Our little scout group waited around the area until the rest of the caravan arrived, three hours later. I was called back to setup Sharla's tent and then left to my own devices for the rest of the day. Since it was around supper time I found where they served meals to slaves. Had a quick dinner and found a quiet place to just be alone. I had only been ordered to stay within five miles of the camp and return at night.

It was surprisingly generous of Sharla to allow me this freedom but I didn't believe her charity for one minute. Instead, I took the opportunity to get as far from the camp as I could for as long as I could. I would also test this imposed range limit and see what happened. It would be important to know in the future. I knew I would likely get punished for this act, so I needed to make it worth the pain. To make my intentions less clear I walked upstream of the camp. When I was out of sight of anyone I ducked into the dense forest and just kept going.

The forest was peaceful if a bit unnervingly quiet. I walked until I felt a searing pain on my neck followed by my choking. This was what it felt like to knowingly disobey orders, it was much worse than accidentally disobeying. I quickly retreated until I was well within my proscribed limit. Now I knew what would happen, lesson learned.

I found a fallen tree that I decided to use as a table. The top had been worn flat through years of rot and exposure, leaving it only slightly humped. Kneeling in the dirt I pulled out my carving tools, setting them on the trunk. Next, I pulled out the metal scraps. Setting the ones I made this morning to the side.

I had a feeling rune-crafting would be paramount to my survival. For this to happen I needed to improve greatly, practicing it anytime I could do it secretly. To accomplish this I needed to test as many combinations as I could. Whether this led to more efficient runes, stronger runes, or even better combinations of runes, time would tell.

For the first test I decided to reverse what I did this morning, making a big trinity knot using fewer repeating runes, and a small knot with as many as I could feasibly fit in. I only had so many pieces of metal to test with. Plus I had to do this all the while keeping an awareness of my surroundings just in case.

Nothing came to bother me as I finished, the first example being the easier of the two. I set it aside and started on the more complex one. My hands were a bit sore by the time I finished the intricate work, having to pause a few times to scan my surroundings. The lines weren't quite as clean as I would like but considering how small I had to draw the runes it wasn't surprising. I examined both plates with Identify to see the results.

As I had expected, the larger one showed no noticeable improvement over early attempts. However, the more complex smaller design was almost as good as the larger more complex one I made in the morning. So that meant the more symbols I could fit in the design the stronger it would become, to an extent. There seemed to be an upper limit, at least with this style of runes and design. I hadn't done much with the other styles, like the hieroglyphics. I was the most comfortable with the Celtic and Norse style or runes. I did know the hieroglyphics would work though. The iconography had been added to my runic knowledge base after I read through the book. It's just that the overall knowledge of what they did or how they could be put together was lacking. The book I had didn't cover that. I set the plates down, picking up another blank one to try adding a fourth rune to the mix.

I took a while to look through my runic catalog to see what rune to add. I decided on support, hoping it would improve all the other runic properties. I carved a simple trinity knot with the added rune to match the simple large one I made earlier for a comparison. When I finished I went to grab the other to compare it to, noticing that the plate was gone. I looked around my side of the fallen log, not seeing the piece anywhere. I knew it couldn't have fallen on the other side as the trunk sloped towards me.

My first urge was to pull my staff out from my ring to defend myself. I stopped myself. If whatever creature took the plate hadn't harmed me while I was distracted there was little need to worry. I cleared my throat hoping the System would translate, "Excuse me, could I have my plate of metal back for a bit. I need to check something, then you can keep it if you wish."

***

Clara knew she was being foolish by following the creatures but since they didn't enter the forest she had been reasonably sure of her safety. Then the one who almost spotted her earlier had simply walked alone into the woods. That had surprised her, what had astounded her though was something about this man kept the beasts of her home wood at bay. They would not come within a hundred yards of the stranger. So she had risked following it, watching as it stopped at a fallen log to do something.

It seemed distracted by whatever it was doing, so she had slowly approached until she could make out what it was up to. Then she spotted the precious metal plates it had lain out across the fallen tree. That would explain somewhat of the forest denizens reluctance to come too close to this individual, but not all. She needed to find out why; so as the man started working again she stole up quietly and grabbed one of the metal pieces. She managed to get back to her hiding location and look at the strange design before the creature stopped.

It didn't take it long to figure out something was missing but it didn't seem upset by it either. It did call out and ask her to return it. This left Clara with a choice to make. She could run but she had seen the man enter and exit the grassy wastes which no Kin had crossed into and returned. Her other option was to see what the stranger would do.

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***

I watched as a three-foot-tall bipedal creature with features reminiscent of an ant appeared from a nearby bush. It had dark brown coloring with two large black eyes and a small mouth with two short pincers. It had four arms, although, its inner set appeared to just hang limply for the most part. While its upper arms seemed to be covered with carapace, the rest of its body was soft like flesh. One hand held a short tube about eight inches long and the other held my plate. It wasn't wearing clothes but for an assortment of crisscrossing leather straps, held together with buckles of metal. With small bits of metal strips affixed here and there in the leather.

At first, I thought the random metal was decoration but this didn't appear to be the case as most were covered from view. Realizing this is what I must have seen earlier in the day, a glint off of one of these bits of metal. It showed the creature was intelligent as it had taken strides to cover the pieces to prevent being spotted. Another sign was the fact that it was holding out my piece of metal. I slowly reached for the piece as to not scare the creature.

"Thank, you," I said, quickly checking the stats to compare vs my new piece. What I found was odd, my new piece yielded no bonus at all. I handed the piece back to the creature while I mulled over the issue. I was broken from my musing by the creature.

"Klara," it said, clacking the word out making a snapping noise sounding like Kla-ra.

I realized this must be the creature's name, so I responded in kind putting my hand to my chest.

"Paul," I said, then pointed to her, "Kla-ra."

It was difficult to duplicate the sound properly, but I think I did a decent job.

Clara winced at the creatures butchering of her name but ignored it, instead focussing on her goal.

"What, this?" Clara said pointing to the design.

He wasn't sure how much he wanted to share his ability to craft runes so he decided to be vague.

"Magic, it helps protect."

***

Clara now knew why the beasts of the forest stayed away, this was like the totem that protected her village or the small talisman that she wore while she hunted. It was a design she had never seen before and was many times more effective at warding an area from the beasts. She wanted to keep it but she had nothing to trade the visitor for the item. Even just the metal alone was worth all of her other talismans. She decided to see if the stranger would trade with her anyway.

***

"I keep, you take," Kla-ra said, pulling off the little bits of metal adorning her straps.

I was about to wave her off saying she could just have it when my eyes fell across the items she held. On the backside were carvings. I realized they were runes but not any earth-based rune.

"Can I see," I said pointing to the metal pieces.

Kla-ra nodded and handed me the item to Inspect.

Rune of Stealth added

Rune of Silence added

Rune of Growth added

The first two I could understand but the third I wasn't sure of until I looked at Kla-ra.

'Wait, was she slightly smaller now?' I thought. I wonder if this had any effect on her strength?

Sure enough, she was, her slightly looser straps are what gave it away. Not sure I would ever need to make myself larger if it didn't boost my stats, but maybe I could find a use for the rune at some point. I knew there was a Celtic rune for growth, but my tests with it never made anything bigger. She was about to pack away the piece of metal before I stopped her.

"Wait," I said grabbing the better design, "Take this one instead it is stronger."

She looked at the smaller plate dubiously at first before examining the tightly packed runes. I also let her keep the items she was trying to trade me. Letting her know that I got my value from the knowledge of the design. She tried a few times to get me to take them but I refused and eventually she gave up trying to get me to accept. Instead, she pinned them back to her straps.

"Perhaps you can trade me some more knowledge instead?" I said.

She shrugged, at least I think it was a shrug, "You ask, I answer if can."

It was good enough for me.

"What do you call yourself?"

"I Kla-ra," she said looking at me dubiously.

"Um, no... like what do your people call themselves, others like you?"

"We Kin," she replied.

"Can you tell me about your people?"

"No," was all I got in response. Ok.

"What about the forest, the creatures? The strange grass area?"

"Forest large, many creatures, many dangerous creatures... all fear your metal... your magic, stay well clear. Grass river not part of forest, come with new world. Creatures there not fear talisman, or magic but do not leave river of grass."

Well, that explained the lack of creature sightings in the forest and also why the grass area felt so out of place. I decided to ask even though I wouldn't mention it to anyone.

"Is it safe to travel through your forest?"

"You, yes. Those with you, no."

I would keep that in mind for later. We talked for a bit longer. I asked her about the oily trees and found out they coated their darts in the substance to take down prey. I was glad I hadn't stuck my hand in a potentially lethal substance. After a while, she began to grow agitated and I told her she could leave if she wished. She did just that, seeming to blend into the forest. Her runes of stealth and silence working wonders.

'Shit, I forgot to scan the creature,' I thought. I was so caught up in the conversation it completely slipped my mind. I kicked myself mentally for missing out on the chance to see what level and class Kla-ra was. Perhaps we would meet again.

A minute or so later I heard the unmistakable sounds of someone walking towards me. I quickly packed up all my gear before Sharla came into view. She looked pissed. When nobody in camp could point out where I had gone. It caused her to come to get me herself, by activating the tracking magic within my collar. I knew I was going to pay for my transgression.

I suffered for my hubris that night, after the beating, she told me to walk in a circle around the camp until morning. By the time the sun rose above the horizon I was dead on my feet. Luckily it wasn't our team's turn to scout. I got to rest a few hours after Sharla decided to release me from her previous orders. The only person to blame was me, I knew taking creative license with her orders could come back to bite me. I wasn't sure what I learned offset the pain I endured. I needed to try and stay on the woman's good side or at least not stir her ire. I was getting the distinct impression that she had very little control over her emotional state.