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Waking up in Allelus bed, but there being no one around Zutal notices the armour stand missing the armour part of its name. walking downstairs to a completely silent dinner table is only slightly less awkward than seeing the aftermath as Marie has a bandage on her left ear tip, while Allelu has her entire right ear bandaged and a hoarse voice that she uses rarely to answer in short sentences.
Zutal: “Are you alright.”
Is apparently not the right question as everyone proceeds to look the other way, with all three people turning red, which is impressive for the already red Allelu and green lizard woman who hypothetically can not turn red but still gives off the same aura as the other two.
Leaving the house after breakfast and meeting with the duke is a quick procedure. A look from the father to daughter has one blushing again and the other smiling while Marie talks with the Colbert Vermillion on what he is taking with him.
The Son is dressed in a blue mages robe with golden accents and cuff links, with a circlet on his head which is embedded with multiple rocks from topaz and sapphires to a diamond, and black leather boots that seem to be popular with Sentient Assemblage adventurers and the few adventurers that Zutal saw from Claret Confederacy. Black boots made of leather with shoe laces on the front dyed black.
‘Maybe I should get boots, but then my claws would most likely rip them apart, also I do not want to get boots as a reward for my challenges. Although I already wear a robe and the boots would help greatly with a hot or cold surfaces… Decisions for later as we will be setting off soon.’
Zutal helps Allelu pack a few supplies onto one of two carts. A green goblin butler in a green tuxedo and white shirt along with green pants and green shoes takes the back wagon with supplies, along with 5 collared slave which includes the bandit that attacked me. Although apart from that bandit there are only two more human slaves with the other two being goblins that sit with the butler goblin out front compared to the skulking humans in the back.
Taking the lead next to Marie, Colbert guides the carriage down streets as me, Allelu and Sofia relax in the back. It does not take long for us to leave the city with no inspections, whether that is due to Colbert or the fact that merchant’s leaving the city do not get searched is unknown by me at the moment, although the latter is most likely true with the dukes son accompanying our two carriage convoy. Reaching the guild by using the stone road with horse drawn carriages takes us to about the middle of the day.
Checking supplies again before we set off on foot past the guild and towards the border is what takes us most of the day. Deciding to camp on the Sentient Assemblage side of the border doesn’t decrease stress as a wild monster or beast could come out of the woods.
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It would be much better when we meet our allies over the border, rather than assuming that they still might be alive after how ever far back the deal was struck, or even if they will comply to the deal struck. Everyone is on edge, including the slaves who are the easiest picking out of everyone in the group, holding no weapons or powers while under a slave collar.
Sleeping in a tent with Sofia is only ever so slightly calming. I think I would feel safer sleeping under the stars, but the cold air of Autumn would probably freeze me to death if I were to do so, which results in me sleeping with Sofia and our robes on top of each other for warmth as we are huddled together. Marie and Allelu are also sleeping together in their warm tent, with both of our parties only tents being enchanted with warmth enchantments as well as light defensive enchantments to stop a weak wolf from breaking the tent. This still requires a top up from Sofia as I can not control my magic to enter the tent willingly no matter what I do.
Wonder how the coat works then to siphon my magic from me.
We enter the Deep Woods the very next day, it feels almost surreal as once were over the line metaphorical line nothing changes. I was expecting a caterpillar that eats wolves over here, but no there is no out of season insect and it is still cold on this side.
As we advance through the forest until lunch time, when a group of dire wolves approaches us with their silent footsteps Marie alerts us too late. Their smell and size is not that of wolves so I just assume their species, while Colbert looks less on edge but still sweating slightly when compared to Marie who looks pale at appearance.
After a short while, and enough time for me to count at least 20 dire wolves, a bipedal dire wolf appears. He is almost my size, standing at around 2.4 metres (7.9 foot), although he looks smaller than the dire wolves if they were to stand on their hind legs. Dire wolves are 1.3 metres (4.3 foot) on all fours, so I wonder what benefit a bipedal form might have on the werewolf looking creature.
However none of my questions are answered as Colbert Vermillion slowly walks up to the creature and has a shushed conversation, I just hope he isn’t trying to sell one us off since if we are to trade for passage it should be the slaves. With a smirk, that looks like a snarl the wolf runs away at a pace that leaves the following dire wolves in the dirt, huh well that’s an answer.
Zutal: “Sofia what was up with the humanoid dire wolf?”
Sofia: “Yes and also no, those were timber wolves and it is a wood land related variant of a dire wolf. The difference is important to note as they are more agile and get buffs from fighting in the woods, so they should be avoided while in a beneficial habitat for themselves, however the humanoid variant must have completed a challenge from their God to attain a body modification item.”
Zutal: “Is that rare?”
Sofia: “Yes, those items change a creature greatly and most of the time significantly increase its danger, the bipedal timber wolf looked like it got a smaller body but kept all of its strengths so now it can turn on a dime and use its hands to claw at prey while also becoming faster than its brethren.”
Zutal: “Why not change all the wolves with such a challenge?”
Sofia: “Some say it is based on luck, but other claim it is based on prowess, either way the Gods work in mysterious ways. Although, I personally think that it is a heritage thing with stronger parents giving a higher chance for their children to inherit better challenges, with consecutive generations having decreased chances but still having the potential.”
‘Huh potential, well I guess that the grey horned lizard must have had a dragon ancestor in the past for me to get this lucky.’
The party moves on with Colbert giving the all clear.