It takes me another hour to find a shop that sells ammo. Morgan had quite a monopoly apparently, leaving few alternatives. There are only two other shops selling weapons, one of which has quite a small selection.
It doesn't really matter much to me as I only need some ammunition, which he has plenty of. I spend the rest of my coins on ammo, getting my ammo reserves up to 23 shots.
As angry as I am, going on a shopping spree allowed me to cool down so we spend the rest of the day in The Wrong Ferret Inn, telling Clarabelle stories and trying to dodge her progressively more incessant questions. Even if her job is that of a simple barkeeper, she is oddly perceptive, something I forget most of the time.
We talk for so long that Clarabelle actually gives us the room for free, saying that us keeping her company is payment enough. I don’t argue with her, knowing that she actually means it and won't budge on it, but Kara puts up a weak protest but quickly relents once Clarabelle threatens her with a wooden spoon.
It really seems like Kara has some prior experience with it as she instantly accepted it when Clarabelle threatens her, she generally seems a lot more receptive to what Clarabelle is saying.
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“Have fun on your mission, you two,” Clarabelle sends us off with a big smile on her face. She appears really happy that we spent the night here and I don’t really have the heart to tell her.
We wave her goodbye and depart, making our way to the ravines in the west.
“What’s your plan, Snipe?” Kara asks. I don’t know what she thought of the nickname, I haven’t really used my rifle that much since working with her.
“It’s pretty simple,” I explain, “I’ve got 23 bullets and you have a knife, we’ll scout out the camp and then you sneak in and I play support. Try to stay hidden until you manage to find Morgan, then I’ll cover you two while you escape.” It’s a rather simple plan but I’ve always found the simple plans to be the most effective, anything too complex can easily be foiled.
“Yeah, that’s simple alright,” Kara says, more than just a hint of sarcasm in her voice, “So I’ll be doing the majority of the work while you lie on the ground a mile away.” That’s definitely one way to look at it. “Why do you never fight in close-quarters? You have the Stats for it.”
I blink at her in confusion. Where did that come from? She never complained about it before but I honestly never got the need to fight with a melee weapon unless absolutely needed as giving bandits and monsters a chance to fight back always appeared stupid to me. “Why would I?”
"Because it is a viable option and you should at least have some basic proficiency in it to defend yourself when you have no other choice," she reasons.
If I had no other choice I wouldn't fight. My revolvers worked just fine whenever someone got too close for me to use my rifle but I also never met someone with Skills that can easily close a gap like that. "Fair enough but I never found a reason to dedicate the time needed to get decent at it."
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"You never thought that you'd find yourself running out of ammo while fighting?" Kara asks incredulously.
"No?" I hedge. Running out of ammo was never a problem for me, I either looted the corpses of the already defeated and used their weapons or retreated.
She shakes her head. “You are an idiot,” she says. “I am glad that you found me, you would have died by now. The General would have killed you easily if you would have even gotten that far.”
Now that’s just rude. She didn’t save my life that often and I saved hers just as much! “Thanks for that by the way but we should get used to having each other's back unless you plan on leaving the second we get rid of the Contract.”
“Well, not really,” Kara says, yawning. “I might as well stick around and save you, going back to my-” She cuts herself off, covering her mouth with her hands.
What’s she so embarrassed about? “Your what?”
She smiles weakly, dodging the question “Nothing important.”
We continue our small talk until I recognise the ravine in the distance.
The Stokes did quite a job in the time I was gone. The Goblin tents have been completely removed, and replaced by less temporary housing made out of Bricks and unnaturally smooth stone. Clear Signs of Construction magic had been used to build them as they probably were in a rush to complete it.
At least a dozen members are walking around, carting goods around or standing guard in front of one of the various buildings.
All in all, it looks more like a research facility than a regular camp of them, which makes sense if they really intend to keep Morgan here for a long time, spread over three distinct rock croppings with rope ladders and bridges connecting them. I can’t see all buildings from my position but the Guards mostly keep out of the buildings I can see with two exceptions, probably their common room or something similar.
“Can you take them out from here?” Kara asks, lying on the ground next to me. We lay down on the edge of the ravine multiple paces away, peering down.
Looking at the camps, there is probably only one building I can see that I can’t hit from here, even with assistance from [Death from afar], as it’s on the opposite side and only barely visible.
That’s going to be the house Morgan is in.
“Yes, but it’d alert the rest of them,” I explain, keeping the rifle on the ground next to me for now, “let’s go with the original plan and see how far you can stay hidden before I announce our presence to everyone.”
She looks down into the ravine, past the camp, and squints, trying to discern details in the darkness below. “Do you think there’s some sort of monster down there that we can get to fight the Stokes, maybe even kill them?”
If anything’s there, it has been tolerating them this far so our chance to bait it is rather slim, I also wouldn’t want to risk Morgan getting hurt by it. “Maybe a Brown Worrm or something but if it attacks Morgan, we’ll have done this for nothing.”
“Alright. Keep your scope on me, I’ll sneak in and you’ll kill anyone that detects me if I can’t silently take them out. If I find her, I’ll reflect some sunlight at you with my knife,” she says, slowly climbing down the ravine and making her way to the first building.