When Jes dragged Davin to the shower there was only a token amount of resistance, since the only real issue that Davin had with it was that it meant getting out of bed… Jes in her own way made the entire argument fall flat in a matter of moments once the water started running.

The ten-day week was still settling in Davin's mind, tracking it was stranger than he thought that it would be, since from what he could tell most people when talking about when things would happen just referred to the season, the week, and the day. So if he had done the math right today was Spring, week three day nine, which meant that most of the denizens of the afterlife would be taking tomorrow as a day of rest, or the best comparison, it was literally the week's end. Since that meant that Jes would be off he would be able to spend the whole day with her, so trying to get as many of the tasks that he had that he was ted to do done the better.

So when Jes headed in to take care of her responsibilities for the rogue training guild, he walked her in, kissing her goodbye in the hall before her room.

"Want fish for dinner?" Davin asked as he held Jes.

"Fish? Maybe, I haven't had fresh fish in a while, so I likely wouldn't tell you no." She said as she tipped her head back in forth in thought.

"Sounds good to me, did you have anything specific in mind?" Davin asked as he gave her one last kiss.

"Surprise me?" She said with a smile as he entered into her room.

Davin was in a good mood as he half jogged his way to the docks, getting onto one of the transports without too much hubbub, seeming that this was the time of day to get on to the transport freighters. Finding a fairly empty place he took a seat and settled in for a bit of a nap, the trip out to Long Dock was otherwise uneventful, with a few interesting sights on the trip, but nothing that he felt that didn’t fit some cliche of some fantasy novel. When the ship landed at Long Dock the market was in full swing, fish callers yelling, a murmur of haggling from all over.

When he knocked on the door at the top of the rock, he was surprised and felt welcomed when the smiling Ratkin swung the door wide and almost bowled him over.

"Davin my boy! I am glad to see you! Was hoping you would have a chance to make it back here sooner than later!" Warf rat was almost bouncing in excitement.

"Oh? Well, I wasn't planning to be gone forever, but today I come on a mission, so if we can walk and talk with the pleasantries?" Davin looked at him with a smile on his face.

"Yeah? Sounds good to me, was meaning to get out of the house earlier than normal." Limbering up as he adjusted his pants and shirt. "Ready? What're'ya needing my boy?"

"Looking for a few things that will help with some other projects, by any chance do you know anything about potash?" Davin's question received him a very strange look.

"Powhat? Pot ash?" Shrugging his shoulders as they walked down the long steps that led up towards his house.

"Potash, sometimes it can be called kelp ash or soda ash," Davin stated apprehensively.

"Kelp ash? Now that I think that we can getcha, but there should have been some supplier in the bastion for the stuff, they use it for soap and a few other odds and ends, I think the alchemists have a pretty good supply." He said while he tapped on his chin.

"I figured they would, but I wanted to see if it was something I could get directly, without needing to go through them if I didn’t need to." Davin thought about all the problems in his world when it came to supply chain issues.

"Directly? Why would you need to get it directly? Warf Rat asked confusion painted on his face.

"To avoid the markup?" Davin half stated and half asked, the murmur of the market beginning to encroach into their conversation.

"Mark up? Who the name of the Patrons is that?" Coming to a dead stop, looking at Davin as if he were crazy.

"You know the markup for reselling products from one person to the next?" Davin asked in confusion.

"I may not be in the game of selling stuff, but the last I checked, that wasn't a thing…" A scowl on his face as he thought about it.

Dain slapped his own face with his hand in the iconic gesture of the 'facepalm'. "Sorry, it’s a thing where I'm from, I keep forgetting that I am literally in another world…"

To which the response from Warf Rat was to just start hysterically laughing. "Because you regularly had conversations with four-foot-tall rat-men that count you as a friend?"

"HA!" Davin laughed dryly as he began to shake his head. "Honestly no, but based on everything that I've been learning, I'm the weird one, so very few things that I have encountered here are feeling weird anymore."

With that, the two spent the early part of the day drinking and eating, since Davin didn't get to enjoy as much of Long Dock as he had wanted to from his first visit. Now that Davin was looking for it, kelp ash was everywhere, most of the stalls had some amount of it just available, mostly as small jars. It was only an onyx for what was roughly a pint of kelp ash, and other than a few having them in fancier jars, most just had it in large barrels that they sold by weight. Davin walked out with a few pounds of the stuff, still surprised that it was that easy.

"Whatcha needing so much in one go for? It's an acquired taste, so most in the city aren't as big of a fan of it as us here in Long Dock." Staring at Davin like he was crazy.

"Well, It's part of something from my world that I need for some of the odds and ends that I want to make." Slipping the bag into the shared space, along with the bushels of dried seaweed, assorted fish, and some sea salt.

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"You know what, I think you got this, so I won't worry about you, but if you ever want to make an old man happy, don’t be a stranger." Warf Rat said as he walked with Davin to the freighter loading dock.

"I don’t think that there is anything that could keep me away, plus, I'll have to introduce you to my friends at some point," Davin said with a wide smile.

"Sounds like a deal!" He yelled as Davin climbed up onto the ship.

Davin had always hated the feeling that time always passed slower when you were going somewhere when you were full of anticipation, but this was one of those times. Since He was going to meet with Hugh and Cadence to test a theory on how the lens worked, he had a few ideas for different ways to try and get them to work. He opted to skip visiting Ezeirk till later in the week since trying to catch the ship so soon after would be a waste of time. As he half jogged his way up the stairs of the city climbing his way to the towers that made up the mage's training grounds, he was almost bursting with anticipation.

"Davin!" Cadence's voice rang out above the natural low murmur of the city.

"Oh! Hey Cadence!" Davin waved back at his friend as he crossed the last distance to the mage towers. "Have you seen Hugh yet?"

"No I just got here not too long ago, I figured I'd wait for you to arrive so we can go in together, also I don’t think that most of the mages like Bards, so I thought you could… keep me safe…" Their last words trailed off as their cheeks turned a few shades pinker.

"Protect you? You can take a hit way better than I can…" Davin scoffed as he looked over his friend and the brightly colored outfit that they were wearing.

Having noticed, Cadence's cheeks turned red again. "My armor is being maintained… I was given this so that I would have something to wear that 'wasn't so drab'." The look of annoyance was curbed by the slight embarrassment.

"Ah, now that you say it, that makes a whole lot more sense, but why didn’t you just take your armor off and get dressed normally?" Davin asked as he was still looking them over.

"I didn’t think of that…. And I don’t wear my loungewear under my armor… so I was left in just my under clothes… and I didn't have enough time to go back and change before we were to meet up." Gesticulating wildly as they talked, their cheeks seeming to glow with how red they were.

"I think I have a spare shirt in the shared space if you'd prefer that?" Davin asked as he tried to remember what all he had stashed in the bag that he'd gotten specifically for the shared space.

"No! It's fine." They said as they fiddled with a frill that was set at the bottom edge of the quilted emerald green vest that contrasted with their incredibly pale skin.

"Okay, the offer is open if you change your mind," Davin stated as they walked together to the doorway that was sitting open.

Davin and Cadence walked in and found seats to rest on as Davin pulled out his whisper stone.

"Hugh, were here, you ready?" Davin said into the stone as he squeezed it.

After a few moments of silence, the voice came back as clear as if he was standing with them.

"On my way down." Hugh's voice rang with excitement.

Davin sat down on the unnaturally calming couch like he did before the excitement that he had been feeling moments ago was instantly muted and he could feel himself relaxing.

"Hey!" Hugh barked and clapped his hands. "You know what these do, why would you sit down?"

Davin chuckled as he reached up to Hugh. "Cause it can be nice in small doses, plus once I get up I feel as though I had gotten a quick nap."

Cadence followed suit, holding out their hand to Davin, to which he quickly pulled them up. "Davin does make a good point, I do not feel as though I have felt as well rested as I do right now in some time." They stretched and shook out their limbs.

Hugh stared at Cadence in confusion as he pieced together what they had been wearing. "I didn't think you owned anything that was that brightly colored." Hugh's eyes narrowed as he stared at his friend.

"And you would be correct, this is not mine, it was forced upon me when I was talking with one of the crafters in my order about the condition of my armor and I was practically stripped and left in my under clothes…." Cadence's face turned a very bright red with annoyance and embracement.

"Why didn't you just… " Davin interrupted Hugh with a stern look and a shake of his head before he could finish the partly formed question.

"So here I am stuck in this!" Cadence gestured at themselves before instantly dropping themselves onto the couch that they had just stood up from.

Davin looked at Hugh with a shrug. "It’s a whole thing, just don’t let your friends give them a hard time."

Hugh nodded silently, they stood and waited for the small fit of cadence's frustrations to simmer off.

Davin pulled Cadence to their feet after a bit, heavy breathing and red face both calmed. They were led deeper into the towers, Hugh giving a light tour through the mage's towers.

"And you said a darker room with a bit of space? I think this should do for what you want to test." Hugh held out his arms as they entered the open room.

"Okay, so this could be an absolute failure, but I was thinking about how the lens works, and with it in conjunction with the film cell." Davin held up his hands in a poor pantomime of what he was thinking.

"Okay? Then what is missing?" Hugh asked.

"Light!" Davin got excited, "Cadence! You can cast a light spell? I think you've done it a few times." Davin moved his hands in a flashing gesture.

"This?" Cadence brought forth a token and it glowed brightly as they held it out for Davin.

"Perfect." Pocketing the glowing bobble. "Okay Hugh, the lens?" Top which he pulled out the convex piece of glass, and held it out to Davin.

"Cadence, did you by any chance toss your sword into the shared space yet?" Davin rummaged in his pocket for the film cells that he had collected.

"I have, it seemed like a good place to keep it, should I pull it out now?" Davin nodded.

Davin placed the small cell on the back of the lens, and aimed it at the wall, pulling out the glowing token and holding it to the back of the lens, the shadows quickly popped up on the wall and began peeling themselves from the wall. The flat glowing shadows shambled around the room, mindless in comparison to the ones that they fought.

"They are terrifying…" Cadence whispered as they stared at the creatures, "And you fought how many?"

"We lost count…" Davin felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Make them do something," Hugh whispered.

"Huh?" Davin whispered in confusion.

"They're your summons, they should do what you say." Hugh pointed at the shadows.

"Right, I thought they would just attack anything that moved…" Davin held the lens tightly, standing up straight, he pointed to the other side of the room. "Move over there."

To which the shadows began to shamble and sprint across the room.

"Who wants to fight one first?" Hugh asked as he pulled Leaf out of the hip holster.

"I think that I would like to go first," Cadence said with a smile, can you send them one at a time?