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 span 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 orchish 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 span 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 knew 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.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to 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 flush. 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. I miss you as a magic meant that perhaps you 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 United keeping your 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 get a mystical being of unimaginable power in. 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. So he didn’t have any much money. All she really had was the furniture he came along with and the scrubs that she had stolen from her. 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 code Lord doesn’t make him do it, Finley’s going to take forever to start this happening. The fastest happens the 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 because of 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. I assembled three and make it look 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.”