— Keira —

If Keir hadn’t spent most of the day passing along messages and helping to arrange for their departure she would have been shocked when she walked into the cavern containing the wagon yard.

Operations had clearly wound down some time ago so most of the expansive space was still and quiet. A few of the many wagons were in the process of being emptied or still under guard but they weren’t what drew Keir’s attention.

There was a single area that was a veritable hive of activity as a decent number of people finished preparing ten wagons for travel. Twelve of the figures were easily identified as the undead who’d accompanied her to the village but they weren’t the only ones she recognized.

Iida’s distinctive hair style made her easy to spot as she stood close to Antheia. Keir couldn't be sure until she got close but it seemed the scholars were busy adding some simple and likely temporary enchantments to the carts.

Not far away Alasdair was clearly in deep conversation with Marsaili and a male dwarf of about Marsaili’s age that Keir hadn’t met. From context clues Keir was pretty sure the man was Alasdair’s father and Marsaili’s husband. Also given that Marsaili was standing beside Alasdair rather than her presumed husband and the presence of her rather impressive mount it seemed she would be making the journey with them.

Keir wasn’t nearly as familiar with the pair but she also saw the large frames of the ogres who’d moved Aleka’s and Emrik’s things. They were very clearly finishing securing the final load of boxes on one of the wagons.

The rest of the figures seemed to be either seeing off individual members of the undead group or workers of the wagon yard handling the large yaks that would pull the carts.

As Aleka and Emrik broke off from Keir to check their belongings were properly secured, Keir briefly debated whether to go speak with Antheia and Iida or Alasdair and Marsaili. She decided on the latter as the scholars were clearly busier.

When Keir got close enough to speak comfortably over the sounds of a decent sized group preparing for travel, Marsaili turned to her and said “Over ‘ere lass. I dinnae get a chance ta introduce ya ta my husband las’ night. Keir, Come an’ meet my husband Anarr Stonefury. Dear, this’s tha’ new friend a mine I told ya about, Keira.”

When Marsaili finished introducing them Anarr offered his hand in the typical dwarven fashion and as Keir shook it he said “Aye, i’s gud ta met ya. I ‘ere ya bra’ this’n ba frome da Veil.”

As Anarr spoke Keir thought maybe his accent was different from what she’d come to expect from Stoneshield but it was so strong she couldn’t be sure.

Keir was sure Alasdair or Marsaili had already explained what had happened but she didn’t want to claim feats that were not her own doing so she briefly explained the event surrounding the resurrection of Still-Leaf Village.

From there the conversation moved to whiskey for a while. Eventually when Keir judged it wouldn’t be too rude Keir gestured towards Marsaili’s mount and said “Am I mistaken, or are you planning to join us for the journey back?”

Marsaili grew more serious, and perhaps a bit apologetic, as she answered “Aye Lass, I can’t stay long in yer village however. The job my troops an i were sent on is well an’ trully finished so I need t retrieve the rest a my soldiers. Mesalin may need ta come back as well but i dinnae know fer sure. Tha’s ‘tween her an the king. Doubt she’ll be gone fer long if she does have ta leave with me.”

Keir wasn’t exactly surprised so she said “Well, even if it's not a long journey I would certainly welcome your company on the road. If you have time I’ll even buy you a bottle of proper rum. I know Mesalin has a decent stock.”

From there the conversation returned to lighter topics for a bit until Keir noticed the pair of scholars were finished. Keir then excused herself and approached Antheia and Iida.

Stolen story; please report.

Unlike the trio of dwarves she’d just left, the pair was still too busy to notice her until she got close enough to say “Are you planning to come with us, Iida?”

Hearing an unexpected voice so close to her the gnome let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a cat with its tail trodden on and spun around. After taking a second to center herself Iida said “Oh, you startled me Keir. What was it you just asked? I didn't catch it.”

Keir gave her best apologetic smile and said “Yeah, sorry about that. I asked if you were planning on coming back to the village with us.”

Iida shook her head and Keir noticed Antheia looked a bit disappointed as Iida said “Not this time no. There’s still a fair bit of information worth looking into and I will also get my own notes gathered together. I Do hope to go and study in your village when the time comes however.”

Antheia chuckled good naturedly and said “I most certainly doubt anyone in the village would turn down the expertise of a scholar of your skill who’s made a specialty of studying the undead.”

Keir did her best to keep a sly smirk off of her face as she said “I think our resident scholar would specially welcome your presence.”

Keir had expected to get a reaction out of Antheia, and was not disappointed by her blush and the embarrassed rustling of her hair snakes, but she was slightly surprised to see a faint blush color Iida’s cheeks as well.

Seeing the pair’s reaction Keir was both glad that Mesalin would soon have another fledgling couple to tease and understood her propensity to do so a little better.

Rather than stay and continue teasing one or both of the scholars Keir excused herself and casually looked over the wagons as the final preparations were completed. She doubted there was anything she could really add but it killed time.

The contents of the wagons were mostly in crates and even what wasn’t was largely hidden by the sides of the wagons and the tarps covering their tops. All the same she knew there was mostly enough materials and tools to at least get them started repairing the lumber mill and quarry. There was also a decent amount of food for the couple of living people coming to the village.

Keir wasn’t sure how much money the serpent materials had brought in but she suspected that very little of the coins they’d brought from the village’s treasury would be making the return trip with them. Between the carts and the materials filling them she knew they’d spent a significant amount. She also knew it was a necessary expense so she didn’t regret it.

Soon the final preparations were complete and they all clambered aboard the wagons, or onto her mount in the case of Marsaili. Marsaili rode a bit ahead to get the gate open for them and with no real fanfare they were back on the road towards the village.

— Sloane —

War groves were slow ponderous beasts at the best of times and The Gateway Forest only reluctantly gave way for its colossal frame. The power of The Emerald grove flowed through the forest but trees were truly ancient and it was in their very nature to block the advance of massive beasts.

It didn’t help that the advance of fall made both war groves and the trees that impeded its movement especially slow and sluggish.

Sloane knew all of that and indeed had somewhat predicted the results. That didn’t mean that she was pleased when she emerged from her tree and saw how little progress had been made in her absence.

Even the unmuffled spike of death magic hadn’t given Sloane an exact location. However, from what she could tell even if they could move in a perfect straight line towards it, they were still weeks away at the rate they were traveling. With terrain features and villages, neither of which would move out of their path, it would likely take at least a month.

Sloane had to forcibly tamp down her frustration. Her anger wouldn’t make their travel speed any faster. All she could do was take advantage of the forced downtime to train and prepare.

She knew the enemy they were hunting down used powerful death magic and almost certainly undead. She also knew from the words of her deity that there were corrupted and heretical fey present.

When they arrived at the source of the weak spike they could be facing a handful of necromancers with basic tier one undead and a couple of tainted pixies. They could also encounter a cabal of ancient liches and a bloom of greater alraune.

Without better information they could only plan around the need to counter death aspected mana and the undead. With that in mind she set some of her troops to scour the land in their path for reagents to create salves to increase their resistance to death magic. Another portion was ordered to prepare toxic sap to coat their weapons and arrows in.

The weaker members of her squad would be sent along with more powerful soldiers to cull the local wildlife in order to hopefully grow stronger before the confrontation.

Sloane would use her enhanced connection to The Emerald Grove to infuse the gear of her soldiers, as well as the poison, with divine, nature, and life mana.

Their battle would not come soon but when it did Sloane would be ready.