There was an argument for staying. Bob was making the argument as he often did that they could head straight to one of the death knights and take it out. He did not get any buy in, except for from Stella. The two did not comprise a voting bloc in any sense of the word, especially when they had added all of the goats.
"Bob, that's just like signing your own death warrant," Anthony said, over the map. "We need to be thinking about how to persuade the nation of Sunderland to help in our cause."
"I distinctly remember from class that they're not really a nation so much as thirteen warring tribes that keep a foothold onto the continent?" Valerie said. " And then, of course, you have your enclaves from the different races."
"You see, this was kind of a pertinent thing that I was looking for. There are two things that I'm looking to get down there. One is an army. The other thing is supplies. It doesn't do us good to have one without the other."
It became some sort of unspoken rule that whenever they thought that things would turn out one way, Valerie would speak to them about how things actually were on the ground according to her latest historical textbooks. No one was quite sure how accurate that would be. Sure, there were gates but they didn't go everywhere.
"It is a sad fact of life as a dwarf that we are outnumbered everywhere else we go," Valerie said."But if we are able to negotiate a deal with them then? I'm sure that they will trade all the supplies we need for some of the cards that we get. And yes, I know if Finley hears this, he's going to remind me about how the orcs just wholesale took up a generation of elvish wealth."
"Not these orcs," he said. "These Orcs were not part of that excessive colonialism."
"Is colonialism even the right term?" Bob said. " The way he's describing it it sounds more like the British museum; just taking what they want."
"I guess this really depends on whether or not cards can be made or destroyed. I have every thought that all the card pieces that we are reconstituting into cards here are part of a larger picture."
Two men turned on the dwarf as if waiting for a response. As the three of them were the only ones inside of the command office, the silence was broken only by her breathing. She shrugged.
"Before the calamity? There were so many different theories, but the two main ones are that there is a constant amount of cards in the world and the other one is that the world can grow cards based on people living and dying. But also remember that we have so many heritage cards that we pass on."
"Interesting. Well at least you guys aren't on the gold standard. Finley was mentioning about how he used to trade using gold currency and then sometimes cards depending on what it was trading for. But each card feels so powerful on its own that I can't imagine trading one away unless I was getting something equally valuable in return. And I never feel like that. I would feel put out," Anthony said.
All the cards inside of him felt like they were heritage cards. Or soul cards. He didn't want to take them out. They felt like it always been there and even though he had received a few new ones, the core cards like his class card felt like home. It was ridiculous to imagine that people would trade cards, but he had to remember that not everyone was able to get an epic or rare card.
And then his thoughts spiraled.
"If we're going to ask them for something, chances that they're going to want to be paid. We need to come there with something worth selling. Or trading. Besides the dwarven foreign legion which you have assured me will fall to you as the queen," he said. "We're going to have to pay for any mercenaries that we get. Unless you think that we can wipe this continent out with a legion."
"That would be a very very long campaign, If we had to do that. We would need Bob to portal around the country and verify that no zombies were around. And even then there are all these little hamlets that he would just have to go to in person," she said. "We will have to set up a gate network."
That was going to be more work for his girlfriend in the future. That was okay because he wanted to spend more time with her.
"I feel like, while we have nothing else to do, we can start mapping this out. The first kingdom we want to hit is this one?" Bob said, pointing to the map.
"The first thing we have to do, Bob, is kill the other death knights. This is getting ahead of the game. If we're going to have to fight against intelligent undead that's going to be our first objective. I was just dreaming about a day when we could outsource the zombie killing."
In a fight, no one would have any issues against the normal undead variety that they got exposed to. It was those under the command of another intelligent undead that was going to cause him a group of headaches in the future, if they survived.
At least so far as Anthony saw it, the only thing that this was doing was providing them with a good thought exercise so they could stretch their brains for the next phase of the campaign. They would change with more fighters on their side.
"How do we convince people to come join this fight?" Anthony said. "I'm in it to win it but I'm a true believer."
"Any red-blooded dwarf will lay down their trade to fight this," Valerie said. " When we tell them what happened to their cousins? They will sign up."
"And when they realize that you're the only member of the royal family because we made you the queen, they're not going to question things?" Bob said.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
The map overlay flickered briefly, the light returning just as fast as it left.
"Since when am I a queen in anything less than theory? There has to be some nobles hiding in the legion. Surely someone else will take up the mantle," she said, her eyes pleading with them.
"Don't you read all of those books with the secret royalty? You're going to win us the war with your strategist class card."
Her face said be serious, but her smile said to continue.
"We ought to have Finley make you a queen of battle card," Anthony said. "That would accurately sum up who you are."
"Guys, stop it!" She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "But really don't."
Now the map was about as bright as he had seen it. Something was clearly going on, probably hormones. He was going to have to ask Finley. His teenagers went through a very hormonal phase and that was when he spent a lot of time outside of the house intentionally.
"I think we need to ask a few questions then. What do we do about the goats?" Anthony said. "Now I know what you're thinking. But they are all enlightened and would probably follow Valerie in a heartbeat. Do they each get a vote when we put things up to a vote?"
"Would it be fair any other way? Maybe there's a hidden prince among the goats," Bob said.
"I need to address my people," Valerie said, imperiously. "My royal subjects."
"Sounds about right. Or your herd?" Anthony said.
---
As it turned out, none of those goats was willing to acknowledge any nobility. The standard query that Valerie had worked out did not inspire them. As a work around, Finley had the dwarves swap two of the druid cards in an attempt to level them up faster. Each dwarf would get them for fifteen minutes or so at a time-until their wild shape time ran out. Then they would take the card out of their soul deck and pass it on to another dwarf.
Doing it that way, Finley found out that it took them the better part of a day to rotate each of the dwarves through the two cards, and by the end of the day, they were both at level two for wild shaping.
This was the first time that most of them had been able to speak freely as well. The nautical symbols that they had been using to send messages back and forth were still there. Most of the dwarves now had an elemental affinity card, a nautical communication card and whatever their soul card had been. Only ten had druid class cards.
The system that they were working on was advancing the ten that they did have quickly.
"You're saying that you already have wild shape at level four?" He said to Gigi.
Gigi bleated.
"Aah sorry. Habit," she said.
They were riding on his two bay mares around the grass fields. They needed to get away from the group for a bit, as the extended vacation had brought several items to light. Most notably, that they could all actually have enough exposure to each other. Space was at a premium on board the ship, despite its size.
"But yes. Level four which according to my timer skill is two hours or so. Long enough to feel like a dwarf again, with long breaks as a goat."
"You know I have had my druid wild shape at level four for only a short while," Finley said.
"It's the situation. Didn't you level up your bartering skill when you negotiated with the union?"
The mares trotted along, stopping at a stream.
"The first time, yes. But it's like I'm up against a wall. I have this idea of setting up an airship company and then shipping things back and forth, but now I'm a bit over flying."
"I hear you," Gigi said, dismounting to kneel by the stream.
Finley dismounted as well. The two of them sat at the stream for a second tipping their toes into the water. But some unspoken agreement. Neither one wanted to call the other one out on being barefoot.
"Those are nice boots," she said. "Shame that I have to borrow a pair when I'm around for this long."
"How else would you... Oh yeah naked when you wild shape. I'm so glad that I grabbed extra robes. I never meant for them to go to you in particular, but it's..."
"I catch your meaning. You know what? Your boots look a little worn out. Maybe it's time to do a swap."
He looked down to her feet.
"Here's a question for you- what size are your feet? And are they always the same size? When you wild shape?"
She looked down as well, examining the two meaty bits that were submerged into the water.
"You know what? I never thought about that. Sometimes these robes are a little loose I guess I have been getting better as imagining myself as a dwarf again."
"That's rough. I'm glad that you seem to be close to where you want to be though. Two hours a day? I wonder if the next one will be four or eight hours."
"I'll tell you when I find out. I'm hoping that is soon. I love these little breaks where I get to be a dwarf again for a little bit. It really makes me feel normal. Thank you so much for this, Finley."
They smiled.
The amount of time that she thanked him for thinking about wild shaping and then putting that into practice was a whole bunch. He was honestly getting tired of hearing it. But if he ever told her that? He would punch himself in the face. Repeatedly. Because when he would have said his lowest, the tinkers took him in and gave him food and shelter. Right now? She was at her lowest and he wanted to give her the same hospitality that he'd been given before.
"Think nothing of it," he said. "I would have done it for anybody in your situation."
"But you did it for me. So I'm thanking you for doing it for me."
She was just so earnest that he couldn't help but smile. All the dwarves were starting to grow on him.
"Do you thank Sonya the same amount that you thank me?" He asked, skipping a stone down the stream. "She's more to blame for your predicament."
"You might see it as the weirdest curse ever. Being reborn as a goat only to have to fight your undead countrymen. We see it as an opportunity."
"A business opportunity?"
"When all this war business is done, yes."
She grabbed a few stones to skip them herself, passing a few to him. To their surprise, both of the horses waded into the water and splashed around. He played along, playfully splashing them and then Gigi.
She laughed, splashing him back and forth for a bit. He rolled up his cloth pants where they had gotten wet, then got less serious.
It was all fun and games until one of the mares splashed Finley. Then it was on. As it turned out, Gigi had gotten a water bending card.
Finley had known that in the back of his brain, that she had one of the four. But he had forgotten which.
It had never come up, unlike the wave that she created that enveloped him.
Finley was absolutely drenched after one hit. He stood there for a minute, catching his bearings. Even the horses looked shocked.
"Uh, sorry!? Are you okay?" She said.
Finley also had a water bending card. He stepped into the stance of a wave technique.
"I'm about to be!" He said.
Her uproarious laughter made him smile. The waves hit her hard nearly blowing her off her feet.
The horses began to move a bit further away to keep from being covered. This just spurred him on to get deeper into her defense.
"You can't stop me!" He said, sending a wave up to her waist.
"I am in every way your equal if not better!"
She took his wave and turned it around her body. It rose up like a short cyclone, before crashing down on him. He was only under water for a second, but he was impressed.
"That's excellent control!" He said. "It would be a shame if-"
A wave twice as tall as he was splashed over him. It took his breath away as it also took him away, washing him across the stream. There hadn't even been that much water to work with.
"I yield!"