Mellie decided not to use her power in front of her company and followed George as he mapped our way by reading the stars using the skill Wayfinder that his father taught him when he was a boy. "When I was just a little thing my father had me slay a direwolf pup for my first skill. He bloodied that thing within an inch of his life and held the thing struggling while I cried about not killing it. He was so frustrated!" George laughed. "I finally closed my eyes and stabbed it through the belly, almost hitting my father. He took me to the lake that night and taught me how to read the stars. He said if I ever got lost I could always find my way home. It was so important to him for me to learn it. It is an amazing utility. Maybe when all the world calms down I can teach it to someone else one day too." He reflected.

Mellie hummed as she trudged through the forest. The team weaved around Acid Weaver spiders and splattering of zombies here and there. Mellie set the mood for the group as she sang her way through each kill. She usually pulled a Weird Al and ad libbed the lyrics to suit the mood. Her company had no idea. They assumed she was a musical genius.

Mellie tended their wounds when they were hurt and helped provide food for their bellies. It had been a while since Mellie had someone she could rely on and it was a good feeling. The group slept around a fire at night, one awake while the rest slept. Twice they had to relocate camp. Once because of monsters, once because of men. Mellie didn't need as much sleep these days but the rest of the group was becoming debuffed.

Three days passed and the group was approaching the southern coast of Talah. "Its gonna cost at least 3 silver for each of us. And thats with the men helping the crew on the way."

"Theres some mudroot over there but thats only gonna get us a couple coppers. You think we can find a way to seek employment in town?"

"In town? Are you crazy? We will be lucky if we find a merchant ship with humans let alone beastkin that are human empathizers. You know how the gnolls love their human pets!"

Mellie had started her trip with supplies and gold, but after the slavers crashed her tent, her things got caught in her spells and turned into water and pants. It cost her 50 gold and half her belongings but they all survived. At least she had her freedom. And a plan. Mellie always had a plan.

The group were discussing their options sitting at the beach by a nearby cave. They were about 2 miles from the port town Otterden where they would try to secure passage back home without getting caught. Mellie made to leave like she needed to relieve herself and walked into the forest.

Name: Mellie Adams

Level: 11

Race: Cambion (demonkin/mageborn)

Titles: Descendant of Darkness, Desendant of Saviors, Descendant of a Fallen Race Iron Will

Class: Manablood Savior

Strength 68

Dexterity 86

Intelligence 122

Endurance 88

Charisma 7

Luck 15

Health: 650/650

Stamina: 220/880

Mana: 3700/3700

Regeneration: 4x

Spells: Shadowalk lvl 20, Test of Wills lvl 15

Skills: Polyglot lvl 4, Truthseeker lvl 12, Singing lvl 5, Humming lvl 9

Traits: Pain tolerence, Major poison resistance

The more confident Mellie was that her wills spell would work the more she allowed herself to use it. She really didn't want to turn people into sandwiches if she didn't have to. She actually got her lotto pencil and a couple of her old fast food receipts that they hadnt scattered around the camp and wrote up a list of things she should will.

Hairbrush, Toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, shampoo, conditioner, socks, and underwear...

But the most important thing on the list was that 12 silver needed to get away from this hostile country. Thats why she snuck off to acquire. Money granted! She joked. Thats what this wyrm was for.

Wyrm lvl 12

Mellie needed to incapacitate this wyrm before testing its will. Fortunately after stumbling through poisons, poisonous fog and being drugged by captors Mellie was prepared. She lured the wyrm into the field with bits of bloody goat from last nights dinner. She surrounded the meal with bleekshrooms, gassing up the place. She had to time this right. She was tolerant to pain and poison but entering an area with a lack of oxygen is a risk she didnt have to take. As the wyrms health ticked down in the three minutes since its arrival. She rushed to the wyrm and willed her passage money in her hand. A handful gold coins clanked into the leaves and some Bill Murray faced fake hundred dollar bills drifted the forest floor. Level up! Test of wills lvl 16!

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She ran into a couple of zombies on the way, securing food rations and necessities for the trip. These zombies werent smart or dumb. Just regular. Good for them. No gold stars, no detention. After a successful hunt, she returned to the group solidifying their plans.

"If we look for tundergrass in the marshes as long as we lookout for ragseed we should be okay. And I can heal you if you get poisoned. I've done it before, remember?" Jackson pointed out.

"Oh? You're a healer. That's helpful." Mellie interjected. The group looked at her and ignored her planning out the rest of their venture. Mellie let them plan. She didnt want to offer their passage without them making an attempt at making it themselves. As the night wound down the group settled in around the cave fire to tackle the day again tomorrow. Mellie wandered off during the night to make a zombie into a new bedroll. It took her 20 minutes and George didnt even notice when she passed by him on watch duty carrying a brand new bedroll. Jackson noticed though. And he was scared she was going to turn on them. Where else could she have gotten a bedroll in the middle of the night? "We need to sneak away from her as soon as possible" he thought.

Mellie woke in the morning and she was alone. The group had vacated the fire and had packed up their belongings and were headed into the swamps to collect rare herbs. As Mellie watched them leave she slipped the gold coins she had collected into one of the extra slavers supply bags they had scattered about the cave. Whether or not they could sell the herbs they might find, they would believe they had found enough money from the slavers pocket that they wouldnt be wary of spending. Mellie set off to aid in thier herb collecting endeavor.

Tundergrass a common herb used in alchemy as a binding agent between two reacting agents

Skill gained! Herbalism lvl 1!

Capshroom an uncommon non poisonous mushroom used often served in fine dining reataurants.

Herbalism lvl 2!

Mellie popped a couple in her mouth

Herbalism lvl 3!

And with those advancements her day crept As she consumed the non poisonous herbs she found, the details about each plant helped him understand how to pair each plant to make helpful medicine.

Around mid afternoon the group gathered for lunch and shared their meager findings. They had nowhere near a silvers worth of herbs between the four of them. Three of the group were very afraid and very worried.

"We need a new plan. This is barely 30 coppers worth if we can even find the right buyer. George, we are relying on you to secure this. We can't all risk going to town and the women would be immediately taken. You're our best bet. The problem is, this is going to take weeks. We need to move in further to collect poisons." Jackson debated.

" We have nothing to collect them with. And the minor poison resistance skill costs our fare across the sea ten times over, unless someone here already has it." countered Linda.

Mellie cleared her throat. "What?" Inquired Jackson peering at her suspiciously. Mellie sunk back down into herself. "Nothing.." She decided to keep it to herself. Everyone here was wary and suspicious of her. Telling them about having poison resistance was just exposing herself to more criticism. Besides, this situation is about to resolve itself.

Linda focused on preparing tubers and herbs she found and Mellie threw in some remaining wyvern jerkey for a stew. Skill gained! Cooking lvl 1! While George was rustling through bags to find himself a fork, he stumbled across the gold Mellie had planted.

"O my gods.... If we had only checked... we could have left this morning maybe. I gotta head to the docks. Guys! We have the slavers gold! It was in the pack! How do I look? Awful, right? I'll go wash up in the sea and then see about securing us transportation." George gleefully giggled with tears at the corners of his eyes. "We're going home."

Linda and Jackson smiled and hugged. Millie was happy to get out of this country. The underbelly she had stumbled through had been ugly and cruel and she had come from it tempered, forged into something more, something adaptable, something better than she ever was.

Her body felt fresh and spry. Her hair was shiny and bouncy. She didnt smell bad even though she had been roughing it, trekking through the hot wet forest for a week. Her skin was bronzed from the sun and the exercize and stat advancement made her movements fluid and soft like she was walking on clouds and not rough terrain. She smiled. Nothing was stopping her. She would get stronger, get smarter, train harder, and listen more.

George washed up and snuck into town, in search of a way out. The group restlessly set about securing dinner for the night, awaiting any news of their friend. When nightfall came they ate their dinners and set his aside. By the time they usually slumbered, they all knew that George had to be in trouble.

Intelligence +1!