There were a dozen copper cards that all had various useful but not strong abilities. Common cards all had a monochrome image of the ability or enhancement. Then there were the five common skill cards that appeared to be the same as his druid class. Perhaps they would become a druid of Mork, given the source.

On top of that there were a dozen iron cards. Uncommon iron cards were pretty good but often had a little drawback. Some had a cool down period. For others the drawbacks made them unusable except in strange situations, like the tree walking skill.

Then there were all of the card pieces from their raid on the town. Finley brought out his frame and there all put together thirty common pieces, thirteen uncommon and six rares. Those were enough for him to take the time to craft more cards.

If anyone had taken a card and kept it while searching, Finley wouldn't have any recourse. He hoped that they all would work together, but the need to get more and better cards was a new itch for some of them. When he proposed that cards go to people that hadn't already gotten something, there seem to be a consensus.

"Alright. That's a bit of a summary of the cards we have. Three of the common cards have direct applications to combat- water magic, fire magic and basic warding. Those would be great for a start. Then there's the arrow creation common which might be useful but is situational. The rest are less applicable. For the uncommon, we have weapon proficiency, tracking which I believe to be related to Bob's pathfinder ability and this mounted archery card. With the common card that lets you generate arrows that would be a great combination in the right hands."

Anthony let the words hang in the air.

"Hey, Finley, how common are cards?"

"Pretty common. Every race except humans are born with a card, and monsters tend to drop card pieces. More powerful monsters drop more powerful pieces, though epic pieces are almost unheard of. There was a thriving trade between gold and card pieces and now- well I shouldn't have traded it all to gold."

"So, fair to say that there will be more?"

"That's safe to say. There might be some monsters in these woods that we could hunt for their meat and magical properties, but it's doubtful."

"Alright. Now I don't want to be a dictator, but we can't have one person with all of the card powers. If they get incapacitated, then it's game over. I propose that we give the magic skill power cards to anyone willing to ride alongside the caravan as they'll need it most."

There was less grumbling.

"The ones that got the handle animal skill cards? Otherwise they'll have a tough go of riding a horse," Bob said.

"That seems reasonable," Anthony replied.

Finley watched as Anthony dictated the pace of discourse. He had done his part, setting this up and he wanted to make this class card if they were going to do it, sooner rather than later. He brought out his frame and grabbed the five skill cards from the pile.

"Anthony, I'm going to make the class card, right?"

"Oh, sure, go ahead Finley," Anthony said, "I think we have a consensus on that. One of the monks or warriors can get it."

There was a groan.

"One that hasn't gotten animal handling and another one of the skills, of course."

Anthony's beard and man bun flickered in the dark light as Finley put the cards into the frame. He tossed the five cards onto the frame. He was going to need another frame eventually as a backup, as this one had gotten far more use than he had expected. In went Weapon proficiency, Magic Control, Elemental Magic, Survival and Medicine. Any one of which would be a good card, but the combination of all five would create something much better.

Anthony pulled the frame out, resizing it to fit six cards. He placed them in, leaving a spot in the middle row. If he really wanted to roll the dice, he would add a sixth card to center it around a theme, but he didn't have any to spare. Instead what he did was again squeeze mana into the cracks between the cards and then filling the empty slot with green mana. Unfortunately if any of the skills were above level one then the resulting card would favor that particular skill, but as they were all level one, he didn't need to worry.

In less than a minute he got his answer. A singular shiny gold card replaced the five as the frame resized itself automatically.

Rare Class Card: Wilderness Druid Level 1

Skills:

Animal Handling Level 1

Nature Control Level 1

Elemental Magic Level 1

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Survival Level 1

Medicine Level 1

This card grants mana.

As a Wilderness Druid, you have enhanced control over the natural world and can more easily survive in a rough environment.

Weapon proficiency had turned into Animal handling, something that had been unexpected. As a druid, Finley was more likely to create a druid class, but he knew that wasn't going to affect it that much. The chance was slight.

"Hey guys. I think we got the jackpot here. This class is pretty similar to my class. It will be potent in the right hands."

"Do we have any volunteers for the support role? Hey is there any limit on classes?" Sophie asked.

"There's a limit on how many cards and then it's hard to split your time working on different skills."

That got a few of them talking. Finley just wanted to pass this one off and get some rest at that point. The day had been long and his energy had now fully worn off. He still needed to make some trip vines before he went to bed.

"Oh and whoever takes this should follow me. I'll be putting some trip vines around the way station. Enough to back up our watch team."

"That reminds me that we need a second team to relieve them."

Bob raised a hand along with Stella, Andrew, Zan and one other human.

"We can keep these groups so I'll be with Finley and the remainder of the people. Sonya as well," Anthony said.

"Can I take the wilderness druid card? You said that it has medicine, right?" Sophie said, "I had some medical training on earth."

"What kind of training?" Anthony said.

"I was a psych tech. I worked in a mental hospital."

Everyone turned to look at her. Sophie crossed her arms.

"What! It was putting me through college. And no, I'm not going to diagnose you guys with anything. Plus, I failed at chemistry so med school was straight out."

"Well I was a midwife, so between the two of us and Finley we should be covered. Anyone have a problem with us putting Sophie as a healer? Especially if she's on the first watch group?"

In the dark, Anthony couldn't make out any dissent.

"If you want to get the next class, talk to me and we can start a wish list, but Sophie why don't you follow our resident elf around and set up some security. I'm not going anywhere if anyone wants to talk, but I think if you're not doing anything, we all need to rest. I'm not saying go to sleep, but for those of us that are, please keep it quiet."

"Hey boss, can we make a fire? It's a bit nippy."

It was one of the monks that had returned from the stream. He hadn't returned with a shirt and it was evident that he was experiencing a bit of a chill.

"We don't know if the zombies can see smoke or fire. Finley?"

"I'm not a zombie expert. Someone with the light spell will need to stay up, and I don't need to sleep much, so I can relieve them if theirs runs out."

"That's some elvish trick, right?" Andrew said.

"You could say so," Finley replied, turning to look down to the dwarf. "I wouldn't."

Anthony held out his arms looking for more input.

"Anything else before I release everyone to do what they will? No? Okay Sophie and company, you're on watch. Keep us safe."

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The meeting broke up and Sophie gathered her watch group. They split into two groups, one of two and one of three. The group of three followed Finley around the outskirts of the way station. As they went, the two of them cast the same spell, creating a series of overlapping vines. The walk took only twenty minutes and when they returned, Finley showed her the spell to cast a red light above them.

It was enough for them to see by, but wouldn't go far. At first, she could only hold one at a time, but after a half of hour, she got the notification that her skill had advanced to level two and it felt immeasurably easier. By then, most of the people with them were sleeping. Sophie sighed, sitting around the red light with the watch crew.

She didn't know what to call them. Fellow victims? Comrades? Heroes? Caravan mates? None of the words really stuck.

Before long she was able to summon two red lights at once and she had them orbiting each other. It felt draining, then she returned it to one testing the limits of her mana. The darkness didn't feel so unpalatable just then. More to the point, Sophie really wanted to understand some of the changes that her body had gone through.

Coming here, there had been some unexpected changes. She had lost weight and felt a lot more mobile. Other things had changed for her that made her feel like she hadn't just been summoned. But the biggest change was the cards.

She found herself looking at her cards. She had figured out how to use vines to make traps. By combining her rogue skills and druid magic, she made a trip wire that would do more than alert her.

Rare Class Card: Rogue Level 2

Skills:

Sneak Attack Level 2

Skill Mastery Level 2

Weapon Expertise Level 1

Infiltration Level 1

Evasion Level 2

Stealth Level 1

As a rogue, you may learn one extra class skill per level. New skills start at the average of your other class skills.

Stella had leveled her sneak attack skill by catching people unaware. She then reported on her success. Sophie couldn't work on weapon proficiency without some sort of weapon, but she could work on her stealth in the dark. The combination of elemental magic with her skill mastery meant that any class skills would advance faster.

Sophie didn't know where she was going with any further cards. She felt like she had won the jackpot with what she already had. As well the changes to her body had made her internal sense of herself match the outside. It wasn't unpleasant, just something that she'd longed for her entire life.

She stayed up on watch until the morning, when most of the caravan woke and began to prepare for breakfast.

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The next morning, Stella began to cook. Dwarves tended to like potatoes and meat. According to Finley, they did potatoes every which way but mashed and put into a stew.

Stella only had two pans, and was grateful that there was a stream nearby. Cooking for fifteen people would need a larger amount of cookware, especially if it was going to be done in a timely manner. The other problem was the amount of plates and utensils. There was enough for two people. This, Stella fed two people while she cooked for two more, a process that she probably should have started while they all slept. Having a roaring fire and some sort of grill or grate would have done wonders.

The horses were all grazing, those attached to the carts being rotated again. Sophie helped move the horses, her touch eliciting a positive response with the animals. Stella couldn't help but smile. Sophie was knee deep in work and enjoyed it. There was something about a woman who was doing what she enjoyed. She looked free, and Stella wanted that for herself.

Bob and Anthony had asked to be served last. It was then the she saw Bob referencing several maps that she hadn't known existed. She stayed longer than she strictly needed to to try and comprehend the picture of what she was looking at. Then, Bob dropped the bomb on them.