I am a person who values his privacy and personal space, not more than my friends’ lives, but it is closer a contest than is probably healthy. These preferences were going to make the next two weeks extremely difficult. I was prepared to find Queakers and Sarah waiting in the bookstore to join me in the Treefort after my conversation with Galan. I was not prepared to find Deldes and Delirin hanging out there with them and I was definitely not prepared to share the Treefort with all four of them.

First off, I was beginning to wonder if Deldes and Delirin were even wild elves. They seemed awfully comfortable in town and frankly a little too willing to sleep indoors in very, very small quarters. Second, where was everyone going to even sleep. It was going to get both awkward and uncomfortable. Third, I had work to do. Like tons of important work to do that I had put off for too long and I just added learning how to craft an advanced magic compass to the list.

I’ll admit that it made some sense. Deldes and Delirin were going to help escort us to Eastern Tear and were there to provide some additional protection if things got dangerous before then, not that that seemed likely bunkered down in the Treefort. Unfortunately, I could see how this was going to go from the jump. Deldes and Delirin were going to fawn over Queakers, who would totally let it go to her head. Sarah was going to fawn over Deldes and I guess I didn’t know what would happen there, but my money was on nothing good for me. Queakers would want to spend her time with me because she missed me and, frankly, she was entitled to some earnest time and attention after my previous disappearing act.

From a productivity standpoint, the best case scenario would see me holed up in the basement trying to find some peace and quiet to build everything that I thought we needed before we left town. As fun as the basement sounded, I leaned out of my comfort zone and into the time with my friends by working on my projects in common areas where we could be together. Deldes and Sarah did in fact hit it off and often broke off from the group for whatever privacy was available. It was, in fact, super awkward, but Delirin, Queakers and I had fun. Queakers had certainly grown up in many ways, but she was still a cuddlebug and wasn’t above a head scratch.

No one that I knew of was explicitly trying to kill me and I was pretty stealthy either way, so I spent some time with Galan every day. He had designed his first version of the compass at a much younger age, but he was a true genius and his work bore all the hallmarks of a masterpiece. I could have studied the compass for a long, long time on my own and made no progress. With Galan there, I at least had a chance at understanding how the compass worked and crafting one of my own.

The basic principle was very simple, the compass reacted to concentrations of magic particles to lead its bearer to interesting opportunities. The application was more complex, since magic particles were everywhere, being generated and sitting concentrated all over, at all kinds of ranges. It wasn’t as simple as a needle that pointed to magic. The compass created a field at a range determined by the user and then it identified the relative gradients of magic particle density within that field. It mapped this over time and consistently pointed to the strongest stable concentration of magic particles in the field. Later versions of the compass could accept a number of inputs through visualization that allowed the user to calibrate the compass further to point toward the specific types of concentrations they were after.

I needed to focus on the most basic model to have a shot at this point. Interestingly, if I used my full stealth skill, I was completely invisible in the compass’ field. Though that was a really bad idea because Galan would then forget who I was for a little while. He wasn’t surprised, but he was very curious about that aspect of things, so we tried it out quite a few times. However, not once did Galan attack me without asking any questions, in fact he didn’t attack me at all. I did get the idea from my time with Galan that he didn’t have much to fear from most people. He was a peaceful guy, but I also had a feeling that whatever hidden defenses he had were likely to be pretty comprehensive.

The magic compass was a complex device, but Galan was a good teacher. He had the necessary materials at the ready and, after he taught me the theory, we both worked on crafting compasses together. This was a time consuming process and I made many mistakes, but in the end two weeks was just enough time to get me sorted out on the compass. Between that and my houseguests I didn’t get much other work done, but I did leave with an endlessly useful tool in this world of magic and a quantum leap upgrade to my knowledge and skills in many areas of magic artifice.

After the first week of study with Galan, the combined caravan of the other races arrived in town. It was pandemonium, but there were plenty of new merchants with the caravan, so there was also plenty of shopping to be done.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

***

The leaders of the three races represented in the combined caravan were not friends or even allies. At the edge of the safe zone, the bond that they shared was severed and each pursued their own goals without respect to the others. The only common ground that they retained was a bias against the fae, as these forces would still side with each other if it meant getting one over on the fae. Until the headstart that those crafty fairies had taken was completely reclaimed, the other powers were likely to collaborate to level the playing field.

Hamilton Day, the leader of the human contingent, spent his first hours in town searching the outpost for an appropriate place for his adventurer’s guild. It was exactly what you would think and would accept adventures from any race, but it was administered jointly by the human kingdom’s that Hamilton represented. After deploying his scouts and hearing their initial reports, Hamilton was pleased. There weren’t too many options in the relatively small outpost, but there was a suitable building right across from a nice looking cafe on the east side of the town. It was convenient, in fact perhaps a little too convenient, but the building could be made workable with only modest alterations and Hamilton quickly claimed it to get started on his next project.

Arrenth and his fellow draconic descendants were tall and strong. The reptilian race didn’t use mounts, they carried what they needed on their backs. It would be a sign of weakness and an affront to their legendary pride to use a mount or a vehicle to carry their burdens. When they reached the town, the draconic descendants spread out to claim the space that they liked and pursue their own interests. Arrenth was the leader of the contingent of draconic descendants in the caravan, but truly had little obligation to or authority over them. He was tasked with the construction of their great hall in the Emerald Sea and he would help settle disputes that involved the draconic descendants, of which there were bound to be many, but that was it in the way of governance for this group of individualists.

Arrenth identified a cluster of unoccupied buildings in a prominent location near a nice looking cafe just north of the center of town and claimed them all. He then began to raze them to the ground. The large maul that he carried wasn’t just for show and he made quick progress on the roughly constructed frontier buildings. Within a few days he had a level, empty lot, a perfect site for a hall befitting his people in this remote outpost.

Tethru’s tribe of beastkin had won the right to develop the Great Council’s interest in the Emerald Sea. They were of all different heritages, but they were united in their pursuit of commerce. There were of course skilled warriors and mercenaries as life on the frontier demanded those that would protect their interests, but there were far more craftsmen and merchants.

Tethru found the perfect location for her Merchants Guild headquarters across from a bustling cafe on the western side of the outpost. After claiming her new headquarters, she started work on renovations. The area was already conveniently full of workshops and storefronts that were available for her tribe to claim as they organized to set up their commercial operations. Tehru understood that it was likely more than a stroke of luck, but it was no matter to the lupine merchant. This was the best location for her brethren to hit the ground running and she could smell the money to be made.

***

I enjoyed shopping at the carts, stalls and newly occupied storefronts that appeared in town with the arrival of the caravan. It felt a little like I was asking my mom for my allowance, but I had to go through Leirin to get hard currency to spend at the new shops, as my finances were still done “on account” with the brownies in the Emerald Sea. Leirin also provided me with a letter of credit that I could use in Eastern Tear if needed. The letter of credit was far more valuable than the leather pouch of gold, silver and copper coins that she handed over, but the heft of the pouch was just so satisfying.

Something about haggling with a vendor over a cart of magical material and paying with gold coins really underscored how far from my world I was. I mostly purchased new components and materials, a couple of new pistols, some nice knives for fighting and for butchering and a bunch of different types of snacks. The snacks weren’t for the journey, I just liked a good snack.

I also stopped by Raeran’s shop to make some bigger purchases. Of course Reginald was coming with me, but I wasn’t planning on coming back anytime soon. I didn’t want Reginald to get lonely in the high country with just me and I was planning on having plenty of stuff to carry. It was time to build out my stable of giant ground sloths.

This time Reginald and I visited with the various ground sloths seeking their permission to add them to our group. Reginald was very excited at this prospect. He was also very popular, so we had no shortage of new potential mounts interested in signing up with Team Harris. About six thousand gold later, which Raeran was happy to take on account, Reginald had four friends, another male and three females, to make the trip with us. Raeran gave me a modest discount and these mounts wouldn’t come with some of the custom equipment that I purchased for Reginald, but they would be well equipped and ready to go when it was time to depart.

This was going to be a fun trip.