The silence was as deafening as it was awkward. I'd come back from my little 'summoning ritual' to introduce Rose and Sobriquet, with… mixed results. The lizardmen were surprisingly accepting of the Ewefolk herself, that wasn't much of an issue. Cautious, maybe, but it wasn't the kind of greeting I or Todone got. Probably comes from being a species they apparently have no legitimate experience with. No, what proved to be a great issue was Sobriquet. Which was understandable, considering undead got a bad rap, and rightfully so. But as it stood, he was the most suited as a stealth killer.

Of course, looking at things purely from a logical perspective didn't always work out when it came to these things. Hence why we… well, I was getting chewed out.

"You mean to tell me…" Zuko spoke slowly, pointing at the shadow as it peaked it's 'face' out from under her cloak like a small child. "That you thought it would be a great idea to bring a shade among us? And what happened to being able to only summon one person?"

"Well…" I slowly began, but I couldn't really finish as the warrior chief sighed and rubbed the bridge of his snout.

"I can't believe I was starting to actually respect you… what were you thinking?"

"He normally doesn't do that," Rose quipped, and I shot her a dirty look.

She chuckled, but kept quiet otherwise. I'm almost immediately beginning to regret putting so much detail into her backstory to give her that sass.

"Alright, I know that as an undead, it's a really hard sell, but hear me out," I spoke, raising my hands in a placating gesture. "Rose and Sobriquet both are kind of a package deal. You see, uh, they both happened to piss off an old witch doctor at roughly the same time within one another. Rose was drunk and knocked over some of the juju he had hanging around his lawn, and Sobriquet… killed his chickens or something? I dunno, that one's still up in the air. Point being, the old coot decided to kill two birds with one stone after getting them back to back. Sobriquet is pretty much your average Shade, yeah, but the poor thing can't really do a whole lot without Rose's say so. And on the same note, it's left her with zero privacy and made her life more than a little difficult. Neither of them really like the arrangement nor can they really be split up, sadly"

Todone was busy looking at the soil in the tent, finding it to be the most interesting thing in sight. Rekushio meanwhile had curled his lips inward, seemingly trying to stop himself from saying something. Zuko on the hand, was still firmly irritated.

"And the reason you summoned them was because…?"

"They're damn good fighters, and they've got tricks up their sleeves that your own men don't have," I explained. I nodded to the two, and Rose gave a grin and thumbs up. Without missing a beat, Sobriquet slid out from under the cloak and reshaped himself, forming into an owl perched on her shoulder with glittering, hollow blue eyes. "Though it's not true telepathy, nor any comparable degree similar to the 'Message' spell, they do share a mental link that allows them to operate in tandem with one another. A curse and a blessing, since both of them have their thoughts and emotions clash with each other now and then. It does help though, considering that as a shade, Sobriquet is capable of stealth and life draining attacks to strike from the darkness. In the event of close quarters combat, it can make himself just as useful, though admittedly his strength lies in strikes from the shadows"

To accentuate this, Sobriquet flaps it's shadowy wings and reshapes, forming the silhouette of a large wolf, giving an echoey wolflike growl. The shade steps forward, before a slight raise of Rose's hand immediately halts it.

"As I said though," I explained with a smile to hide my nervousness. "Sobriquet can't do much without her say, even if it means being more or less tied at the hip with her"

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I definitely should have taken a shred of consideration for the consequences. As useful as an undead assassin is going to be, this is definitely going to make things difficult for us in the future.

The lizardman sighed again, shaking his head. "I see. Is this… Ewefolk, any good in a fight?"

"I'd like to think of myself as a crackshot," Rose chirped, rocking in place on her hooves. "Can nail a pumpkin at thirty yards, and I've got one hell of a sword swing. That good enough for ya?"

Zuko seemed aloof with the sheep girl. "I would hardly consider a gourd a worthy target, and your experience with a sword remains to be seen"

His comment gives me an idea however, and I decide to provide Rose an opportunity. It's not something I wanted to do considering I'd rather have her acclimate to her new surroundings, but I'll just have to do that after the fact. Besides, it's would be interesting to see how well she can actually fight, and I'd rather we do this in a more controlled environment anyways.

I cleared my throat, interjecting. "Tell you what, how about we show you instead?"

The war chief harrumphed, but nodded. "Nothing quite like a trial by combat to prove one's worth. Very well, I'll call one of my men out to fight. Go with Rekushio to organize the ring, we'll stop by in a moment. Get the poor girl orientated in the meantime"

With that, we split up, Us three plus Rekushio heading outside.

"So uh, mind explaining what's going on my lor-oooofty friend?"

I shot her a look, and to her credit she shot me a sheepish smile. Rekushio glanced at us as well, but left his words to himself

"Well," I began. "As it stands, we are now stuck in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Like uh, these guys haven't even heard of the U.S. of A. kind of nowhere"

Rose clicked her tongue at that, and Sobriquet made a brief ruffling motion with his form like a cat arching its back threateningly.

"That's not good. How far do you think we are?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I responded with a sigh. "Could be in a whole different world for all we know"

And that, my friends, was a subtle foreshadowing for the lizardmen's sake. Because sooner or later, I wasn't going to be able to explain things away. And while spoken in a joking tone, it would lay the brickwork for the future. Even if they wouldn't take me being from another world seriously.

Rekushio snorted at that. "Right, another world"

Case in point. Hell, just mentioning that there were actually other worlds out there was a tough sell to Yulg, but me being from one? That's gonna have to take a loooot of work.

"Look at this way Rose, at least we might find something to pry you and Sobriquet apart out here"

"And set that thing loose?" Zuko's second in command asked concernedly.

"Well, I did make a promise to them both, if only for Rose's sake. I know Sobriquet is… Sobriquet, but I do know it well enough to say that it wouldn't be a threat even after such an event. At least not to us"

The shade peaks out from under the cloak briefly before fluttering back in, preferring to enjoy cover from the sunlight. One of the drawbacks to the shade was their nocturnal existence, sunlight weakening them somewhat.

A dirt circle was cleared out for sparring, and a crowd of the camp's warriors were slowly gathering as they'd apparently been informed of the event. Even some of the goblins were given the opportunity to watch, something I'm at least grateful the lizardmen were willing to give them.

"Almost like old times… a little more destitute, but what can ya do?" Rose commented, looking around. "Huh, what's with all the copper anyways?"

"Only metal we can get in readily available quantities, and that's only because of the run off that'd been building up from a mountain stream. Thankfully that's not going to run dry any time soon, the metalworking is a recent development"

Rose clicked her tongue at that. "They just got to metalworking? Man, you weren't kidding. But no other deposits around? No cassiterite or…?"

I scratched my chin at that. "I haven't exactly been able to go prospecting myself, and I'd need a piece to begin with to show them what to look for. There's been so much shit I've been wrapped up in that I just haven't had the chance. Fighting, working, re-inventing the wheel… list goes on. Not easy finding signs of ore in the swamp regardless"

"Even bog iron?"

I took a moment to register what I heard her say. Bog iron? My brain four-oh-four'ed at that as I begun to realize what I was hearing. In hesitation, I slowly turned to look at the sheep girl that was born a few hours prior potentially knowing something that I did not program into her.

"What?"

"Y'know the uh… oh how did he put it…" She tried to explain. "Something to do with the environment of a swamp naturally producing iron deep beneath the soil? Your uncle Shamus said something about it when I dropped by to have my sword sharpened once"

It clicked. I didn't program that kind of knowledge into her, I couldn't give her something I didn't know about in the first place. But flavor text to fill her brain out? I sure as hell didn't know about bog iron, but my uncle? That crazy bastard would've known.

My brain is reeling at the opportunities, picking over this new facet of the NPC generation. What limit is there to this at this point? Is there a limit? Could I, for example, create some mad scientist nut that would be able to barrel us through on research and kickstart an industrial revolution? Magic maybe? So many opportunities, and yet I won't be able to access them now until level forty at minimum. Fuck if only I made one instead of two.

"Er, Earth to Nolan?"

"Right, sorry, sorry. Uh… no, honestly, I didn't think about that. That genuinely slipped my mind"

I'd done research for my bug-out camping in the past, but that was with mountains in mind. Not swamps.

Rose chuckled at that and shook her head. "Honestly my- friend, how do you even survive some days?"

"Not my fault I'm swamped with work…" I mumble, ignoring her almost slipping up again.

"Mmm… yeah, it kind of is," Todone remarked.

"Oi!"

Both the toadman and the ewefolk laughed at my expense. Despite the situation, I couldn't help but give a weak laugh myself. It felt… nice, to just do something other than work or…

My laughter died off as I thought back to 'adventurers'. Fuck, they weren't good people, but… did they deserve to go out like that? What the hell even possessed me?

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Rekushio called out, shaking me out of my thoughts before I could continue them. "We have new arrivals here with us, and the reason for this match is to size them up!"

There were murmurs of confusion and mild concern, especially considering they could only see Rose at the moment. She did come out of nowhere, I hadn't really been able to explain away her reason for being here to everyone yet.

"This 'ewefolk' before us hails from the same land as Nolan, and was summoned thanks to a ritual as I've been told! However, she isn't the only one to come here, as she has a… pet, of sorts!"

I could tell that Sobriquet wasn't pleased with being referred to as a pet, but it begrudgingly poured out from under the hood and into the sunlight, briefly wincing at the gleaming shine before shapeshifting into a giant hand and waving to the group. The reactions were varied, but priceless. More than a few of them I had talked with about undead, and I could see them shooting me a knowing look. The one guy that even offered up his sister would've been as white as a ghost if he'd been capable of those colors. I shot him a shit eating grin and waggled my brows, relishing in the sight of the man silently cursing as he turned his gaze away.

With introductions out of the way for our group, everything was now set in place. In order to make the fight fair due to the nature of the duo, a druid was at the side with the referee using his magic to carefully study and observe Sobriquet's movements. The lizardman at one end, one of Zuko's top dogs if I recall, looked confident as he stepped up to the ring. He was a swordsman as well actually, one of the very few in the lizardmen tribes due to spears and clubs usually winning out in the stone age fight. Thanks to our new copper age however, he was able to upgrade from a macuahuitl to an actual blade. Of course, for this exercise he was going to be using a stick. The bulging muscles on him however certainly meant that he was going to sting.

Rose meanwhile, was in the other corner with a relaxed grin, stretching herself out and limbering up for the fight. At one point, I had to look away for a moment to admire the other contestant, as I embarrassingly realized that I probably should have thinned her lower half out a bit more. I mean shit, those leggings can't be fun pulling up to her waist.

The ewefolk steps into the ring with a smirk, spinning her own stick in hand and stepping forward with a sashay. Considering I barely had time to orient her, she's acclimating pretty well.

"This match will be a best out of five sparring set-up. Usual rules apply, no intent to cause potentially lethal harm is permitted. Are both competitors ready?"

The lizardman grinned savagely, keeping his stick over shoulder as he looked down on the girl. "I'm ready to get this little warm-up over with"

"Funny, was about to say the same thing," Rose replied with a roll of her neck, giving her own wolfish grin toward the lizardman.

"Round one, begin!"

They snapped into a blur, both sides jumping from their initial casual stances and straight into the fight. I could say just from a glance that she at the very least held a level advantage, albeit by two, but I couldn't fully judge her actual fighting style yet. She was swift, relying on nimble motions to avoid being struck, and using parries to deflect anything that likely would have made contact. Overall, she's acting cautiously, while using the bare minimum of energy necessary to do so. Not bat, not bad at all.

The lizardman I recognized as one I'd actually sparred with in the past. His usual go-to when it came to fights was doing everything he can to make sure his opponent doesn't have time to think. Tail sweeps, flurries of blows, martial arts, anything and everything is on the table for him as long as it's legal. Which, I have to hand it to him, I can't help but respect. His hulking frame easily makes him a brutish ground pounder worthy of praise.

"Hah! At least you're quick enough! But you can't even get a blow in! Pitiful!"

Rose remained silent as the big warrior goaded her. As she should have. Because if I knew it, she knew it, and what I see is there actually is a lull in the blows she could take advantage of. But the problem is that's a false lull. I can safely say first hand I've paid for that mistake. Thankfully, I tried to make sure that she wouldn't have to repeat it.

She makes for the feinted gap just as it occurs, and the lizardman grins, sweeping his tail to punish her ribs. Unfortunately for the poor bastard, she anticipated that. Her 'sword' redirected in her grip to maintain a defensive posture and she stomped down on the tail with her boot, making the lizardman yowl. Imagine how that would have felt if she wasn't wearing her boots, buddy. One fun fact about demihumans like the ewefolk is their powerful legs, and I guarantee she was going easy on him with that kick.

Despite himself, the lizardman still maintained his aggressive striking motions, though now there was legitimate hesitation brought on by pain. Brief though it was, Rose took advantage of it. One overhead strike was deflected by her sword, and she pushed out with a kick to the lizardman's gut.

Thwick-thwack-thunk!

And just like that, the poor bastard got creamed in a flurry of rapid blows aimed for the right spots. I gotta admit, even I was a little surprised that she finished it up that fast for the first round, though I didn't show it. Some of those maneuvers were ones I remember seeing my uncle practice at fairs, sharp and professional. She really did inherit some things from her backstory then. Good to know, I'll have to plan that out for future NPCs, maybe now that I can look at the damn screen I can make plans for more airtight backgrounds than something I wrote in… well technically instantaneously, but it definitely felt like hours being frozen in time.

I let out a loud whistle, cheering the sheep girl on. "Kick his lily ass, Rose!"

"Not a single damn scratch," I let out with another whistle, though far softer and lower. "Whaddya say Zuko, that proof enough for ya?"

The lizardman muttered in disdain, watching his man lean against another lizardman's shoulder as he was being dragged away from the fight.

"I don't believe it… he lost to a female…"

"Ah, chin up Zuko. Rose may be a ewefolk, but she's a beast when it comes to the ring. I've seen her make grown men of all shapes and sizes cry. Myself included, if it makes you feel any better"

Zuko scoffed, shaking his head. "Alright, I'll admit, your friend is something else. If she's capable of taking one of mine down then I can only imagine what that shade of yours can do. At least I know that your expedition will be in good hands"

The warrior chief sighs, shaking his head. "If you want to make good time, I'd advise that your party leaves by nightfall. Those goblins won't be here forever, and neither will we"

"Roger Roger," I responded. "Mission's in good hands, scout's honor!"

Zuko waved me off, clearly wanting to be away from me at this point. I meanwhile, was internally celebrating a glorious success that could have gone wrong in so many ways. On top of me now realizing just how broken World Items really are, and I find my spirits at least somewhat lifted.

"Well, that was fun!" Rose chirped, coming around the side with a smile. "Old Soby was feeling a little left out though. So, what's this I hear about a mission?"

"Ah, right, you weren't here for that," I said. "We're uh… alright I know you're probably not gonna like the sound of this, but we're bringing some goblin tribes in the area under heel. I'm not gonna sugar coat it, we're conquering and using them as labor"

Rose's face remained in it's expression for a moment, before it scrunched up in trepidation. "That's…"

"Not exactly something I wanted to do either. Unfortunately, the goblins themselves are mostly pillaging savages, so this is as much a means of re-education as it is making use of them as we do so"

The ewefolk seemed to be lost in thought, before turning to the wisps that fluttered from out of her cloak. She sighed, and nodded to me.

"Alright"

"... Just like that?" I asked, partly curious to see how her 'loyalty' as an NPC would go.

"I trust your judgment, Nolan. Things out here are… clearly different than they were back home. We can't expect to struggle with morals out here when there's hardly any of that in the natives themselves. If that's what you think is best, then so be it. You always were a little neutral with things"

I… was? Well, false memories probably put something there between herself and I, so… that's something to consider in the future.

"Thank you. And sorry for dragging you into this, for what it's worth"

"Psht, oh whatever. We all took oaths for a reason," Rose waved off, her smile returning. "A little bigger than I expected, but I'll still go through hell and back for you"

The shade in her cloak grumbled and warbled, sounding almost like a content animal.

"Well, with that out of the way, I suppose it's time I spitballed the plan with you then. I have a rough-draft of sorts that I planned on ironing out with the other lizardmen, but having your thoughts would certainly help"

We stepped off into the tent chatting away, trying to nail down the finer points of the mission. Despite my initial worries, I'm glad to see that talking with her is a lot smoother and organic than I feared it would be. Whether that's because of Nazarick being Nazarick or my attention to the details of her background, I couldn't say. I'll admit, I was distracted for a moment, feeling as though I was being watched, but at that point we were in the command tent pointing at the scroll. Probably just worried about my first stealth mission.

Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 70 [Neutral]) [22/27 Spell slots used]

Classes: Brawler (6), Ranger (3), Druid (6), Clothier (3), Translucer (1). Total Level (20), Unspent Levels (1).

Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm, Ice Knife, Lightning Arrow, Torchlight, Slow

Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike, Conjure Animals

Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}

Party Members are as follows…

Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: 0 [True Neutral])

Classes: Toadman Warrior (9), Brawler (9), Martial Artist (1), Total Level (19).

Member Two: Yulg (Karma: 50 [Neutral])

Classes: Goblin Marauder (1), Brawler (8), Warrior (4), Cleric (1), Total Level (13)

Member Three: Rose of House Merino, Ewefolk (Karma: 100 (Neutral Good)

Classes: Ewefolk Bard (1), Warrior (12), Ranger (7)

Member Four: Sobriquet, Shade (Karma: -100 [Neutral Evil])

Classes: Shade (10), Assassin (10)

AN: I'm glad y'all liked the curveball I threw with the ewefolk! Yeah, admittedly she was inspired by Cult of the Lamb, but that game is pretty damn good in my defense. Would have been a crime to not give it a nod. Sorry if I don't respond to some folks, I can't say too much without spoilers, but just know that I have been consistently reading comments every time they pop up in my emails.

Dariory: Stage One; Denial

chongwillson: I hope you know that song's stuck in my head now

Fleece Johnson: Perhaps... or maybe that's what I want you to think is happening? The world may never know...