"So we're staying here tonight, then?" Sophie asked the small crowd. Every person warming their hands on the fire looked up. About nine pairs of eyes looked to see if she was bringing food. Darkness clearly approaching and the first watch had been established.

Two pairs of people walked the walls, every so often waving to the people huddled around the fire. Several people had set up tents close to the first house. The small dwarven beds weren't really good for the uses that half Sophie's companions wanted to use them for, which is to say sleeping. They were fine for the things that the rest wanted to do. If Stella wasn't checking on the stew regularly, then she would have certainly disappeared for a tryst with Bob. She might have already and Sophie could have missed it.

Anthony had insisted on doing a mount up drill. He called it a drill, but it felt like a dress rehearsal. The point of it was to make sure that everyone had a plan to get back to the caravan in case those on watch saw something.

Sophie saw that there was still enough light to do something. It was the fourth night since they had been freed and she itched. She couldn't pinpoint the location of the itch so she went through everything she could think of. She checked her deck.

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Rare Class Card: Rogue Level 3

Skills:

Sneak Attack Level 2

Skill Mastery Level 3

Weapon Expertise Level 2

Infiltration Level 3

Evasion Level 2

Stealth Level 3

Open Skill Level 0

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

Rare Class Card: Wilderness Druid Level 2

Skills:

Animal Handling Level 2

Nature Control Level 2

Elemental Magic Level 2

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.

She realized that she had advanced to the third level of rogue. She had a new skill which she hadn't decided on. When she thought about the skill, conceptually a bunch of things popped up into her mind as possibilities. None of the potential skills had anything to do with casting more magical spells though.

On the other hand, her elemental magic had advanced. It was limited to fire, earth, water, air and plant growth magic, but there seemed to be endless customization options. She wondered if the spells would change if she didn't have her nature control skill as well. That on its own felt like it was something that she could easily abuse.

Sophie racked her brain trying to remember if she had seen Finley's druid card and couldn't remember it. Perhaps he had different skills?

She would have to ask. He had a lot of information about how the world used to be. She wanted to learn as much as she could and all of the books were in a language she couldn't read. At least he was able to find a journal so she could start jotting down her notes about this trip.

On the wall she saw Zan chatting with Brandon. The man in the monk robes was walking the lady wizard around. In front of them, a large blue book floated, it's ethereal blue glow extending a meter in each direction, but no further.

"Damn."

There were several ladders on on the walls. Two lay at opposite corners and two were next to the only exit in the wall. Andrew had worked hard on a gate so they would be able to hold it while still being able to leave. Not having to worry about being immediately demolished was quite the feeling. The door would hold at least long enough for every one to mount a defense.

If not, Sonya had left a part of the wall opposite where it had not been reinforced by plant matter. That part would be easy to remove in a short amount of time.

Sophie walked up to the wall, using the ladder closest to Zan.

The other girl waved back at her.

"So are you guys doing alright out here? It's a tough night right?"

"We will be back by the fire before too long," Zan said. "I was just telling Brandon here about the French Revolution."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Oh really? Were you a history buff?"

"Back on Earth, of course. I actually wrote some Marie Antoinette fan fiction with a Yu-Gi-Oh twist," Zan said.

"She has been telling me about it at great length. Oh please, be my blue eyes white dragon or some such," Brandon said, rolling his shoulders. "Of course she wrote it as a romance."

"I can't even imagine how that would go. I have to hear more about this."

"Really? I would have thought that you would be put off from it," Zan said.

"There is no entertainment here except for the drama. I'm someone accustomed to a bit of drama in my work. Not that it was a good thing."

"This is true. All the more reason why we need to tell some good stories to keep our minds off of this. This campaign, it can't be healthy."

"Long term, I guess you're right. I don't know where we're going though. I don't think any of us does. Maybe Anthony has an idea but Bob? He doesn't know where we're going. And that is probably for the best."

They stopped at the corner. It was then and Sophie realized that they had been looking away from her most of that time. If they looked into the staging area and saw the bonfire directly, it would probably not help. They needed to see far outside.

"Have you guys seen anything out of the ordinary yet? Not that I'm looking for anything in particular," Sophie said.

"So far nothing. But if the death knight is close and they build a bonfire again, we will find them."

The memory of the cage rose unbidden. She remembered being trapped there. They had drug her away, knocking her out in the process. The bruise on the back of her head was still healing.

Before she'd gotten caught? She didn't remember it. So whoever had caught them all had a plan. They were going somewhere. The fact that she hadn't been killed immediately, in retrospect was the worst part of it.

There were so many blanks that she didn't want to fill in.

Her mind was probably deciding to save her from some tough experiences but she wasn't having it. She was going to take that feeling and use it for her art.

"Hey did you notice all of the hand puppets?" Zan said.

"I'm sorry what?" Brandon said.

"The hand puppets. There was an odd amount in several of the houses. I guess they either had children or once had them. Oh you weren't doing a lot of salvage, right?"

"I was checking for zombies and then moving on. I didn't linger too long anywhere," Sophie said.

The group paused at another corner.

"What do they look like?"

Brandon pulled a bearded puppet out of a pocket. Someone had spent their time on making it with thick woolen yarn. It was a clearly a passion project.

"If they made this, then there probably is more yarn somewhere. I should be able to make some clothes with that," Sophie said.

"You can make clothes?" Zan said.

"Well I volunteered in children's theatre when I wasn't working and we never had money for props and costumes, so how else would they get made?"

"That makes sense," Brandon said, taking the puppet back. "I wouldn't mind a new set of clothes. All of these dwarven sized pants come up on me like they are capris. I think part of why everyone is so cold is because we're wearing what we came with, and that's not much. Some of them are a bit creepy though."

All three of them shuddered.

"Creepy puppets. Throw them into the fire," Zan said.

"But keep the others, though?" Sophie said.

There might not be an audience for puppetry. But there was supply. With all of the dwarven hand puppets, Sophie was going to drum up demand. The people were tired of running, they could use a distraction.

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Anthony was woken in the middle of the night for his watch shift. He quietly peeled Sonya off of him. Each of the watch shifts slept in as close to a group as they could. It was easier to wake up a group of people if they slept in a cluster. Sonya grumbled as Anthony woke up the four people to relieve the watch shift.

Brandon greeted him by the fire. Flickering light from the fire highlighted the bags under his eyes. Anthony shook his hand, bringing the man in for a hug. The rest of his watch shift moved around the fire, shaking off the sleep.

"I haven't seen anything. Everyone is sleeping soundly. Nothing else to report," He said. "We went and patrolled the walls several times."

"I got this. Thanks Brandon."

The fire was still roaring as Anthony tossed in another log. It crackled a bit.

"I'll see you in the morning," Brandon said, departing into the darkness.

Sonya joined him after a few minutes. The other three, were going to take their time waking up. They grumbled but assembled around the fire. Anthony took a long look at everything. Someone was going to have to draw the short straw and be patrolling in a few minutes. He would prefer a volunteer but he would take what he could get. The other watch trickled in, moving to collapse next to Brandon.

For a minute or two they all sat in silence.

Then, Anthony slowly lifted his finger and touched his nose. Sonya saw it and immediately placed her pointer finger on her nose. The other three realized what was going on and followed suit.

"Nose goes first," Sonya said.

There was a hearty chuckle as the other three got up. Andrew would lead them around.

"We'll do the next patrol," Anthony said. " Shout if you see anything."

"Will do!" Andrew said. "Come on you lot, let's go see what's going on."

Andrew pulled out a small gem that flickered with light. The regular light it made didn't go very far. He tapped it two times and then the light turned into a focused beam of pure red light in front of him.

"Well that's fucking convenient," Sonya said. " Any chance you can make us some more of those, eh?"

Andrew grabbed a gem from his pocket, tapped it and tossed it to her. She accepted it and immediately went to inspect it.

"Thanks," Sonya said.

It was exactly what they needed. Anthony stood up. With the fire at his back, he looked out into the darkness. It was easier to let his eyes adjust before he went out. Next to him, Sonya played with the newest gadget from the artificer.

He could feel her glee in using it as she flicked it on several times. She had clearly gotten used to the idea of using it and before long, was somewhat of an expert. He really wanted to have a turn with it but he would let this one slide. She could have some fun as there wasn't much for them to look forward to at the moment.

"This is really nifty. I have to hand it to Andrew, he knows what the heck he's doing. Or at least his card skills are on point. I wish I could make something like this, I feel like I'm not really doing much around here."

"Sonya my dear, because of your Earth affinity, we have these walls."

"Yeah but, any of you would have done the same thing."

"Nobody else has magic as strong as you. It only got stronger after you did that thing you did."

He could feel her arms wrapping around him. Anthony didn't know what the future held but as he grabbed her hands he hoped for a little more of these kinds of moments as well as indoor plumbing. They waited like that for a while, watching as Andrew made his way around the wall.

It wasn't until they got to the ladders that she disengaged with him. He realized that she was standing so that she could get the heat from the flames as well as his body heat at the same time.

"Clever girl."

"You would do the same thing if you wanted to be warm,"she said.

He had to admit that it was true. He would have done terrible things to stay warm. They needed more blankets and pillows. He made a mental note to look for those things when he went through the salvage the next day.