Caravan Master Mook had the wagons rolling precisely one hour and one minute after they stopped. By that time, everything used in the process of feeding and watering the nineteen people of the caravan—three drovers, four sometimes-horse-riding guardsmen, eight other guardsmen, Mook himself, and the three Claires—had been loaded back into the wagons, and the Claires had gotten a chance to see more of what the operation looked like in motion.
Well, what the operation had looked like, Harriet insisted. She’d already started to make changes, peremptorily ordering people between two and twenty times her age around as though she were born to it, much to the amusement of everyone involved.
They might have been less amused if she hadn’t already been making a difference even within the first minutes. The still-half-filled cask of water was easier to roll along a plank than to straight-lift and carry, and the fire pit at which one of the drovers had been doing something with an animal hide had been far better constructed for her efforts.
Not that it was anything critical. Mook had confided to Jason and Cassandra that everyone knew things were being done a bit slapdash, but what did it matter when even a relatively meager fighter’s strength sufficed to readily lift four hundred and fifty pounds? And who cared about a better-constructed fire pit?
Lifting and Carrying
Your Strength score determines the amount of weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.
Carrying Capacity: Your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15. This is the weight (in pounds) that you can carry, which is high enough that most characters don't usually have to worry about it.
Push, Drag, or Lift: You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
Size and Strength: Larger creatures can bear more weight, whereas Tiny creatures can carry less. For each size category above Medium, double the creature's carrying capacity and the amount it can push, drag, or lift. For a Tiny creature, halve these weights.
But the halfling girl was adorably cute in her way, and she wasn’t wrong, and they were predictably more inclined to listen to her opinions given that they were paying for them. Besides, she’d caught an incipient problem with the wagons before it could actually break, and that had allowed it to be fixed during the break, rather than interrupting their travel.
Odd, they’d all said; that sort of thing didn’t really happen in the usual course of things. But it wasn’t unknown, and it would get them to their end-of-the-day point that much earlier, they supposed.
It had been a frustration for the diminutive Ranger, who was at once still a child and also far older than her age. Every problem and inefficiency she found, she was able to fix or get other people to fix… but none of it actually made a difference.
Strength and Constitutions notwithstanding, they weren’t going to get to their destination any faster for having better-maintained equipment, and she wasn’t used to the high-System worlds as Cassandra and—at that point in their relationship—Jason were.
Eventually, she didn’t so much give up as climb onto one of the wagons, sulking besides Caravan Master Mook as she asked him an endless stream of increasingly incredulous questions about the economy of the region and of Mook’s business. And in that way, she slipped into a fugue that was both the same and different from the same one that everyone else slipped into…
… until finally, the day’s journey was done, and they began to set up camp for the night. Another fire pit, again with Harriet’s improvements, and another half-pound of rations and half-gallon of water for everyone. Tents started to go up, the drovers started tending to their animals, and Lieutenant One-Venture-Commanding Surge harried the Two Wolves Company mercenaries until they all confirmed they knew what their rest and patrol schedules were. Caravan Master Mook withdrew to his wagon to read and—by the sound of it—write. The Claires relaxed against the side of a different wagon, snuggling and absently discussing the virtues of shields as compared to two-handed weapons.
And in the midst of it all, there was something… a little off.
Rolling Insight (Charisma) | 1d20+7
Rolling Insight (Wisdom) | 1d20+4
It was the man by the fire who’d caught Jason’s eye, and once he pointed the knife-tosser out to Cassandra, she saw it too. They both recognized him as one of the drovers, and the other drovers weren’t any less idle than he was, but… still.
The man flipped the knife up, and it did five full revolutions before he caught it either with his full hand on the hilt or with his thumb and forefinger on the blade. But he wasn’t looking at the knife, or dagger, or whatever it was.
DAGGER
COST: 2 gp
DAMAGE: 1d4 piercing
WEIGHT: 1 lb.
PROPERTIES: Finesse, light, thrown (range 20/60)
FINESSE
When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.
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LIGHT
A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons.
THROWN
If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.
Rolling Perception (Wisdom) | 1d20-1
Rolling Perception (Wisdom) | 1d20+6
Cassandra turned to Jason, shifting to be on his lap, legs wrapped around his waist and mouth practically in his ear. “You know,” she murmured, nuzzling him contentedly, “he’s absolutely watching us, and can read lips.”
“That’s very distracting,” he replied, eyes rolling back into his head. “Hi.”
“I need you to go for a walk.” She ran her hands up her husband’s chest, sighing. “Get our tent ready, okay?”
“Get the tent ready, yes ma’am.”
There wasn’t a deceptive bone in her husband’s body, Cassandra knew. But as she stood, kissing him as he rose in turn, she knew that he didn’t need to deceive in order to be deceptive.
He simply needed to kiss her back, lovingly and gently, and then go to put their tent up.
He simply needed to trust her, and also be absolutely focused on the kiss they’d just had and the facts that Harriet had her own tent… and Cassandra could use her Minor Illusion spell to cancel out sound.
His wife, in turn, strolled towards the fire. Reaching her hands out towards it, she mused on the fact that while she could feel the fire, it didn’t feel hot no matter how close she was getting to it. She could tell that if she made the mistake of stepping into it, at a fixed and nonsensical demarcation of into it, she would be hurt—but until that moment, she would simply be warmed, and no damage would be dealt.
“Nice evening,” she said quietly to the knife-flipping man, who’d added a coin trick to his routine, rolling a coin across his knuckles.
“It is, at that,” the man responded, smirking.
“Noticed you looking at that halfling girl,” the mother ventured half-turning and stretching towards the flames. “Saw her looking back. Not planning on wasting any time, I expect?”
Rolling Deception (Charisma) | 1d20+5
“I like the look of her,” he said with what he thought was commendable vagueness. “Old enough to sheathe a sword, anyone can tell that.”
“And she’s to your taste?” The tiefling turned another quarter-turn, now facing the rogue, and started walking slowly forwards, hips swaying.
“Well, I’m not about to object to a full cup,” he said with a snigger. “And big man over there doesn’t have to know, if—”
Cassandra reached the man, fingers of her right hand cupping his face. “FIRE BOLT,” she intoned casually, and hurled a mote of fire into his face.
Fire Bolt
Evocation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You hurl a mote of fire at a creature or object within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 fire damage. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn't being worn or carried. This spell's damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
Evocation: Evocation spells manipulate magical energy to produce a desired effect. Some call up blasts of fire or lightning. Others channel positive energy to heal wounds.
Fire: Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.
Attack Rolls
Some spells require the caster to make an attack roll to determine whether the spell effect hits the intended target. Your attack bonus with a spell attack equals your spellcasting ability modifier + your proficiency bonus. Most spells that require attack rolls involve ranged attacks. Remember that you have disadvantage on a ranged attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature that can see you and that isn't incapacitated.
Rolling To-Hit (Charisma + Proficiency, Target Not Hostile) | 1d20+7
Result of 15 HITS. Rolling Damage | 1d10
Rolling Instability Surge | 1d100 | No Surge
The would-be lothario howled in sudden agony and fury, flipping the knife to a fighting grip and drawing his shortsword—
End of Round 1 (Surprise Round)
Rolling Initiative | 1d20-1
Other Entities Rolling Initiative
—but the tiefling sorceress was faster than his sword.
“Magic Missile,” she said, and no onlooker was present to hear the predatory hunger in her voice.
Magic Missile
1st-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You create three glowing darts of magical force. Each dart hits a creature of your choice that you can see within range. A dart deals 1d4 + 1 force damage to its target. The darts all strike simultaneously, and you can direct them to hit one creature or several. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the spell creates one more dart for each slot level above 1st.
Force: Force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are spells, including magic missile and spiritual weapon.
To-Hit Automatic.
Rolling Damage | 3x (1d4+1)
Combat Ended