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.

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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?"

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

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.

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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."

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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."

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The End, Volume 2