Story so far:
Peanut Mallowcap, a cute little mushroom-folk, is the sole survivor of her adventurer team after being harried for prolonged periods by a Dead Eater warband.
Ingrid and her team decide to attack the Dead Eater camp and end their menace in the dungeons once and for all.
After eliminating the Dead Eaters there, they rescue prisoners and more Tixi Mice.
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S03E04
"Post Quest Rigors Part 1"
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Jormungandr Guild, Headmaster’s Office, some time later
The headmaster’s stately-looking office was quiet, with only the murmur of Ingrid recounting the events that transpired in the dungeon, the rhythmic tick-tock of the clock, and Peanut's muffled sobs piercing the silence. Even the wind seemed to be mindful of the room’s emotional atmosphere, blowing the light curtains in such a way as if tentatively trying to reach out to the crying little mushroom on Ingrid’s lap.
Peanut held tightly the wand of her cherished mage friend, her grief grew stronger as she recalled their shared moments. Ingrid's arm embrace did little to stem the tide of her sorrow, for the wand and the feeling of Ingrid’s warmth was a poignant reminder of the comfort she had lost.
The little mushroom was sitting on Ingrid’s lap, the latter had taken off her gloves so she could better hug her and stroke her velvety cap. Ingrid didn’t know it but everyone else could hear her purring like a cat as she consoled the little mushroom.
“So…the Grand Halos have all been killed, all but Peanut Mallowcap.” Guildmaster Mittens said. He took another puff from his pipe and turned his head, elegantly blowing smoke out the open doors that led the balcony outside. He straightened up and looked out the scenery below, it always felt so strange to behold that beautiful courtyard, the blue skies and rustling trees, the joyful banter of the guildsmen below and the loud arguments as one teammate tried to outdo another, all while hearing news of yet another death in dungeons of the city he called home. Meanwhile, Ingrid took in the scenery around her, unlike Tibbles’ study, Mitten’s looked more like an archeologist's office, with various odds and ends no doubt from various creatures that came from the Rift Worlds below.
“Yes sir.” Ingrid said, hugging Peanut a little more snugly, the latter returned by putting her soft little arms around Ingrid’s hands, causing her to smile a little as she felt the little mushroom return the affection.
“From what’s been told to me by Siria,” Ingrid continued “...and assuming things haven’t changed around here, I believe Peanut as the sole surviving member has full execute authority regarding her team, is that right?”
“Of course.” The Tephran purred. “And I’m guessing you’ve convinced Peanut to join your team.”
Ingrid nodded “I’m confident that my team can take good care of her, and to be selfish… it just hurts my heart seeing someone as adorable as her experience this.”
Mitten’s goat-like jodove assistant assistant whispered in his ear. The Tephran’s ears gently flopped about as he listened, liking what he heard.
“I see…” The giant cat purred. “Ingrid, if it’s anything good for you, Erynjas are far from what you’d call ‘helpless’. Peanut here is young, but I assure you, she wouldn’t have been brought into the Grand Halos if she wasn’t competent enough...”
“That’s good to hear sir.” Ingrid said.
“Very well, Ingrid.” the guildmaster said after a while. “Since there’s no objection I’ll approve Peanut’s transfer to your team. We will let you know of anything pertinent about the Grand Halos from her guild.”
“Anything pertinent?” Ingrid asked “Sorry, I’m not familiar with the term.”
“If the Grand Halos have any outstanding obligations or missions, or any correspondence between the team and other parties or entities.” Mittens replied.
“In other words…” Philia said, listening in remotely “If the team’s got clearance to crack open their emails and read them.”
“Understood.” Ingrid said.
The giant cat nodded his head, letting them know he was done.
“The long and short of it is…” Philia began, “Any money the team has earned, we get a portion of it, the rest goes to surviving kin. Considering that the guildmaster said that the Grand Halos are no pushover, we need to get to work upgrading our gear.”
“Copy, King Fish.” Ingrid said, still lovingly carrying the little mushroom in her arms “What do we need to do first?”
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Bvalinn’s Foundry:
Bvalinn’s Foundry was located near the Sun Gate Fortress, opposite to the Storm Gate that the team took the last time. It resembled a stately longhouse with multiple chimneys. A big serpent-like dragon carved from the same log as the roof’s spine roosted above the longhouse, a special chimney connected to the dragon’s mouth let it constantly belch smoke.
Inside, the dwarven architecture was quietly evident, as Philia couldn’t hear the hammering of the dwarves from the next room, despite being shown by Bvalinn himself where the magic takes place.
And it was loud in there.
Philia and the mice were in the quieter part of the Foundry, with the mice excitedly looking around the shop area. In turn, some of the adventurers browsing the store were looking at the fluffy creatures wearing armor, standing upright and squeaking excitedly amongst each other while they held unknown weapons in their hands. Tixi Mice being familiars was unheard of yet there they stood, in numbers, bearing brooches that marked them as part of the Fenrir Guild in New Gorpisal.
“Copy, King Fish.” Ingrid said, “What do we need to do first?”
Philia, who was in Bvalinn’s office glanced at the dwarf who was carefully inspecting the different bullets as well as their dismantled forms.
“...We buy ammunition. Looks like he’s done examining them, gotta go.” Philia quietly replied to Ingrid.
“Good thing Bvalinn came back today…” Zefir remarked “I feel bad having to ask Arek for more bullets.”
“Yeah, it feels better if we can construct our own bullets.” Ingrid said “If Arek starts buying more and more arms eventually people will start asking him awkward questions, especially if they aren’t being sold to aliens in outer space after all...”
“Outer space?” Siria asked.
“That’s a…really complicated subject.” Cecil said “We should watch some videos when we have time.”
The dwarf looked up at Philia. “Aye, it's a braw request, I'll hae tae mak some special dies fur thon things, but efter I do, it'll be dead easy… As for thir metal pellets, they’re a piece o’ cake, nae bother.”
“Good to know Bvalinn.” Philia chirped. “Now let me introduce you to my friends here…” she gestured as the Tixi Mice who were squeaking excitedly as they looked at all the weapons and armor in the shop. “I foresee that in the future I’ll be sending them for the daily delivery and pick up of our bullets… now it goes without saying that…”
"Och, spare me the dramatics, lassie!” Bvalinn laughed “A'm no' daft; a ken how this game works. Every adventurer's got a secret to haud, and a mind ma lips. It's how ye keep your best customers.”
“Thanks Bvalinn.” Philia said, genuinely relieved to hear that.
"Jist keep yer heids on yer shouders, aye? A' these fine weapons ye're askin' me tae mak' wullnae save ye frae any daft choice ye make." Bvalinn said, taking a sample of each bullet. “Wheesht! Now sod off! Come see me the mornin' afore ye decide tae stick yer heids back in the dungeons, aye?"
“One more thing…” Philia added, she opened the glass door and whistled to one of the mice, who cutely waddled over, squeaking curiously. It was Brody. Philia gently picked him up and Brody nuzzled her face, causing her to giggle.
“Can you make some more armor like this?” she asked Bvalinn.
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Jordi’s Dismantling House:
Jordi’s Dismantling House was one of many such establishments that grew like mushrooms around a dungeon’s gate fortresses. It was a place where monster carcasses were taken to and “dismantled”, not so much as a euphemism for the squeamish but rather due to the connotations of “butchering” usually referring to edible creatures, which most monsters were not.
Jordi’s establishment consisted of a row of warehouses around a huge courtyard. With the combined reputation of Kvaris and Kinu as well as Siria Bluethorne, and finally Ingrid’s status as a Nemesis-Stalker leading a party (although she had to leave early in order to bring Peanut to the guild), the proprietor himself, a jolly ogre decided there was no harm in letting The Whales take up one on whole warehouse to themselves due to “sheer volume”.
It wasn’t an idle boast, and soon the troll workers were ooh’ing and ahh’ing at the huge number of carcasses of Dead Eaters, as well as other unfortunate monsters that got in the party’s way during their exfiltration.
“Take it, it’s on the house.” The Minotaur foreman said, handing Viel a rejuvenation potion. His good business sense told him it did their establishment no harm giving freebies to such “productive” customers like the Whales. The ciltran girl drank from it gratefully, wiping her brow as she finished unloading the contents of her Item Box into the vast warehouse they were in.
Like everyone else, she didn’t wrinkle her nose at the scent of carcasses. She, as all veteran adventurers did, smelled only money.
The trolls were busily arranging the carcasses and loot, grunting in admiration as they saw the volume, both from the Item Box capacity of the Legendary Solo Adventurer and a ciltran girl whom they assumed was her protege, and from the number of killed monsters and loot now lying on the ground.
"Cor blimey, that’s a proper pile o’ monsters you an’ yer crew smashed, ain’t it, gals? Wot’d ya do to bag this lot? Call up a bleedin’ army, eh?" One troll remarked.
"Nah, I saw Siria's got 'erself a proper mean Nemmy, really fierce and sharp, chatty and all. Wouldn't be surprised if it done in half of this lot!" Another troll said excitedly, counting off of the Dead Eaters in his clipboard.
“Oi, oi, lads!” The Troll leader said in his gravelly voice “"Don't forget to keep it all on the down low, I ain't wantin' none of this bleedin' business leavin' this 'ere ware’ouse!"
“Yes, Boss!” The trolls chorused.
“Ermm…” Cuddly murmured, nibbling a carrot. Siria, who was cuddling him to her chest, giggled and nuzzled the back of his head.
“Now…” the foreman continued, surveying the various monster carcasses and various loot. “This one’s going to take a while to sort out, but you can be assured I can give your party good gold on this, courtesy of the Demon King’s government. Now…” he paused, making sure that Kvaris and Kinu were listening, which they were. “If you want to upstage your old man, girls, I’d recommend you set a percentage of how much you want to sell up front and how much are you willing to defer to a buyer for these… just remember, no holding your breath.”
“We know about that, pops…” Kvaris said, but the minotaur let out an amused bovine chuckle.
“Mhmmm… like what you did fifty years ago?” the minotaur said. Kvaris blushed and scratched the back of her head.
Kinu laughed, “In her defense… that storm beetle didn’t look that much at the time.”
Siria halted in the patting of Cuddly’s head, even the rabbit looked at her.
“You sold those for cheap!?” Siria asked, half in amusement and half in disbelief.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Ummm…” Kvaris’ face looked so ashamed as the foreman quietly rumbled.
“Your party’s getting a good price on these even if you sell a tenth outright.” The foreman said, glancing back at the number of Dead Eater carcasses. Well, you three…” he paused, referring to the Enthana sisters and Siria, “you three know the drill, start picking up the things you think have more value to your team… I’ll give you girls a discount on identification, but remember…!”
“...just because the scroll says it’s one thing, you need to test it yourself.” Kvaris said, repeating her dad’s mantra.
“Good, you’re learning, kiddo.” the foreman rumbled with amusement.
“So…” Siria said, rubbing Cuddly’s back as the fluffy hare rested his head on her shoulder “What kind of money are we looking at…?”
"Oi, you lot might fancy givin’ this a shifty, girls!” One of the trolls said, holding up an amulet, it was a big dragon’s scale in a decorative frame and a soulstone fitted in the middle.
“Wyrmscale charm. Blimey, they’re big tough bastards, innit? All cos o’ these scales. Makes a full-on lance feel like a soggy rag bein’ chucked at ya. Best one of ya grabs this, ‘specially whoever’s catchin’ the heat, yeah?"
“Thanks, Grimm!” Siria said, taking the amulet. Realizing these came from a dead adventurer, she sighed. Grimm looked at her and grunted.
"It don’t never get old, does it? You get summink nice and nifty, and then you clock it came from a croaked adventurer who was sportin’ it and still bit the dust... “ the troll grumbled quietly.
“Yeah… we’ll do better, Grimm.” Siria said, shaking the troll’s hand. Cuddly wheeked in excitement seeing the amulet, sensing its potent defensive power.
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Knarru’s Apothecary:
“Will it be possible?” Cecil asked, peering out from his portal, his cute little beady eyes looking back at the stork-like proprietor. The man inflated his crop thoughtfully, making a good-natured warbling sound as he finished his examination of the gunpowder and propellant.
“Indeed it is possible.” Knarru said. “These compounds can be replicated with utmost fidelity. We could also have the formula made a lot more potent, but I imagine you have reasons not to…”
“We do.” Cecil squeaked “some of the weapons we’ll be using have strong mythril parts while the rest are just highly tempered steel, it’s not realistic for us to retrofit all of them with mythril or orihalcum so…”
“It’s fine,” Knarru cooed, “but should you have your…weapons or whatever it is these are used for made of stronger stuff, do let me know and I can whip up a more potent powder.”
“Will do!” Cecil smiled “Now what we need right now is…”
Selphie and Iohann were currently looking at the other wares in the Apocethary, Johnny was excitedly wiggling about in the store, mindfully keeping his roots short as he shuffled around in the well-lit shop that would have made the earthlings think it was a big pharmacy kiosk in the middle of a big greenhouse.
“We’ll need these, and these…” Iohann said, picking up bags of various powders and pastes, putting them into a basket.
“Medicines.” Selphie said.
“That’s right, for treating wounds, as well as measures against disease and poisons.” Iohann said. She pointed at the various plants growing under the rows and added “Philia said you should have another thorough look around and see if you can make use of those.”
“Oh, right!” Selphie said, it didn’t take her long and some plants had already gotten her attention…
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Mink n’ Roofe’s Canned Rations:
“Ingrid!” Mink and Roofe barked happily. Launching themselves at her. Ingrid made a cute squee’ing noise as the two fluffy dog-people hugged her, tails wagging, dog-whimpering, and licking her face, which she later learned was the kobold equivalent of showing affection to something they found cute and adorable, like their own puppies or a beloved pet.
“Mink, Roofe, I’m back.” Ingrid said, leaning forward and hugging back.
“You had us worried, Ingrid!” Mink whined “we heard what was going on… it sounded terrible!”
“Good to see you unharmed Ingrid!” Roofe exclaimed, making cute dog whimpers. Ingrid playfully nuzzled their heads.
Ingrid was smiling and squealing happily as Mink and Roofe lavished her with affection.
“Good to see you two are alright as well!” Ingrid said, giggling as she felt a wet nose tickle her ear.
“Where IS everybody?” Roofe asked as Ingrid picked them up and walked back to the store.
“Out doing some serious shopping.” Ingrid said. Her Argus aura allowed her to easily step out of the way from the growing crowd of curious customers that Bryce and Bosco, the two errand-boys, were now swamped with. Seeing that the kobold proprietors were friends with a talking Nemesis-Stalker had drawn quite a crowd.
The adorable two dogs licked Ingrid’s face in unison before jumping down.
“Has there been any trouble?” Ingrid asked, affectionately ruffling the hair of Bosco and Bryce who meowed.
“None, why?” Mink replied.
Ingrid sighed. “It’s just that I’m worried now that we started this business, some unscrupulous aristocrat will come by and try to monopolize our goods.”
“Fortunately, no.” Roofe said, holding Ingrid’s hand “we keep in touch with Gwen and Zefir and tell them if anything goes wrong.” he added quietly.
“Nnnngh! Soft!” This caused the human to crouch down and make cute sounds as she felt his soft toebeans on her hands.
“A-anyway…” Ingrid gestured to Peanut who had been quietly floating next to her “This is Peanut Mallowcap, she’ll be staying with us now.”
“Hello…” The cute little mushroom bowed. The two dogs gently held her hands.
“I’m sorry to hear what happened, Peanut.” Roofe began “It’s a really dark day to lose good friends.”
“But don’t worry!” Mink added “Ingrid’s really strong! She’ll protect you, and the team!”
Ingrid however, was far from looking strong.
“Awwww…that’s the cutest Nemesis-Stalker ever!” Some customers said as they saw the crouching human’s cheeks being rubbed by the two fluffy dog-people, her eyes closed in bliss.
“She’s really awesome!” Bryce said as he bagged his customer’s purchases, money quickly changing hands. “She saved me from those nasty Guileheads in Irons!”
After finishing some small talk, Ingrid carried Peanut back in her arms.
“Again, if anyone tries to start trouble, let us know, alright?” Ingrid said quietly to Mink and Roofe. The two kobolds patted Ingrid’s hair causing her to make cute sounds and Peanut to giggle.
“You take care, Ingrid.” Roofe said quietly.
“Mhmm… I will.” she replied.
She then carried Peanut to the big wooden gate that led to the lot behind the storefronts, the Whales had cleaned up the gate and re-greased the hinges so it no longer made an obnoxiously loud halloween noise everytime someone opened or closed it.
“H-huh?” Peanut said, looking at the seemingly empty lot, only a few pathetic tents were pitched along the wall, shame started to fill the little mushroom as this group of poor adventurers still had the heart to take her in. “Ummm…Ingrid?”
“Our home, Autumnhollow has a potent obscurement magic over it.” Ingrid explained quietly, stroking the little mushroom’s velvety cap. “For various reasons we prefer to stay out of sight, lest someone try to take advantage of us. And hopefully…” she gestured at the pathetic little camp against the wall “this will dissuade anyone else from trying to come in.”
“Oh I seee-uhhh!” Peanut exclaimed as she felt everything around her thrum and vibrate. She blinked her eyes several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but suddenly she and Ingrid were now standing in front of a two-storey house. One of an architecture she’s never seen before, yet somehow she understood it had an understated beauty to it.
Two Wolian warriors were looking back at her, they smiled and bowed lightly at the human and mushroom.
“Welcome home, Peanut.” Ingrid said, smooching the little mushroom’s cap.
Peanut turned around and hugged Ingrid, sniffling quietly.
“Iiiingriiiiid!” Zefir meowed loudly, running out of the house. He ran up and hugged her, purring loudly in relief.
“I'm so glad you’re back!” he exclaimed.
Ingrid was about to say that she was fine the whole time but considering what everyone had experienced she decided to say something else.
“I’m glad to see you back too, Zefir.” she replied, nuzzling his cat ears. “And this is Peanut, much cuter in the flesh, don’t you agree?”
“Yes! May I?” Zefir asked. Sniffling happily, Peanut floated over to Zefir who embraced her. “Welcome to Autumnhollow, your new home, Peanut! I’m Zefir, you’ve heard of me as Baseplate over the radio.”
“Oh!” Peanut said “I just remembered about that… Ingrid said something about keeping our names concealed when using this magic.”
“That’s right Peanut.” Ingrid told her. She then gestured at the two wolian guards. “These are Amalla and Kaolla, Autumnhollow’s guardians… and right now, I owe them a good sparring.”
The two broke into a smile.
“Really?” Amalla said.
“If you two win… I’ll ask Philia to install a monitor here so you can also see the action!” Ingrid said.
“Let’s go theeeen!” Kaolla said, grabbing Ingrid’s hand, the two then excitedly pulled her into the Arcane Pasture.
Zefir was chuckling at the sight as he patted Peanut.
“What’s so funny?” The little mushroom asked.
“Ingrid she… well the first time Amalla and Kaolla saw Ingrid, they got scared.”
“Because she’s a Nemesis-Stalker?” Peanut squeaked.
“That and because she was suddenly in front of them and hugging them excitedly, they thought she was going to bite.”
Gwen stepped out the house next.
“Hello Peanut!” Gwen said cheerfully, giving the little mushroom a cuddle. “I’m Gwen…”
“Outlaw over the radio.” Zefir explained.
“Right…” Gwen said “You were already told about the reason for our names changing, right?”
“Yes.” Peanut replied. “And for me, Ingrid said it’s… Kinoko?”
“Yup.” Zefir replied.
Sammy then stepped into Autumnhollow.
“Hello Gwen.” Sammy said, ruffling the ciltran maid’s hair. “Philia said she wants a feast for our little mushroom here. I’ll escort you.”
“I’ll come too!” Zefir said, eager to step out of Autumnhollow.
“No, wait for Cecil, he’ll bring some mice along.” Sammy said “He wants you to check in on the new mice as well as socialize with them. Iohann will be coming too…” Sammy looked at Peanut who was wondering why he and Gwen seemed restricted in movement “we got to protect these two you see…”
“I’ll take Peanut along with us then…” Gwen said, cuddling the little mushroom in her arms. Peanut giggled as the maid nuzzled her affectionately. “Besides… you need to tell me what you like to eat.”
With that, the two entered the Arcane Pasture to introduce Peanut to inhabitants within, and hitch the aurochs to the wagon.
“A small town in an arcane dimension, it’s so interesting!” Peanut said as Gwen drove the wagon to the market.
“That’s right.” Gwen said “the store you saw owned by Mink and Roofe are also ours, and in the market we have Nod selling fish from the lake.”
“Ummm…” Peanut began, wondering at something “What’s going to happen if we leave the city? We’re adventurers, a time will come when we will leave Teth-Odin.”
“Hopefully by that time we’ll have enough to make our town capable of sustaining itself and us.” Gwen answered as she turned around the corner.
“Everyone who's joined our town came there with the understanding that they won’t be settling in any city for long.” Sammy added. “Philia also mentioned an idea to send goods to far away locations, but she’s still weighing the risks. Among them is whether or not people will consider buying from a merchant who may or may not be able to deliver.”
“Simply making connections with certain nobles or merchant groups might help…” Gwen remarked, but her tone was unsure “but there’s several factors to consider such as our location.”
“Any idea how long we’re staying here?” Peanut asked.
“No idea.” Sammy replied. “Could be a week, could be till the next Red Moon in Gorpisal. Our goal right now is two-fold; make money here to grow our town, and strengthen ourselves as adventurers by raising our experience and getting better equipment.”
“And if we’re going by what Ingrid’s been doing, getting an army of mice.” Gwen giggled.
“Anubis to Team, we got a good deal from Jordi’s Dismantling House.” Kvaris said over the radio.
“Talk to me, Anubis.” Ingrid said, though everyone could clearly hear she was sparring with Kaolla and Amalla at the same time.
“I’d say we’ve got enough to live off the next week doing nothing.” Kvaris said “Not that I expect we won’t be doing anything, but I’m guessing you’ll be wanting King Fish busy with making new guns for our new mice, that should buy us some time.”
“New guns?” Peanut asked, looking up at Gwen and Sammy.
“That’s the weapons the mice and Philia are using.” Sammy explained. “Ingrid she… well I suppose she hasn’t told you about herself and Philia, but they’re not from this world…”
“By that I mean they’re not even from some far away country.” Gwen said “I’ve lived with Philia all her life and she carries within herself knowledge of a world far more advanced than ours.”
“Huh?” Peanut said, confused.
“Another world.” Sammy said “Like the riftworlds in the dungeons. Ingrid, Philia, Cecil, and Zefir, they all belong to a world different from ours, somehow they ended up here, none of us know why though they seem pretty aware of this phenomenon.”
“Indeed” Gwen chimed in “Those four frequently reference a phenomenon known as ‘Isekai’, where the slain find themselves reborn in another world. It’s supposed to be a mere myth for the poets and novelists of their world to spin tales from, yet here we are, living amongst them. You’ve seen Autumnhollow, the weapons they use, and even Ingrid’s strange power to use the Ether at will… much less Cecil’s arcane dimension, none of these are natural.”
“I don’t expect to do nothing till next week.” Ingrid said, “What about upgrades for the others? We need to be ready as soon as possible, but yes, I do plan to spend at least a day or two having guns for our new mice made and enchanted, preferably with Ranger-Two and Kitty-Five’s help. Everyone should go around town and see if there’s anything they like.”
“I’m with Outlaw and Kinoko,” Sammy said, “Wanna go have a look around with me later, Anubis? Amarok?”
“Sure!” Kinu replied. “We’re just gathering up the stuff Ranger-Two told us to keep, and sis is just waiting for Jordi to finish paying up…”
___
Cecil, Neith, Iohann, and Selphie later returned to Autumnhollow, meeting up with Philia and the mice along the way.
“Welcome baaaaaack!” Zefir meowed loudly, getting his share of cuddles from everyone.
“Ingrid.” Philia said quietly, smiling “I’m seeing a cat hug mice.”
Ingrid snickered over the radio, which prompted her to suddenly say “Owww!!!”
“You lost focus, Ingrid!” Kaolla said excitedly in the background.
“Uhhhhh…we owe our Lyvians a big monitor on the gazebo, King Fish.” Ingrid said.
“That can be arranged.” Philia said, snuggling Zefir tightly, purring happily as she did.
“I’m back kitty boi…” she told Zefir, who meowed happily.
Zefir purred back.
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Party Information
* Peanut officially joins the Party
* Party obtains Wyrmscale Charm
Glossary:
Wyrmscale Charm:
Generates a forcefield equivalent to the toughness of a wyrmscale. Applies only to unarmored parts of the body. Must be overloaded before any real damage can happen to the wearer's body.
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INDEX: The Whales Party Sheet