The town of Northwold had been, if not a lively place, at least one filled with a pleasant sense of hominess. The people were friendly, once they got over the initial excitement or suspicion at my scales, and everyone seemed to know each other, saying hello in the streets as they passed.

All of that changed with Adric’s death. I didn’t attend the funeral—it didn’t feel right for an outsider like me to show up. Especially since, as much as I didn’t regret saving Hugo, Werner, and Alvar, my intervention was what caused Little Boss to seek revenge.

Werner and Connor were close to the townspeople, though, and needed to spend some time with their grieving friends. That left me with nothing to do, and being alone with my thoughts sounded like a bad idea at a time like this, so I found myself standing just outside of town and practicing. It had been several days since my last visit to the boxing gym, and if I planned on throwing myself into life-or-death situations, I wanted to make sure my skills didn’t go rusty.

I snapped a small, low hanging branch from a tree and used it to dig out several shapes in the ground: a long, straight line; two perpendicular lines; and a long series of connected squares, like a ladder lying on its side. Working the wood through the dirt worked well enough as a warm-up, so I began practicing my footwork.

I began with the straight line, standing on one foot and hopping back and forth across it, down its length and back again before switching to the other foot. The physical activity, and the focus required to maintain my balance, did a good job of keeping me from thinking too hard about the grisly scene from yesterday.

I moved through my entire footwork routine, using the squares as quadrants to practice pivoting without compromising my balance and the imitation ladder to do various running exercises, making sure my feet always stayed within the confines of the squares. The process took about an hour. The sun had begun its descent, but it was still only midafternoon at the latest.

It really is hard to tell time without a clock. I still had my phone, but without any sort of reliable power source I didn’t want to turn it on just to check the precise time of day.

I stretched out my legs and looked at my arms. I hadn’t really taken stock of my body’s fitness, as the presence of scales and claws had drawn my attention over the past few days when I actually had time to look at myself, but I could tell that the body of Colranth Fireborn was in very good shape. Probably better than I had been back on Earth, even. I could throw a mean punch in this body. Hell, I might even be able to fight professionally. On Earth, at least. It’s probably a lot different here. I remembered the abilities of my party members when we had played together, and how even Chelsea’s character—Bullseye, the dwarven Warbow—had been terrifically strong. She was actually even stronger than Unbreakable Gretchen, the ten-foot tall animated statue who wielded a pillar as a club.

If that’s what I’m up against, maybe semi-pro would be a safer bet. Of course, the dangers I would face were proportionally stronger as well. Orcs especially were capable of feats of brute strength that few were capable of matching. I found myself wondering just how much stronger than a normal human I was. The trees in this world seemed pretty much the same as trees back on Earth, and with my fairly high Strength and Resilience stats…

I stepped up to what seemed like a younger, smaller tree and cautiously raised my fists. Bouncing lightly on the balls of my feet, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and planted my feet before throwing a light jab at the bark.

Thunk.

It… didn’t hurt. The impact jarred my shoulder a tiny bit, so I could imagine being sore after doing that for a while, but in the moment it just felt like a satisfying punch. Emboldened, I began bouncing again, and threw a stronger jab.

Thud!

Still no pain. The scales protected my knuckles from abrasions, and it seemed my body was tough enough to withstand that much force at least.

“Very cool! Let’s see what else I can manage.”

Next, I attempted a jab into a straight punch with my right hand, which also seemed fine. Hooks, uppercuts, combinations… Eventually a particularly vigorous string of blows did leave me feeling a bit rattled after a heavy right punch, but I found myself quite pleased with the results I was seeing.

I still had plenty of time to kill before I felt comfortable going back into town, so I began an extended workout session using the tree as a sandbag, eventually combining punches and footwork as I danced in circles around the tree after every few strikes.

Nearly an hour (and two ten-minute breaks) later, I finally stepped back and admired my handiwork. The tree had been stripped of much of its bark, thanks to the constant strikes by my rough, scaled fists. I felt sore, but more from exertion than impact. Not bad. I missed the way the sandbag at the gym would sway with my punches, forcing me to move forward and backward as I kept up my assault, but the feeling of working out still left me with a sense of satisfaction.

I had, however, become very sweaty. I’d changed into some of the clothes I bought from Libby for the workout, to see how it felt to move in them, and they were practically drenched now. I picked up my backpack and hurried off toward the river.

Once there—and after a quick check around to make sure I was alone—I stripped down and walked into the water. I didn’t have soap to get myself properly clean, but rinsing off the sweat felt better than nothing. I also dunked the clothes before hanging them on a branch to dry. Maybe I’ll see if Libby has soap I can buy.

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I only stayed in the water for a little while. Though the afternoon sun had been warm, it was rapidly fading and a chill had begun to fall over the countryside. I spent a bit of MP and ignited my claws, using the flames to help me dry off more quickly, and changed into my old Earth clothes. They were more comfortable than the ones I’d bought here.

Making my way back into town, the quiet reminded me just how much the events of yesterday had impacted the people here. The funeral had long since ended, but the streets were largely empty as I made my way to Libby’s Stoor. It was dark inside, though, seemingly closed.

I turned away. Either she had stepped out, or didn’t feel up to running her shop. Either way, there was no point in knocking. However, I had only walked a few steps when I heard the door behind me open and her voice call out.

“Colranth? Did you need something?”

She looked tired. She still had a friendly smile on her face, but it was thin and lacked any real warmth. Despite the darkness of the room behind her, I could see the flickering of a candle ever so faintly somewhere inside the building.

I froze for a moment, thoughts whirling in my head. I considered just saying no, and letting her go back to being alone. I considered asking her how she was doing.

In the end, I just smiled and said, “I came to see if you sell soap.”

That got a laugh out of her. A short huff of air, almost devoid of humor, but not entirely. “Yeah, I’ve got some. Just two copper pieces for a bar.”

“How many bars have you got?”

She shrugged. “I’d need to check. Do you mind waiting?”

“Not at all.”

“Alright. Come on in.” She turned and went back into the shop, and a moment later light bloomed throughout the front room as she lit a lantern. The warm light should have been inviting, but it cast harsh, hard-edged shadows across the room where it hit shelves, crates, and displays. The cool, growing dark seemed to press in at the windows, the light barely keeping it at bay.

Libby walked to a back corner of the front room and began digging around, moving boxes so she could get to goods that had been buried. I picked up the lantern and brought it over to give her more light.

“Thanks.”

“Need help looking?”

“No, it’s fine. I know where it is.” Her voice was soft, and slightly strained, almost like she didn’t have the energy to speak any louder. I felt awkward not helping, but decided to let her handle it the way she wanted to.

Finally, she slid out a closed wooden crate, about the size of a shoebox. She pried it open and we looked inside.

“Looks like… seventeen bars. How many did you need?”

“Let’s see… I need one for each of us, and one or two more won’t hurt. Let’s say five.” She nodded, picking up the box and walking toward the counter. I picked up the lantern and followed.

“That’ll cost you one silver,” she said. “If you need pouches to keep them separate from your other stuff, I can add them for one copper each.” She began wrapping the irregularly shaped bars of soap in burlap.

“How about three, then?” She nodded. I handed her two silver and waited for her to give me my change, but she just stood there after taking it.

“Thank you for trying to protect Adric. Alvar told everyone how you ran in to attack those goblins, even though you were outnumbered.” Her voice was weak, and strained, like she needed to use all of her energy to keep it together.

“There’s no need to thank me. I didn’t even succeed.”

“But you tried. And now, you’re going to go try and stop the goblins for good, right? That’s what Alvar said.”

“Yeah. That’s the plan.”

“Then you deserve thanks. Not that that’s enough. You deserve a lot more. You’re a hero.” I began to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Not yet, I’m not. But once I am, and I’m rich, I’ll come back to buy the rest of that soap.” That got a bigger laugh out of her, but one that transitioned into a choked sob at the end.

“He had a crush on me, you know.” Her hand that had taken my money was clenched into a tight fist. “Alvar paid him for his apprenticeship. Not much. Basically just an allowance. But he’d always come by and spend it here. He thought he was being subtle but he made it way too obvious. He was just a dumb kid. This shouldn’t have happ-!”

She stopped herself, taking a deep breath. I was frozen, my mind refusing to provide something for me to say. Libby slowly unclenched her fist and dug out five copper pieces, depositing the two silver I gave her in the till.

“Here’s your change. I think it’s about time for me to close up shop and sleep for the night.”

“Yeah, okay. Sorry to bother you so late.” She shook her head.

“No, it’s… it’s fine. I’m actually really glad you came by.” She smiled that same forced smile, but there seemed to be a bit of real warmth in it this time—or maybe I had just imagined it. “Please come by again soon.”

“Yeah. I will.” I let myself out while Libby stared out the window. I hope she’ll be alright. The light went out as I reached the door, blown out by Libby who now made her way towards the flickering candlelight in her bedroom.

I slowly made my way back to the Home Away From Home, only to find Werner waiting outside for me. He was clad in an old, tarnished suit of chainmail armor, a long shirt of metal that fell down to just above his knees. A wide leather belt was cinched around his waist, he wore a simple metal helmet, and he carried a spear and a large wooden shield.

“What do you think?” His voice, at least, retained his usual good humor. “Alvar did a little adjusting for me, but it’s still pretty awkward. Still, a hell of a lot better than running headlong into battle with only a gambeson.”

“It looks good! I can count on you to protect me then, right?”

“Hey, I’ve seen what you can do with those scales. You’re not that helpless.” We shared a chuckle, and then he continued. “I’ve been wearing this for a while to see how hard it’s gonna be. I think I’ll be able to tough it out, but it lays a lot heavier on my shoulders than what Hugo lent us. Plus it’s pretty noisy and cumbersome. It’ll be tough to move quietly with me around.”

“That’s fine. We’ve got Connor and me for that. When it’s time to get you involved, we’re going loud anyway. So, wanna take the armor off and join me for dinner? I’ve been working out all day and I’m starving.”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you inside once I’m changed.”

I ate my fill that night—I wouldn’t have a chance to tomorrow. Werner, Connor, and I were planning to head northwest tomorrow, back to the site of Little Boss’s first attack on us. After Werner finished, he headed home and I laid down once more in the common room, next to the fire.

Tonight, I would rest. Tomorrow, I would leave on my first adventure.