"So, you're wanting to borrow my tavern for the night so you can talk to a bunch of artisan friends of mine?" Wulf asked Markus as the young man tried not to hunch into himself under the older Dwarf's gaze.

"Yes," Markus nodded as he answered. "I was hoping to use the opprotunity of a free meal and drinks as a hook for them, so that I could talk to them all in one place and make my offer without spending days going around the city and asking them one by one."

"And you're willing to pay?" Wulf asked carefully.

"Oh yes," Markus said. "When I asked Willow about it all, she said that I would have to talk with you and that if you said yes, I'd have to pay. She said it was to make sure that you don't take a hit in revenue for the night in case no one shows up or everyone does and they drink you dry."

"Smart girl, my Willow," Wulf said as ran his hand through his beard, thinking. "When are you hoping for this to happen?"

"I was really hoping for tomorrow night, but I think I can squeeze it for two nights from now," Markus told him. "On the third night, I've already got the Guildmaster of the Alchemist's Guild and the Head of the Mage's College sending someone to meet with some people from the Church of Grindel. That's when we'll iron out the smaller details of the whole thing and I hope that I can have someone from the crafter's side of things to represent all of them."

"I'll start sending runners," Wulf told him after a moment. "Do you just want blacksmiths, or will you accept folk from other professions?"

"If you can get me everyone you think knows a profession that will be useful for this, then I'll take them," Markus answered.

"Then, let me start writing up letters for my old drinking buddies," Wulf sighed as he turned toward the desk in the room. "You'll pay me regardless of who shows and how many, you hear?"

"Yes, sir," Markus said with a relieved grin. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Wulf told him.

"Sir Markus," Chesterfield the Head Priest of Grindel greeted him as he stepped into the church building early the next morning. "So wonderful to see you. I hope you have some sort of news for us?"

"I think I do," Markus nodded as Rankins and the Grand Paladin approached them. "Can we talk somewhere more private?"

"My office," Chess said, turning away and leading the three of them to the room in question. They made their way there in silence and once the door was firmly shut behind them, Chesterfield and Nargen turned toward Markus expectantly.

"I've spoken to the Head of the Mage's College and he'd agreed to send someone to talk with you and work out finer details for my idea," Markus told the two men as Rankins took up position behind him. "The Alchemist's Guildmaster got back to me after I spoke to him and will also be sending someone to talk at that meeting."

"When should we expect them?" Chess asked.

"In three, sorry that's wrong, in two days," Markus said. "I realize it's short notice but that was the day they gave me. I thought today, I could walk you through my plan in more detail and then when they show up, you'll have a better idea of what I'm suggesting and when they ask, you'll be able to discuss their part in this without learning everything for the first time."

"Why didn't we discuss this fully yesterday?" Nargen asked. "Surely it would have saved you much time and effort. We could have sent runners and messengers to summon them."

"Would they have come?" Markus asked him bluntly. "I don't know the relationship between the Pantheons and the Mage's College or the Alchemist's Guild, but if a Church summoned an organization I was a part of, for an idea that isn't even set in stone yet, I'd be pretty upset. Especially, if I learned that the person pitching the idea wasn't even a part of the Church that called us."

"Yes, it is better that you were the one to ask them, in person, to join us for such a meeting," Chesterfield said. "The Mage's College would have sent a middling token staff member who wouldn't have been able to make any promises, and the Alchemist's Guild would have sent a message back saying that they wouldn't be there. This way, you can be seen as treating all sides equally, even if you are ultimately a temporary member of our Church."

"And tonight, I'm hoping to talk to a bunch of artisans and crafters about helping us out with another side of the whole thing," Markus said. "For that I'm going to need the promised money sooner rather than later."

"Of course," Chess nodded as he reached into a drawer at his desk and pulled out a small pouch. Gingerly, he set it on the desk in front of Markus and motioned to it. "As promised, two Platinum coins from each Church within the Gray Pantheon. At ten Churches, that comes to twenty Platinum coins."

Carefully, Markus took the pouch and reached in, pulling out one of the silvery coins with a stylized P stamped on the head and a dragon on the tail.

"Thank you," he said. "Rankins, I need you to take this one and have it broken into Gold. Take this one and break it into Silver for me."

"What are you planning to use them for?" Nargen asked bluntly.

"I don't know what I'll need the Gold for and I've already marked five Silvers for tonight to pay for the tavern I'm meeting the crafters at," Markus explained as he passed the two coins to Rankins who left swiftly. "That's not going to be a problem is it?"

"No," Chess spoke up before Nargen could. "We gave that money to you so you could use it to make your side of this whole thing happen. If you decided that a suit of fully enchanted armor made of mithril-adamanitine alloy was the best use of it, then we couldn't say anything. Though we would be disappointed."

"Like I said to Ripspell, it's going to take more than forged steel and strong arms to do this," Markus said. "I can focus this money on trying to make this happen."

"Now, what exactly were the fine details you needed to discuss with us?" Chesterfield asked, steering the conversation further toward why they were in his office.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"My idea was to set up a series of contributions that the Last Stars could do," Markus explained. "Make this whole thing into an event of sorts for us. We'd take on jobs in the Ubarion Penninsula and completing those jobs would give us points. Each undead we killed would also give points based off of how strong they were; I read on the Job request you guys put up with the Hunter's Guild that there were lesser undead and greater undead. I figure you guys, knowing how strong they are, would be able to say how many points for each of them."

"I'm understanding so far," Nargen said, "but why do we need crafters, alchemists, and mages?"

"I believe I can see the answer to that," Chesterfield said before Markus could answer. "I believe that Sir Markus plans to have those 'contribution points' he mentioned serve as currency for all of them."

"Correct," Markus nodded to the Halfling. "Potions would be bought with contribution points, enchantments to armor and weapons would be bought with them, weapons, spells to learn, teaching, all of this would be paid for by the Last Stars in contribution points."

"While the Church pays for these services in coin," Nargen said unhappily. "It would bankrupt us!"

"Which is where these ten Platinum come into play," Markus told him sliding the coins onto Chess' desk. "You'll use them to work out payment with the others and I'll use the other ten to make the whole thing happen."

"We'll have to gather raw materials from across Tauron," Chess said. "Something much better for the Pantheon than moving our Paladin Orders across the lands and gathering them together, leaving their posts unattended."

"In the meantime, Sir Nargen's Order can be in charge of the whole thing, keeping the peace, preventing thefts, and offering a chance for more of your less tested Paladins to earn a few stripes without having to pick a fight that will get them killed," Markus added.

"And what of your Last Stars?" Nargen demanded. "Won't they abandon us when they begin to drop like flies?"

"Some of them will," Markus said. "They'll die once and decide that they want to do something else. The others will charge back into the fray for revenge."

"'They'll die once?'" Nargen asked in confusion.

"Sir Nargen was unaware of the ability that the current Last Stars have been demonstrating to great effect," Chess explained to Markus. "To be honest, it is still quite troubling to many of us who do know. A population of people that cannot truly be killed? A terrifying force, whether they side with us or not."

"Ah," Markus nodded in understanding before turning to the Grand Paladin. "Us Last Stars can die and we'll come back at a Church or somewhere else if we've set it up. We'll show up then in the same sort of light that we showed up in the first time."

"I see," Nargen said. "It is quite unnerving to know that there are those who are beyond the caring embrace of Grindel as he guides us to our eternal rest."

"This does raise a question for me, actually," Chess said. "How can we guarantee that the Last Stars who fall on the field can return to it quickly if they wish to?"

"I think the only way to do that is to build a Church," Markus said. "Which means that we're going to have to hire builders to construct it out at the Ubarion Penninsula, and we'll need to build a bunch of permanent buildings to. Inns and warehouses, smithies and alchemy labs."

"Might as well build a whole town out there," Nargen snorted. "It sounds like you'd have to."

Chess shared a look with Markus before reaching out and sliding two of the coins to the side.

"I'll broach the subject with some people I know," Chess told him. "You'll likely be expected to be there to help them for the best layout for it."

"A walled fort might be best," Markus nodded. "It would give the noncombatants somewhere safe to stay and it could become somewhere that the Church of Grindel could use as a stronghold to train more Paladins at."

"Indeed," Chess nodded. "We'll need to study some maps to choose the best places, and have new ones made before we send your people there."

"Do you know who to talk to?" Markus asked.

"I can send a message to the Cartographer's Guild," Chess said. "They'll take care of it from there."

Markus continued discussing details with the Priest and Paladin before leaving for his next stop for the day.

"You're here for a mount?" the Elvish man asked him as Markus stepped into the shop.

"I am," Markus nodded. "How did you know?"

"No one comes in here wearing armor unless they mean to buy a mount," the Elf said before returning to his efforts to stock saddlebags on the rack. "What kind of mount were you wanting?"

"I don't really know," Markus told him. "What can I get for a Silver?"

"Everything and nothing," the Elf said unhappily. "You can buy a shop and start selling shit to people and watch the whole damn thing fail. Happened to my brother."

"Sorry," Markus winced, trying to delicately avoid hearing the Elf's life story. "I was more asking in regards to a mount."

"Well, what are you looking for in a mount?" the Elf asked with a sigh as he gave up trying to hang the saddlebags and stepping toward the counter.

"I was hoping for something that was good on all sorts of terrain," Markus said. "Mountains, forests, plains. Something that knows how to swim would be great. And I won't discount having to ride it in a fight either, so something that wouldn't be put down easily would be really great."

"You want a dragon to fly you over the continent too?" the Elf asked sarcastically. "Cause that's what you're asking for."

"Sorry," Markus winced again. "I wasn't trying to be difficult."

"No one ever is," the Elf sighed before pulling out a large book. "Let's see. All-terrain. Hardy. Combat uses. Are scales a no-go for you?"

"I've ridden a Giant Monitor," Markus said. "He was pretty cool and I didn't have any problems with his scales."

"Scales have an entirely different care regimen," the Elf explained as he thumbed through the book. "Harsher brushes for some, softer ones for others. I take it you didn't have to care for the Giant Monitor?"

"I didn't," Markus admitted. "I borrowed him from Major Albricht for the day."

"Borrowed?" the Elf asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"I was doing something for the Army," Markus said, skirting the specifics. "He let me borrow Garun for the duration."

"Surprised he did that," the Elf snorted. "I know Stanley Albricht, he was probably wringing his hands the entire time you were gone."

"I wouldn't know," Markus said. "But anyway, I don't have any opinions on a scaled mount, as long as they might be comfortable in hot or cold environments."

"Warm-blooded," the Elf noted aloud to himself as he flipped the pages. Finally, he reached the end of the book and shut it before propping his chin in his hand. "Imagine that. Couldn't find a fairy dragon in my stock."

"No need to be a dick," Markus said.

"Maybe to you," the Elf responded snarkily. "Would you like to try a roulette option?"

"A what?" Markus asked.

"A roulette option," the Elf repeated himself as he rolled his eyes before explaining. "I've got an old bunch of magicked eggs that were popular a decade or so ago. They have everything from horses and goats to cows and sheep to Giant Monitors and Great Ostriches in them. Supposedly, there's even a Drake of some sort in some of them."

"So what?" Markus asked, trying to wrap his head around the idea that the game might have such a thing. "I just buy an egg and get a mount?"

"Yeah," the Elf nodded. "No guarantee that it's not a baby or that it's trained, but each animal has been used as a mount at one point in history."

"And you'll supply the riding tack for whatever comes out?" Markus asked to which the Elf nodded. "What if I want to sell it?"

"Then I suppose that I can buy it," the Elf said with a long-suffering sigh. "You want to try it or not?"

"How much?" Markus asked.

"Five Bronze," the Elf stuck his hand out taking Markus' money. "You pick your egg and put a drop of blood on it, no refunds."

As the Elf reached under the counter, he pulled out a box with several neatly stacked, large, multi-colored eggs inside. Looking over the eggs, Markus finally settled on one with a purple color and several vomit green stripes spiraling on it. With his skinning knife, he carefully pricked his thumb and dropped the blood onto the top of the egg.

As the drop hit the egg, the whole thing burst apart in a flash of light and left Markus and the Elf staring at a sleeping, scaled creature with four legs and a series of short, stubby spines down its back and a tiny crown of horns on its head. Twitching its snout, the creature woke up and yawned widely revealing a set of sharp teeth inside its mouth.

"I'm not buying a Drake," the Elf said immediately. "Not on the Pantheon's well-being am I inviting that hell into my shop."