By the time Casper arrives back at the docks, the sun is peeking its golden head from the horizon, painting the skies in a dull blue.

“We need to leave quickly, lest someone see us. I leave the freeing of the slaves in your capable hands.” Rathiel offers Casper a pat on the shoulder.

“Of course. Take care now.” Casper nods, and watches as Rathiel, Thod, and Szostes jump from the deck, land on the docks, and vanish into the heavy shadows still left lingering from the night before.

“I like them.” Laihal notes as Casper begins to walk down to the lower decks.

“They are good people, yes. I’m glad things turned out the way they did.” Casper admits.

“Would you really have killed them?”

“I would have, I wouldn’t have liked it, but between our entire party being sentenced to death, and them dying? I’ll take them dying any day.”

“How very practical.”

“I’ve been known to be, when needed.”

“And the rest of the time?”

“The rest of the time, I simply am.” Casper shrugs and offers a faint chuckle.

Casper finds himself in the lower deck’s cell cabin. The area that likely would have been a brig, or at least, his understanding of what a brig might even be, looked to have been expanded to accommodate roughly a dozen cells.

Each was only large enough to store a single individual, though not very comfortably. Just barely enough room to lay down, though doing so would force you to curl up into a ball to avoid either your head or your feet from touching the walls.

Each set of eyes that looked up at him, were filled with terror. The occupant of each cell moves to press themselves against the back wall to try and keep as much distance between themselves and Casper as possible.

“Don’t worry, I am here to free you.” Casper tries to explain in as calm a tone as possible.

One by one, he unlocks the cells using the key found on a nearby support beam, and one by one the occupants of the cells flinch as the metal grinds and creaks with the opening door.

Finishing unlocking their cells, Casper returns to the center of the room with Laihal, and watches as not a single person moves, not one attempt to leave their hold.

Clearing his throat, which in turn prompts a few flinches, Casper tries to call out to them again, but is stopped by Laihal.

“What's the matter?” He asks.

“They won’t believe you. I can sense their emotions, fragments of their thoughts. They think this is a trap, a trick.” Laihal explains.

“What should we do then?”

“Would you permit me to speak to them?”

Casper gestures forward, “by all means. Please.”

“I would ask you to trust me, no matter what I do.”

Casper raises an eyebrow.

“To gain their trust, I need you, in turn to trust me.”

“Very well then.” Casper nods.

Laihal repositions herself in front of Casper, and first scans each slave carefully.

Next, she picks one from the lot, and approaches them.

The slave being a young man, perhaps into his late teens. His gaunt features, deep set eyes and faintly stone like pale skin indicated he was likely of some undead variety. Perhaps a vampire, ghoul, or revenant, Casper thought.

“What is your name?” Laihal asks softly.

“I.. I am Peter.” The boy responds.

“Nice to meet you Peter. Do you know what I am?”

“Ah. some…manner of succubus i think?”

“A succubus slave.” She exposes her throat to him, to better show off the slave collar around her neck.

“I see that.”

“Casper, Would you come here?” She asks.

Not at all certain what Laihal was planning, Casper shrugs and approaches.

“Can you please remove my collar?”

Casper blinks a few times, and presses his hand to her neck to release the collar from around it.

“This is a good man, I promise you he is honest when he says you are free.” Laihal explains, moving around to Casper's back, meanwhile, her hands find their way to his shoulders, massaging them with strong, dexterous hands.

“He could have told you to do this…” Peter narrows his eyes.

“He could have…” Laihal reasons, as her hands dance along Casper’s chest, finding their way to his hips.

“What are you doing?” Casper turns, meeting Laihal’s eyes which make a silent plea for trust.

Reluctant, but curious as to where all of this would lead, Casper allows it to continue. Besides, he wasn’t one to complain when a beautiful woman decided to put her hands on him.

“Tell me, Revenant, if your mark is lying.” Laihal coos, and in one smooth motion grabs Casper's crotch in one hand, kicks the back of his legs with the other forcing him to drop nearly to the ground, only to be stopped short, with her barbed tail inches from his eye.

Casper's adrenaline spikes for a moment, a fraction of a second worth of hesitant concern as he worries her tail isn’t going to stop in time, confusion and fear at her sharp nails clutching between his legs. A frenzy of unease at what the fuck all this was about.

“He didn't know that would happen, he considered stopping you, but trust’s you.” Peter says softly.

“I think I still might stop this.” Casper flicks his eyes to Laihal, who’s full lips curl into a devil's smile while she helps him back up.

“Casper would not have allowed such a thing to happen, were I truly a slave to him. He does not consider me a slave, it is all for appearances. We are here, specially to help you all. Trust him, trust me.”

Peter nods his head, and stands, being the first to exit his cell.

“Where do I go?” He asks.

“Wherever you like.” Casper explains casually.

“We have nothing. No homes, no money, no friends nor allies… we are far from our families.” Peter counters.

Honestly, Casper hadn’t really considered all of that. He had been so caught up in the notion of freeing the slaves, that what happened after wasn’t at all on his mind.

But Peter was right. These people had nothing. What the hell were they supposed to do with freedom?

“Perhaps we can see you returned to your loved ones?” Laihal offers, jogging Casper's brain enough to come up with something partially usable.

“We have plenty of money. I can charter a ship for you all, or a cart to take you to wherever it is you are from.” He offers.

“You'd do this?” Peter asks.

“I would, in fact. Here…” Casper fishes around for his coin purse, and produces several platinum pieces from it, handing two platinum to each of the present slaves.

“This is an incredible amount of money to give to us.” Peter seems as though he is ready to deny it, so Casper quickly stuffs his hands into his coat pockets so as to not be forced to take the money back.

“It is yours, buy yourselves clothing, food, and passage back to your homes if you still have them. I know that likely the slavers already took much of everything…”

“Perhaps, if they wish, some could join us as well?” Laihal offers.

“Join you? Join you where?” Peter turns his attention to the half fiend woman.

“We are likely headed to the Dukes holdings now on some business.” Casper turns to Laihal with a quizzical expression.

“Oh no need to be so indirect Casper, I can read their emotions, all of them, and I can tell they hold no love for the duke. It is the duke's laws that see them enslaved, the dukes policy that sees them placed in bondage, their homes burned, families sold or slaughtered.”

Looking around the faces of the slaves, Casper watches as Laihal's words burn something fierce behind the eyes of the slaves.

At the mention of the duke, any fear felt towards Casper is replaced instead with raw, unbridled hate.

“What business do you have with the duke, specifically?” Peter asks, testing.

“I plan on killing him.” Casper admits.

Murmurs rise up among the gathered slaves, each looking to one another to ensure they all heard the same thing.

“Truly?”

“Indeed, Though obviously I may not be able to do it right away, A friend of mine wishes to travel with us to aid the front, and prevent any needless death among the men there. I do intend to see the duke die, but first I suppose it would be better to ensure that someone worse doesn’t replace him, or in the absence of his station someone else tries to take control.”

“One step at a time, it will happen, just not right away.” Laihal sums it up.

Peter turns to Casper, and looks him in the eyes. “If this is what you are doing, I would like to join you.”

Several other nods come up around the ship.

“Are you sure about that? I am offering you coin and freedom, you may take it and leave and I will ask nothing of you in return other than safe travels.”

“I am sure, allow me to aid you in your quest.” Peter smiles.

Casper looks at the other slaves. “Does anyone else wish to join me?”

Several other slaves approach, standing behind Peter to confirm their following, though a few others remain nearer their cells.

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“Those of you who wish to leave, please, you are welcome to do so. Laihal, place your collar back on and see them out to safety.” Casper says curtly.

Laihal smiles and bows, guiding the slaves back towards the upper decks.

“The rest of you understand this will be dangerous, this is a personal vendetta of mine, and that by joining me, you recognize and accept the risks?” Casper searches the eyes of each gathered ex-slave intently. He wasn’t as good as Laihal or Annabelle at reading people, but he knew commitment when he saw it, he knew a desire for vengeance, he had seen it enough times in his own reflection to recognize it in an instant.

Each set of eyes that looked back at him held that same conviction he did.

“Good. Let's get you all cleaned up, and introduced to the rest of our merry band of misfits.”

As it turns out, Peter, the revenant, had marked Casper as his target the moment he stepped foot into the lower decks. According to Laihal, one of the many abilities revenants possessed was the soul branding of someone who has wronged them. Peter assumed Casper was one of the many slavers and chose to brand him.

Laihal, who is innately in tune with the emotions of others, nearly instantly recognized this. She also recognized that among the slaves he was their de facto leader. So by approaching him directly, and swaying him, she would have a better chance of swaying the others.

When asked about the nature of her stunt with him, she had explained with a testing smile, that really only the tail was necessary, and she simply wanted an excuse to feel what Casper had covered up down there. Which would have frustrated him, or even annoyed him, had he not liked it so much.

During their walk to get clothing, supplies, armor and weapons for the new members, Peter had introduced them.

Celeste, was an arch fey. She looked to be well into her 40’s though she still had a mature, intellectual beauty about her. Her pale blue skin shimmered slightly, with hues of deeper purples when the sunlight caught her just right. She was rather adept at special magics, able to open gateways across incredibly vast distances, as well as tear rifts into the fey realms, as well as some of the other’s with effort.

Micah was Fallen Celestial brimming with power. His long blond hair was tied up into a ponytail, that still draped down past his broad shoulders and tattooed back. According to Peter, he had fallen when he had refused an order to purge a half-fiend population that had requested peace in contested lands. While he no longer possessed any of the divine healing abilities of a true celestial, he instead had dedicated his life to sealing magics, specially to kill other celestials.

Pounce, was of a race Casper had never seen before. At first he had figured she was also some manner of specter, but after her attempt at speech came out as only a series of plips and plops, was it clear she was of a more gelatinous nature. Peter had explained that she was a sentient slime that had come about as an accident when a mage was conducting experiments on standard cave sleeves. The rumor was, she had taken on the form of the mage who created her, though there was no way to confirm if that was true, as the slime couldn’t actually speak, read, or write.

Zesstra was the final introduction, a full blooded dark elf, and one that was nearly forgotten for how silently she moved. She was nearly as good as Elisayra, nearly. While Zesstra’s technical skill was better, in that her movements were more refined and practiced, she lacked the same level of natural talent that came with Elisayra.

Zesstra was also the only person in the mix who legitimately scared Casper. She was a little taller than Elisayra, and looked remarkably young, too young to have the eyes of a cold blooded killer. The eyes of someone who enjoyed it, even though she tried to hide it under her medium length messy black hair. That wasn’t enough to get under Casper's skin though. No, what made him scared, was the fact that his mark activated any time she looked in his direction. His body became durable, his reaction time increased even though nothing was happening. His mark was alerting him to some serious danger, a danger he himself in all his experience couldn’t detect even when staring at her directly.

After spending the entire morning shopping for supplies and equipment, Casper found himself quick to sleep and late to rise, which was very unlike him.

Typically, no matter how late he stayed up, his body was hard tuned to waking up approximately an hour before sunrise. This morning, that wasn’t the case.

It likely had something to do with Laihal's presence, as she had offered to wash his clothes and draw him a hot bath, only to have that invitation extend to sleeping in the same room with him before he could say, or want to say no.

He didn’t mind the women's company, in fact he found her presence rather nice, if a little too enticing. He would have made a move to sleep with her, were she not technically a slave, and were things not so complicated with the rest of the party.

The mark, his desire, his reason, and his desire for genuinely closeness all fought, resulting in total and utter stagnation.

All that was to say however, even though he didn’t sleep with her, and the extent of their interaction was simply being present in the same room, Casper had a sneaking suspicion this succubus was the cause of his variety of unique dreams that didn’t ever seem to end.

This assumption of his turned into more of a surefire fact, as he woke to spot her blushing hard, smiling wide, and smelling of self pleasure.

Had she been any less drop dead gorgeous, he may have taken issue. But something about waking up late to see the curves of her tanned skin, her hungry eyes and sweat covered body didn’t bother him, in fact. It pitched a tent in his pants, one he would probably have to take care of before the rest of the day happened

“Well well well, would you look at that… Someone's up late” Alex’s voice makes Casper go beat red, as his sits up and scans the room to spot the woman pulling open the curtains, causing blinding noon light to stream in.

It was then that Casper noticed, nearly everyone was in his room. Nephinae diligently packed the purchased supplies, Annabelle adjusted the straps of her armor that Elisayra helped her into, now with perfectly fixed fingers

The nameless girl was washing her face, and Alex was turning her attention to his full mast with an innocent smile.

“I think it’s about time you wake up.” Alex teases.

“I don’t think it’s fair to blame me for what your succubus slave does while I'm asleep.” Casper retorts, placing a pillow over his lap as he rubs his eyes.

“She’s done it to all of us, it’s only fair you got your turn.” Alex winks.

Casper finds himself blushing slightly, though it doesn’t appear the other girls caught what she had said.

“The other rooms were occupied by the slaves, sorry. Ex-slaves. Divided by the men and women, so we all decided to gather here until you woke.” Alex explains.

“That makes sense… I hope not everyone saw the effects of her dream magic.” Casper quickly pleads, though mostly to himself.

“They did.” Laihal yawns and waves.

“Wonderful.” Casper shakes his head with a smile.

“So, Alex, what have you been up to?” Casper stretches.

Over the next hour or two, Alex explains the details of what happened while Casper was out freeing slaves and shopping. All of which made Casper feel suddenly very inadequate in his own achievements.

“Honestly, you might think it a little silly but I was worried about telling you all of this.’ Alex explains, having taken a seat at the edge of Casper's bed to talk.

“Really? Why is that?”

“Well, I'm worried that you might think me cruel, or manipulative, or evil for it all.” She admits, twirling a finger through her short hair.

Casper shakes his head. “If I had the mind for that kind of political intrigue I would have probably done the same. No, I don’t think less of you, in fact I'm really impressed. Having the count in our pocket is sure to be worthwhile. Having a ship for us and extra money is wonderful as well.” Casper smiles.

“I'm very relieved to hear you say that.”

“She truly was worried.” Nephinae echoes as she works to brush Elisayra's hair.

“She wouldn’t shut up about how worried she was.” Annabelle chuckles, prompting Alex to blush.

“Well, no need to be worried, I am proud of you.” Casper chuckles.

Alex gives an audible sigh of relief, and stands from the bed.

“Laihal told us what happened with your little adventure, are we really going to be traveling with Rathiel?”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, not at all! In fact I happened to get the chance to interact more with Janus and Dorain, though it was mostly business; they are rather good companions to have around. I was looking forward to it.”

Annabelle nods her head. “I like them, they can drink, and they have very good taste when they do drink.”

“The necklace Thodhan made for me was very pretty.” Nephinae also nods.

Casper stands from the bed and slips into his pants. “I'm glad to hear that, because yes, we will be traveling with them. Laihal also explained the details of our travel?”

The room nods.

“Wonderful, and you are all on board with the plan to help the people at the front?”

The room nods once more.

“Then I suppose we can take off whenever we wish, though we may need to do a little more shopping for clothing more appropriate for sea travel, and, I need to back to a magic shop I found and see if he has anything for sea sickness.”

“May I join you too?” Laihal asks.

“Of course.” Casper laughs.

“So when should we leave?” Annabelle asks.

“Hmmm, I have no other business here in the city, do any of you?” Casper asks.

After a few looks, they shake their heads.

“Then once Laihal and I purchase some materials for sea sickness, we can head to the boat with you all. Alex, can you write down which ship is ours? You also said you were closer to Janus and Dorain, would you inform them of our leaving?”

Alex snatches a quill from the ink pot. “Absolutely.”

“Nephinae, would you be so kind as to help with getting the ex-slaves situated as well?”

“It would be my pleasure” Nephinae bows.

“Excellent. Lets try and leave by tonight then.” Casper claps his hands,

Turning his attention back tot he girls, his eyes linger on Elisayra's hands working through Annabelle's hair, Annabelle herself in the mirror, and Alex lifting her back with both arms.

All things considered he was surprised he hadn’t noticed it sooner, but then again the day and night before had been rather eventful.

“Did you get healed already?” Casper asks with a low whistle.

“We did!” Elisayra proudly wiggles her fingers in front of her face, not a single scar, cut, or bruise to be seen on her tiny, dexterous hands.

“Oh come now Casper, don’t tell me you couldn’t tell the difference between one eye and two.” Annabelle teases, winking to further salt the wound.

“Can you blame me? You all handled your injures so well I had a hard time remembering you had them to begin with.”

“I feel like our ability to be resourceful and persevere is a safe excuse for your failure to notice, but still a poor one.” Alex reprimands.

“I can work with safe.” Casper admits with a shrug.

“Well, Nephinae has been healing us nearly every day when she can. It helped alot.” Elisayra adds softly.

“Very true, it's probably the only reason my arm is functional, though the pain lingers.” Alex nods.

“And why my eye isn’t infected, besides, I'm used to working with only half my vision. If I had a gold mark every time I fought with blood or dirt in one eye I'd be able to buy the diamonds at their original price.”

“I am very glad Nephinae’s magic was able to help alleviate the worst of your ailments, but I was more commenting on how quickly you managed to get healed by the church. From my understanding the process was meant to take a while even with the proper materials?”

“I was under that assumption as well, though as it turns out that isn’t really the case.”

Casper moves himself to the center of the room and begins a series of stretches to try and release some of the passive tension in his body. He wanted to make a habit of fixing physical ailments correctly as opposed to relying on the mark, especially given how pent up he had been, the last thing he needed was to give the mark any more excuses to rile him up.

“As we came to learn, the process by which a mage uses diamonds to perform healing magic, makes it next to instantaneous.” Alex rolls out her shoulder and wiggles her arm at the mention, though the action seems almost entirely subconscious.

“So where did the lie come from that it would take time?”

“Banditry.” Annabelle nods sagely.

“Banditry?”

“More or less. The church would slowly heal the patient, as the spell consumed only proportional amounts of the diamond related to how much healing had happened. If they cast the spell slowly, they can wait until it is mostly healed, enough that the body would naturally pick up the rest of the slack and allow the church to keep any leftover diamonds. These could then be used to fill their coffers.”

“They wouldn’t use the partial diamonds for other healing spells?”

“Then the public would very likely catch on.” Alex adds.

“Ah, that makes sense.” Casper scrunches up his face, more than a little annoyed with the practice, but mostly relieved to see all of the women in working order again.

“Well, I am very relieved to see you all doing so well. It is good to have everyone whole.”

And it was true, he was genuinely happy to see them fixed up. Honestly he had felt a great deal responsible for their injuries. his failure to be with them, to protect them, to save them from that fate. Everything that had befell them that day was because he was marked, because he had saved Engee, because he didn't think about the consequences of his actions.

In away, them being healed, had healed him too. Seeing them talking, laughing, unrestrained and unrestricted from their injuries meant he could relax a little as well, no longer having to worry about the potential handicaps placed on their group as a whole.

“Damn, it’s good to be whole. I might be good at fighting with only one eye, but not being able to see depth is a pain.”

“Not being able to scratch my own back sucked…”

“I feel like that is the least troublesome part of having your hands mutilated.”

“I know, but still! It’s nice to scratch my own back again.”

“You could have asked me, I would have happily helped.” Annabelle notes, leaving Elisayra stunned quiet for a moment.

“Dammit! I didn’t think to ask…” She pouts, getting a laugh from most everyone aside from Nephinae, who shakes her head with a faint sigh.

“Well, let's just hope we can all manage to stay in one piece for a while, who knows when we will be able to find ourselves another healer.”

“If we do, I managed to keep a few diamonds from the plundered estate, just in case.”

“Very good thinking,” Casper nods his approval. “Let's just pray we don’t have to use them.”