A yowl followed by a flash of green magic made Chess look up sharply from her latest decapitation to the trees overhead. She watched the last motes of mana dissipate before turning to the newly christened Amber Lynn. “What was that?” she hissed under her breath.
“Someone was watching us, my lady," Amber said casually while dropping another bone into the pot. "I picked up their presence a while ago, but they stayed still so I didn’t say anything. I think that was them leaving.” Amber turned to study their new slave, then slowly scanned over the surrounding forest for a moment before turning back.
"Why not?" Chess insisted, following Amber's gaze. She managed not to flinch at the formal address this time and reminded herself once again to think of her as Amber.
Amber was right, her being in a new body helped Chess make the distinction regardless of the near-perfect replication of mannerisms. She just wished Amber would explain the necessity further than a muttered 'fucking Luminous.'
"Because all I felt was wariness, confusion, and no small amount of disgust. There was no malice, greed, or ill intent," Amber explained softly before speaking casually again. "Let's finish up here and leave when the sun sets. All of us can see fine at night and we will be in a better position when Kan is here." She turned back to her task. Directing Flemming in the careful removal of as much meat from Kan's bones as he could manage before adding them to the pot when they resembled something you'd buy for your dog to chew on, albeit smaller.
The man bore the task stoically and without a word, with only the occasional glance to the rods that both Amber and Ashley had tucked into sheaths at their waists and the loaded crossbow slung across Amber's breast.
Chess had refused to carry the third control rod they'd found and had argued against Ashley having one, but Amber had calmly talked her down with the simple argument that if he tried something against one of them the other could interfere. And since Chess refused, that left her daughter.
The Binding Pyth only made him somewhat compliant since Ashley didn't possess any actual slaver skills to augment it.
Chess swallowed and turned to where Ashley was playing frisbee with her cavorting Heliwr between sessions of cleaning cooked meat from Kan's bones and laying them out on a big piece of red silk, then sighed. I think I totally fucked the pooch on this argument.
It appeared Ashley had a firm grasp on what went where. Chess couldn't spot any that seemed out of place in the dozen hand bones she had set out.
"And there goes the second one," Amber said, drawing Chess's attention again.
"The second what?" Ashley asked.
"Our second watcher, young miss, I don't feel any others," Amber explained. "It shouldn't take us more than another few hours to finish with this then I'd like to go take a look at our new friends with Kan here to help protect you.
"We could be faster if you're willing to set up a second fire and pot, Lady Chess."
"Uh, no thanks," Chess shook her head and returned to removing desiccated skulls from the vines she'd grown through each of the soldiers’ bodies before Ashley had used her newest core.
Freya's fucking tits, this is messed up. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd have to choose between removing people's heads or boiling a man's body. I don't even feel that sick about it anymore. What the hell is happening to me?
“So, what terms did you get the old sergeant to agree to?” Amber asked Ashley.
“He agreed to stay until I reach my majority unless he’s destroyed, with an option to renegotiate if we can't find a suitable replacement. Otherwise, he wants to have time to visit his sisters and their kids and to make sure they are properly set up in his absence,” Ashley said.
“And you’re what eleven?” Lynn asked.
“I’m twelve.”
“When did you turn twelve!? Why didn’t you tell us!?” Chess turned on her daughter.
“In the rift… I didn’t get a chance. We were busy, then I forgot,” Ashley explained contritely, her tail lashing back and forth in agitation.
“Now’s not the time,” Amber interrupted the budding argument while passing Ashley a few more bones from her pot. “So, six years then? Can you dismiss his golem form after you complete the ritual then recast it?”
“Yeah, at least I think so, why?”
“If you're open to a suggestion? I think you should consider having his bones enchanted if we can find a willing enchanter. That 80 percent requirement to remain animated could be a significant disadvantage if too many bones get badly damaged. Dead bone isn’t as resilient as living. Once we turn in these heads, the dead soldiers, and the delvers from the rift, you should have more than enough money for a decent set of reinforcements along with good upgrades for ourselves.”
"Can we do flexibility too?"
"Flexibility is more expensive. The Cat's Grace Pyth required is more sought after than Stone Skeleton or Strengthen Bone Pyth in the Heel."
"What about Greenwood Pyth? Doesn't that do a little of both? My friend's mom had it."
"It's even more expensive than Cat's Grace. Though it is a good idea," Amber allowed.
Chess focused on her task as the pair started discussing the minutiae of potential enchantments that could be laid on Kan’s bones. She kept an ear to the conversation, but it quickly grew confusing and esoteric. I need to find a proper notepad and start taking better notes.
Chess spared her daughter another glance while moving between bodies when one of the Heliwr brushed past her head holding one of the throwing rings. They're just like dogs with those things, she thought as it deposited the disc at Ashley's feet before taking wing again in anticipation. They even pant like dogs.
I’ll need to find a proper gift for her. Though it might have to wait until we get to Portheel, Chess mused. Maybe I can make her a special ironwood shield in the meantime or something.
Once Chess had finished stacking the soldiers’ heads, with their small keepsakes and jewelry dumped into their empty skulls, she took a break from head duty and patrolled the clearing she'd enclosed in brambles for sticks and branches.
I still need to find more of this stuff, she thought when she found another ironwood branch. She'd worked the wood so often now that she could pick out its slate grey bark against the other handful of similar breeds in the forest. It helped that three of the huge trees nearby were ironwoods.
"More ironwood?" Amber asked in somewhat broken but understandable Wood Elven from behind her. For any word she didn't know she simply inserted the Brastian word instead. Another of Amber's recent suggestions: increasing the group's language skills.
Chess started and looked back at her friend. "Yeah. I'd love to fill my inventory with this stuff if I could," Chess said, her mind taking a moment to make the language switch.
"You should. Small branches like that are usually useless to a craftsperson outside of their ability to burn long and hot, once they're lit, or for making small trinkets. But with your gem… can I make a suggestion?"
"Always," Chess nodded.
“You need to do better with hiding what you can do with your gem. At the very least you should make it a habit to sing while you use the ability, but beyond that, I know you like to fill the skulls with spare wood to save space, but you should consider making boxes instead. That ability to make the wood flow is unique and distinctive. For small items, you can always explain it away as burls, but you'll need to learn to be more careful. If it's about storage, make large marbles or something. I've seen you weaving scraps together, so I know the wood will still be useful. If you find large pieces then make blocks or boards."
"Alright, I can do that. If I make consistent stackable boxes, they'll be useful for stairwells and storage after we get rid of the heads. I'll need a few hours with my skill active to make enough. If I can find the ironwood I need, I'd love to make them all from it."
"We have a handful of hours until dark. Use what you can scrounge here, and once Ashley's ritual is complete, we can look for fallen ironwoods or see if we can find that section of dead ones. You're right, it's a valuable trade good and we should stock up if we can. Oh." Amber snapped her fingers. "And make sure to take the bandit heads whole. There might be bounties on them and we don't want them unrecognizable. No desiccation."
Chess groaned. "Maybe I will trade you tasks."
"You have a bunch of small ironwood branches already, why don't you make yourself a big splitting ax? Less back spray that way. You can have Flemming collect the heads. He's done with the butchering," Amber suggested, pointing at the small pile of sticks Chess had collected.
"That's an excellent idea and thanks," Chess agreed, plopping down where she stood and sorting through her branches for the ironwood.
Remembering Amber's warning, she started humming the tune of 'the song that doesn't end' softly as she wove herself a large ax.
She made the curved cutting edge of the ax long and added a heavy head behind it like a splitting maul to speed up her task. The resulting ax had a beautiful spiral Damascus look from the mixed pieces of wood.
When she hefted her finished creation, it felt and balanced a lot like a 20-pound sledgehammer with a long handle. "I dub thee 'The Harvester'," Chess told it with a grin before resting it on her shoulder and turning to find its first bandit victim.
It worked beautifully. Each strike removed a head with little to no gore splashed back at her. A small flex of her magic fixed the chipped edge, and it was ready for the next victim.
I wonder if I could reinforce the edge with Totem Pyth.
It took her little time to finish the task with Flemming, stacking the bandits' heads beside the soldiers.
She spent the next hour collecting every piece of ironwood she could find in the clearing, no matter how small, before sitting down to sing Ace of Base songs while building hat-sized boxes for the heads.
After a suggestion from Amber, she made the ones for Caldur’s men larger and, with the help of Ashley, stripped the men of their armor and small weapons to be added to their boxes for their families.
The gear belonged to the men since they were required to supply their own when they joined the guard. Only their tabards were supplied, though many took out loans or bought equipment as they could afford it.
Chess had only enough ironwood for the nearly two dozen soldiers with a few extras to spare. It went surprisingly quickly once she broke down the first box and just copied it until she was out of wood before putting them together as easily as folding pizza boxes.
She looked up from her task to see Amber and Ashley had finally finished with Kan's bones and were doing the familiar dance of harvesting pyth from the dead bandits while Flemming was busy filling a spare pail with berries from the brambles she'd grown. It looked like the man had eaten more than what he'd added to the pail. His face was covered in juices.
Chess laughed at the sight then frowned in thought. "The bandits didn't have pyth loot windows when I touched them. Those two had inventories, so I put them to the side, but most of the bandits and a few soldiers were looted. How are you getting anything?" she asked, pointing to two bandit heads.
"Harvest pyth, I explained this to you already," Ashley said.
"When?"
"My parents… you wanted to know how looting affects inheritances."
"Okay, I remember that, but this is different. I think I'm missing something," Chess hedged then closed her eyes. "Maybe I need a full explanation," she said when she couldn't see the full logic. "How exactly does it work?"
"I'll explain, you finish," Amber jumped in while placing another head near Ashley and removing the one she'd finished looting.
"Okay. First, if a family member touches a body, they receive their allotted pyth, core, or gem at current rank minus twenty percent for pyth, minus ten percent for cores, and it's rumored there is no loss on gems. That would leave nothing for the harvesting of what was taken," Amber explained.
"That's straightforward," Chess agreed.
"Now if you or I were to loot someone, we would be able to receive between 0 and 50 percent of the pyth required for each rank the dead person had in any given pyth plus a similar amount of what the person had toward the next rank. This would lower but not eliminate inheritances unless it drops them below the threshold for the type. The higher the rank the more you're likely to get since it takes more to increase higher ranks. It's also rumored gems and some cores won't show up for any random person looting a body without using Harvest or an equivalent priest ability. Especially if it's a higher-ranked core."
Chess nodded. "This seems more complicated than inheritance where the amount lost just goes poof. Do looting and harvesting incur the same 10 or 20 percent loss? It's worse right?"
"It doesn't just go poof," Amber huffily corrected, and Chess could hear the eye roll in the woman's voice. "There are theories debated on what happens to the lost doses: the soul retaining portions when it passes on, doses being sacrificed to the world to power the transfer or crystallization process, injuries and the process of death damaging pyths and cores, un-crystallized pyth degrading over time—the truth is likely some combination of those, but that's not particularly relevant to our discussion. To answer your question, yes the loss is worse, at least a full rank for cores—half the remaining doses—and at least two full ranks for pyths—three-fourths of the remaining doses—each time a harvest is attempted. Thankfully, the amount collected is based on the number of doses remaining before the loss is incurred or the church would probably decree looting illegal."
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"Okay," Chess said slowly. "So, if someone had three ranks in a pyth and I looted a handful of doses from it there would be nothing left because any form of looting reduces pyth by two ranks?"
"Not necessarily. A rank 3 pyth would have at least 70 doses and should still have at least 17 doses left after the looting, depending on how far it was to rank 4. Now, Ashley has a harvest pyth at a respectable rank of five which increases the potential yield of a harvest and allows her to try to extract that difference from bodies that have already been looted by a non-harvester. But she'll only get something if they had more than 2 ranks as in your example—at least more than 40 doses worth to be specific.”
"If each harvest lowers how much we can get, why don't we save them for someone with a better ability or higher rank to harvest later then? Since we're taking the heads with us as is," Chess asked.
"Because the church and brokers usually demand half the looted pyth as compensation, it's usually not worth it if you have your own harvesting ability. That said, some special class abilities allow a lot more to be drawn out, but they're largely known and controlled by the church and, well… I don't want those bastards getting any more than they deserve," Amber said with clear distaste. "If you suspect someone had a core, though, it could be worth taking to a broker to harvest, as they'll often be willing to make a better deal."
"If somebody has been looted by, say, Ashley, could a family member still get an inheritance?"
"Yes, but it would be a rank or two lower than whatever is left after the harvest if anything. It's generally unlikely and even less so in cases like these," Amber said, indicating their work, "where they've been looted twice."
"Oh, okay... But the delver's heads are different because of the bounty on them?" Chess clarified.
"Head tax, but yes, it's usually worth more than their pyth and cores," Amber agreed.
"Okay, thanks," Chess said and watched the pair process the final two, the ones with inventories, before standing. "Should we loot the inventory spaces?" she asked.
Amber shook her head. "You may not have the space to store it all and when it's in their heads like that it's one of the few times a dimensional space can be put into another dimensional space without them imploding."
Yeah, that was a dumb question. Good to know about the dangers of dimensional spaces though.
"Hey, speaking of bounties. Do you think you might have one on you now?" Chess asked Amber.
Amber froze for a long moment. "I haven't considered that—it's possible—maybe even likely with the vicious attitude she displayed. I… we'll have to do something about this…" Amber grew thoughtful for a minute.
"I'm sure I can fool a truth-seeker who accused me of being her, but I wouldn't want hunters to mistake me without asking," Amber said.
“You were getting younger-looking. When we went to bed you looked early-thirties and when we left this morning I’d guess you looked mid-to-late twenties?” Chess said.
“I’m not sure that's enough, and we don't know where it will stop."
“Well, the facial tattoo may help, it's very distinctive; not to mention the torc when you're not wearing your helm," Chess observed.
"What does the torc do?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know, I can't see it. Doesn't it have a window?" Amber asked.
"It does, but it says its effects are hidden," Ashley explained.
"Oh? We'll worry about it later then."
“We could have you lean into the whole badass babe thing,” Chess suggested while tilting her head in thought.
“Babe, huh? And what would you know about that, my Lady?” Amber teased.
“I know what I think is hot and sexy. I'm thinking edgy punk rock chick. If the look is distinctive enough, it can distract from the features we want to disguise and highlight the ones we don't.”
“You said words, but not in an order that makes any sense—although I agree distinction could work,” Amber said dryly.
“I say we shave the sides of your head and give you a mohawk or a warrior's queue, or. No...” Chess nodded once then trailed off into a wide smile.
“What's a mohawk?”
"Forget about that," Chess shook her head, then clapped. “This is gonna be so cool!”
"Here is what you need to do. First, shave the sides of your head then braid the rest of your hair into a single braid, then you can tuck it in your armor when you need.
"There is a bunch you can do with it when it's not braided, but it will make people look at the shaved sides before your eyes and it will make those gnarly scars stand out.
"I haven't seen anyone with the sides of their head shaved, even the men, so I assume it's at least uncommon around here. If you don't cover the fact that your throat has been slashed on both sides, most people won't see your face. It's simple, highlights what we want, and will have a huge impact on what people see. And we can do it all with a razor," Chess explained. "It will also highlight that glistening killer's tear tattoo Freya put under your eye. It looks like a real blood-filled tear. I can't wait until we find you a mirror."
“Oh, I like the sound of that! I wasn't looking forward to dealing with this mop. It's so strange to have this instead of my fur. The helm makes it a sweaty mess. The less the better, I could cut some of the length off as well," Lynn nodded enthusiastically.
"There’s no stigma against women with short hair?" Chess clarified.
"For me? No. I'm your retainer. People will think it's your preference for your people. Now, if you were to do the same there could be problems. Human, Elven, and Dwarven nobility see the ability to keep and care for their hair as a display of wealth. Only the poor are forced to cut it for convenience or because of bugs."
Chess groaned. "I was hoping to at least cut it to my shoulders?" she asked hopefully.
"Not a good idea," Ashley cautioned.
"Yeah," Chess agreed sullenly.
"But I could comb and braid it for you!" Ashley offered with a glint in her gold-laced copper eyes.
"What's it going to cost me?" Chess asked warily.
"Fancy ironwood greaves and you have to comb my hair in return," Ashley said, her tail waving cheerfully behind her. "And I want some sharp chakrams. And…"
"Oh, is that all?" Chess asked, and with a grin, she scooped her daughter up, armor and all, and threw her over her shoulder then took off, doing a quick loop around the clearing. Ashley kicked, flailed, and demanded to be let down the whole way.
Chess laughed maniacally.
"Yes, fine, just put me down you big brute!" Ashley protested with a giggle.
"A brute, am I?" Chess quirked an eyebrow then did another lap at a near sprint, followed by the gaggle of Heliwr, before dropping her laughing daughter beside the silk cloth holding Kan's skeleton.
"It's time," Amber said to Ashley once the pair had calmed down.
The Heliwr settled on a nearby lion's corpse and began to feed. Someone had butchered large portions of this lion making it easy for them to feast on the exposed flesh.
So wrong, Chess lamented but remembered having to discourage them from eating the men.
"Okay," Ashley agreed and stood to look down at Sergeant Hilkan's carefully laid-out skeleton.
Everyone grew sober.
Ashley laughed.
"What?" Amber asked even more seriously.
"He said... Watching us boil his bones was boring," Ashley answered with a giggle.
"That's not exactly funny," Amber said.
Why Freya? Why did we have to remove his flesh? Chess wondered, glancing at the small patch of blue sky framed overhead by the boughs of the towering giants around them.
With a final giggle, Ashley sank to sit cross-legged beside the silk sheet and spent a few minutes silently collecting herself.
Chess and Amber let her do her thing, turning their attention away after a moment, sensing that the process had an intimate element to it that required a modicum of privacy.
Chess noted that Flemming was staying out of the way and had finished filling the first pail and was working on the second. It's crazy how cooperative he's been.
Chess recalled his easy acquiescence to Amber's ultimatum. His eyes hadn't left Chess's hammer for a long time, even after he'd been collared and bound by Ashley. Is it fear? No that's stupid. Of course, it's fear. Fear and a desire to live. I don't blame him, Chess decided before leaving thoughts of Flemming to Amber for now. It didn't sit right with her and she didn't want to dwell on her inability to find a better solution. Intellectually, killing seemed worse, but Chess wasn't sure how to feel now that they'd enslaved the man.
Is this one of those fates worse than death? No. It's better than sacrificing him. I hope. Besides, he and his friends tried to kill us.
Chess abandoned the train of thought as she heard and felt Ashley start her spell for a second time that day.
"Would you mind?" Amber asked, drawing her attention away from the spectacle of amber and golden magic coalescing around Ashley and the bones at her feet.
"But..." Chess gestured at Ashley.
Amber rolled her eyes and held out her razor-sharp knife, hilt first, for Chess to take. "We watched her the first time and it took a half-bell for her to fail. I imagine the process will be similar and take longer." She shook the knife for emphasis. "This was your idea. Flemming is behaving, and you cutting my hair makes sense when he's over there working. We won't get a better chance. Even if he looks, Ashley's spell will draw him."
"I'm not sure you want me cutting your hair. Without scissors..." Chess hedged.
"It's your idea, and if you fail, you can cut it all off. That will likely stand out more, and it would be a relief. It's been barely a day, and I hate it already. I'm not sure how you stand it. I feel like it's drawing my head to the sky with every motion. It's like having a tail growing from the top of my head. It's unnatural," Amber complained.
Chess looked down at the razor-sharp knife and gulped. She'd only tried shaving a few times with a straight razor back home and hadn't been that successful, always managing to cut herself. Without soap, it would be even harder.
"Okay, but without…" Chess was interrupted when Amber removed her helmet and passed her a bar of soap.
Freya, she's hot. Chess swallowed and took the bar, meeting her friend's eyes with a rueful smile. "That should help. I'd like to warn you I'm not the best with a straight razor."
"Stop whining and just do it," Amber admonished.
"Fine," Chess murmured and cast her inventory spell. She grimaced at the crate of slave collars just inside the opening then removed one of the folding chairs and a bowl before filling the latter with water. "Sit."
Amber sat, settling her crossbow in her lap.
"Do we really need to keep twenty slave collars?" Chess complained as she lathered up the sides of Amber's head.
"Look, Flemming and his friends won't hesitate to do the same to us given half the chance. Think of it as delivering them to the authorities for a bounty if it helps. I will not let your sentiments interfere with keeping you alive. And I'd rather have the option given Freya's views. Besides, collars with working rods are valuable," Amber explained.
Like magical handcuffs, Chess reasoned. Even she couldn't see why she was making such a big deal about it. If she considered Earth's practices, the jail system could be considered a form of slavery, looked at from a certain angle. Moreso in some countries than others.
"Okay, I think I can get my head around that. As long as we're collaring bandits, slavers, and the like and not keeping them, I think I'll be fine. Fair is fair," Chess conceded.
"Good," Amber grunted. "Now, if you would?"
Chess managed to do a better job of shaving Amber's hair off than she thought she would. When she hit on the idea of pinning the hair to the side and made a handful of hairpins to help, it became as simple as shaving everything below the line off. Which, aside from a few minor knicks, went easily. The shaved section started an inch below Amber's small round bear ears and the flat expanse of her head where human ears would normally be added a bit of an uncanny edge to the look of Chess's eyes.
She had more trouble creating a proper straight braid before, on the third try, she let her new skill at knotwork take over and guide her through it.
The result was everything she expected and more. It helped that Amber now looked to be in her early twenties and like someone who would choose the look herself.
The simple ironwood clip Chess used to bind the end of the braid completed the look with its swirling greys and dark browns against the blue-black of Amber's hair.
"I don't think even Flemming will suspect a thing. You look nothing like her aside from the hair color," Chess observed with satisfaction.
"Good, let's bury that, then test out your theory," Amber said, gesturing to the discarded hair before standing. She left her helmet on the ground nearby.
Chess hesitated, if Flemming recognized Amber as his old companion it would lead to an awkward situation. One that may require them to kill him.
Checking again on Ashley's progress, Chess smiled when she noted that a thick layer of amber sap now covered Kan's bones and was slowly growing under the guidance of the swirling spell around her daughter and the sap flowing from her fingertips.
"Won't be long now," Amber noted as she used the butt of her spear to dig a hole to bury her hair.
Chess nodded and looked across at Flemming. The man had progressed to filling the fourth and final pail with berries.
Picking up a few loose branches, Chess made a quick and dirty shovel to help Amber finish quickly before Amber suggested Chess make a few more pails for Flemming to fill.
Flemming, thankfully, gave no indication he recognized Amber in any way, and the pair shared a relieved look when they turned away after exchanging and storing the pails.
"Done!" Ashley crowed, drawing the pair's attention.
The pair watched as the completed golem housing Kan's spirit rose and studied himself before poking and prodding at his new body.
Ashley looked to be staring off into space.
Itself. Chess corrected herself with a rueful chuckle when she noted he was now missing the requisite tackle. Well, he is a golem now.
Chess could see every bone in his body move and flex through the amber sap that covered them. Each organ and vein could be seen and seen through. Each a different shade of yellow. Every scar he'd ever received was represented in thin black lines against the reddish-yellow of his body.
Like an animated version of the ballistic dummies they use on TV, Chess thought. I wasn't expecting him to have organs.
"So, um. Welcome back? I think you need a helmet. The grinning skull aesthetic on a Ken doll is more than a little unsettling," Chess was the first to speak.
Kan chuckled and did a little hop on one foot. "Don't worry lass, this is strange for me too." He turned a fond but cackling-skull-creepy smile on the distracted Ashley. "But it will be an honor to serve and to earn my spot in a true warrior's afterlife."
Chess hadn't known what to expect, but for some reason, it wasn't an exact replication of his voice. Perversely, as though his speaking made it real, she felt a lump form in her throat as it became clear that he really had died and only had a short time with them now thanks to Ashley's spell.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're back. It's been a hard month…" Chess muttered.
"Hard, aye, but as the Goddess said, you've grown. All of you. More than Caldur or I could've managed." He gave Ashley another smile.
"Can you feel anything?" Ashley asked with her eyes focusing on the world once more. She poked Kan's shoulder.
"Yes, but the pain seems significantly muted," he said after giving himself a firm pinch.
"That'll be useful," Amber agreed.
Kan gave her a considering look. "You've changed more than the others. And I don't mean your body."
Amber nodded respectfully and smiled.
"Now, where is my stuff? This body may be tough, but it's made of sap, not adamantine, and I can't do my job without a weapon," Kan asked while looking around.
"About that... it appears someone stole your stuff. But you can have your pick of what we recovered or wait, and I'll make you armor like ours," Chess offered and started digging boxes out of her inventory.
Kan shook his head sadly after peering into the first two boxes, and Chess quietly closed and returned them. When she opened the third, Kan stopped her. "Ah, Glint you were right in the end. Died with a pack of greenies," he sighed then turned to Chess. "This will do. Old Glint and I were of a size. He kept proper care of his stuff and his wife won't mind me borrowing it for a time. His only son went the merchant route."
"Alright, do you think you can hold down the fort while I go see our new friends?" Amber asked Kan once he had geared up and had gotten more comfortable with his new form.
"Do you think that's wise?" Kan asked.
"No, but it's safer for them," Amber said, gesturing at Chess and Ashley.
"Why don't we all go say hello?" Chess suggested, feeling a little coddled.