Davin limped out of the woods, the arrow that was sunk into his leg ached, and his mind raced as he waited for shock to kick in. Hugh and Cadence were breathing heavily, the bodies starting to fade as the items that they were carrying began to drop. The caravan jumped into action as they pulled out healers' kits and bandages, a few benches set up next to the wagons, several of the caravanners ran out and started to support Davin and the others, being helped over to the benches made his leg throb, but it was easier than having to do it alone.

"Are bandits common?" Davin asked as he was lowered onto the bench.

"Not usually, most of the roads are kept clear by the adventuring teams that go back and forth from the dungeons." The man started examining the arrow on Davin's leg. "At worst, we will see a monster or two, especially this close to the bastion, but with us this close to winter I think they may be desperate."

"Are the winters harsh?" Davin looked over at his friends, Cadence battered and bruised, Hugh being in the best condition of them all.

"If you live outside of one of the major settlements, they can be. It's too bad that none of them survived, we could have found out where they came from." He shrugged, snapping the head off of the arrow before quickly pulling it from Davin's leg.

Davin reflexively let out a loud yelp of pain. "Gah! Warn a guy when you do things like that!" Davin continued to silently scream as he tried not to move as he was being bandaged.

The guy wrapping his leg shoved a small vial into Davin's hands. "Drink this, it will help with the pain."

Realizing the healing potion in his hands he popped the stopper and began to drink, the overly sweet syrup tingled as he swallowed it. "Thanks." He groaned out.

Hugh dropped onto the seat next to Davin. "I'm all out of big spells for the day, I can get one back with a little effort, but no big tricks left in the bag." He chimed in as he looked over at Cadence. "Pretty sure they're out too."

"Yes, I will need to rest before I can do anything bigger than a simple chant," Cadence stated as they were slowly lowered onto the benches, already sipping on a potion.

The drops that had been strewn about were all collected, Davin, having gathered the ones that he'd taken down in the woods. The pile of mismatched armors, weapons, and collections of bags were tossed into the wagons, agreeing that they would sort it all once they made camp for the night. They all sat in the wagon, Hugh pouring over his spellbook, Cadence chanted a few poems putting them all at ease, Davin felt as though he was healing far faster than he ever should have after taking an arrow to his leg.

"I was an adventurer like you once, but then I took an arrow to the knee." Davin quoted the iconic line, knowing that it meant nothing to the group around him.

"It missed your knee, it won't even leave a mark." Hugh looked at Davin dubiously.

"Haha, I know, just felt like I had to say it, just a dumb thing from back home." Still chuckling as he thought about it.

"Something obscure that will make no sense I am guessing. From one of your games?" Cadence asked.

"Yes, it was from a game," Davin stated with a mild pout.

"An arrow to the knee is no joking matter," Hugh stated with a laugh in his voice.

"How is the pain from an arrow through the leg? I can only assume that through the knee would be far more painful." Cadence rubbed their knee in phantom pain.

"The funniest part is that one of the biggest fan theories was that it was an analogy for getting married." Davin chuckled once again.

"That sounds awful… why would one compare that to marriage?" Cadence asked as they covered their mouth in shock.

"There are a lot of them, and most of them were pretty silly, one of the only ones that I can remember right now is "the ol' ball and chain." Davin shrugged.

"What is wrong with your world? Hugh has warned me of such things, I just didn't expect them to be so… strange." Cadence stated as their eyes went wide.

"Well when you have over two thousand years of nonmagical advancements, some of it gets a little lost in translation." Davin winced slightly as the caravanner set his leg down.

"Two thousand years?" Cadence asked

"Well to be accurate, that is just from a specific point in history, we had some kind of recorded history from as far back as five thousand years or so? There is likely more, but honestly, it wasn’t my thing." Davin shrugged again, pulling himself to his feet, and winced again.

"I can't even begin to understand your world… it seems to be truly terrifying." Cadence continued to sip on their potion.

Davin offered his hands to his friends smiling. "Did you guys see how much XP we got?" Trying to distract his friends from their mild existential crisis, mentally pulling up his status and looking at the new total.

Experience

835/900

Hugh's eyes went wide, looking at his new total. "I leveled up, wow that was a lot! Damn, I forgot how many spells that I have access to now, gives me something to read while we ride." Hugh's voice not hiding any of his excitement.

Cadence did the same as they looked over their own status. "That is more than I have gotten in ages, that was a lot of expee." Their words still seemed strange in their mouth.

"Five hundred for me almost puts me at level three already," Davin stated, his spirits rising. "That puts me pretty close too."

Stolen novel; please report.

"The danger aside, that was pretty exciting, I have to admit that I have not been in combat in quite some time. I have to say that it was refreshing." Cadence patted their side where the sword slashed their side. "Can't say that I am excited for the pain that may be waiting for me in the future if today sets any kind of expectation."

Davin chuckled. "I'm just glad that we had some potions, they are pretty effective." Hopping on his once-injured leg, only felt a slight stiffness in it.

"Yes, I have to agree," Hugh stated as he helped Cadence climb into the wagon.

"Did you even get hurt?" Davin asked as he looked over Hugh.

"A little." Hugh held up his bandaged arm. "It was pretty painful honestly."

Davin eyed him dubiously. "Glad you’ve got our backs." Chuffing slightly.

Hugh smiled widely. "Always, as long as you have my front."

Cadence stared confused for a moment and suddenly bursts out in a fit of laughter. "You two are a riot, you act as though you have known each other for ages."

Hugh shrugged the same way that Davin did. "You spend enough time with someone, and you sync up to some extent."

"Don’t worry, you're getting there, you know not to take our arguments seriously. I'm sure you'll find your own cadence to the team." Davin chuckled at the use of their name.

The stare that they gave Davin was one that if looks could kill it would have done some serious damage to the two as they joked. "Puns?" They asked.

"Yes, don’t worry, they only get worse from here." Davin snickered under his breath.

"I think I want to get off now," Cadence stated deadpan as they started at Davin.

"Nah, you're in this now." Davin stated before stage yelling "YOU'RE ONE OF US."

Hugh chuckled, shaking his head as he lowered it into his hands. "You're an idiot."

"Correction my dear friend, I am your idiot." Davin posed like a classic hero.

"I do think that your Tiefling would have my hide if she heard you say that." Hugh rolled his eyes.

"She gets the rest of me, I'm leaving all my idiot for you." To which Davin climbed into the wagon next to his friends, sitting on the trunk as if it were a bench.

Shortly after that, the wagon began to move again, the crews easily getting the wagon back together. The delay from the bandits didn’t put them too far off of their goal distance, so pushing the crew a little more was seen with no grievances. When they reached the clearing, the same whirl of activity kicked off, and the massive tent rose before Davin and Hugh could start setting their tent. The three of them moved much slower in comparison to the previous day, Davin could likely blame it all on the cold, the last few hours of the trip feeling the obvious drop in temperature. Having pulled out the few extra layers of clothing that they had stashed before they had set out on this leg of the adventure, Davin was so glad that they had. When Hugh sparked their fire to life they were all relieved for it.

The pile of 'drops' were all left in the center of the tent, where a group was congregating.

"We haven't opened anything yet." The caravanner that seemed to be in charge of the camp stated as they pulled Davin and his friends in.

"Okay? Were there rules for this?" Davin asked, feeling like he was missing something.

"Since we were the ones that took part in the combat, we can stake the first claim on the items," Cadence whispered to him as they walked.

As they walked up Davin saw the items all laid out, piles of clothing, weapons, and then the bags that they had been carrying. The three of them huddled together, and they discussed what they wanted to do.

"Let them have the weapons and armor, and if there are any potions in the bags we let them take half unless it's less than three since that’s what they gave us," Davin stated.

"Agreed, I doubt we would get a better deal on the clothes and weapons than they could." Hugh nodded along.

"And I doubt that we could fit any more into the trunk." Cadence chimed in.

"I didn't even think about the trunk," Davin said.

"We take the tokens?" Hugh asked peeking up and looking at the piles of assorted gear.

"The bulk of the tokens, I say seventy-thirty." Davin voted as his head bobbed side to side.

"Seventy-thirty?" Hugh asked.

"Just a way to split the loot, out of a hundred tokens we would get seventy and they would get thirty." He held up his fingers while he talked.

"Yes, that seems reasonable." Cadence agreed.

"Hugh, do you have detect magic ready?" Davin asked.

"Detect magic? Oh, magic sense! Yes, I always have it ready, can only cast in once though."

"How long does it last?" Davin stared over at the piles.

"A few minutes? Assuming that I don't get distracted."

"Magic sense? Does that do what it sounds like?" Cadence asked

"Let me see if things are magical and what school they are associated with." Hugh rattled off as he patted his book.

"So maybe check for magic and then follow the plan?" Davin asked as Hugh started to open his book and flip through it.

"That sounds like a rather good plan."

Hugh chanted off the spell, his eyes glowing slightly, looking over the 'drops', nodding to Davin that he was ready. "Nothing magical in the weapons or clothing," Hugh whispered as they started.

"You guys can take the weapons and clothes, we don’t need any of those," Davin told the person that he was calling the quartermaster in his mind.

"You don’t want any of them?" The quartermaster asked.

"No, we're all rather set for our weapons, and we can't really carry them after we part ways." Davin shrugged as he motioned towards the gear.

The quartermaster nodded. "A fair point." He waved at someone and they came in and scooped up the gear, then he waved at someone else and they came over and picked up the first bag. "Are we ready for the rest?"

Davin nodded, and the bags and belts were all systematically opened and emptied when it all was said and done. The group had a pile of odds and ends that that all agreed were garbage. The collection of tokens that were split between the bags was sitting at two hundred jades, nine hundred rhodes, and forty onyx, which they split as evenly as they could. The parts that everyone was truly excited about were the collection of potions and the scroll, the healing potions were quickly identified.

"One hundred and forty jades, Six hundred and thirty rhodes, twenty-eight onyx's, a single potion of greater healing, a potion of climbing, and a spell scroll." Davin listed off as he was making his final agreements with the quartermaster.

"And you're sure that we can take so much of the tokens? We didn’t help much." the quartermaster said while guiltily wringing his hands.

"We insist, you treated our wounds, and it will also help pay for a patrol to come this way more often," Cadence stated in an attempt to console him.

Nodding, the quartermaster seemed more confident

in the decision. "Then let us treat you to meals for the next few days, that will make us all feel better I think."

Davin and company agreed readily, knowing that they would need to make more dedicated efforts to check for any other bandits on the road now that they were truly in winter. Davin again took the first watch, carrying a torch with him to offset the heavy darkness that seemed to carry with winter. When Cadence switched places with him, they were in much better shape than they were earlier in the day, their attitude also in much higher sorts. After a small exchange of pleasantries, Davin headed back into camp, looking forward to thawing out by the fire and eating something, and if Cadence's attitude was anything to go by, it was going to be good.

He was not disappointed, the well-seasoned roast, practically melting in his mouth, trying to wrap his head around how this could have been achieved in a single day, let alone while on the road. Pulling out his ledger to check for any updates that he may have missed throughout the day.

Twenty-first entry:

You are close, I think it is time to part ways with your caravan, I believe they are planning to keep traveling north, your destination lies west. I know there is a road that way near where you should be resting. -C

Davin let out a small groan.

"What?" Hugh asked as he was adding the scroll to his spell book.

"We head west at the fork in the road." Davin signed as he pointed west.

"West? Still no clues on what we are going up against?" Hugh asked as he continued write.

"Nope, I really hope it's something non-lethal, I still ache from the last one." Davin rubbed his leg where the phantom pain still lingered.

"If it were that easy." Hugh let out a sardonic chuckle.

"Yeah, here is hoping, but I'm beat, I'm full, so I'm going to go to bed." Davin stood, put away his ledger, and crawled into their tent, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.