begin attacking the death knight in earnest shortly.¡± ¡°I should hope so. It¡¯s what I¡¯m paying for you to do, anyway.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re going to pay me to do this, I am demanding a raise. Because this is so hazardous that it might as well be a suicide mission.¡± ¡°The best they can offer is to double your pay.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not paying me anything. Oh...¡± Sonya came out of the ritual trance with the same spirit that she had gone in with. Today was the day that the airships were going to hang out on the outskirts of the city. They had made several large changes to the cannon design, so they get my roof out of it. Andrew, the artificer, was especially proud about design and let them concentrate several cannons in One direction, letting him fire three cannibals at once at the same target. It felt like overkill to Sonya, but boys and their toys make things strange. She made her way up to the bedroom to see that Anthony was still napping. The pace at which the airships were being pushed out had shocked him. He wanted the death knight going as much as she did, but they do they had to set the good example. He didn¡¯t just rush into a battle with an enemy that had started fortifying things to a ridiculous degree. Even if you knew exactly where the enemy was, you didn¡¯t just charge right in. You had to give them an assistant round of Ariel bombardment first. Otherwise, things would get kind of difficult. When he told Sonya about how he had been shooting motor rounds from a pipe into the trench that the undead had dug, she was skeptical. Then he showed her it in action. The pipe that he had been using had been rendered in her and he just taken it to show Andrew how it should work. He had updated the design. Now every single one of the airships had several of the indirect firing mechanisms attached on both sides so that the Chosen could use those alongside the cannons. Unless they were using fire mana, they could do damage without probably destroying all the infrastructure. Probably did a lot of heavy lifting. ¡°Are you ready for an airship ride?¡± She said, waking him up with a kiss. ¡°If you¡¯re going to start my day like that? Yes, I am ready for whatever you want us to toss at me. Please tell me that includes you.¡± She laughed. ¡°Alright lover boy, let¡¯s have a little drink of something and then we can check if the final preparations are complete. I¡¯m so ready for these promised vacations you told me you were going to take. This is going to be a good one, I can feel it.¡± ¡°You have a good feeling about this? That¡¯s a bit much, given our track record.¡± It would have been easy for her to smother and there with his own pillow, but he just sat there and took her crushing pillow attack. 4- Eight The zombies stood in prepared lines, just like chickens wouldn¡¯t. Anthony and his group had prepared for the biggest assault that they had ever made. The legion had come alive with the possibilities, shifting seven infantry companies to the assault almost as fast as they could get on the ground. The legion kept one company in reserve; two others were still completing their contract with the Peace Turtle tribe. About one hundred Yellow Tail irregulars, a special request from Finley augmented them, working recruiting magic for once. Half of the chosen were to be dedicated to this, one on each of the seven airships that they had fabricated. More were going to be ready soon, but it was time. The amount of counter attacks had risen to an unacceptable level. Cedric had given the word, and that was it. Andrew was staying behind and had given them a few parting words of wisdom. As the only dwarf that had been one of the chosen, he occupied a special part within the Caravans ranks. Of course, when he named his creations, they all tried to be happy for him, but the flame flinger was only called so when he was around. Anthony was glad for those creations, no matter the name. As he aimed another shot into the crowd of zombies, all he wished was that he wasn¡¯t aiming something called a daddy pipe. This was, of course, an upgraded magical mortar launcher. ¡°Good shot sir!¡± Sergeant Ginkgo said. They could see the arc of the first volley as it went down. More than a dozen other shots went down, hammering into the enemy. The daddy pipe could aim and indirectly fire over barriers and walls. Using it as a magical mortar shotgun was just one of the many ways that the dwarves in the legion had improved its use. From where they were, it was easy to just take in the metropolis''s view and the exploding zombies. It was almost pastoral. Save for the twenty that had died in the wall breach, casualties had been few. ¡°Just keep an eye out for dragons,¡± he growled. ¡°And artillery.¡± Up by the bow of the ship, three dwarves lobbed grenades down to the ground. Their supply looked to be endless. Anthony actually had to aim to where they weren¡¯t going. That was when the zombies on the ground brought out some of their siege weaponry. Far from just staying put, the zombies swarmed to large trebuchets. ¡°Pull up!¡± Anthony said. ¡°They¡¯re aiming for us!¡± A counter attack of what had to be card powers came up to hit the airship. The ship rocked, causing half of the crew to need to hold on to something. ¡°Of course, now would be the time that they reveal that they have card powers that they have been using. That makes perfect sense. Stupid zombies and your stupid plans. I¡¯m thinking that Bob was right.¡± Anthony grumbled to himself as he looked for any zombies that were firing off card powers over them. Several streaks of black lightning passed by them as they banked right, then rose. It almost felt like no matter where they went, they could kill zombies. The ground was just covered in them. Once again, he was glad that this was a just post-dawn attack, so that everything was lit up. He could imagine the horror of trying a bombing campaign at night when the zombies could see them, but not the other way around, at least for the chosen. Some of them could see in the dark. But. The dwarves did not. Not without special card skills or training. Anthony assumed the position again and began feeding Moana into his direct mortar. Can. He pumped a few shots where the black lightning was coming from. He was going to get this one. No one threatened him and lived. Except maybe his girlfriend. And he had a soft spot for her. ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve got a situation,¡± Sergeant Ginkgo said. ¡°Lay it on me,¡± he said. ¡°I know we talked about dragons, but what about wyverns? How do you feel about wyverns?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s relevant, but they¡¯re also fine. If you see a wyvern, though, I would like to know.¡± She had his undivided attention all at once. He motioned for her to continue talking. As she did. She explained that he probably needed to check out the opposite side of the ship. He was not pleased to see several wyverns flying around. The Griffin Dragon mashups were also looking to be a bit undead. He tried to think about which area she was closest to and then he realized he didn¡¯t have to think. Some idiot was jumping out of in the airship with a grandpa hook and trying to wrestle a wyvern above a pitch battle. That would be Bob¡¯s ride. ¡°God dammit, Bob,¡± he whispered. ¡°Can we change voice to save his ass?¡± The word got passed up to the Captain and the ship real quick and made its way back. This ship lurched towards the wyverns and, of course, that was when Anthony¡¯s lunch made its displeasure known. --- Bob, Mork¡¯s helldiver, jumped out of his airship. He flung his grappling hook into the wyvern, getting purchase. He had really worked extensively on that skill, and it had paid dividends. The poem flew round an inch by inch. He climbed up it, getting close enough to duck out of the way of its talents. Bob was going to steal this wyvern and use it as a mount, but then he realized it was another Undead. That was not optimal. What would have been great? Would have been if he had made a friend. Why would it be friendship if it could not be your friend? What is the age of the question that he was trying to answer that day? He would have loved the small dog or even a small cat, but what he got was an eldritch beyond his own comprehension. It was going to be doing a lot of work soon. Once he could set it on the horde. It wouldn¡¯t kill them for him, but it would to extract their cards. And that was all that he did. The basis of extracting cards from beings was many a messy, fraught thing. No one likes it and people actually just liked you for doing it to someone who had spent a lot out of their care.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The wyvern banked, swinging him wide. He can already see two of the airships try to close with him, but the wyvern was more careful of turning on a dime. Or a slow-moving beasties that went why they wanted to but at someone else¡®s long slow pace. Inch by inch, Bob climbed off his rope, finding his way around the Wilder¡¯s talons. He had hoped to salvage something out of its relationship, but then it began diving with intent. This was one thing he recognized as potentially lethal about the zombie wyvern. He wasn¡¯t even sure if boyfriends were really a thing here. It looked like the animal had a couple together in spare parts. I also I got the more Buffet patchwork it looks like. He was going in hot. If he was going to dismantle these zombie dragons and wyverns, he was going to need to do it one at a time. Anthony had been holding him back for too long. He yanked on the wyvern and, unexpectedly; it shifted. Bob smiled. ¡°I¡¯m in the killing zombies business and business is good,¡± he said, finally understanding the wyvern. Things were looking up as Bob cleared the top of the wyvern. He pulled out his favorite knife and stabbed into the head of the wyvern. It screeched. He was so happy that he had some capacity to heal himself. His hearing went. He plunged the knife in deeper. --- ¡°You¡¯re going to have to do something about him, sir,¡± Sergeant Ginkgo said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe the shit that Bob has pulled and gotten away with so far.¡± ¡°Is he stabbing the wyvern in the head? The thing that he is flying? Is he... Okay?¡± she said. ¡°I think we need to have a long talk. I don¡¯t think that it¡¯s going to work really well.¡± The airship rocked again, bringing them back into the present. They were above a horde of intelligent zombies. She pointed to a group, and he tracked her movement before aiming it down. ¡°That looks larger than the average zombie,¡± he said. ¡°I think that I¡¯m going to focus on that one for a bit.¡± ¡°Carry us to victory,¡± she said. --- ¡°Is that asshole jumping off of the wyvern without a plan?¡± Sonya said. ¡°Actually nevermind that.¡± Sonya realized Bob was going to land in the center of a large group. ¡°Cara, we¡¯re going to need some help here,¡± she said, pulling deep. She could feel the earth far below them. She knew what she had to do. She just didn¡¯t know if she could do it again. She reached out, connecting the ground to herself and the airship. The ship swayed, anchored to the ground as she tried to anchor herself to the ground and then... *Crack* The earth forgot how it had been and suddenly fractured all over beneath Bob. He would know what he had to do. The deep touch that she had layered into her magic dropped hundreds of zombies, burying them. It was going to make him do more work. She could live with that. --- This world wasn¡¯t built for them. He had found a path through the fight with the zombies. Sonya had cleared a landing zone. Bob spouted several blasts of flame to land on an uncontested area that had recently undergone a management change. A distinct lack of zombies felt like he wasn¡¯t trying. Then another group of zombies found their way to the large circle. Bob smiled. All around him, the airships were dropping magical grenades and other area of effect spells. He focused on his pathfinder skill, looking for the death knight. He was the closest he had ever been to this particular death knight. He could almost taste it. He licked his lips and loaded his crossbow. He aimed for the largest of the zombies, attaching a mote of charged mana. He fired one bolt off. Then he took out his knife and short spear. He pursued the death knight. He would not make the same mistake that he had done before. --- ¡°Fuck! What the fuck is that asshole doing? Cover his ass!¡± Anthony said. ¡°That¡¯s going to come out of your pay.¡± ¡°Are you paying him, sir?¡± ¡°No, Ginkgo.¡± ¡°He is trying to just...¡± ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sure that he can do what he wants. I¡¯m also equally sure that he won¡¯t be making a sudden and drastic change to his demeanor. This is who he is.¡± Anthony sighed. He fired another round. He was going to keep pushing in, and then... ¡°Sir! Another fire bender is joining Bob!¡± she said. ¡°Stella!¡± Anthony yelled. Nothing surprised him. She was pretty ride or die. He was just hoping that they would be a bit more on the ride side. It made little sense to him, but their team has been together for so long. It looked like the cracks were showing. Anthony did not want to jump down there, but if Stella was there, maybe Sophie would follow and at least Bob would be safe. He had to think for a minute to see if Sophie was with them. Was still on Sophie. Both being mainline scouts. It would be pretty bad for them to lose both of them. Everything was pretty sure that Sophie was way back behind lines that would not open up soon. Anthony continued pounding the ground below with more and more Asheville spills. It seemed like Bob was going in a specific direction, so we started aiming that direction. He had the helmsman turn toward the ship so he could get a better view. Bob was heading into the horde, deeper and deeper, and as he and Stella lit up the surrounding zombies. He must have gotten a hot quest or something. Otherwise, there would be no point. They had talked in a vault about going wild like this and his going woke was depressing. They had expected him to have gotten past that kind of stage in his life. It was a thing that you did, right? You gave up trying to kill the bad guy by herself and just waited for a tactical look or a bunch of bombs to take about, right? Bob, wasn¡¯t that kind of guy? Bob was really Hands-On person and Anthony, although he could appreciate that. Wanted a legion to have skin in the game. He wanted them to do Lana¡¯s work. They were more than that. The chosen? Over a dozen. So saying that they need to do all the work? That wasn¡¯t going to work for Anthony. He could clear the way for Bob, and in doing that, Anthony had figured out a way to annoy the f*** out of Bob. Even as he got one. He wanted. ¡°To tell the truth,¡± Anthony said to Sergeant Ginkgo. ¡°If he keeps going like this then we¡¯re just going to have a nice easy pathway forward and since it looks like one was always are heading his way, I think he¡¯s on the right track. This means that we could possibly find the death knight and take it out before it happens.¡± ¡°You think that Maniac is on the right track? I think he¡¯s insane. But you do you.¡± Anthony prepared to be in it for the long haul. If this was not what he was expecting and they had gotten far off the plan. But now I was in the frying van and he was the chef overseeing Bob¡¯s preparation into a meal that he would deliver straight to the death. Knight. Promise is death knights that they had killed before. I had a special power given to them by a car that they wielded. He was wondering what you want this one would be. It seemed like the death knight controlled the populace. Perhaps that we got a population control card or something that caught someone to be a better leader. Anthony started thinking about the problem between a car that he had gotten so long ago that had boots. It¡¯s worth time to time. Or perhaps that person had a class car that they could use. He liked the idea of the Gloucester detachment passing druid cards around to level up the wild shape. What do you like better? Was taking a car that another enemy had leveled up and then he was together. He does all the hard work when he could get somebody else to do it. Why would he do any work when the enemy was there to do it for him? He might not be the most ethical of ways. But there were so only so many, so many unethically sourced zombies he could deal with. Now Bob was literally making them focus their fire to create a safe corridor. Or perhaps he was telling them where to fire? Anthony sighted down the bow of the ship, focusing on clearing Bob¡¯s path before he got through with what he was doing. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do. That much was clear. Because he was carrying a non standard amount of important cards and it looked like he was recruiting zombies for his multilevel marketing scheme. If this was what it took? He would do it. 4- Nine If Sonya was an undead zombie lord or some kind, she might have put herself at the center of her formation. Right smack dab in the middle, where any unsuspecting hero would have to fight through. It was about the roads, central planning and the buildup. A death knight had to work with what was possible and available. All roads didn¡¯t lead to their enemy. What she had expected was that any intelligent undead would take up residence in a recently renovated gaudy gothic cathedral or a Lord¡¯s summer home. But perhaps they need to think about it like they were trying to not die. If she was one of them? She wouldn¡¯t even be here. Unless her power required her to be in the center or near the center of her horde, there was no point. Sonya wanted to feel safe. She had also gone back and forth with Valerie over her different theories of how intelligent undead became intelligent and if there was a radius outside of which they became dumb again. She checked again. There was something going on in Bob¡¯s route of movement. He was trying to tell them something. Bob, in her estimation, might be a dumbass, but even a dumbass could be right twice a day. Sonya had watched Valerie triangulate the position of the death knights daily with Bob¡¯s help. They could figure out how far they were based on two angles and the space in between. It wasn¡¯t even that hard to do the math. They just had to make sure that the two points and angles were far enough that it was significant. Now all she needed to do was to draw a straight line from where Bob was to where the enemy was. Bob normally rushed in. So if she traced the line of assault and movement, she could get a pretty good idea of where the death knight was. Sonya had stolen one of Bob¡¯s kills before. It was something that her goddess had asked her to do. She relished in the opportunity to take another kill away from Bob. Sure, he would get upset, but they shared the same goals. It was the only way for them to actually compete as basically everything else was off the table. They could both rack up lots of kills, but it didn¡¯t really matter much when the undead were just brainless. It would have been great if they had an ability to tell how many zombies they killed, but that wasn¡¯t the thing either of them had. She would do terrible things for a HUD that showed her a kill count. But if she breathed a word of that aloud to Cara, then she would get it and it would be something useless that would take the place of what she really needed. She didn¡¯t doubt that the horde of zombies would cover up and plug any holes that he actually made. Unless they could definitely kill the death knight, they were going to have to rescue them in time. Bob continued his trek down in one direction, firing fireballs. Sonya aimed and fired ahead where he would go. She quickly glanced and saw that the crater that she had made was now refilling with zombies that were charging towards Bob. Because of course they were. She shot ahead of him, trying to explode as many zombies as he could. It looked like he was going deeper downtown into the capital, so that would not do. She prepared to mess up things on his behalf. Idly, she wondered how many of those buildings were already up to code? And then she wondered if there actually was any dwarven code enforcement, as several tenement style buildings crashed into the ground once she removed their structural integrity. ¡°Might not be the best time to think about code violations,¡± she muttered. The plan was simple. Kill off as many zombies as she could using the urban terrain in a line ahead of Bob. She¡¯d hoped that he had packed a mask. Sonya was more concerned about Stella, who had foolishly decided that she wanted to be Bob¡¯s rear guard. Because, of course, when there was one dumbass, there was always a second one that loved him. There had to have been hundreds of dwarves that had lived in those areas that were now part of the horde. All she was doing was crushing them, their old homes and turning them into a meat paste. But she felt strong, as if Cara was now looking out down upon her and tipping her finger on the scales. The last time her goddess had done that, she had created a crack through Gloucester that became a canal. Now? It was like she was doing that same thing again and again on a smaller scale. She was a one-woman demolition crew about to renovate a block or two for fun. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s likely that the death knight was someone inside of the palace? Or perhaps it was somebody who lived this district here?¡± she yelled to Valerie, who had taken up a spot next to her. She had done some shuffling to get on board the ship next to her, a big departure from the days when the younger dwarf had avoided her wholesale. ¡°Bob is going straight for the big guy, huh?¡± She said. ¡°It would make sense to them to just improve their own home instead of taking up residence in the palace. I mean, I guess if you wanted to, staying in the palace isn¡¯t so bad or a deal.¡± Sophie wanted to say that no one had asked her to destroy the Palace¡­ yet. That answers were one thing. With all the soldiers around. But this? It looked decadent, just in how they could see it lit up from a distance.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Bob kept running. Of course, he changed directions on her. ¡°Clever boy. Sorry about this, Valerie, but it looks like it¡¯s time to change course,¡± she said. Valerie nodded to the coxswain, who adjusted the course. --- Bob, Mork¡¯s lighting rod, ran. It wasn¡¯t enough to get close to the death knight. He had to get his satisfaction. There was another problem. Someone was paying attention. He was pretty sure that it was Sonya. She thought she was being taken directly to his death knight. Her actions had proved that it was very clear that he was telegraphing which way he was going. No one else would give him such close air support focused on earth magic. Bob thought about it. The area where he was heading to was being bombarded before he got to it. This meant that someone had dealt with all the zombies there. It was like she was aiming her shots just to piss him off. She, probably Sonya, would concentrate a blistering barrage of fire right where he was pretending to go, even as he tried to pick up his pace. He didn¡¯t want to miss it. But what he could do was to take a few steps out of the sinking earth to check out what was going on and to look into the face of his enemies. Moving a little to the right could give him a better sense of restriction and how far his quarry was. They were getting close. Stella was back behind him, keeping it clear. She was doing fine the last time he checked. Not wanting to leave her hanging, he nervously checked. If he was doing the first half, she was doing several things to make the second half a reality. The sounds of another building turning through a crater poke to the back of his mind. Of course, the fellow God binds if I was to infiltrate and he would have to find it. Of another half-ass he was, the apartment kept going. And it was going towards one little shack at the end of the line. ¡°Shit,¡± he said, as the volley¡¯s increased in size.. She wasn¡¯t going to make it easy. He ran his heart out suddenly off during his steps to aim better for the death knight. There¡¯s another option, he could just appoint himself a different direction... and... He adjusted his course. Bob would get his reward. His icons went haywire. He had seen it before. The last time that this has happened, they were in the presence of a death knight. Bob wanted to scream. ¡°We¡¯re so close,¡± he whispered. He was so close that he could feel it there. They had speculated a long time about what powers this woman might have. It could have a myriad of hours. Or one small card. The crowd stayed the same, but he could see it. It was just like a regular dwarf, just grayer. In fact, there was nothing to differentiate the death knight at all. Aside from him being able to see it with no problems, it was just hiding out in the interior of a crowd. To everyone else, it was just a normal one. But to him? It lit up. He could see his little beacon. It taunted him. It was his little icon. It could really hurt him. He was locked in. Sonya launched a volley right in his path, danger close. They pulled back. ¡°Bob, stay back. It¡¯s not worth it,¡± Stella said. ¡°I got this,¡± he said. ¡°Bob.¡± Fire rained down on the crowd in front of him. His icon disappeared. Sonya, or somebody, had taken the liberty of taking it out. He could see hooting and hollering and then he realized that the zombies that were chasing with a purpose for now wandering around. He was sitting with a meet and greet for all the newly dumb zombies. Bob¡¯s back tensed as he broke out into a cold sweat. It was time for him to branch out. They were going to steal his kills in front of him, then he was going to have some words with Anthony. He would talk to Cedric. And he would bring both of them to figure out what to do. That was his kill. So he might not have been there for the right reasons, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore. ¡°Come on, I think we¡¯re done.¡± All that mattered to him now was Stella. --- They could see it easily. The horde which had been moving with a purpose now had lost that impetus. It had gone from one mass with one mind to a multifaceted group that just wanted to do all the damage. It was tangible, the way that she knew it was gone. She was so happy for a second, but then realized that she could celebrate soon. She could finally allow herself to slump down. Her arms were still shaking. First, he would tell Valerie who was waiting for the good news, and then she would secure an egress route for Bob. It was what women did, right? Her biggest duty was pulling men out of the fire. That and keeping them moving and the whole raising walls thing. The war hadn¡¯t gone off too long, and she was ready for it to be over. She knew she was going to get bitched out all day for the next week. But she didn¡¯t care. He wanted to go rogue, which meant that he could deal with the consequences. A golden light appeared in front of her as a car dropped into her hand. She talked to the delay before Valerie could make a fuss. They were taking a tax opportunity along with the largest groups. The airship that had initially taken. Bob was now circling around, trying to grab him. He could sense something clearly. She could see that they were frantically trying to get him to use one of his card skills to get back up. She was content to black out with her rack out. At that moment, there was nothing more appealing than sunbathing and getting away from the matting crowd. She was done. She could tell that most of the dwarves on board were relieved. The campaign for the capital had been going for so long. She had lost track of what day it was days. She was going to talk to Anthony. She needed a break. It didn¡¯t matter what he said. It was time. In fact, she was ready to get back now. There have been several times when she considered just leaving the battlefield and although they needed her there for a while longer, she was itching to leave. All of her of being wanted to be back at the promontory right now, celebrating her victory. But she was still here, putting in work like a girl boss. She checked in on Valerie. The young dwarf was shocked as she pointed out what was going on down on the ground. They took some time to make a path for Bob, someone who was actually enjoying spending mana to just fuck zombies up around him. Every way she looked, they were more zombies, and all she has to do was just aim her little magical tool that Andrew had made and that was it. Now all they need to do was to secure more ground and then this whole battle would be a win. The battle was over. Why did she feel so empty? They had gotten the thing that they were trying to do for so long. She had gotten the thing that she had wanted for so long. But why did she feel like this? Was it because it was over? No, there were at least two more death knights out there. This wasn¡¯t over, but she was still weary. She slumped over the railing. There was at least one that could create undead dragons and other monstrosities. That was the one that Sonya was afraid was going to show up. But that one wasn¡¯t that close. It was still on trying to survive even if it was sending its minions this far. The legion had to make it there, but that didn¡¯t mean that they could get there soon. There was a still the death knight from the Elven Kingdom that they had heard nothing about. They were going to be to figure out how to deal with that. Now she had to think about the next steps. They were going to need to make some more fortifications. They were going to contain all these zombies. So far, she had only made half of the walls around the city. The rest had already been there and we¡¯re a terrible way to keep your zombies safe. Maybe they would have been better if they hadn¡¯t been so volatile when they were together, but that was not for her to judge. All she came up with was the result. Bob delivered this time. It was just that it wasn¡¯t enough. But now? They would both be enough. Once Bob got over her betrayal, of course. 4- Ten The tenor of the fight changed significantly when they could leave the legion to their own devices. It was like setting a kid into a candy shop, but the worst version, as they were trying to reclaim their capital from their former brothers and sisters. Anthony was going to have words when they found Bob. They all felt it when the death knight died. Now, he promised of some time off was going to come due. Anthony was happy to let that happen. He was ready for the debriefings and the feast. Now all they had to do was funnel the brainlessness undead into the kill zone. The legion could do that part. He would rest. In his mind, he pictured Sonya¡¯s face. The vivid image was a relief. They would be together soon. They still had a lot of work to do, but his part was done. Making sure that his leader¡¯s aura was still on, he moved to the cabin to take a nap. He had to save something for all the healing he was expecting to do. --- Sonya knew where the death ice body was. She wanted to grab his card, which definitely had to be a rare at least. But she knew that volunteer there. And to go down to the ground and make her vulnerable and leave her open. Though she was a strong caster, she knew her limits. And they did not involve being on a battlefield directly surrounded by thousands of zombies. She didn¡¯t have a fully combat role right now. She can do some sort of earthquake, but she¡¯d already done that. What she wanted to do now was to create a safe spot where she used what she¡¯d made to gain more ground. She thought about the crater that Bob had landed in. She thought about raising up a little fortress around it. Wouldn¡¯t have to be that tall. She can make the balls about twice for height and none of the doors would come up to it. That would be doable. And she can make the walls thick enough that they could be. Two people on each of the four sides could staff them. Air-dropped food and water could sustain them then. Or they could just extend that little fortress back to the walls that the caravan for loved. Nobody loved puzzle like Sonya did. Especially one way she could make the zombies go around in circles. She just needs some more of those Tower Defense weapons so that she could take them out. It was comforting to know that she could get back to her old standard of creating long corridors they could kill zombies through. I wish he was missing was a clear direction on how to lengthen it. The airship itself had hung in the air for a while, so she was trying to get her bearings. Way back on the horizon, she could see where walls that existed already were. Now she was going to have she¡¯ll be using a lot of power, for sure. If you were standing on land, it was difficult to be moved around. A bit. Sure, the wind could try to push you, but it wouldn¡¯t really take you anywhere. On the ocean, the cus had a way of moving you from where, where they wanted you to be. You might not want to be there and the seas might be rough and choppy, but you eventually ended up close to where your anchor was or wherever the sea wanted you to go. It was not the same on an airship. The sea, however, was a known entity; movement was to be expected. The wind was a fickle friend with benefits. If you stayed in one place, the wind was going to fuck with you. The wind always wanted to fuck with you. This meant that they had to get their bearings a lot of times when they were up in the air. If there was a heavy wind? The new standard operating procedure was to sit down in the body of water or sat down by an anchor. The wind would fuck with you more than the water would. But Sonya would fuck with you even more. There was definitely some fuckery happening with Bob, as he was taking forever to get into another airship. Or maybe he just wanted to get that card. She suspected he was going to go for the card. If she got the kill and he got the card, she would call that a good deal. He might not like it, but it wasn¡¯t up to him. He had lost the bet. She was going to try not to lord it over him too much the next time they saw each other. There might be sparks, but she had won this one. --- Bob, Mork¡¯s model of patience, was fuming. She had taken his kill. He had worked his butt off to get that kill. But she had just waltzed in at the last minute and decided that this was hers to take. It wasn¡¯t up to her. She knew he had a quest. It was to her benefit. If he got the quest rewards, they all profited. Unless her goddess had given her a better quest for reward, Bob couldn¡¯t see a reason. In fact, he was so angry that he didn¡¯t even want to hear her explanations. He just wanted to kill more zombies. ¡°Bob, do you want to head back yet?¡± Stella said, trying to get him to commit to returning. It had been half an hour since the death knight died. Bob grunted non-committally. He didn¡¯t want to play his hand yet. He just wanted to work through his rage. He didn¡¯t have a way to make cakes for his family. Being reborn in this world had taken that away from him. It had taken his family and friends away. He loved Stella but...Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He hacked through another zombie. He could fill his weapons skills, singing at him in the same breath that his muscles screamed. Everything was getting worked out today. ¡°Bob?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± He knew what she wanted. It was plain as day. She wanted to talk about it and smooth things over with him. He did not want that. He wanted... He Didn¡¯t know what he wanted. He was halfway between quitting the Caravan and just going off on his own. But he really couldn¡¯t because Sonia had stolen the gate card. That would have given him a way to deal with all this mess. He could have used the gate card himself, perhaps with Stella going across the continent slaying the undead and in the end killing the death knights. If none of them were there, he would have done it. But his God had told him he was going to get a prize for every death knight that he got. So why wouldn¡¯t he do his best? Bob pierced another zombie through the sternum. ¡°Stella?¡± He said weakly, dodging another runner. ¡°Yes, love.¡± She eviscerated the zombie with poise. He always admired how she could keep a level head. That was the addition of her dark humor. It made her exactly the woman that he¡¯s been looking for. He just wished that she had met him earlier. Perhaps things would have been different if they did that. ¡°What would you say if I said I wanted to quit the Caravan?¡± She let the question stand there in the air for a bit. All They both could hear was the sound of more zombies splashing against the ground as they fell. ¡°I would ask why?¡± Bob tossed fireballs into the crowd that was gathering around them. Finding more in front of him than behind, he changed directions. Then he moved, sending a three-part fire chain down the line. That was always the question, wasn¡¯t it? He didn¡¯t want to answer that question. He didn¡¯t want... He wanted to walk away. ¡°The only thing that¡¯s keeping me here is you,¡± he said, tears streaking down his face. ¡°This whole thing? I thought I was helping, but now I think it¡¯s... this is just a joke. Like we got these quests from gods to do this shit and I¡¯m just tired of it. Let someone else be Chosen.¡± ¡°They have been a little hard on us.¡± Stella cast a wide circle of ice around them, followed by a wide area fire spell. ¡°We can quit, you know,¡± she said. ¡°We can walk away whenever you want. You¡¯ve done enough already. More than your share.¡± *You¡¯ve done enough.* The words echoed in his mind for a long time. Had he really done enough? He was the reason that they were here. Stella wouldn¡¯t have been alive if it wasn¡¯t for him. Most of the caravan wouldn¡¯t have survived. ¡°If I stop, then what?¡± He said, noticing the airship that was now on their level. ¡°Then we quit and we start up our own restaurant and do whatever the fuck we want. They will live without us. The legion can finish this.¡± ¡°But the dragons?¡± She came up right next to him. ¡°The legion can finish this without us. They know where the death knights are. Let¡¯s go.¡± He held up a hand, shaking his head. ¡°I gotta wait for Ca¡¯at.¡± The eldritch beastie took that time to show up with a glowing obsidian card. ¡°Now we can go.¡± --- ¡°So they got another death knight.¡± Sophie said. She chewed her lip. ¡°I thought that would make you happy. But I don¡¯t actually know what would make you happy. Maybe when I take care of the capital by turning a lot into flowers, you¡¯ll be happy. Or maybe it¡¯s just not a thing for a goat to become happy. But I wish we could do that thing again.¡± The Goat Lord bleated. ¡°I understand that it¡¯s a lot of energy for you. But there are only so many dwarves and if we don¡¯t save some, their whole way of life is going to go away and their attack culture will be gone.¡± Her commune with the Goat Lord had not borne fruit. It fact in many ways, it had felt like a big setback. It knew what she wanted. She knew what the Goat Lord said, and it was a lot of bleating. That was fine when you had little going on. But she wanted to do stuff. She wanted power from the Goat Lord. There was only one being that could give her such powers. Despite knowing that he stood against necromancy and eating stuff and making flowers, there wasn¡¯t much else she knew about him. Would it have been nice to know more? Yes. Was she going to get some more? Probably not. So, as much as she wanted to spend her time communing with her patron, she found nothing in it that made her think it was worth her time. It could have been so much better. But it gave her Gigi, for which she was eternally grateful. So instead of doing what Sonya said that she did with her patron, they sat around a bit and after a while, called it a day. She came out of it waiting to hear about the battle from the front lines. Stella had promised her she would check in as soon as she was done with his battle report. Sonya had been on the front lines, which meant that Zan and Sophie were holding up the rear guard. It wouldn¡¯t do to have the people that could build the fortifications and both gate people on the front line. They had played a game of rock-paper-scissors and she had intentionally thrown it. More and more, Sophie was feeling like she was over it. Seeing Stella return with a dark cloud over her face, though, kind of brought her out of it. Stella gave her that look that meant that they were going to have to talk about something expediently. As they were back in the promontory, they found the time to wander over to the gardens. ¡°What happened, girl?¡± Sophie said. ¡°You look like you¡¯ve been fighting zombies for an hour or two and... Where¡¯s Bob?¡± Stella looked around. ¡°Oh, he¡¯s around here somewhere. I¡¯m just not sure. He is...how should I put this...¡± Stella briefly explained Bob¡¯s outrage after Sonya had stolen another one of his kills. ¡°So what is he going to do, just quit? I didn¡¯t know we could do that. I would like to quit.¡± Stella clenched her fists. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that when he says quit, he means he wants to just walk straight up to the other two death knights and kill him. Or however many that are left.¡± Stella said, ¡°He¡¯s been secretive about his recent quests. I mean, I know his quest got updated when Sonya killed the death knight, which is what started this, but I think something¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°... He doesn¡¯t want to talk to Sonya? They can¡¯t work this out? She¡¯s a natural at talking to people.¡± Stella shook her head. ¡°Just because she can build rapport with people doesn¡¯t mean that she can sustain it. I¡¯ve never seen him so angry. I even suggested that we do the thing that he likes that tweak my back the last time we did it.¡± ¡°And he said no?¡± ¡°Girl? He is on a warpath. I think just seeing her would crush him. If she said a word about this? I¡¯m pretty sure they would start fighting. She wouldn¡¯t even understand!¡± Stella began crying. Sophie flailed around for a minute before giving her a hug. It was one of those long hugs that you¡¯d never let go first from. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. I don¡¯t know what I can do for you. But I¡¯m here and let¡¯s just make it a day. I heard that Anthony and Sonya got a new bathtub so we can set that up. You¡¯ve got so many options here... I can have Dan get us down to Sunderland for a little. Do you want to do a little girls¡¯ trip? See how the Yellow Tail beach is doing?¡± Stella nodded. ¡°That sounds great, but not without Bob. Honestly, I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know what to do. I should be with him right now.¡± They sat there talking about what they wanted to do until it was dark. Bob never returned. Sophie slept next to Stella that night. 4- Eleven Someone had the brilliant idea of flying the Queen''s Con on a trip to visit the other tribes. This, of course, meant that someone had to be on it when it got there to negotiate for help. Finley was just racking up experience with his bartering and negotiation skills. The Yellow Tail tribe had sent a full company-sized element to help. All were volunteers, but also all were loyal to their tribe. There were a few mercenaries that had signed on with the legion from the tribe because of what they wanted to do with their personal careers. Most of the lizard folk that had joined up at that point were volunteers fighting under the tribal banner. There were always more lizards to recruit. The promise of cards for a job well done was too much to pass up. Finley was beginning negotiations with the Peace Turtles. This being the second group of lizard folk that the Caravan had approached, he¡¯d learned lessons from the dwarven legion. Each had a bony protrusion on their back from which they got the moniker turtle, but other than that, they resembled lizards in every other way. This meant that they gave him a bit of a side eye because of his detailed bodyguards. Someone detailed Tumble and Fen, the Yellow Tail tribe lizards, to him because of their proclivity for ridiculous behavior. It also turned out that he alone could keep them calm and on track. Was probably due to him having been around children so long as Tinker children who notoriously free roaming. They had to be kept in check despite their pre-rolling nature because if you missed when the Caravan left; you got left miles behind with no chance to catch up. Up. Caravans didn''t turn around for people that decide to leave of their own will. And after a certain age, it was understood that you had to be an adult. Sure, they might call for you or search for you for a little. But when the Caravan Master said it was time to go? The Caravan left. Finley found himself in the unenviable position of being their Caravan Master. Finley grunted as he picked up another barrel of beer for his special contact. The turtles had a diplomatic outreach element. This had evolved over time to become a group of warriors that could traverse lands between their tribe and other tribes to pass messages on. The extent of their diplomacy was in arriving, passing on the word to the right person and then moving onwards. They could negotiate on behalf of the tribe, but only in limited capacity. Because of his luck and timing, several of these groups were at the government holdings of the Peace Turtles and had asked him if he might bring some beer to lubricate their discussion. Finley knew about soft skills. He knew about hard drinks. He knew about when soft skills and hard drinks needed to mix in order to make a sale. This was the biggest sale that he might ever make. He would put his lizard folk companions through some hard work in order to appease potential allies. "Your dwarves seems being a bit of a rush now," Tumble said between the two barrels of beer that he was holding up. "They''ve been waiting a long time. And now we really need to help for the other tribes, so we need to rush too," Finley said. "If we get enough support here, then we can make an assault on the other two death knights. The orc and the elvish one, supposedly." "What do you mean? Supposedly? Don''t you guys know?" "All that I know about is that there is a death knight with the ability to combine bodies into a construct. He used that ability to create several dragons and then attack us with them. In fact, seeing that dragon was part of the reason we rushed so hard to get that airship going." Tumble stopped ahead of Finley. The cobblestone path was about to come up and meet him if he didn''t keep moving. "Hurry there," Fen said from behind them. "I don''t want to have an accident like last time." "Hey brother, no one wants to have an accident last time like last time. Don''t talk about that. There''s some Murphy god that the humans worship that likes to hear things like that and then make them happen," Tumble said, continuing to walk. "Murphy isn''t a God. He''s more like a law. Like a law of nature," Finley said. "Oh, I wish the dwarves hadn''t taken like everything. That dolly would have been good about now and I don''t have my Tinker wagon either." They had picked up everything that could be picked up. The legion only had a skeleton crew remaining in the area. The first thing to go were the carts, wagons and things that moved things. As Finley was low on the priority for resupply, being the person who resupplied things, he often handed out wagons, carts, and hand trucks. The dwarves that he handed those out to, didn''t same need to return them promptly and them being located over 800 span away meant he couldn''t just up and take them back. He would need someone to open a portal, find the thing, and move it back to where he was. That was not happening. "But at least the peace turtles seem receptive, right?" Tumble said. ¡°The representative asked us to bring all this to start negotiations.¡± Tumble continued down the cobblestone pathway until they reach the exterior of the Peace Turtles government holdings. Several two-story buildings surrounded a large interior courtyard, with a three-story building directly across from the gate in the center. Sea rocks, connected with mortar, formed the entire structure. They had spread out the mortar to make a pleasant image of a seaside inside of the alternatively white gray and black stones that dotted it. The mortar provided line work around the images. It was exquisite and very distracting, and once again, Finley almost tripped. Once again, Finley cursed. And for a second or third time in recent memory, he clung on to his barrel of beer like it was going to be the most important thing that he ever touched. If the beer could save the war, then it will be great. Spilling some beer would create problems if the war couldn¡¯t be saved. "Tumble, can you talk to the guards over there after you set down your beer? I feel like they want to help us. But we can''t spare any," he said, panting. "I wish we could." "We all wish that we could spare some," Fen said. "But the dwarves were very specific about this." Several lizard folk in official looking robes appeared to talk to them. Their Peace Turtles did not carry weight on the whole clothing thing. Theirs was very form fitting and functional, giving rise to many pockets to put things in or fashionable fanny packs. A warrior who walked up to speak to them carried one. "Gentlemen, I see that you have all brought some refreshment. We thank you for that. I am warrior Nemo of the Peace Turtles. I would love to speak with you on behalf of my government about the issue that you have been dealing with," he said. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The tall, lean lizard folk were only slightly taller than Finley, a common annoyance amongst races that weren''t dwarves. It meant a lot to Finley to be looked up to, and in that moment, he was no longer being looked up to. He couldn''t blame Nemo for being tall. Well, he could, but he wasn''t going to. "I am Finley, Tinker, and representative of the Dwarven legion. These are my assistants, Tumble and Fen of the Yellow Tail tribe. We are pleased to meet your acquaintance and would dearly love to set down our beer barrels wherever you can find a safe spot." He must have sensed how Finley was not comfortable. Nodding, he motioned for two other guards to come and take the beer barrels from Finley and Tumble. Then they piled them up on one side of the courtyard. "We understand that this is a gift freely given and that this will not affect our negotiations. Though it is a sign of good faith, and we appreciate that," Nemo said. "Please follow me to our receiving room." The receiving room was right inside of the building. It was a small room with enough light to blind someone at midday. Finley was thrilled that it was not the middle of the day. Long shadows from the palm trees outside cast onto the floor. Nemo gestured at a group of seats on the floor. Several Peace Turtle representatives had been dutifully waiting, and upon their arrival, stood. They all bowed and then returned to sitting up in the lotus position. Nemo sat down cross-legged and gestured for Finley to do the same. Tumble and fen sat behind him. Finley had an itch to check on his skill at that moment, but he knew it wasn''t the time. He shelved that thought for later. "As is custom, I have brought members of the government to record our talks and speak on matters that I am not knowledgeable about when it is appropriate," Nemo said. "But please consider me as your primary negotiator in this matter. After all, if we take up your appeal, then the tribe will send my team.¡± "Thank you for your hospitality," Finley said. "I would like to lay out the problem and then we can move on to the solution that we are requesting from your tribe." Nemo tested for him to continue. Finley went on about what was going on with the war in Noveria. He convinced a lot of what was going on and explained how they were getting to where the amount of land they had to cover was unwieldy. It wasn''t enough just to pacify the zombies; they had to make sure that none rose in the legion''s absence and reclaimed the land. When he explained what death knights were, the assembled group gasped. "These people can control the undead around them and make them intelligent? And then those intelligent ones can turn others?" Nemo said. "That is our assumption. We don''t want to test that, obviously." "Obviously." The room was silent save for the sound of the scribes writing their notes. "We understand you might help us with military aid. We understand what we''re asking for. The situation is uncertain, and we literally have to raze a continent to the ground." Nemo nodded. "We should ask what the other tribes have given you. Perhaps what we can give you is an opportunity to connect with the rest of the tribes first. We are called the Peace Turtles after all." It was at that moment that several beers appeared. One of the Peace Turtle servants had a tray with what looked like a mug made of stone. He carefully handed one to each participant and then returned for more, giving each one scribe their own mug. Finley accepted him graciously, tasting the Dwarven Brew that he had smuggled all the way down there. Somebody had chilled it. And he didn''t It was delicious how it tasted cold. He was going to have to tell the dwarves about that. It was a well-established and known fact that dwarves loved beer. It was also well known that dwarves struggled to keep their beer cold. This would not do. Finley was not the elf to take things at face value unless he could sell them at twice that. Perhaps he could sell cold beer from airships to dwarves? That seemed far-fetched to him even now. Eventually, this war would end, and he could go about his way. He would need to set things up for that in time, and it made sense for him to not wait that long. He had expected Nemo to continue talking, but the warrior was already motioning for seconds. He waved the heavy mug back towards the entrance, was rewarded shortly after a refreshed mug. He took a large sip and then returned his gaze to Finley. "We rarely send our warriors abroad. And by abroad, I mean farther than Sunderland. Sunderland is a long... long continent. Some say that it spans the entire world, but we know that''s not true. But if what you are saying is true, and we have no reason to believe it''s not. I believe that you have presented a strong case-" He turned to look behind him. "- to the government that we need to prepare and send teams to combat this threat." Nemo and Finley turn to look at the scribes. There was a general shuffling of papers behind them as the three scribes compared notes. Finley couldn''t really make heads of tails of the lizard folk when they were muttering. He had a brew that was calling his name, and it would be rude to not answer. He finished his beer, regardless of its temperature. Perceiving his lack of Brew, Nemo facilitated another for him. Finley accepted graciously. It was what one does when one is handed the thing that one gave away as an ethical bribe in order to secure a good favor. They waited a bit for the scribes to finish transcribing their notes. Then one scribe went to talk to Nemo in a hushed tone, while another went out a back door. "I believe we may facilitate part of this," emo said. "If nothing else, my group of warriors is interested in this task. You may have a group of five Peace Turtles joining you sooner rather than later. We need to see what the council of chiefs says once they get back from a closed session." "Of course," Finley said. "Perhaps we might return to the topic that you presented earlier." Nemo nodded, beckoning him to continue. "You talked about how you have good relationships with many other tribes. It''s important to me that we set up as many relationships as we can like this. I would strongly request that you impress upon your council how dire the circumstances are. When I came here, the legion had eleven companies actively working on a monster quelling mission for your tribe. Now one remains." He let that hang in the air for a little. "We want to satisfy our commitment to you as much as we want you to satisfy this potential commitment to us." For the first time that day, Nemo smiled. 4- Twelve Real isn''t that he would only be able to stay in for a little bit longer, Finley weighed his options. There were only so many things that a drunk elf could do. Seeing as how the peace turtles had taken their offer, he was pretty certain that they were going to get what they wanted. Wanted. It was those other things that were a bit far beyond the initial question that he was wondering about. "Do you think that they''re going to introduce us to the other tribes quickly? Or is it going to be one of those months-long things because the legion is on the move," Finley said. "I think that we should take them at that word. They''re known for keeping their contracts," Tumble replied, turning his mug of beer upside down only to see he had left a single drop of beer. Intellectually, Finley knew that he had to wait. But physically, he could not. He knew that his friends were in deep. He also knew that if he didn''t do this correctly, they would be far worse off. He needed their help to save his friends but he didn''t want to seem desperate. Desperate sales people don''t sell. Desperate Tinkers did not last long. That was why each Tinker that wanted to break it out and start their own Caravan had to go through an apprenticeship of at least five years before they were able to do their own thing. Or at least until a Tinker chief would let them become their own leader. They had one against an enemy that would do nothing less than tear them apart if given the chance. They had traversed across several countries and an ocean to get here. He wasn''t going to give the peace part of a chance to turn him down. Because if they didn''t, then pretty soon the dragons would show up for the tribes. And he was pretty sure that the tribes wouldn''t be able to defeat one of those dragons on their own, without a chosen. The conference of several scribes and the warrior Nemo continued as their drinks were refreshed. "If I knew that we were going to drink so much of our own stuff, I would have drank more before we got here or on the way to lighten the load," Fen said. Finally looked up and saw just about the last thing he had ever hoped to see. The commander of Kuzdul company, stood there. They had traded verbal bars a few times. A small detachment of the support company had stayed to facilitate Finley, but this Commander, an orcish woman. Melissa Lin, the only Orc commander had volunteered to be the last one in Sunderland. Most of her company was teams of people that weren''t dwarves. There were a few dwarves in there, but they were majority were Orcs, lizard folk and finally was happy to see three elves. She moved over to him and unceremoniously sat down. "You didn''t think to invite me to this?" She said. Time that day, Finley was taken it back by the height of someone. Commander. Lynn was a head taller than him even when sitting down. Not that he could blame her for being tall, he wished that he was that tall it was the second time that day that he had been stymied by a taller person. "I sent several messages through your adjutant. You were invited. However, I was told that you were unavailable." "That person has been dealt with. They''re going to be on toilet digging detail for the next month and a half." There was something in her eyes that struck him. She looked like she was getting a little thrill out of telling him how she was punishing. Someone else. He shuddered. Anybody who would be that flagrant about a punishment was worth watching. Either that or she just was making a terrible joke at someone else''s expense. Finley actually liked the adjutant, a small Dwarven woman who seemed to take his request seriously. "She was never going to give me that note. I was around. She has been standing in the way of me receiving notes that she thought were not worth my time. Probably because I''m an orc," Captain Lin said. The peace turtles still be in conference, Finley was obliged to sit there and listen to the orc complain about how there were certain dwarves that did not take her seriously. "If she is not taking you seriously out here where there''s low risk, how can you take them back to the home country where it''s just wall-to-wall zombies everywhere you go?" For the first time, she appeared to consider his words and think on them. Then, the most evil smile he''d ever seen flitted across her face. With a nod, Nemo turned to face face them. "Captain Lin, so good to see you, it''s a pleasure as always." "Warrior Nemo it''s good to see that you are as deft in negotiations as you are on the battlefield." Something passed between them. Finley could feel it. It was a bit adjacent to respect and sweat. He would ask her later about it. One of the scribes returned and began talking to Nemo. There was a lot of gesturing and waving and finally was pretty sure that they hadn''t gotten the answer they wanted but he was going to wait for them to say that. "Captain Lin, Finley," Nemo said. "It appears that the tribe wants to help. However, first they want to give the other tribes more skin in the game." So it wasn''t a refusal outright. It was a gentle reorientation. He could deal with that. If they wanted the other tribes to buy in first that will be fine. They could deal with that. All they would have to do would be to go and talk to more of them first. "Please understand that this is not my position and based on my discussion, I will be heading to Noveria with my team after this."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. But still, five lizard folk was better than none. He would take that. Now they just all needed to get on the same page. "Let''s talk details," Finley said. --- "And there''s been no sign of him anywhere? That''s unusual." Anthony had gone from indifferent to concern in the space of one conversation. Bob had disappeared after the previous days battle. Not only that, Stella didn''t know where he was. Anthony thought that was a more worrying part than anything else. If Bob could just disappear like that, when he had most of their important cards, they would have some trouble finding the other death knights. He hadn''t left a note so it couldn''t be a suicide or a cry for help. "He might have just quit," Stella said. "He wouldn''t kill himself. Let''s give him some time to return." "I think he''s pissed at me," Sonya said. " I was just trying to kill as many zombies as it could. Collateral damage be damned." "Well, if you see him please apologize. We need him," Anthony said. "We are so close." She leaned up against him. He tried to get a feel for exactly how many beers he was going to have to drink to forget all this bullshit. It was going to be a lot of beers. And then, they could retire. He wondered how it would work. There was no industry to speak of here except for what the legion had helped them build. So would they all come back and reclaim the land? Would they go out and once every single town had been declared clear, settle down? It couldn''t be that easy. But he found himself daydreaming about a time when he could just get back into what he really loved. If the dwarfs wanted to survive, they were going to have to have a lot of babies. And if there were a lot of babies coming? He was in business. He wondered if the dwarfs had ever set up a nursing school before. He idly wondered how much of what he have been trained on would actually transfer over. And then he wondered if any of the girls could get pregnant. He had expected that they weren''t able to or that there was something going on. The gift for being a chosen, but none of the women had been pregnant despite the many things that they were doing together with the men repeatedly. It was one less thing for him to worry about. But then again, maybe they wanted to be pregnant and maybe there was just something they had to do in order to get pregnant and he just wasn''t paying attention. Magic was weird like that. If there was a card that caused you to be infertile, wouldn''t they give that out in school so that the girls couldn''t bear children until they were ready? His thoughts. Darkened. And then maybe if someone had a way to extract those cars from a woman''s heart they could do terrible things to her. He looked back to Sonya. She was once again novels that they provided for her. In fact, she had a stack of about five that she had blown through over the past couple of weeks. He sat down grabbed one and dug in. Maybe there were some answers inside of the books. After all if they were writing fantasy romance novels, perhaps then I go into the mechanics of how babies were born and all that stuff. He could only hope. Bob would turn up. --- In the middle of the battlefield there was one corpse that was laid out and eating clean around it. It looked like the area had been swept. But he knew otherwise. This was the one. That vision kept appearing in Bob''s memory. He had a dream about it. It was pushing him. He didn''t know how far he had to go to get to the next one but he just knew that there were two left. There were two that he could go after now and he knew which one was to the Southwest. What he didn''t know was the powers or abilities of the one to the Northeast. He hadn''t barely stopped to check out the card that had dropped. --- Rare Card: Necromantic Control You can control most undead of a tier lower than you. --- This meant that he moved on his own power. He was going to go back for Stella. Eventually. They might find him somewhere in the wilderness, but none of them had been where he was now yet. The tiny skiff that he had appropriated hadn''t seen like much of the time but he was selling it East towards the elven lands. He had taken this crude map and found that the elven Capital was close to the quiet sea. That was all that he needed. If they were going to take away his opportunity to kill the death knights, he was going to opt out. He couldn''t rest until they were all dead so he would just have to beat the Caravan there. He had really wanted to have it out with Sonya but it wasn''t time. He spent a day testing it out the skiff before returning to the small beach near the promontory. Under the cover of Darkness he went up and spoke with Stella. She had gathered a few things and without argument. Just followed him. Once they were done, they would find their own way. But for now he was so grateful that she was backing him up. Sophie would be pissed. All the scouts that he had trained would be pissed. He could live with that. He couldn''t live with this blows to his ego that had kept accumulating over the many months they had been here. Have been for him? They would have been He was over it. He just wanted to rest. Once the death knights were done, he could. He would take as long as he needed come back and kill more. With his son at his side and his girlfriend with him his skiff pointed east, they sailed off in the darkness. --- Sophie spent her time the day after the big battle going plants and contemplating life. Bob might not have left a letter but Stella did. Sophie had read it three times. It was not her decision whether to tell everybody else was going on. They all knew what was happening. But Sophie was bringing your hands about it. Anybody else, she would have gone straight up to Anthony and Finley and told them. But for Stella? She would gaslight, gatekeep and potentially girl boss for as long as the girl needed. No, those weren''t tears. She was happy for Stella. Sophie had spent so much time trying to be happy for herself. She got in the body she wanted. Maybe she wasn''t exactly where she wanted to be location wise. But she was happy. She could be happier and things could be better if her bestie was there with her. But her best he hadn''t even asked her to go. And that was probably the thing that hurt the most. It was a gut punch. It was a gut punch but she had expected a gut punch. With how choleric Bob was being around Sonya it was bound to happen at some point in time. So she did what she wanted to do. She took a day off and all she did was work on the plants. It felt like she was cheating. It felt like she was doing the wrong thing. Without Stella around, she didn''t have a buddy for lunch and dinner. That alone made her feel terrible but then it wasn''t just her not being there. It was a time that they would have spent together now seeming like it wasn''t useful at all. That almost stung more. She hadn''t expected to miss Stella so much that you didn''t know what to do with herself. She went to talk to Andrew and Brianna and Brandon and all the other Frontline fighters but everybody else was going through their own thing. Half of the chosen were in closed door session with Sonya talking about their feelings. That was probably the reason that Bob was able to slip away so easily. That and his Rogue training. Bob have been blessed by his patron deity. Perhaps now is a time that Sophie could ask something from her patron. "Would it be so difficult for you to give me something to work with here? Bob had a Pathfinder skill to let him let him find all the undead and that combined with his ranger skills. Let him track them all. I''m not asking for much here but without Bob? Either that or the quest that Work gave him? Throw me a bone here, Goat Lord." She closed her eyes and prayed. When she opened them, small card spilled directly into her lap. 4- Thirteen ¡°I think that the Goat Lord knew what we needed,¡± Sophie said. ¡°That¡¯s why.¡± Someone presented Anthony with a solution to his problem. That problem being Bob and Stella deciding to run off on their own to pursue their own against agenda. He would have been okay if they had said something. Bob had done more than any of them could ever count. If something that Sonya was doing had fed him up? He was going to talk to Sonya. But Bob was gone. Bob had been through their rangefinder to determine how far away the other death knights were. Anthony heavily suspected that Bob was going to be searching for one of the other death knights. The continent had four sovereign nations occupying each of it''s four quadrants. When they summoned Bob, he went to a village far north in the Dwarven Kingdom where a death knight was located. Mork, the god of death, had chosen that. Anthony had also been called to that same location. He suspected his summons near Bob was because of Finley being one of the last surviving enlightened people on the continent. Had someone summoned Anthony closer to the Orcs they encountered, he might not have succeeded. It became apparent to him that the gods had experimented with their locations to secure a victory, or if not, to find an easy early win. In their time with Bob, the caravan had come across the human death knight. Humanity on the continent occupied the lower eastern region. As the death knight could teleport, there was a powerful sign that it knew where to go. That meant that somebody on the opposite side had the wherewithal to command that death knight to head up to Plains Mount, and then later to where the Green Fang tribe was. Anthony was putting the pieces together, with Valerie¡¯s help. Having disposed of the death knight summoned to the Dwarven Kingdom, they faced a choice. They had already run into the orcish death knight. They knew what power it had. The orcish death knight, just like the human one, had a very good idea of how to find them. However, instead of having a gate spell, that death knight had created a composite dragons made of orc bodies. It had used first one, then another, to attack them. It even sent a Herald after Bob inviting him to a one-on-one challenge. It had probably seen, or been able to review, Bob¡¯s fight with a dragon at Gloucester. Though Bob did not give the killing blow to that dragon, he was there, and he had tied it until the dragon was eventually hulked to death by a sea monster. If Anthony had to guess, he would have gone straight to the known quantity. ¡°Do you think he would go to the orcish death knight?¡± He asked Valerie. ¡°I can see how that makes sense in a way.¡± They were doing the thing where they convened to talk about the latest things that had gone on. Valerie had been Anthony¡¯s adjutant for a long time. Then, they had a great idea to make her the queen, and somehow the legion had just accepted it. Being the queen meant she got to pick where she wanted to be and nobody else had a good option if she wanted their setup changed. This meant in practice that she lived in the same building that Anthony lived in when they were back in Gloucester. This also meant that she had a party house that kind of felt like a lady¡¯s dorm hall. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that he would pick one over the other, but he clearly got an invitation to a single combat with this death knight.¡± ¡°Also, it¡¯s a bit speciesist. We don¡¯t know that the death knight is an orc. It¡¯s just really likely because they are in orcish lands. That¡¯s the same as the one in the elven kingdom. We don¡¯t really know. We¡¯ve just put those names there on purpose to be distinct.¡± He gave her the flat look of a father that was expecting homework to be done hours ago. She smiled back at him. ¡°Whether it¡¯s speciesist, we have to find out if Bob¡¯s actually going to head out and attack one of these. Do you think he is going to do that?¡± Valerie took the longest pause that he had ever seen her take in a long time. In that time, Anthony went back and refilled his waterskin. Then, realizing that you could just grab a mug and that he needed to sit down, he did so. He always hated it when people would come into his house and not take their shoes off. It was his new equivalent to not taking his travel clothes off. It had just become second nature over the last year for him to have his travel cloak on with all the accoutrements. It was just so easy for him to put the little things together so that he could just travel seamlessly. He wasn¡¯t used to this life where he could stay in one spot for a long time and even have a garden. Heck, he could sleep in three different beds on three different nights. He could even move around, as there were far fewer dwarves and humans than there were bets. But he didn¡¯t. When he recalled those days back on the road where their existence wasn¡¯t secure, he had a rose-tinted glass cover over himself. He really hated that. That had been a rough time. True. He had fallen in love and got in shape and killed a lot of zombies, but he was not for that life. Now? The legion called him in when they needed him to solve a problem. Now? He staffed a field hospital when he wasn¡¯t in part of an enormous battle.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The life of a traveling Tinker adjacent warrior was a far different life than his current life. And he was getting a feeling that Bob¡¯s discontent had something to do with their current situation. He needed some guidance. ¡°I think it¡¯s equally likely that he¡¯ll go for either death knight. If there¡¯s anyone that can do that, it¡¯s Bob. The only question I have is which one can we get there fast? And don¡¯t answer that because I know the orcish one is closer just because of its distance. Presumably it has sent no attacks on our ways for a reason. My best guess is that it takes time to create a dragon.¡± Anthony nodded. She made sense. In a way that he could not really dispute, if they were going to get a dragon, it would take them a lot of resources. Just like how the airships took a ton of resources. It took nearly a half of a company to build up the airships that they use in the last battle. Although one airship was nearly destroyed, the effort proved worthwhile. Even now, they were putting one in dry dock. They would join the other six functional ones on the next trip. Cedric had made it a point to let them know they were going to be picking a destination within the week. Anthony prayed it was going to be the same spot that Bob was going to. At the same time? There was no way for him to know and he was cursing that the man didn¡¯t tell anybody his plans. Anthony thought about how he would have addressed this. If he was going to leave, he would have told somebody. He knew Stella had probably left with him, but other than that? He wasn¡¯t sure. Who else did Bob like? ¡°I got a question for you. Who else was Bob hanging out with?¡± Anthony said. ¡°That¡¯s strange. I guess he was hanging out with the humans? But mostly I saw him with Stella. I think we need to consider Bob as a lost cause. If we find him, great, but in this world,? We need to continue the war. We¡¯re there without him.¡± Anthony nodded. He didn¡¯t want to admit it. Nobody wanted to admit it when they left somebody behind. Heck, Bob had sworn that he was going to see this because of the conclusion and that... ¡°Valerie, I think that Bob¡¯s going to go after the death knight. Seriously. I don¡¯t know which one.¡± ¡°Why are you saying that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying that because he swore an oath. And he doesn¡¯t get off until we are all done with all the death knights. We¡¯re not here to save the whole continent. I mean, we are, but that¡¯s too big for the fourteen of us. It¡¯s too much to ask. Even though we¡¯re Chosen.¡± He did what he usually did and got up to begin to pace around. ¡°Even with us all being Chosen, he needs to finish the job. I don¡¯t think Mork will let him stop.¡± ¡°If you mean we should send someone to find him, we are stretched thin. Maybe this new delegation of warriors from the Peace Turtles can do it, but I doubt it.¡± ¡°Do you really think that we could send warrior Nemo with his team? They do have the right set of skills to track them down,¡± Anthony said. The other question was who to send with them. Anthony didn¡¯t want to admit it, but now he had to send Sophie. Sophie had just gotten a card that would let her find out where the death knights were. They couldn¡¯t send her. ¡°We could send the monks. They all can move across the water. The sea turtles are all amphibious.¡± Anthony slammed his hand down on the table. Several markers for the current location of the legion¡¯s companies shifted. Valerie got up to move them. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°Look, no one likes Bob less than I do. He is self-absorbed, and basically the only good thing about him is that he can bake magnificent cakes.¡± Anthony had to give it to her. If Bob hadn¡¯t left? They would have been dealing with his rants for probably another two weeks. And then he would be sullen and still be mad at Sonya. Perhaps it was a good thing. Or perhaps Anthony shouldn¡¯t be looking at the silver lining right now. ¡°All right, so we send the monks in one direction. We hope that warrior Nemo can find Bob or track him down somehow. I¡¯m sure that Bob is smelly. I¡¯m also one hundred percent certain that he¡¯s got some ranger ability to cover his tracks, but he¡¯s not going to use it because why would he want to cover his tracks? Only zombies will follow him.¡± Valerie noted a long, refilling her glass and placing the last company where it belonged. ¡°If we do that, we¡¯re going to have to send them the opposite direction of where we¡¯re going. I think that Commander Cedric is going to want to send us to the South to deal with the orcish death knight. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s certain. But I left it up to him.¡± Valerie sighed. Cedric knew what was going on. Anthony knew he could trust Cedric. They might have only known each other for about two months, but now, more and more, they relied on the dwarves to clean up. More and more. The dwarves received calls only when a problem required their expertise, thus hindering their ability to sell their services independently. It was looking like the chosen were less important for the day-to-day missions and more important for the large missions that were coming up. They were just moving so fast that Anthony didn¡¯t know if he was going to catch up. And then once he caught up, would they be able to find Bob? Because what he had found out from Valerie was at Novaria with at least the size of Asia. The land mass was just vast. Without help? It would take them ages to find anyone. With help? With a fleet of airships? They could complete this before another year passed. He just needed to get to wherever that was. He was so ready. Then he could rest. The idea of setting up a labor and delivery shop somewhere and going back to what he knew best was more and more appealing every day. And if he was going to be doing that? He might as well set up a nursing school or medical school for all the dwarves that we¡¯re getting out of the legion in order to repopulate the kingdom. Anthony drained his water. Valerie grabbed both of their waters and filled them up again. Hadn¡¯t been so long ago that she had been a scared kid. Just doing her best. And now she was representing the hope of an entire nation. Anthony had gotten terrible news. But they could do something about that. Eventually, they would find Bob and Anthony were welcoming him back with open arms. Anything else would be to piss on their time together. No one had to fight in an unwinnable war longer than they could. Anthony had committed to Valerie. Valerie had committed to Anthony. They were in this together. It just really hurt. And there was nothing you could do about it. Maybe he¡¯d reached his own limit? Or most probably, he would reach it soon. ¡°I think that we will lose a lot more dwarves if we head straight for the orcish death knight.¡± ¡°Do you want me to talk to Cedric about this?¡± Valerie said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to do any good,¡± Anthony said. ¡°I think we will¡­ more to the point, he¡¯s the one in charge of his own people. I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s some other enclave of dwarves somewhere on a different continent that we can find, but... That¡¯s a question for the queen to follow up on.¡± Valerie was not amused. She had no grounds on ways to dispute his claims that something was her job. She knew that in time, he would transfer all of his authority to her in all manners. Eventually, she was going to be the one in charge. She might be afraid of it, and he could tell, but it was her kingdom. It had never been his kingdom. He might settle down there, but it had always been hers, and it always would be. He just hoped that he could live up to it because he could already see the cracks forming. 4- Fourteen ¡°We¡¯ve made twelve anchors. Well thirteen, if you count the airship. There is already an anchor at the Yellow Tail tribe. Now, what we need you to do is get these anchors to the other tribes so that we can conduct our negotiations. We understand that it¡¯s going to be a little faster if we have an anchor there between us. And the anchor is only going to work for someone with a gate spell. This is not a full gate. This is just a stone.¡± The warriors nodded. Finley had gotten Zan the wizard out to explain what was going on. That day, they were going to do their best to get their message out. As Sunderland was a very long continent, and the lizard folk had decided not to live right next to each other, it would be simple to just fly the airship across the entire length of the continent or to run across the shoreline. Simple, but not easy in any way. Each of the tribes had set up across the shoreline because of the ease of fishing. Some tribes had delved deeper into the woods, but overall, none of them were that far in. Fresh fish was far easier to catch than velociraptor. With the promise of the legion getting reorganized to fight again so soon, Zan and Finley made it their priority to get to the other tribes. It was probably the only thing that could help the next push. According to the Peace Turtles, most of the other tribes were very interested in fighting as a method of diplomacy. They were less interested in a military action against a similar nation. They would sign up for a fight, but not against other enlightened beings. Finley couldn¡¯t fault them not wanting to fight the other enlightened. He felt that deep in his soul. That all the tribes felt that way was reassuring to him. He didn¡¯t know what he was going to do with it, but he thought that was a good place to start from. Now that the dwarves were looking down the road for what had to be a final set of battles, doors were opening all over. Finley was absolutely certain that most of what was going on was because the dwarves now had access to so much money and material that they could make good on their claims to pay for things. They could reach the royal treasury, which meant that they could pay. The harvesting of most of their country¡¯s cards left them with extra cards to distribute if needed. Mindful of the lessons learned by generations of elves that had given cards to the Orcs, the dwarves paid in gold. As much as the people that bought from them wanted their cards, it was the wealth of their nation that they were spending. So, cards were not the first thing to be traded. When Finley prepared for his first round of negotiations with the various tribes, that was what they were offering him. It wasn¡¯t much, but he could work with it. They offered cards to the lizard folk that signed up to help the war efforts. Now all they needed to do was to fall in line and become a part of the solution. --- It wasn¡¯t that Finley didn¡¯t appreciate everything Zan did. It was that he had to rely on her and her energy. She could only castigate so many times a day and he had a lot of work to do. They sent runners with the gate stones nearly two months ago, but those runners hadn¡¯t yet crossed the entire continent. This meant three tribes remained uninformed. Still, he had to work with what he was going to do. Four days after the Irumian capital was back under their control, Finley was holding court with all 10 tribes that they had contacted so far. The Yellow Tail tribe and the Peace Turtles could speak on their behalf in languages that they had not known and needed a translator for. Tumble and Fen, Finley¡¯s bodyguards and retainers from the Yellow Tail tribe, translated Finley¡¯s words as best they could, though they also needed several sub-translators. Due to the physical distance, there was some language drift. There was a lizard folk common tongue that everyone could learn, but it was more like a trader tongue. Finley made a note to add that to his list of things to do. He wasn¡¯t going to be caught not knowing a trader tongue when there was one available to him. He gave an impassioned speech. It was the best sales pitch he could give. And still it had to be filtered through one or two layers of translators. There was a point in time where he wanted to make a joke, but then he realized they would laugh from two different groups if they got it and that this was not exactly the time for him to bust his chops out. He might hate these people, but what he really needed was the support that they might offer. They wanted his ability to use the gate spell across the continent. Finley had been working hard on his druid class, understanding that he might get the gates bell on a few more levels. So everyday he stretched his hands and tried to grow things. And everyday he could feel his skills edging closer to the level that he needed. Although his druid spellcasting ability didn¡¯t logically impact his other spellcasting abilities, what he read and heard showed they were connected. He just hoped that he could do enough. So, he stood there with one hand weaving through a small rose bush as he grew it and made it twirl around his fingers, he got his first group of lizard folk to agree. A red scaled group of lizards stood up and, according to their handler, pledged that they would join the fight. A second group followed quickly on after that. Finley unsurprisingly found the next sale easier. There was only one holdout from a group that needed to confer with their elders back home. A group of green gecko-handed lizard folk had sent a very Junior person for the negotiations, not understanding what they were.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Once again Finley cursed that he had to deal with layers of translation. At least he could get them in person. If the tribes would help him out? Then maybe after the battles were all done, he could come back and run a trade route through them. By that time, he hoped that he¡¯d be able to use the anchors that Zan was using. ¡°And so in closing, we would invite you to speak with your elders at home and your tribe about what you can commit to this because we don¡¯t want to see what happened in Novaria happen here.¡± His words echoed through the quiet group. There already been a lot of clenched fists and chest pounding, but right now? All eyes were on him. And he was making the biggest sale of his life. He just hoped that it was going to be enough. --- Anthony and Valerie looked at the new numbers. ¡°Six hundred?¡± ¡°That is how many have arrived already. We have some commitments for more and we could even get a larger amount if we commit to carving out some space for them up here. Understanding that we would set up a gate system for them to go back and forth once all this was over.¡± They were standing next to the large display wall that Anthony had back at the headquarters. After days and days of using her as a human PowerPoint machine, Anthony had finally just had someone paint over some lines on the wall so that they could just know where they were working. This caused them having larger walls for different maps but were the right amount of paint and effort from the wounded but willing. They had created a bunch of maps of the kingdoms so they could quickly reference it. Using Valerie¡¯s topographical powers, they were now looking at the difference between the elvish kingdom and the orcish meritocracy. ¡°If we get six hundred fighters, right? Then we can expand our lines a little. I still think we just need to bunker up where we are and then sweep through areas.¡± ¡°If we bunker up where we are, then we¡¯re just giving up the space to them. Right now we¡¯re trying to reclaim the space. I think the best thing that Bob did was to help us sanctify the area,¡± Anthony said. ¡°Now we just need him to... Be predictable.¡± In the three days since the lizard folk began arriving in earnest, the battle plan had changed. Cedric was still deciding on which way to pursue the next death knight. They were next to each other. It would be easy. But they had set up their headquarters right in smack dab in the middle of them. If they went south, they saw zombies. If they went east, they saw zombies. If they... It was a logistical nightmare. Just getting out of the country. And it wasn¡¯t even a country anymore. A country can¡¯t truly exist when most of its economy focuses on killing its citizens. The mission was really on Cedric to decide what he was doing. Valerie was in charge of the Civic population and also the liaison to The Chosen. Their choice of her as queen or princess general gave her influence. What you did not have was the experience that Cedric had. Sure. She had been on the road with them for ages and experienced zombies, but he had been fighting alongside them for months. His legion had suffered losses and paved the way for dwarves to return to their sacred homeland. As much as it had been an issue getting a legion there, it had been such a relief to just have them as an option now that they were an option and now that things had been moving in a positive direction, Anthony could consider things that weren¡¯t directly related to their survival. ¡°With that many helpers... If the zombies aren¡¯t that hard to kill, we can steamroll them eventually. It¡¯s just going to take longer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that, Valerie, too. Just because that was the closest continent doesn¡¯t mean that we can¡¯t reach out to the other nations. I think there¡¯s a nation of dwarves somewhere near the lost continent. If I had my history book, I would bring it up.¡± ¡°You know, we never talked about the other nations. We were just trying to find the fastest way to get to the legion because we thought the legion would save us all. Because that¡¯s what you said. And they¡¯re here now. And they¡¯re great. But I don¡¯t know no kid. How long can we wait?¡± ¡°Things are already in motion that can¡¯t be stopped. So we need to keep going. If we can do without them, great.¡± Anthony put a hand on her shoulder. The map didn¡¯t show how the girl felt. It used to be that it would waver. He could see that something was happening internally to her. Probably her emotions. Clashing and then her display of a map would quiver or shake for a second. No one else would notice except for him, but he always noticed. He always wanted to say something to her, but she had given him the look. He understood it. Heavy was the head that wore the long con of becoming a queen in order to save your nation. ¡°Valerie, have you thought about what¡¯s going to happen? When is all over, I mean?¡± ¡°I have given it a fair bit of thought,¡± she said. ¡°I think I will be a good and just queen.¡± ¡°I meant more nuts and bolts. Valerie. There used to be millions of dwarves. Now there¡¯s only what a little over a thousand of you guys here on this continent? This is a very large continent. This thing that we¡¯re doing right now? This is a generational project. Your children and their children might still clear out zombies for years and years until we¡¯re all done.¡± Valerie sighed. He didn¡¯t want to be hard on the girl, but what was going to happen? Back on Earth, there was a strong ratio in the military of 100 women to every 700 men. Even if every single female dwarf in the legion decided to have children, that was what about another thousand dwarfs? ¡°How are you going to repopulate? Are you going to repopulate? Does it even make sense?¡± ¡°I guess we can ask other dwarves to migrate here?¡± ¡°But what¡¯s here for them to migrate for? What opportunities? Are they going to be the janitors at the end of the world?¡± Valerie¡¯s landed fist down on the map. ¡°This isn¡¯t the end of the world. This is the rebirth of our kingdom. We¡¯ve been through fire and curses and we¡¯re going to come out on the other side.¡± Anthony raised a hand and stepped back. The fire in her eyes was palpable. She gave off a smell that tickled his brain. And then he realized it was that same smell he had used when he was a teenager way too much in order to make it seem like he was a cool kid. She had either learned how to cast the cleanse spell or she had borrowed the card. Either way, he smirked. ¡°Valerie, that¡¯s beautiful. That¡¯s amazing and I promise I¡¯ll be with you every step of the way,¡± he said. ¡°Just promise me one thing.¡± ¡°Name your price.¡± ¡°Promise me you¡¯re not going to marry me off to a duchess just to get me back. I mean, for that time that I slighted you.¡± Valerie, consider this for a long moment. Far longer than she really needed to consider it for. ¡°Agreed.¡± A knot of tension disappeared from Anthony¡¯s back. ¡°After all, all my dukes are going to need to marry somebody. Why not another man?¡± --- With Sophie¡¯s new handy dandy tracker card, she could figure out the direction of the two remaining death knights. He could use the same tricks that they had used before to triangulate them, and she did. From their location, what Sophie could find out and give to Cedric was the rough distance that they needed to travel. That, combined with the map overlay card Valerie used, gave them a rough taste of whatever the trek would be to both. It was going to be a long Trek either way. But they had given him the best information he needed to decide. Now they just needed him to get off his analysis paralysis and pick one. 4- Fifteen The legion arrayed itself towards a single goal. ¡°Better the dragon you know than the dragon you don¡¯t,¡± Cedric said. ¡°It¡¯s still a dragon,¡± Valerie said. ¡°And most of the Chosen are going with you.¡± She didn¡¯t mention that it was most of the remaining chosen. If they weren¡¯t chasing after Bob, they were heading into the lands of the orcish meritocracy. Anthony had sent the monks with three gate anchors. It was the best he could do under the circumstances. Either they would end up doing a bog standard recon of the area, or they would find Bob and Stella. Bob and Stella had stolen a skiff that was a prototype for a smaller airship. That meant that they could be pretty far by now. But the monks had water and air bending powers, so that meant they could follow up. In fact, they might be the first to get to where the elvish kingdom was. Cedric had made sure that they had a map of where they were going. Of course, Anthony was missing out on yet another outstanding mission, but it was fine. They were going to need him by the front lines if the flesh weaver sent dragons after them. ¡°We are about as ready as we can be,¡± Anthony said. ¡°We¡¯re going to have almost twice the amount that we had in the last assault. Cedric, I¡¯m tired of this. I know Valerie is tired of this.¡± Cedric nodded. ¡°In the time it took you to get to us and find us, we don¡¯t know how extensive the death knights¡¯ preparations have been. We just are doing the best we can what we have. Just like Valerie here.¡± ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯m right here. I¡¯ve been here the whole time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too bad that we had to leave her back behind when we all went out on this amazing adventure together,¡± Anthony said. ¡°But if it keeps me from an arranged marriage with a duke, I¡¯m all for it.¡± Cedric raised an eyebrow. ¡°Guys! Right here!¡± ¡°Did the princess general say which Duke? I¡¯ve heard that the Duke of Heirisburg has yet to be appointed. I was thinking about asking for a duchy myself.¡± ¡°Please tell me you¡¯re not going to be asking for a royal consort of the human variety. I¡¯ve had to do so many deals with the Princess General just in order to get her off my back.¡± Cedric considers the matter as the airship moved inevitably towards the more temperate region. Anthony glared at him. If he had a glitter bomb to use anybody, this would be the time. He would use it on the two dwarves in front of him. ¡°Cedric, please tell me like female dwarves.¡± ¡°One can never just cross off half of his choices, can he? I heard you talking with Sonya about a repopulation effort. Or was it? Valerie? I feel like the Princess General would know how to address this.¡± ¡°Guys, I swear I¡¯m here. Don¡¯t make me arrange a marriage between the two of you,¡± Valerie¡¯s voice cracked. Cedric sniffed and wiped a tear off of his face. ¡°It¡¯s such a sad thing to leave her behind. It¡¯s too bad that she needs to promise so much to so many of us.¡± ¡°Yes, indeed.¡± ¡°Oh, did you see my ship? I renamed it.¡± Anthony had seen the new name and wasn¡¯t going to comment on it. ¡°You know when we named our ship the Queen¡¯s con? That was just a kind of joke, but now? Now it¡¯s more of a reality.¡± ¡°Still, I think that naming it the last call was pretty on the nose.¡± --- The last call, the first airship in the Dwarven fleet, circled the extensive area that they had expected to find the orcish meritocracies grounds. When Anthony looks down, most of what he saw was a mass of ooze and carapace. Many of the zombies were Orcs or had orc parts, but more had parts he could not pick out from this distance. He had a brief conversation in orcish and talk with Song, the mute orc from the green Fang tribe. They jointly decided that they were not going to hold back. There was a small but chance that One of the chosen would get a relic or a card that might restore some of the undead Orcs back into a state where they could at least have some semblance of a life. After all, the goat lord had done so for about 30 dwarves. Even though their natural form was to be a goat, they kept all their memories of their lives. Before they became zombies, the god had made it clear this was a direct action of his. No one thought it would happen again. Everyone wished it would, though. There were scattered pockets of orcs outside of the continent. But no one knew where they were, because of their insular and nomadic nature. Finding a few orcs in Sunderland shocked those who found them. Unfortunately, they were so few that it made no sense to recruit them. Seeing what was below them, Anthony was happy that they hadn¡¯t joined. In fact, his plan to drop as many holy blasts into the group made him realize that he just wanted to nuke this entire city from orbit. There was nothing salvageable in there. They kept their distance because they knew that in time the flesh Weaver might send dragons at them. But they aimed their cannons and their small pipes at the horde of zombies and a giant flesh, color structures and cobbled together monsters. If there is one thing that Anthony liked about zombies, it was that it did not have a range. Sure, the ones that were controlled and were intelligent had some ability to use range spells and card skills, but outside of the area of control of one of the death knights? Those were few. He heard the soft thoom of dozens of their mortar shooters as they pepper the ground. If this was a normal salt like a traditional Army would make, then they might have a secondary Force to go in and secure the ground. But this was a normal force, and this is not a normal battle. What was going to happen was that they were going to do their best to destroy as much of the horde as they could and then, if they needed to, they would leave. But they had one objective. Somewhere in that mess of flesh and flesh made creatures was a death knight. And they needed to find it. And for the first time, they let Sophie lead, as she was the one that could find it.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. --- Sophie was aboard the last airship in the column. She had really suggested that they fly in a v pattern like geese or ducks or other birds of prey. No one had listened to her. That was fine. But then again, they all looked back to her for direction. They were flying toward the Kingdom. They had been all day. When they arrived, her group, which was led by dwarves from Brave company, we¡¯re going to pull her around so that she could pinpoint the death knight. It was far easier said than done, because when they arrived, Anthony¡¯s crew which meant that all the crews began firing on the sludge and zombies below them. Them. Sophie shuddered as she saw what was down there. Next to her, one dwarf threw up. Behind them, Borgan held back his lunch as well. She could tell that he wanted to say something, but she knew it wasn¡¯t really going to work out so well. Instead, he did that mail thing where he kept a stomach face. Trying to do his best to not think about things. They would have to talk later. Next to her, Gigi was all ready to give out the orders. On every single airship, one or two goats with a nautical coating were present. Once they were close enough, Sophie tapped on Gigi and gave her the direction. As if the directionality of her ship wasn¡¯t enough, her ship rose higher to avoid the bombardment. Once she broke the lines, the other ships all began to Center on her as they watched her line of travel. As she kept going, they focused their fire on a line from where she was moving. Below her, the concentrated fire created a rough valley of dust and dirt. The smoke like cloud flew up into the air, obscuring what was below. That was when the dragons attacked. Immediately, the coxswain of the airship banked left and yelled for everyone to hold on. Sophie found herself with one arm against the side railing and another around Borgan, who was himself holding a dwarf. The coxswain banked again, this time almost causing half the door was to fall out. Three Dragons rose and began firing black flame at the airships. Immediately, the ship sped up as everyone grabbed for a handhold or a rope. They had known. This is likely to happen, so most of the crew had a harness or rope on. Still with about 40 dwarves packed onto a ship, they or as wide as a barn if the dragon hit it with enough force. Sophie was there stirring up the winds to make them move. As a black flame threatened to hit them, Two of the goats tossed goat stones into the flank of the Dragon. Undead dragons don¡¯t say anything. They just kind of do their thing. They are more of the kind to celebrate their wins in silence. This Dragon, by contrast, screeched. The two goat stones dropped looking like they were ineffectual despite the dragon having to flap to regain its altitude. By that time, Sophie¡¯s airship had passed it and it was going to need to pick up speed and altitude to catch them. She¡¯s stole a glance at the other two dragons who were harassing the rest of the ships. A broadside attack had hit one ship, and they had been ordered to abandon it. She was just glad that Finley had spent all that time working on those air bending cards. They had some wrinkling that would be better to create fire bending cards, but no one really knew what would happen if there was a clash between black flame and regular flame. Of course, this is would be all moot if they didn¡¯t have a safe place to go. So even as half of a company of dwarves abandoned one ship with a chosen, the other ships rallied. Then she could hear several shots coming from the bow. Borgan had hit their dragon right in a front leg. Once again, their hit seems to be ineffective. It glanced off of the dragon, but then a leg detached. Sophie smiled, dropping some Mana into the chamber of her mortar. ¡°Let¡¯s fucking go!¡± --- Next to Sonya, the airship went down. Her first thought was to save them, but then she realized that wouldn¡¯t help. If she wanted to save them, she needed to create a safe space. Then she thought about what would make the ground before they jumped down. And so with great reluctance, she once again asked. Kara to help her in her hour of need. ¡°Hey Cara, it¡¯s your girl Sonya again. I¡¯m seeking some divine intervention. If you would?¡± She reached out to the universe, trying to get her prayers answered. The god of drug deals and overland travel was in the mood to agree to a request on that date. So as she drew into her mana looking for exactly the spell she wanted, she found a deep untapped portal to another place on which she could just plug in her Mana and unload. Sonya¡¯s eyes. Flashed Brown and she know what she was going to do. She contacted the floor of the ship she was on and through that; she felt all the way to the ground below. As she knelt, she thought about the locations of dragons, sensing where they were using Mana more than her senses. She closed her eyes and reached.
Anthony¡¯s ship had to swerve. The movement kept them away from the group that was now falling below them. And then, out of nowhere, the ground cracked and opened up. Faster than he could see, two large spears of earth flew into the air. It made no sense to him how fast they appeared. But his senses didn¡¯t lie. Right there in front of him, a pillar of dirt had glanced through the side of one dragon, pinning it in mid-air while the other one was straight through its chest. Both were still wriggling. Much to Anthony¡¯s dismay, whatever spell that was-and he was betting it was Sonyas- might have stopped the dragons in place, but they could only fix them there for so long. The two flying undead beasts struggled in place, and that was when the dwarves rained. Hell upon them. As the cock swaying turned the airship so they could get a better view of their sight picture, the dwarves walked their shots, landing dozens of hits upon the two dragons. Fen one regal-free, it dropped like a stone, although they could see it land in a heap. The other dragon, fully impaled, made its way down to the Earth. The impact didn¡¯t split it in two. As the first dragon landed, it kicked up a cloud of dust. Content that the two were not a threat for this moment, Anthony redirected his airship towards the last remaining flying dragon. It was chasing around Sonya¡¯s ship. They had been landing several hits on it, but nothing looked permanent. That wasn¡¯t the Anthony took aim with his right arm. Looked the dragon straight down from over his finger and launched a concentrated holy belt combined with a magic missile. --- The dragon rocked in front of Sophie. Something had just hit it from the opposite direction and it turned to see what magic had hit it. Beyond the dragon that was trying to take down the airship, two large spires of dirt clearly had just appeared out of nowhere. Below them, clouds of dirt and dust covered the ground. Rather than take the time to admire what had to be Sonya¡¯s handiwork, Sophie pulled from her connection to the Goat Lord. If they were going to make it through this, then they were going to have to spend whatever they had left. The first time that they saw dragons, the goat lord had given her something that had saved about 30 dwarves from becoming zombies for the rest of their existences. Right now? She needed that kind of energy. She said a silence prayer to the goat Lord, pleaded once and then Post. Her connection to the Divine snapped into place. And for that moment, she felt like a god among dwarves. There was so much she could do with it. She remembered her rage last time and how impotent she felt after the single use card. And now, she had a direct line to her God and her God was saying that she could do whatever the fuck she wanted with it. Sophie knew what she wanted to do with it. She knew that in her bones. She just didn¡¯t know if she had the strength to do it. ¡°Song. If I don¡¯t make this, know that I did this one purpose.¡± The orc next to her pleaded with his eyes. But she was already in it. She pushed out with her Divine connection, remembering that feeling that she had back in Gloucester. Remembering that feeling of impotence and not being able to do anything. She pushed out with her Mana feeling for every single orc she could reach. She could feel tens of thousands of works. But she had to be selective. She couldn¡¯t do what she wanted with tens of thousands of works. She might do it to a thousand. But this would be it. If she did this, then either they won the war or she might not make it. She was prepared to not make it. What she wasn¡¯t prepared to do was give up. Sophie reached out and cast the spell that she has been saving for so long.
Sonya stood up on the bow of the ship. One of the dragons had fallen. Or at least someone split it in two, removing it from the fight. The other? They hadn¡¯t yet seen the other dragon. Ship was peppering the ground where they expected the dragon was going to be. What she didn¡¯t know was how much the dragon could take, and if they were even doing anything. Because if they were doing something, she would have them keep going. But they needed more guidance from Sophie. She was going to have to tell them where to go. Sonya saw the light underneath Sophie¡¯s airship and gasped. Hundreds of Undead all lit up at the same time. 4- Sixteen Murd Halavish had been one of the few orcs that had really bought into the ledger system. Sure, it had been hokey, but he got it. You just recorded things, and then you recorded them again somewhere else. It was like having a spare set of books. You could use them in case you lost the first set. For years, he traveled the kingdom, leveling up his accountant card skills. His mother had passed on her mother¡¯s skill card to him when she passed. It was a heritage card that had been a soul card. Even when he took it, it had the text scratched out where it would have said that it was a soil card. He had leveled it up, taking the class from level five all the way to level eight. He was proud of how he had taken his grandmother¡¯s accomplishment and improved upon it. It had been a rare card, something that he was proud of. ¡°You¡¯re making your grandmother proud,¡± his mother Lana said. ¡°She would have wanted to see it.¡± On his rare trips to the capital, he always checked in on his mother, especially when her health took a turn. He couldn¡¯t have lived with himself otherwise. She kept a stiff upper lip whenever she returned, but the same crippling sickness that affected his grandmother seemed to continue on with her. So he spent all he had to make a druid card, hoping beyond hope he could learn a spell to save her. Day after day, he did the most to train his healing and his spell casting. Every time he returned, she was worse, and he pushed harder against the powers of his class card. ¡°Why won¡¯t it just let me heal you?¡± He said, pounding his hands against the wall. But there was nothing you could do. All the healers agreed that, try as he might. The only thing that helped her was his presence. He asked her if she would let him give her his druid card, but she refused. He told her that while shipping into an animal might relieve her symptoms, but she still had the shakes and she couldn¡¯t keep it from him. She told him it was nice, but that it wasn¡¯t for her and then she was done. That was the day that the world ended. Murd stepped outside of the infirmary to see dozens of green-skinned Orcs suddenly turn on their brothers and sisters, doing their best to eat each other. The sight shocked him. He was so shocked that he missed it when one nurse came up and bit him on the arm. Of course, it didn¡¯t take immediately. He stumbled around for almost ten minutes, running and holding his bitten arm, before succumbing to the illness. And there he was, watching himself slowly turn into a zombie as he lost his mind. --- He snapped back to himself, remembering the months of drudgery. Something had turned him into a zombie. He remembered getting orders and going out and doing things for an unseen master. Who remembered? Being unable to do anything but silently think about how he would rebel with any opportunity. The only time that he could fully process what was going on was when it was dark and there was no work to do. That was the only time they rested. Whoever was in charge of them didn¡¯t want them to sully themselves at night. They just wanted a ready and able force of servants. For months, he didn¡¯t understand why he was still conscious, as this was going on. Then the airships appeared. Suddenly, the master tried to send everyone to attack the airships. Offensive spells, as he had shaped his druidic spells to be of the healing and defense types, Murd was at a loss. Then dragons flew up, a common sight that he would never get used to. They were fighting the airships, and the airships had an advantage for the first time in months. Hope entered his heart. It felt like it had been several lifetimes. Then he saw a familiar figure. The goat lord was visiting him. It had a question for him, and he knew exactly what to say. Murd couldn¡¯t say it with his mouth because he wasn¡¯t in control, but he let the Goat Lord know his intention. That was enough. Around him, Orcs glowed, a bright white flame appearing and disappearing just as fast. He could feel his full faculties returning. He stretched his hands and he roared into the heavens. It was then that the goat lord sent him a second gift. Murd blinked. An icon appeared near the side of the Capital. It called out to him. He knew what it was, and what he had to do. He knew how strong he was. And he was going to do exactly what the goat said. Murd Wild-Shaped into a giant eagle and took off. --- ¡°Hey is that a giant eagle that just appeared out of nowhere?¡± A dwarf said, leaning over. ¡°It appears to be.¡± ¡°Is it attacking us?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be doing that.¡± ¡°Well, does it look like a zombie or no?¡± ¡°It looks like a pretty bog standard giant eagle, if you ask me.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Both dwarves regarded the bird briefly and then returned to firing their cannons. It was the Dwarven way. --- The Giant eagle was going directly in the path of Sophie. Or at least, it wanted to go. Something shifted in the battle. As her strength returned to her, she realized that perhaps there was an opportunity for someone not of the chosen to enact their revenge. It would be just right for her to summon or resurrect someone in order to fulfill some sort of prophecy. A crowd of Orcs began attacking other Orcs. Sophie blinked. ¡°Look at that crowd!¡± She yelled. ¡°We¡¯ve got to save them!¡± They really hadn¡¯t been talking about the contingency of one god suddenly resurrecting a mass of enlightened from the zombie states. But if it was going to happen? It would happen now. And of course, what happened to Sophie and the brave people in her airship? She only had the glare at the cock swaying twice before they concentrated on the fire around the group of Orcs. It was pretty clear which Orcs were living enlightened and which ones were zombies because the living ones were far lighter skinned. Many explosions of Mana around them lit up their faces as well. Sophie sent several gouts of flame out over it. Trying to create a clear corridor for them to escape. Because there was no telling if these Orcs had spell casting powers or any useful card powers at all. All that she could tell was that they were just resurrected, and that they were fighting like heck. --- Sonia stood up to see another airship descending. The single dragon that had been only hit on the side by her earth spear was now back up in the air. Sonya was back up online as well. Several fireballs at the dragon, trying to distract it as the rest of the ship turned to get it into range. The many attacks buffeted the dragon, pushing it back in mid-air and causing it to lose altitude again. The surrounding dwarves rained down upon it, not giving it a chance to return. Return. Sonya tracked the movement of the Giant eagle as it moved towards a part of the capital where they hadn¡¯t yet attacked. ¡°Turn the airship!¡± she yelled. ¡°That way!¡± She pointed towards where the eagle was going. She wasn¡¯t sure if her words were going over. It was a very loud time in her life. After their contained barrage visibly destroyed the dragon on the ground, the airship headed toward the giant eagle. --- The Last Dragon just didn¡¯t want to agree with Anthony. He was spending all of his Mana trying to nail it down. Well. Sonia had taken down two dragons abilities, the third one that had escaped from her destruction had made a beeline for him as if trying to figure out which one would cause the most emotional damage. Or at least the most emotional damage to him. A fall would cause him both emotional and physical damage. It was not his preference. He was for the soft life. But right now? That life wasn¡¯t for him. That¡¯s how he found himself as one. Too many spouts of black flame threatened to down his airship. He was already calling for a tactical landing, looking for the safest spot for them to disembark. Disembark. Was far safer for them on the ground where they didn¡¯t have to worry about falling. They still had to worry about the dragon, but he was one of the chosen and if anyone could deal with a dragon, it would be him. He just wanted to prove it to himself that he could deal with the dragon, perhaps some sort of simulation where he could control all the outcomes and really just not have to worry about the reality of a dragon in his face. It was about that time that he realized his cleric class had finally passed its divine spell casting to level eight. It had felt like he¡¯d been waiting for years. According to the one book that he¡¯d gotten on the topic, this was the time at which he could use the spell that he had been waiting on for so long. Anthony smiled. As they landed their airship, the black flame from the balloon slowly enveloping it and turning it into a real problem, Anthony focused. He didn¡¯t want to create just any spell effect. He was waiting for a very particular, very specific spell effect he had theory crafted with his girls over months. An aperture opened halfway down the dragon¡¯s spine. The portal opened up in the blink of an eye, enveloping half the dragon as one half decided to go forward and the other half decided to go through the portal to a location that was much higher than it had been. The dragon, robbed of the musculature to fly, dropped. The front half of the Dragon smashed into the ground ahead of them, 5 seconds later followed by the back half of the Dragon. He was really going to enjoy telling this story later. --- Finley was ready to unveil the work of his entire lifetime. He just needed someone to believe in his dream. ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s going to want to eat dragon meat on a stick,¡± Tumble said. ¡°You say that now, Tumble, but what if they do? And what if I can corner the market before anyone else knows that there¡¯s a market?¡± Finley said. ¡°Still, I don¡¯t think...you know what?¡± Tumble said. ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡± Finley couldn¡¯t wait. He was sure that the lizard folk would try to impede in his efforts. ¡°So what is a dragon meat actually going to be made of?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question,¡± Finley said. --- Thousands of pounds of what had been a dragon lay smoking on the ground. The air was thick with the aura of magic that exuded from the mashed together corpses. Anthony scoffed. He tied a bandana around his face, covering his mouth and nose. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time he did that or the last. The balloon was toast. Anthony did not want to sit around, so they kept moving. The dragon that was circling around them was taking potshots at the other airships. That was unacceptable. Anthony sided down the dragon¡¯s wing, doing. It¡¯s his best to predict when it would slow down, stop or get into his view in just the right way. Then he extended his arm and shot a holy bolt, aiming for the base of One Wing. If you could shear off a wing at the connecting musculature, then he could get it out of the sky. All he really wanted that moment was to get out of the sky. He wasn¡¯t asking for some barbecue or like a case of beer. All he really wanted was for his shot to hit. It glanced off. He lined up another and then another and then another. Each shot he made had gone straight through the dragon, but had hit nothing important. The sanity was trying to hit. The musculature of the wing had so far remained unharmed. If he wanted to take the dragon down, he was going to have to spend more Mana on it. Anthony side, digging deep into his resolve. He shot it three more times before he got it right where he wanted. The dragon was an outward loop, and it spiraled to the ground. Of course, the wing flew the other direction, landing just short of him. Typical. Anthony not squared off against a single winged dragon on the ground. He grabbed one of the mortar tubes, ripping it off of the mount. He was going dragon hunting.
Sonya¡¯s airship circled the last dragon as Anthony and his group of dwarves did their best to contain the large lizard. Of course, he would be down there and I think of it. As the group¡¯s best healer, Sonya could count on him to be in the middle of a fight. She just had wished that he might wait for a beat. The line of fire. He was, in fact, keeping his distance from the dragon as he lobbed round after round. She just wanted him to be miles away from where they were, safe and behind a bunch of invincible doors. But they didn¡¯t have a bunch of invincible doors to hide your boyfriend from anywhere nearby. They had a duchy with a place for them to stay when this is all done, but right now? All they had was this battle. There was going to be more, but first they had to get through this. With a sigh, she began to once again draw from the Earth. She envisioned what she wanted and pushed out. Two enormous dragon sized hands and forearms pulled out of the dirt, and then immediately buried half of the Dragon. Where the first half of the dragon was trying to use its flames to destroy as much as it could, now Sonya smothered it. This left Anthony standing there caked and dust and mud. He waved up at her airship and she waved back excitedly. Now that all three dragons were down and done with, she could start clearing the area around Anthony. 4- Seventeen The eagle circled around every so often, swooping in to dislodge the stone pillar. The flesh weaver had infected and altered so many orcs around it, creating a circle of safety for itself. Of course, that didn¡¯t concern any of the chosen. No zombie could stand for long against the chosen. It was very clear that the death knight understood that. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have arrayed a small cadre of unhappy looking Orcs around himself. It didn¡¯t really matter much to Anthony. A couple of weeks ago, Anthony had asked the dwarves to make him a powerful weapon that he could use in close range. He was tired of the spear. Using his bending abilities as a martial art, he could wield the sword effectively in training and, because a lot of his skills transferred over from one weapon system to the other; he lost nothing in his attack. As he approached, a hulking brute of an orc abomination took the time out of his day to welcome him. It threw down, trying to smash him into bits. Anthony sidestepped it, cutting across two muscular arms. For a second, the abomination looked at its arms, then returned to trying to crush him. Anthony smiled. ¡°All this attention for little old me?¡± The zombie raged, bellowing in his face as he severed its legs. Without hands to stop itself or legs to keep it up, the zombie quickly. Toppled. Anthony saw his next target and clove through that as well. Around him, he filled in the gaps in the door. Though most of the dwarves used axes, enough used bows and swords to back him up. A line formed behind him as the airships above descended to create a safe landing space behind them. Two more airships were on a unload path. He would need the help. Evermore abominations continue to charge at the dwarves. The line held, but Anthony wished they the motherfuckers were defending instead of attacking. Pulling once again on his spell casting ability, Anthony reached deep to slice a portal through a 3 m tall abomination. Blood and guts oozed all over the place and he was certain that if he hadn¡¯t already thrown up, he would have done it again. He steeled his resolve. The Giant eagle made another pass. Anthony stepped back, firing a holy Magic Bolt at an encroaching abomination. They were slow and large, but his people were agile and fast. He saw more than a few dwarves using Earth powers to move zombies together. Without them, they probably wouldn¡¯t have those cards. Anthony does a line in his And Sophie¡¯s ship. He didn¡¯t have an empty sight of where the death knight had to be. Based on the vector of their attack, he created a portal to he presumed it was. The abomination that was trying to assault him cut itself around the aperture of the gate before it winked out. But for a moment there, he saw the intelligent eyes of a death knight. The sight shocked him. ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°I will fear no man or orc because I¡¯m the baddest mother fucker in this land.¡± He didn¡¯t need the world line to see where the other side of his portal was. There was just a mountain of flesh between them and the death knight. Anthony got to work.
For a moment, Sophie, since the death knight from two directions and had to adjust her aim. Then she realized that there was a gate spell. Sophie realized that somebody was figuring out what the eagle knew. And what the eagle knew had to be the location of the death knight because both she and the eagle were on the attack. ¡°Circle around there!¡± She yelled, casting a purple mage light over the death knight. ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am!¡± Immediately, the airship banked sharply, focusing all its side cannons on the light. Even as her Mana returned to her, she was to cast things. She dug deep, remembering how it had been before and how much she had taken to get here. Here. Every single day that she had been out in the wilderness, not knowing if she was going to survive. Had rocked her to her core. And now, now that they were so close to the end, she could feel her resolve. Resolve. It might be iron, but it was heavy. But it was only heavy for the old Sophie. Sophie struggled for the briefest moment before firing a bolt of lightning down beneath her purple mage light. If it was connected, she didn¡¯t know. But it sure as heck made a brilliant display, and all the doors now knew what to attack. The barrage continued. --- Sonya ship. And the crew were on Dragon detail and crowd control Sophie had her ship in a tight circle around what had to be the death knight. That meant that Sonya and her crew were going to go counterclockwise in the opposite direction that Sophie was going in order to cover more ground and keep the dwarves safe. In practical terms, she was worried that the two airships would run into each other, but they changed their altitude so that Sonya¡¯s ship was higher. With three air ships continually firing down on the area of the death night had holed up in, it was apparent that he had encased himself in a mountain of flesh. Sonya sighed. It was just like what she assumed was a man to create a zombie army in a mountain of flesh to in case himself in instead of going to therapy.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. But now? Aboard ship she had dubbed ¡®court ordered therapy¡¯ She would give it exactly what needed. And what it needed at that moment was for them to destroy layer after layer of viscera. Orcish muscle and fat from what had to be hundreds of bodies piled atop each other grotesquely just had to be burnt. For the first time in her meteoric career as a world-saving hero, Sonia wished for the evil powers to use black flame on her enemies. Was she going to have those powers? No. But she really wanted them and it would have been really great if she had gotten a card at exactly that time with those specifications.
In the end, Anthony had to burn it down. Dozens of dwarves encircled the death at night. Flames sprouted from every single dwarf of the fire, bending the card, pushing the mountain of flesh inside as it condensed itself deeper and deeper. Scorched flesh, the smell of which would never leave Anthony¡¯s brain for the rest of his life, burnt up into the air. The barrage from above kept them safe, even as Anthony tapped himself near dry of mana. It was just like a death knight to make a ridiculous situation even worse. And this was the being that had asked for a duel with Bob. This death knight should have thought. Bob¡¯s Eldritch companion. That was the only being that would be capable of doing this in any amount of time. Over the next 10 minutes, the mountain of flesh slowly weathered away under their barrage until nearly every single orc around them finally reverted to a mindless zombie. Anthony fell to his knees, taking a second to praise Yil, his patron diet. He was hoping for a quest reward, but he would take whatever was offered. But before he could even think about our award, he assessed the surrounding dwarves. Dozens of dwarfs had stood side to buy side with him during this dark hour. Even a few handfuls of lizard folk had joined them in this fight. And as he watched, a giant eagle landed in front of him. He expected one of his druids. Though he never seen Finley''s wild shape. He knew the druid could if he wanted to. Instead, the eagle turned into an orc. The orc collapsed in front of him, and he healed it. ¡°Oh Yil, are you okay?¡± He said. ¡°Are you a chosen?¡± The orc asked. ¡°I am,¡± he said. ¡°And you¡¯re safe now.¡± The orc, a grown man and nothing but a line cloth, sagged into his arms. Though he was physically healthy, it looked like his recovery was going to take some time. Seeing and opening, Anthony looked for the newest goat. He flagged down one of the goat dwarves and the man came running over. ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to call for help. It looks like there was another area code here and I don¡¯t think we can take every one without help. Can you signal the airships that were going to make a retreat in?..¡± He pointed northeast, the direction they had come from. It would be the best option for them to make a hasty retreat. Then, several hundred Orcs appeared next to the dwarves. Instantly, hands were up returning the weapons, and Anthony was on his feet again. He thought that all the intelligent Orcs had gone away and then he realized that every single one of those Orcs was alive. He began to tear up. ¡°Get them over here,¡± he said to one of the dwarf sergeants. ¡°But they¡¯re undead?¡± ¡°Those are not undead Orcs. Those are friends,¡± he said. ¡°We need to welcome our friends and set a perimeter. There¡¯s no way that we¡¯re going to take off with all these people. Earth benders to me!¡±
Sonya watched as the living Orcs joined the dwarves. The clearing around the death knight now was so populated that it looked like a small festival. And that was when what she knew was Dwarven. Earth benders had shaped walls around them. She knew Anthony was going to insist that she help, so she began designing around what they were doing and cementing it into place with rocks. It took them five minutes to build one wall and fortify it. Within fifteen, they had three with a door that they were defending against the rest of the zombies. Then, fires were lit, and they constructed a last wall. Dwarves had already gotten on top of the wall and created a safe zone for the Orcs. That was when Sonya dropped. ¡°What is going on with all these Orcs?¡± ¡°Sophie must have done it.¡± Sonya leveled a gaze at him, trying to turn him into stone. It didn¡¯t work, but she didn¡¯t expect it to. It would have been nice, though. Anthony did like it when the thought counted, but so did Sonya. ¡°So this is a bunch of Orcs. How about we take them someplace else? This is not the safest or most defensible space.¡± ¡°Think that they¡¯re just going to follow along with us and dip into another area. I mean, I guess we could try. Hey orc guys, you guys all want to go on a little gate trip real quick to a safe spot? We¡¯ve got delicious meat!¡± Anthony might not have been getting through to them, but several dwarves asked the surrounding Orcs the same question. Then it was a matter of getting people to just get inside of the portals, while saving enough Defenders so they didn¡¯t get overrun. Sonya created a gate between where they were and the workshop at the promontory, so they would spit out hundreds of miles away. ¡°You know that I fucking love you, right?¡± He said, ¡°All I know is that you don¡¯t say that shit enough, boo.¡± Anthony and Sonya stayed till the end and left with the last squad of dwarves. ¡°You know what? I just thought of something. This is going to be very difficult for Finley to feed this many Orcs all at once.¡± ¡°What we have now is someone else¡¯s problem. How about the two of us celebrate our victory?¡±
There was no time for family to celebrate anyone¡¯s victory. He had nearly doubled the amount of mouths that he needed to feed in one day. Well, it wasn¡¯t him that had made that change. A certain coat. Lord had decided that today was the day that it was going to shower. Its people with gifts. And those gifts comprised about 1,000 Orcs. Every single orc that passed through the gate with the returning Champions of the Dwarven people needed the place to stay and three or four meals a day. It turned out that being a zombie for a while made one starving. When one wasn¡¯t subsisting solely on magical means, things changed. This meant that Zan was shuffling Finley back and forth to Sunderland to get as much meat as possible, as fast as possible. In fact, for the first time since he¡¯d known him, the velociraptor meat vendor had shut up. It was a momentous occasion. Instead of trying to make endless jokes about shoving his meat into people¡¯s mouths, he was struggling to fill the requests that were coming in. There was too much meat in the grinder. There were other things that needed to happen when that many enlightened joined a group. Most of the Orcs didn¡¯t have clothing and, without a way to transfer them back to the Capitol real quick just to pop over and get their wardrobes back, he was going to have to increase manufacturing of textiles. If there was one thing that Finley hated, it was being in the air. If there were two things, it was orc accountants. But if he extended that metaphor, the third thing that he hated was dealing with textiles. Friendly hated having to deal with people who created cloth and fabric. They treated their dish towels as artistic masterpieces, believing they should never be sullied. Of course, he would never say such things in front of them. Not wanting to be subject to that kind of scrutiny, Finley let them know in other ways. He sent out a message, searching for any dwarves with the skills to make clothing for the Orcs, as well as asking Borgan and Song to organize their brothers and sisters. The two Orcs from the green Fang tribe took to the organization with a fervor that Finley had only seen in their art. Finley loved good art from skilled performers like the bards of the Green fang. It took nearly all day to get the food to them and without the help of the Yellow Tail tribe, many of the Orcs would still be grumbling. Finally thanked his helpers. Tumble and Fen before he let them collapse next to the workshop. On this side of the gate, there was too much to do. They would return to Sunderland later to get more food. The Yellow Tail tribe was going to increase their hunts in response to this additional need to feed so many mouths. They would make money, so much money that it made Finley sick to think about it. 4- Eighteen Murd had never seen humans and dwarves organized together. But it was when he took notice. Having only been back unconscious for less than 2 days, then being transported across the continent, a lot of things are moving quickly for him. Nothing so fast as his metabolism, which was telling him he needed to eat with abandon. Abandon, being his buddy from security school, who had decided that he was going to stick around in the Capitol. When one of the chosen came to talk to them as a group, all the Orcs knew she was the reason that they were there. ¡°Hello all. I¡¯m Sophie, one of the chosen. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all wondering why you¡¯re here today and not dead.¡± That was some grumbling, but most of the Orcs were quiet. Having not said much while they were in zombie form, this new interaction felt lovely. The entire Orcs that had come through the gate were all eating at several large tables, from what had to be velociraptor meat. Murd did not know where the meat had come from. He did not question it. He simply wanted to satiate his stomach. ¡°The Goat Lord, my patron, and one deity of all this world saw a fit to give me the ability to resurrect all of you. However,¡± There was a shit ton of grumbling. Many people were missing their family members, and had memories of their deaths and undead life. Life. It was unsettling how calm everyone was. ¡°I understand you may want me to go back and save more of your fellow Orcs. I am saddened to say that this is not possible. The Goat Lord-¡° The woman was nearly in tears as many orcs yelled at her. Several dwarves shouted them down, and it took a minute for the group to become quiet again. ¡°- The goat Lord works in mysterious ways. I can¡¯t really predict when he will save anyone, and the last time he allowed me to do this was almost six months ago. Every goat around you was a zombie before.¡± She waved her hands. There are about twelve goats there. Each one wild shaped into a dwarf. Sophie explained how they had figured out that the goats who numbered only about thirty were sentient and had to figure a way to have them resume their goat form. Murd was grateful that he already had his druid class. ¡°Now I understand that this is a lot. We¡¯ve all been through a lot trying to save this continent. Before this happened, they were only two Orcs that had survived from the green Fang tribe.¡± Borgan and Song had welcomed many of them and organized them into groups of 100. Every orc was grateful for the two of them and their tireless work. ¡°Now the next thing I¡¯m going to tell you is important, but I need you all to understand that none of you is required to fight. We are going to spend the next several years clearing out all the little hamlets and towns of this continent of all the undead. No one is going to ask you or tell you to do this. If you want to volunteer to help, we will gladly take your help. But let me make this clear. Clear. Speak for all the chosen on this. No one can make you fight for us.¡± Murd narrowed his eyes. He wanted to fight. As soon as they were done? He would volunteer. ¡°But before we can go clear the continent city by city in town by town, there is one more thing that we need to do. And by we, I mean the coalition of the chosen, the seventy-sixth Dwarven legion, and the assembled companies from the 13 tribes.¡± She had to be a showgirl how she was keeping everyone¡¯s attention. But she was also chosen, which meant that she probably had a card power. ¡°There is one more death knight. When The chosen were summoned to this world more than a year ago, there were five of them.¡± She paused dramatically. He knew what was happening next. She was going to invite them to fight, probably. Although she had said she wasn¡¯t going to ask, he knew they were going to get the hard sell. And if not? The soft sell. ¡°As soon as we have a handle on what¡¯s going on here in Gloucester, the legion will recall itself to regroup here and then we¡¯ll be heading to the Elven Kingdom. Our intent is to take down the last death knight within the next month. After that? No one knows.¡± Murd expected the call any second now. There is no way that she was going and not ask. ¡°For now? We don¡¯t know how many other Orcs remain on the other continents. But those that are here, we want you to think about how you are going to rebuild your society. And soon? Soon? We want to speak at high levels with whoever you elect as your representative. Let me state this again. You are all safe here and we¡¯re going to keep you safe for as long as we can, but we are not going to tell you what to do. Once you¡¯re on your feet, you are free to do whatever you wish.¡± She curtseyed. ¡°I will be here to speak to whoever wants to speak to me,¡± she said. ¡°With that, welcome home.¡± The crowd erupted into talking. Murd could see several orcs trying to talk over each other. He didn¡¯t feel like this. He didn¡¯t know what he felt like doing. He tuned out the loud sounds of everyone around him. If he was going to avoid this fate of fighting more and more zombies, perhaps he could sign up for a quick tour and then get out. But really, he didn¡¯t know what was going to happen. Maybe it was time for him to prepare a stump speech. Tried to think of how he remembered politics being and how Orcs would elect a leader. He¡¯d escaped that. He made his way to talk to Borgan and Song. One of them would be smart.
¡°I thought there were going to be fewer trees,¡± Stella said. ¡°He didn¡¯t mention the amount of trees.¡± Bob¡¯s airship pushed its way through the jungle, keeping low so they wouldn¡¯t be noticed. Both Bob and Stella had a fire bending card, which meant that they could keep the skiff aloft with no help. It was big enough for more people, but it felt cozy with just the two of them. There was even a spot underneath where they had just enough room to take a little nap together. Of course, they never did. ¡°Stella,¡± he said. ¡°I think they did it.¡± ¡°Your quest updated?¡± There was only one left. It had to have been updated because of something that the other chosen did. He nodded. ¡°Well, that makes things different,¡± she said. ¡°They won¡¯t be tracking us down so easily if they¡¯re all tied up back there.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Bob agreed. In the couple of days since they had left which he had already lost the track of, they had gone so far east and then inland trying to avoid any sea monsters that they¡¯d kind of lost sense of time unless it related to their direction. The only thing that they really tracked was their movement. Because there were only two of them, and they had to rely on winning. Sometimes they were not so much going towards the last death night as they were meandering towards. If either of them had an air bending card, then they probably would have reached what had to be elf civilization soon. Despite the amount of little hamlets and towns that they passed, the roads all went through large woods. Every so often. There would be a clear-cut area set apart for farming. Most of where they were seeing were tree houses and tree forts. ¡°Are you still down to burn the place up?¡± He said. ¡°I don¡¯t care about that card. If we get it? Great. Either way, I¡¯m with you.¡± They only had the biggest idea of where they were based on the large rivers that they passed. Stella had made a version of the map that had served as a guide for them, that combined with Bob¡¯s pathfinding skill. Let them know which way the threat was and if there were any zombies around. Each time they stopped at night, they found a high enough mountain where there was no way that any zombies would have made it up. Some of the mountain ranges that they passed were so tall that no trees grew on them above a certain point. This made it easy for them to pick a spot to sit down. He wondered if they were close to the ice Coke fountains, where they had met for the first time. ¡°Do you think those are part of the same mountain range that connect to the ice Cloak mountains?¡± ¡°They are very tall. I remember the ice cloak mountains as being like the Rocky mountains in height. From a certain angle, you just see them and they just rise.¡± They both stared at the next spot that they were going to make camp at if they couldn¡¯t find how close they were to the Capital by the end of the day. Though there were more mountains as they went further east and north, Bob was finding that if they diverged from the path, they were having an easier time resting at night. ¡°How far do you think we are?¡± ¡°3 days? At most?¡± He couldn¡¯t be sure. He only had a good guess. If he could follow up on that, guess? He might spend a half hour taking the ship north and south to determine an angle. Without Valerie¡¯s help, he couldn¡¯t determine much. It¡¯s why he was so grateful for the company. He would have done this by himself but, he snuggled against her as she stood at the helm. ¡°That feels good,¡± she said. ¡°You know, the only thing I regret is that we didn¡¯t bring any heavy coats. I wasn¡¯t thinking that we¡¯re going to be spending our time so high up and so cold.¡± ¡°It¡¯s that airship Viking life that we¡¯re all about, right?¡± He said. She laughed. As they made their way towards the mountain, fight fighting to get there before the sun decided the day was over, Bob looked East. For a brief second, he thought he saw a dragon. It had to have been his imagination. This wasn¡¯t the death knight that made dragons. Otherwise, things might get very spicy. He blinked his eyes. Whatever He had seen had disappeared. They landed their skiff for the night and once Bob was sure that there were no zombies around, He summoned his Eldritch feline buddy. He¡¯d leveled up Ca¡¯at, getting get to where it would stick around for at least 8 hours. That was all they needed. He set it out for sentry duty and then relaxed inside the skiff with her. The small doorway that led up to the top of the skiff let him see the little patrol cat keeping watch. But it kept its eyes eastward as if seeing something he couldn¡¯t. Something itched in the back of his mind. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Bob?¡± ¡°Something is going on with my cat.¡± He took a second to reassemble himself, putting on some of the warmer clothes they had left. It was only about five steps from the cabin underneath this gift to the top of it. He peeked his head out, trying to see what his guard cat was seeing. ¡°Well fuck,¡± He said.
Anthony was in deep conversation with Valerie. ¡°Did we finally recover the card from flesh, Weaver?¡± He said. It had been a heated topic of discussion. Everyone wanted to get the card out of circulation and put into a vault somewhere. If the car did what everyone thought it did, then it was a national security threat. Heck, it was a civilization destroying threat on its own. But they hadn¡¯t found it. They had expected to find an obsidian card, a legendary card that let the death knight mold flesh. Or at least mold the flesh of all the surrounding undead. But no one had found it. Valerie had got worried. It took the dwarves 3 days to find any obsidian cards. Their search of the wreckage yielded an unexpected result. Sonya held up the card. ¡°This can¡¯t be it. But it has to be. It sounds like this card makes the user burn up the bodies of the people that he is using to fuel magic?¡±
Legendary card: Fuel You can turn undead minions into fuel for spells. Those used in this manner will be burnt up. ~~The Soul card and cannot be removed~~.
¡°But this makes little sense,¡± Valerie said. ¡°Everything points to this specific card being about using the abilities of the death night in order to create flesh constructs. Do you think that¡¯s how it did it? By burning up other bodies, it would find magic to merge them together?¡± ¡°If we¡¯re theory crafting, I don¡¯t think that this is the card. I think the card is still out there. It makes no sense,¡± Anthony said. ¡°The death knight that had the gate card had full use of it. But it wasn¡¯t strong because of that, just able to go across distances. There had to be some other reason that it knew where we were. Something else tipped it off, but it had the gate card and that was it,¡± she said. ¡°I have that card and it¡¯s not strong. It just has a very particular effect.¡± Valerie shrugged. ¡°We know that a death knight is gone,¡± she said. ¡°What are the chances that this death night is not the flesh Weaver?¡± Anthony said. ¡°If this one is not the flesh Weaver, then where is the flesh Weaver?¡± Valerie said. Anthony and Sonya looked at the dwarf. He hadn¡¯t been one to think about this deeply, but now that they were talking about it, they probably need to bring a card specialist in. ¡°Is there a chance that this is the card?¡± He said. ¡°Because the other death note cards are about as rare. None of the other cards that they collected there are anywhere similar to this.¡± ¡°We need to get Finley in here,¡± Sonya said. ¡°If Valerie doesn¡¯t know? Then maybe he might? And if not, we need to talk to Cedric about whoever they have that knows card lore.¡± Nobody wanted to go. But a runner had come from the front with the card directly to the chosen because they were looking for any obsidian, mythic or legendary cards. Even some of the rares had been suspicious, though there were not that many rare cards that had come through. Normally, they would not care about the cards in specific. But right now? When they were trying to figure out what the powers were of the death knight that they killed and how they deferred from the last death night that they had no contact with so far? They were getting a little cautious. Valerie sent a runner to grab Finley. 5 minutes of avoiding the issue later, the elf showed up. Sonya explained the problem and showed him the card. For the first time in a while, all the green drained out of his face. His normal skin looked a bit sunburnt without it. ¡°So you think that this is not the right card? And you think that what someone stole the card? Why would they do that? This has to be it. There are not that many legendary cards. There are definitely not enough legendary cards of this caliber to go around. It has to be that this card...¡± He paused. ¡°If this gave the effect that we think it had, then anyone who uses this card could do the same.¡± ¡°Are you proposing that we test the card out?¡± Valerie said. ¡°If someone''s soul can handle it, yes,¡± he said. ¡°This is one of the magically heaviest cards I¡¯ve ever held. If this isn¡¯t it, then we need to go back onto the battlefield and search ourselves.¡± There was little appetite to return. But as Finley explained, anyone could sense the density of such a card. Even a rare or mythic card would be easily sensed. Sonya even took her gig card out from her chest and held it aloft and they could feel the power from it. It was like having been a part of a death knight had given it an extra layer. ¡°Well, that settles it. If this card that came from a death knight has such a magical weight even though it¡¯s a rare card, then this other card has to have been from a death night. There¡¯s no other way. But this card effect does not match up with what we saw this death night doing. None of this makes any sense,¡± Valerie said. ¡°None of this makes any sense if we¡¯re thinking that this death night is the flesh Weaver. What if this death night was not the flesh Weaver?¡± Anthony said. ¡°If this death knight was not the Flesh Weaver, then where is he?¡± Sonya said.
Bob looked out over the skiff. ¡°Honey, you¡¯re not going to believe this,¡± he said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Fucking dragons.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be fucking kidding me.¡± 4- Nineteen There was only someone you could do against a single dragon. If you were a single human or other enlightened being, mostly, what she could do is try to overpower it with a spell if you had that. Dragons ruled the air. Humans could not fly. Most of the time, they couldn¡¯t fly. At least. Bob had a special technique to fly, but it required that he used a lot of flames. It wasn¡¯t really sustainable in the long run, which meant that they were strategizing how they would take down what had to be at least three dragons on their own. ¡°So there¡¯s three of them at least. And they have to be circling around the flesh. Weaver. Do you think that it still wants me to engage it in one-on-one combat?¡± Bob said. ¡°I hope my boyfriend is smart enough not to fight a death knight alone when dragons surround him.¡± Bob gave her the puppy dog eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t think that you can get out of this just because you¡¯re f****** cute and because you¡¯re a great lay. I mean, you are a great lay but you¡¯re not going to f****** just dip out and do this. If we¡¯re doing this, we¡¯re doing this together.¡± Bob was so grateful that whoever had packed up the skiff for them had left a bed roll or two. That was extra large sized so that Stella and he could fit in there. It also meant that they could be warm when they were sleeping and doing other things, which was great. Although the cleanup left a little to be desired as Stella had not left with a cleanse card. She had learned the spell recently, which was a boon, but they were deciding how they would attack. ¡°If we make our way over there, how far do you think that is? 10 mi 20 miles? Can we make our way there in a day?¡± She said. ¡°What? On foot?¡± He said. ¡°I guess we could.¡± ¡°It would probably take what all day? But you have that control undead card now, don¡¯t you?¡± He had it. It was their ace in a hole. She might be an experienced scout and Rogue and he an experienced scout and ranger, but there were only two of them. It would be the two of them against the world. This meant that they were feeling like it was time. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the bear pelt that¡¯s itching me or if I just want to get out there and stab me a few dragons,¡± Bob said. ¡°I think it¡¯s the Bear pelt. It has to be. Remember the last dragon we tried to face down?¡± It was hard for Bob to forget that last dragon. Mostly because his girlfriend would not let him forget. She was superb at that. He did not want her to be great at that. But he kept tearing it and she kept talking about it, so he was going to let it slide. There are some things not worth fighting about, and this was one of them. ¡°All right. So we repelled down the mountain, march up there. And then return and get the skiff?¡± She said. ¡°Bob, there¡¯s only so much food we have. I know I grabbed a lot, but I¡¯m not going to gate back soon.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you got the gate spell. Did you?¡± He said. ¡°I wanted to keep it quiet,¡± she said. ¡°But yeah, I could do one a day. Maybe. I¡¯m working on filling out my where my world line is and yeah, it¡¯s all over the place.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± He said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how we were going to catch any more food. Although the birds have been fine.¡± Bob''s summons had been catching birds for them and they had been roasting them. The minute controls afforded them through the fire bending card meant they could roast a flying turkey quickly. Chances were that if they had to cook something on the ground, they could hunt. However, without Stella¡¯s cleanse spell, they did not want to eat any meat that might be infected. Using Bob¡¯s control undead card, they could tell what was potentially affected by the undead and what was too small and hadn¡¯t been affected. Primarily small game was what they could eat. And because the Elven Kingdom was well into a large forest, this gave them a lot of opportunities for small game. Still, knowing that they could head back, Bob decided. ¡°If you have the gate spell,¡± he said. ¡°Then we can head back whenever we want. I don¡¯t want to head back yet, though.¡± She nodded. He knew she was on board and this little tidbit of information had helped him finally set his mind at ease. If he had to sacrifice himself to kill the death knight for the good of the group, he might, but he didn¡¯t want her to die. Bob knew that if he breathed that aloud, she would roast him. So he didn¡¯t. Okay, here¡¯s my plan. We¡¯re going to pack up everything we have. We¡¯re going to take this gift to a lower altitude where we can find it. And then we¡¯re going to place a marker there. I don¡¯t know if you can use an anchor spell on something so that I can path find back to it, but what we¡¯re going to do is we¡¯re going to mark some trees on our way. I know where the thing is. But if we have to make our way back afterwards, I¡¯m not going to find the skiff unless we mark the path. Are you with me? She nodded. ¡°Okay, great. We¡¯ll head out in the morning first. First thing, maybe even before first light. I¡¯m just going to double check the pathway there, but I think we should be able to hike the rest of the way. Once we get to that Ridge, it has to be 10 mi away. We will stop and reassess. I know that¡¯s not far for us if we were traveling by a caravan, but we¡¯re going to be spending a lot of our energy moving there. I don¡¯t want to overdo it. If we¡¯re going to fight this motherfucker, I want to do it fresh. I¡¯m not going to arrive half dead." ¡°You¡¯re so handsome when you make battle plans,¡± Stella said. ¡°You really need to do that more often.¡± He smiled. He definitely would, for her. --- ¡°Do we think that the death knight is so duplicitous as to do a fake out with us?¡± Cedric said. The meeting of the war council had included all the commanders of each of the companies of the legion, the heads of each of the attached companies from the 13 tribes, as well as five Orcs that I designated themselves as leaders. All the chosen were in attendance. Save for those that were with Bob or chasing after Bob. Everyone knew Bob had gone into the Elven Kingdom, or had disappeared in another direction. No one was going to call him on his shit except for the chosen. So while they had wanted to save a chair in for him, they were just standing room only. In fact, for this specific event, Sonya had made a circular arena so that everyone on the outside could look in and observe the speakers. There were nearly seventy leaders represented there. ¡°We believe that the death knight known to the chosen as the flesh Weaver has attempted to pull the wool over our eyes. This is not the first time that he has done something unusual for an undead,¡± Anthony said. ¡°It is for this reason Will head out to the Elven Kingdom as soon as we can physically begin moving. If what we think is true, then the flesh Weaver is there and alive. After having swapped for the death night, that was there already. Perhaps it was the flesh Weaver that turned the other death night into that mountain of flesh that we all had to destroy.¡± The thing that he wasn¡¯t saying was that without Bob there in person, they couldn¡¯t confirm the death. They could only go off of the card that the goat Lord had given Sophie, which so far was telling them that there was one death knight left. Or possibly that any remaining death nights were in the same direction. Possibly in the same spot. ¡°So what we were asking for is for everyone to prepare for an invasion of the Elven lands. We will have 15 airships heading there, three of which will be prepared to rapidly unload troops and secure a space for the rest of our fighters. We suspect that there will be at least three or four dragons in the air. Every single Chosen has committed this to this mission.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°It will take every single one of us in order to accomplish this,¡± Cedric said. ¡°Now we need to talk about who is ready. Who needs training and which groups want to be the first ones? We understand that the Orcs have a grudge that may only be repaid by joining our fight.¡± There were a fair amount of grunts from the crowd. ¡°But we have to make sure that everyone gets a chance. When this goes down in the history books, this coalition of enlightened will be honored. It has been an honor to serve with every single person here,¡± Cedric said. A map displayed in the center of the area. A 3D topographical map sliced through Cedric as they could show the flight patterns that they intended to take into the area, as well as where they expected resistance and where they expected to land ground forces so they could secure the final death knight. ¡°Unlike the last mission, where we left a fortification deep within enemy lines and this one, we want to set up a waypoint so that we can purge the elvish kingdom from the inside. Once and I understand Orcs, we will get back to your homeland. Once this is established, we will return to the orcish capital and give you all the tools you need to reclaim your lands. As far as resupply and food and water go, we will supply you with that as well until you are back on your feet.¡± There was only so much that the legion could do. Having the backing of the chosen as well as Finley the Tinker King meant they could do so much more. The thousand Orcs, we¡¯re going to be one of the biggest issues for the chosen to solve. It meant that after this war, no matter what anyone did, there would still be many mouths to feed. But this was the problem they wanted. ¡°Make no mistake. We are happy to feed you. We are ecstatic to have you among our ranks. It is just going to be a bit of a pain to get everything running. And you are welcome to stay in Gloucester as long as you like,¡±. Anthony said. ¡°You are all part of the coalition. We honor you and we thank you for all your contributions,¡± Cedric said. ¡°We understand it is now more than just a matter of our survival. We will survive. And once we destroy this last bastion of this horrific plague, we will thrive again.¡± The sound from the crowd was intense. And for a second, Anthony had to reach out and pop his ears. It was a lot to take in. They were asking a lot of these leaders and they were going to be giving them a lot as well. He had never been so certain of victory as he had in that moment. It was just going to take one more trip. If they did everything right? He might be on vacation in a few months. Permanently. --- Finley loaded up another crate. The genius of the wide gates they had made from the warehouse to the airships with their protected gates and Sunderland was that they had capacity. A single portal could only take one person from one place to another. Having a wide base meant they could move product. In fact, at that moment, he was pushing through an entire rack of ribs still on the bone that was larger than him. It was going to be smoked on the other side, as they had lots of hands to help in Gloucester. None of the Orcs wanted to be stuck in Sunderland. They wanted to be helping whether they were going to be part of the fight. In a whole, the dinosaur meat didn¡¯t smell that bad. Really. It was kind of good compared to some places at the Caravan had taken him. In fact, he was kind of coming around to it as a source of food. It wasn¡¯t the same as the tinker noodles that took so much time, but it was functional. In order for him to make enough noodles to feed these Orcs dwarves and the smattering of other humans and lizard folk, he was going to need a lot of wheat. Wheat. He didn¡¯t have any right now. Nor did he have any help. He had asked the merchants at yellowtail if they might help and they were coming through with a small amount of what he needed, but he knew it was going to be a lot more than what they were initially giving him. Still, he did his best. And now, he needed nearly a hundred dwarves to move boxes. The entire support company of the 76th Dwarven legion was in lockstep with him moving supplies between continents. He had five just stacking them on one side throughout the day and night and then a hundred appear. While Sonya would hold open the gate. They would flash everything. It had gotten to be so much work that the dwarves had installed a rail system. Not only that, they had installed several dozen mine carts or mine cart like machines, they would then portal from the bottom of the hill back to the top when it was needed. It was just easier for a dwarf to take a box. Have a dwarf tell them where to go with it and then, if needed, put it on the little dwarven railway from the Warehouse or the workshop down the road to where it was needed at the base camp. And then from there, it would get sorted out too with the individual units that needed it the most. It was a very efficient system because of how much work that had been put into it over the past 2 months. The ramp up of the Orcs was the first large wrench and stress. The system that had occurred since Finley and the east of War company had mashed up this continuous logistical movement. If only they had the time to raise their own cattle stock or velociraptors, then things we¡¯ve much easier. And Finley winced as you saw. The fencing that was coming up north of the promontory where they were going to eventually put dinosaurs that were going to be raised for their meat. They hadn¡¯t yet caught enough dinosaurs to place in that little pen area and he realized that herbivores they were going to have to feed those dinosaurs as well. Also, someone¡¯s going to deal with feeding the dinosaurs, giving the dinosaurs water and making sure that they did not live in their own filth. If there was one thing that the elf did not want to do it, was that cleanup duty for any large herbivore. That one was going to be something that the dwarves did for them. They had enough cleanse cards and enough space that it shouldn¡¯t have been an issue. They just needed to build up that meat industry. Next to the large fenced in area, they had also built a small slaughterhouse to prepare for that. Finley knew it was just a bear bone structure with some carving tools that had been found and handed over. As it was, just a few blacksmiths working on various implements for the legion. Until the Orcs came and moved into several of the Dwarven buildings in Gloucester, everyone was relatively spread out. But with this new Matt mashup of races and enlightened, things were feeling like an actual city for once. Finley was feeling like if there was another zombie attack, then perhaps they would have to go through all those Orcs and then all of those dwarves before they even got to him. And if there was another sea monster attack, then yeah, that was definitely not going to happen. He was not ready for another sea monster attack. In fact, he was so not ready for sea monster attack that if one had; He was just going to run away. Because that was what Heroes did. Heroes did not do dumb shit just to appear smart for any reason. Heroes had to live until tomorrow so they could save the world and satisfy the terms and conditions of the contract to which they were bound to. There was another jolt as the last of the dwarves from the support company came through the gate. Sonya yelled through the gate. Checking to see if anyone was else was coming, but it looked like they were done. She tutted. Snapping her fingers, the gate closed. Let the workshop resume its duties, as they were continually trying to work on a way to get the supplies needed to the people where they needed it. They were not going to dedicate every single wagon of the legion just to move boxes from one place to the other. But they were going to need to flash a lot of food to the elvish Kingdom if they¡¯re going to stick around there. No one was taking that. It was actually going to happen, but there was a big feeling that if the Goat Lord was going to intervene inside of the orcish Capital, then perhaps the goat Lord would intervene inside of the Elven Capital.. Gloucester was far from being the Dwarven Capital until recently. It hadn¡¯t even been a ducal seat. Still, they had saved. Jose dwarven and turned them into goats that the goat lord has allowed. Finley was just hoping that they might save some elves. Finley held no particular love for his brothers and sisters. In fact, he felt very indifferent toward the whole thing. He had been ridiculed as a child by other elves and this? This just felt strange to him. He wasn¡¯t going to be the one directly saving them, but if he hadn¡¯t picked up. Anthony, way back when and then picked up. Bob and then the rest of the chosen. None of this would have happened. Thinking back, he thought about how would have been if he hadn¡¯t picked up. Anthony. He would not have survived his next encounter. He would have lost his wagon to a group of zombie bandits. He was pissed at his hypothetical self for giving up to zombie bandits. He would never tell himself that, but he could be pissed at that alternate universe version of himself that had never gone with Anthony. And now? He was considering returning the front lines for the first time in a while. If anything, the operation no longer needed him. Several people had come up to him and asked to become Tinkers. He had told them what they had to do and give them a chance to join him after this. This was all done. If he died in the battle, which he wouldn¡¯t because he was a coward, one of the chosen that was a tinker would become the king or queen. However, no one else could pass on the culture as there was no one else that remembered the before times. This was the only reason that he was holding back. Remembering the classic stories of Tinkers, he knew it would be the right thing for him to show up and help. After all, what else would he be doing? He grew tired of moving crates of meat by himself. He had people for that. He had wars. That would do that. He that hunted for his subcontractors to supply them with the meat that they needed in order to run their society. He could spare a day to be in the thick of it. And in the back of his mind, he was thinking about what would happen to Anthony if he didn¡¯t show up. He was dreading the idea that Anthony would die on the battlefields. He didn¡¯t know what he would do without Anthony and the rest of the chosen. It hadn¡¯t been just them for a long time. It felt like it was time for him to put up whatever he had left and to fight it out. Sonya slapped them on the shoulder. ¡°Hey old elf, you look like you¡¯ve been brooding for a while.¡± ¡°I feel it. You know this big battle?¡± He said. ¡°What about it?¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯m thinking about coming with.¡± Sonya put her arm around him. Why did she have to feel so warm? All humans were so warm. They were also so kind and nice to him. It would have helped if they were mean. And sometimes they were. But only in what they were saying. They were never mean in their actions. And that was one thing that stung the most. It would have been nice if they were the main. It would have been much easier on him to decide what to do then. 4- Twenty Finley counted how many boxes they had. Then he counted again. Getting the same number he counted for a third time. And it was only apparent to him he was avoiding any other work. No, no one else was watching him do this. He was all by himself. And he was okay with that. Because, if he was going to run a world-spanning cartel shipping things across continents, he needed to get the basics down right first. First. So many tinkers had thought that they were going to make big money doing things that made absolutely zero sense and the elders had to tell them otherwise. Now he was the elder of all tinkers. He had already thought about how he was going to take the option of other tinkers and turn them from a caravan society into an airship society. After all, the only thing that was keeping them from going out in the airships before was not having them. Wouldn¡¯t have airships change so much? It was something he pondered daily. He didn¡¯t want to take people under false pretenses. Like sure, he was going to still have the Caravans for those that want to be traditional tinkers. But he was also going to figure out a way to rig up a system of pulleys and levers into a balloon so that if they needed, they could fly their caravans. Finley was just imagining horses with wings pulling flying caravans across the countryside and how much fun that would be. Then he remembered how terrifying it would also be. And remembered that he didn¡¯t have to be the one doing all this. If he was just the guy at the hub, he could travel whenever he wanted. Just as they had already dispatched the airships to the Elven Capital. Sophie and Zan were leading the charge while they had left. Sonya and Anthony back at home to arrange things for what everyone really hoped was the final big battle. They were going to do a very large, wide scale mop-up effort afterwards, but once the big undead threat was gone? Things could go down to a more manageable pace. Anthony and Cedric had talked to him to death about the importance of Gloucester as a central part of the continent, becoming a new trade hub, and he agreed. Though he hadn¡¯t been a Gloucester before their initial time there, he knew it was now the most important city. When they liberated the city of Heirisburg, after the Elven Capital was down, that might become a secondary site for them. Either that or the training camp. Seeing as how they already had established gates throughout the Elven kingdom, commerce could flow freely around those trade nodes. But the hub of trade? Gloucester? That was going to be his area. With the duchess Gigi as his bestie, he was going to stand the test. Seeing as how. The Princess General or Queen to be was also going to be staying there. There would be a lot for trading partners to do. The only question for him was who was going to be there for them to trade with? And long-term, they were not going to repopulate that quickly. But what they could do would be to have a strong policy of migration and then offer those migrants prominent positions in temperate landscapes around the continent. The leadership was already talking about a combined parliamentary system where each of the races had their own representation and the prior kingdoms just merged. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was going to happen. And it was definitely not going to happen if there was any substantial amount of Elven influence left, but it intrigued him. As a tinker, what he wanted was a safe place to traverse. Everyone was going to be flush with cash after this. So he needed to bring up the industry. Everything that the Dwarven legion was doing was helping, but eventually every single dwarf in the legion would retire, hopefully to be replaced by a younger dwarf, if there ever were any. Any. One thing that really upset him was that besides the children of the camp followers of the Dwarven legion, there were few children about. Finley loved children. They were all new to the world, and this played out in their demeanor and how they played, and it was just lovely to see them interacting. The sad fact of the war is that so many children had died after becoming zombified now. The kingdoms were going to have to face the fact that they were only so many Dwarven women and orcish women willing to bear children. Even if they all gave birth to three children each, they would take years for them to repopulate the entire continent. For this reason, he was thinking of what it would be like. ¡°Gigi, what do you think it¡¯s going to be like after all this?¡± ¡°What do you mean, after all this?¡± She said, sipping on her tea. As the appointed duchess of Gloucester, she had a commanding view of the town below, as well as a villa next to the city itself. This Villa was where she did at work for the day. Although she had enough people helping her with the minutiae,. She wanted to make sure that everything looked good. ¡°What I mean is, what are all the refugees going to do? What are we going to do?¡± ¡°Well, let me answer the first question first. We¡¯re going to do whatever the f*** we want. I died. I¡¯m doing What I want. What I want. Those refugees? They can stay as long as they want. I offered most of them citizenship.¡± Finley nodded. ¡°But unless a female has two or three children, there¡¯s not that many people here. And there won¡¯t be,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t see why that¡¯s a problem. If women want to have two or three babies? We¡¯ll welcome that. Dwarfs have long lives.¡± ¡°Were you thinking about having a child yourself?¡± She turned to face him, raising her glass. ¡°You know I really wasn¡¯t before? But as a duchess? If I can get the help, I¡¯ll, it¡¯ll be a heck of a lot easier. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it on my salary working at the pub, but now...¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got those loyal retainers.¡± ¡°What about you? We haven¡¯t met that many elves.. are you thinking about having children?¡± His eyes went wide. He might like kids, but he couldn¡¯t... ¡°You know I can¡¯t have kids, right?¡± He said. She waved them away. ¡°I know. I know you¡¯re not really an elf. Tell me something I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind taking care of someone else¡¯s kids.¡± ¡°See, now there¡¯s a deal. I can deal with that. If I¡¯m going to have kids? Then maybe Uncle Finley will show up.¡± ¡°You know what I do like that name. Uncle Finley has a kind of ring to it. But maybe... Maybe we don¡¯t tell anybody about that. Okay?¡± ¡°We¡¯re on the eve of battle here. I¡¯m going to tell whoever, whatever I damn please,¡± Gigi said. ¡°And I¡¯m going to sleep with whoever I damn please as well.¡± ¡°I saw you looking at that Cedric guy. Is that happening?¡± He said. ¡°In a manner of speaking. He has no recourse to say no to me at this point in time. But it¡¯s not like Anthony and Sonya. They¡¯ve known each other for so long, and I have to fight for his attention.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Finley had suspected something like that, but he wasn¡¯t going to ask. He¡¯d fended off several propositions. Not that he wanted anything in particular. If anything, he was trying to save their feelings. He didn¡¯t want to do anything with anyone. Maybe if the right person walked into his life one day, he might settle down with them in a friend¡¯s way. But he had thought that he was going to have that with Gigi. And she wanted more. That was okay because they were clearly talking about what they wanted and what they wanted in each other. So now? When she told him about what she was doing with Cedric potentially, he was happy for her. After all, he had room for more friends. --- ¡°After all this time, you think that they¡¯re going to show up, then try to save the day or some shit?¡± Stella said. ¡°If I know them, then they¡¯re going to be pushing to be here as soon as possible.¡± The morning after they landed and set up camp, the three monks had appeared on their radar. Since they didn¡¯t have an actual radar, the monks had to actually show up in their field of vision and since all three of them had a wind-bending card; they were using these hang gliding kites in order to reach where they were. To Bob, it looked exhausting. It would have them to head up at a time using a flow from a different one. But he wasn¡¯t in charge of the three of them. Anthony had sent them clearly, and he wasn¡¯t going to make it easy for them. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to lower down a rope or something?¡± Stella said. ¡°No, we can let them approach. It looks like they are going to be here shortly, anyway. And why ruin a good thing? How often do I get to watch martial arts jackass?¡± He said. ¡°Good call on the hot chocolate, though.¡± It was very close to martial arts jackass how slowly they moved and how it took them forever to get to most of the way up. If they weren¡¯t trying to bring their flyers up, then? Perhaps they would have been a little faster. Or perhaps if they weren¡¯t carrying what had to be a month¡¯s worth of trail rations, they would have gone faster. Either way, Brandon was the first one to land. Before saying anything, Bob offered him a hot chocolate, the steam rising into his nostrils. If the monk refused, he would have no problem taking that off of his hands. ¡°Thanks,¡± Brandon said before sitting down against the side of the skiff. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re here because you want to save the world or something?¡± Stella said. ¡°Or they wanted us to track you down and stop you from doing something stupid,¡± Brandon said. ¡°That seems reasonable,¡± Stella said. ¡°You guys really should have left a note.¡± Stella gave Bob the most earned side eye of his career. He expected it. He deserved it and he was over it. ¡°I¡¯m just... We¡¯re not going back,¡± Bob said. ¡°Understood. And we¡¯re coming with you,¡± Brandon said. ¡°This isn¡¯t some Lord of the rings moment. We¡¯re not taking the one ring to Mordor. You don¡¯t have to be here. We¡¯re not even sure if we can sneak in and hit the death knight, what with all the dragons and shit.¡± ¡°Dragons?¡± The monk said. ¡°They were five dragons that were circling what we think is the elvish capital. Something¡¯s up,¡± Stella said. The other two monks arrived. Quickly, Stella offered them the last two mugs on the skiff. ¡°You¡¯re saying that there''re dragons here? That¡¯s not a... How are there dragons here? That¡¯s a thing from the flesh. Weaver, right?¡± One monk said. ¡°We think that the flesh Weaver is pulling a fast one on us. Nobody was expecting more dragons. Especially no one but me. But it makes sense for them to have done this already,¡± Stella said. Stella explains their theory that the flesh Weaver had swapped spots with the Elven death knight. She went into detail about how it was even possible that the flesh Weaver was leaving a false positive, having detached a part of its body and potentially divide itself into two to cover both areas. ¡°So what you¡¯re telling me is that there¡¯s a strong possibility that we could face two death nights here? And the undead scourge has tried a feint maneuver?¡± ¡°It only makes sense like that if you¡¯re thinking about how death knights are made. If you need a corrupted chosen to become a death knight, then it makes sense for them to secure some of us.¡± Once the monks got situated, things became a bit more tense. Bob could sense that they wanted to go back. He could also sense that they were specifically not mentioning it. He didn¡¯t know if that was worse or better. ¡°Look guys, I¡¯m not mad at you. I¡¯m just- This is the last thing I¡¯m doing for the Caravan- And if I take a few days to get situated with Stella here, then we¡¯re fine with that. We¡¯re just not going to go head back and report on this,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah, that makes sense,¡± Brandon said. ¡°I know what you guys want me to do. I¡¯m not heading back. I didn¡¯t even know if we¡¯re going to survive this and if we survive this, we¡¯re heading someplace else,¡± Bob said. ¡°The three of you are welcome to join us. I¡¯m not going to stop you. It¡¯s a free continent. But if you¡¯re going to be here, it¡¯s scouting rules.¡± ¡°Yes, observe and report. Do a Recon before you make any big moves. We learned your scouting lessons.¡± ¡°Then I need you to either drop the act in the pout face or figure out a way to help us out. We¡¯ve got enough food for the two of us for a while. We did not count on having an extra three mouths to feed.¡± Brandon slumped. As the leader of the three men who had chosen the monk class upon their reincarnation, they were deferring to him. Bob was hoping dod the monks would by proxy all defer to Bob. At the very worst, if they just showed up and didn¡¯t do anything, he would call it a win. He didn¡¯t want to have to go back just to tell the Caravan that somebody had died on his watch. He could deal with Stella and himself. And if it was somebody who wasn¡¯t chosen? They would have been right out. The only reason that he was considering it was the amount of dragons and their relative strength. ¡°All right, guys. I have a few ideas I want to run by you. Then. We¡¯re going to spend a day or two scouting up to there and then we¡¯ll make a plan. But I need to you all to understand that right now. What I need is for someone to provide a large distraction. If you can do that, I would appreciate it.¡± Brandon smiled. --- It took them nearly two days to get to the top of the mountain that overlooked the Dwarven capital. Mindful of the fact that they could be seen if they poked their heads up, they moved under the cover of the treetops. They had specifically picked a mountain range to the west of the Capitol as that had no small villages nearby for them to get caught up in. As they got closer, Bob was more able to find zombies within range. Every time they found a zombie with Bob¡¯s Pathfinder skill, they went around it. The zombies that had been there had clearly I¡¯ve been working on something. Once they got to the top of the ridge and figured out a way to cover themselves so they wouldn¡¯t be visible. It was very clear that there were at least five dragons and that the zombie elves in the area had been building up. Something incredible. Zombified elves had clear-cut a large area and established camps there to build siege weaponry from the trees they felled. In fact, it looks like a proper army was ready to be on the move. Bob cursed. ¡°This is the power of a death knight. A whole army aimed towards what?¡± Stella said. ¡°They already conquered the continent. I know that the capital is close to the quiet sea, but could they be preparing to expand?¡± Brandon said. The group shuttered at the idea. It made sense for the zombies to accomplish the goals set out by the superiors. They would work tirelessly day and night. In the middle of the field, several ships were being built. Seeing the design, Bob realized they were making a better version of their airship. Of course they were. Once the flesh Weaver saw what they had made, it had so much more resources to do anything with. So it just made sense. ¡°It¡¯s making airships. It¡¯s going to invade someplace?¡± He said. ¡°It makes little sense any other way.¡± He just wished that there was a way for them to destroy all this built up industry. If they killed the death knight that the zombies that have been working would not turn into mindless zombies and therefore keep doing what they were doing. Nobody wanted to think about that. It had always been the case that if you kill a death knight, then the zombies that it wasn¡¯t controlling around it. Whether it¡¯s innate, Powers would revert to their normal zombie state. But now, seeing the intense work that just one of the death knights had put in, Bob was uncertain. They were going to have to burn it all down. And now he was thinking about ways to keep the burn from spitting, because they were in a mild climate with little humidity and that if some of the wood caught fire, then it might all just go ablaze. That would mean that thousands of miles of forest would just be subject to a giant fire. He could only hope that his fire bending abilities would be up to the standard that might stop them all from blowing up. ¡°All right. I think we have enough here to plan a plan to sabotage this. If we can do this without getting noticed, then we can destroy their industrial base and once the war is over, acquire a improved. How does everybody feel about that?¡± A round of nods was his answer. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s make it happen,¡± he said. Kickstarter Announcement! Stubbing and Launching the KS Hello! As you''re sure to have noticed, I''ve started a Kickstarter based on this project. As such I''ll be stubbing book one for the foreseeable future, then putting it up on Kindle Unlimited when the KS campaign is done. If it doesn''t fund, I''ll just be putting the ebook onto KU anyway. It''s 32% funded as I write this and I''ll add a link to the amazon series page when that is up. Thank you all for being such amazing people, and a special thank you to Nico (who will probably get a special card in the ten pack of cards in this kickstarter). I''ve put a link to the kickstarter below. Even if you can only pledge $1, it will make a difference. If we hit 7k, then I can have audiobooks made for all of the backers. I''ll be pulling book one on Friday, February 7th (which is tomorrow). Highlights from the campaign: About the Book Caravan of Blades: Imagine Wagons is the first volume of a four part series. Book three and four are written but have yet to begun editing.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. What Else should you know about this book? Comparable titles: A Summoner Awakens, Station Eleven, Frieren, All the Skills, Jakes Magical Market, Orconomics Target Audience: Adults (Contains themes that may be trying for younger readers, frank discussions about death and dying as well as showing good interpersonal boundaries) Length ~350 pages Bonus content: Card artwork, character guides Blurb or Overview ¡°It¡¯ll be a good opportunity,¡± they said. Little did they know. Finley, the roving tinker and sales extraordinaire (who may or may not be an elf), would prefer to avoid the heroic riffraff and their suffocating, otherworldly hope. Unfortunately, the pantheon has other ideas which is ever noticeable when they keep dropping summoned heroes in his path, insistent that they¡¯ll be the savior. Why? Great question! Finley has no idea. His world has been overrun by zombies, so why bother? His business is already in turmoil¨Cexpected really, when the ¡°regulars¡± would rather be eating brains than buying flowers for loved ones and the uninfected are busy trying to survive. Yet, the higher powers saw heroes as the solution. What¡¯s a merchant meant to do with them? Or their worthless money in such a vile economy? One thing is for sure¡­ When the horde comes calling, you better have an escape plan.