Day 22: Wealday the 10th Lamashan, 4707

A new day dawned on us as we woke up to greet it. Both Savah and I stirred from slumber at the about the same time. She was wrapped up in one of the silk sheets when I saw her in the light streaming down from the skylight. She looked, well she looked fantastic. I wanted to stay there and forget about all of the stuff we discussed last night, but we had to get to work. No one had made it back here to the Glassworks besides us and I was starting to get a little worried. We got up and got fully kitted out, armor, weapons, and for me, gear. We made our war from the ESR to the break room when Jonathan and Shayliss came in through the hallway door. He had a key and he let himself in. He told us that he had expected us to be late risers, but now that I was seeming to get up earlier, he would have to recalibrate his arrival times. He came right in and went to work getting a world class breakfast made. I swear he could give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money, or, you know, hit him with the oven, with his mind, after wolfing out. Shayliss was a little groggy, but that ended when Jonathan doled out that precious resourced known as coffee to both of the girls. I didn't drink it.

Both of the ladies perked right up once they got the required amount of caffeine for functionality. Faunra and Shalelu both showed up next, letting themselves in and heading right to the table. Faunra took a swig of coffee and hated it almost immediately. Shalelu mentioned that Dame Rebekah and Chelger wouldn't be far behind, they had left The Rusty Dragon earlier and went to the Cathedral for morning services. I asked if they just decided to give us the run of the house or if it was decided after everyone heading the Cracktooth's. Shalelu gave me a quick rundown of how the night went at the Tavern after the play at the theater. Basically they all decided to just give us the opportunity to finally deal with some "backed up" issues. Her words, not mine.

Right at the end of the recap, Dame Rebekah and Chelger joined us. We all joined together around the table and had a good meal once the these last two showed up. The breakfast had eggs, salted bacon, fruit juice, and toast. I told Jonathan that I knew his Tavern would do well, and asked him if he had thought up a name yet. He thanked me for my compliments and told me that he had not yet decided on anything. I asked him what he has been doing with his extra time since moving out of the Glassworks. He told me that he's been spending time either getting things done for Ven without him knowing or getting his shop in order. I told him that if he needed anything, to let me know. I'd work on getting it made or found.

I asked Dame Rebekah how things were going for them. She noted that she was thinking about taking up a position at the Cathedral when all of this was done. I told her that her faith would be a wonderful addition to the interfaith venture. She smiled and continued eating. Fauna just shook her head when I looked at her and the conversation died down a bit. Jonathan asked me what my plans were. I told him that we, me and Savah, were looking to get the process as coded up as I could to make sure others could do it. Once I had it simplified, I was going to look for other areas that I could help out the town out in, like indoor plumbing, an integrated sewer system, or a series of fire towers.

Savah looked at me oddly until I told them that a fire tower was a tank filled with water that was mounted up high to allow the water to be used to put fires out. Dame Rebekah noted that we could just cast create water, and I told her that I didn't want to bank on someone choosing to memorize a specific spell when it came to risking someone else's life. She nodded knowing that there were days when she needed a spell that she didn't have memorized. I told them that I was likely going to end up building an Archimedes' Screw to get salt water up from the water off the coast. I'd have to create a motor of some kind to do that, but I could figure something out. I held that shimmerdisk secretly in my hand. It was battery that defied expectations. They had somehow managed to store a lot of voltage inside this thing and I was going to have to carefully take it apart and look at it when we got back. If they could get me a few more of these, I would have no problems with making anything I needed, once I reconfigured my solar cells to be able to charge these things.

Everyone accepted my technobabble for what it was and went back to eating. Chelger finally broke the topic of us heading back to Thistletop. Dame Rebekah told him that yes, we were going to head to Thistletop today and that yes, we were going to try to kill the Barghest in the room. It only made sense. We could not risk as stronger minion of, Echidna, she said smiling to me, finding it and letting it free. I added that Faunra had researched as best she could and we were going in there as prepared as we could be. Savah looked at me with sadness. We had discussed this after other, more important, things and she was clearly worried. I thanked her for her worrying about me because it means that she cares. I told her that if it was possible, I'd like for her to be reassuring of our chances when everyone got here, as I knew she had it in her to be strong for the ones we leave behind to go do this.

Savah told everyone that she was certain that we would be able to do this. We had the powers of magic, the gods, whatever it is that Jonathan can do, and technology. The Barghest wouldn't know what it was getting into with us. She laid it on a little thick but I think that it helped Shayliss. I knew that Shalelu had been a former adventurer, and she knew what the name of the game was. Chelger had been a priest for a frontier cathedral, and had probably done services for those who had been lost. Beautiful services for sure, but services none the less. I had told Savah that if I make it through this, I was going to start looking into improving my ability to take enemies down quickly and with no fallout to my companions. She said that she would help with it, if she could.

We finished up our meal and kissed most of our loved ones' goodbye. Shalelu was heading with us to the Thistletop. We stopped off at the Goblin Smash Stables. We picked up five of our six horses and thanked him for looking after them so well for us. We headed to the North Gate and waved to the Watchmen that were stationed there. We had not specifically gotten to know any of them all that well, and I felt kind of bad for that. I was in a town of less than the population of an aircraft carrier. Surely if I was going to spend any amount of time here I was going to have to know people. One of the Watchmen signaled us to halt and told us that Sheriff Hemlock had a message for us, handing a folded up piece of paper. I asked him what his name was. He was a bit taken aback when he told us his name was Rhian Sawan. I thanked him by name and looked at the paper.

It was a fairly well written note, on a piece of parchment. It was for all of us, but I caught a kind of code in it. The capitalization of letters made it evident.

"Adventurers,

From what we have seen and the watch members that have been at Thistletop have testified, it is Erroneous to think that we could have a Reliably secure prison on that island. The next Hideous threat is likely growing and I fear that it will shortly be at the doors of our precious Sandpoint. We thank you the Exacting service that you have performed so far. Nevertheless, we must Entreat your Ethical mores and ask for your aid and Discretion. The Odious monster on the island must be slain. To this end, you only need Ask and we will try our Legitimate hardest to Knock out your request. Hope all is well and your journey is Auspiciously Righteous.

Sheriff Hemlock.

As recorded by the town Legal Yeoman"

Well, that message came over loud and clear. I hope that I don't get run out of town before I even get married. That would just suck. I wouldn't want to think that Savah would have to pick between her career and her future, or me. Hopefully it can be a simple thing of accepting a fine for disturbing the peace or what not. I can scrounge the money together to get something done for that. If I don't have it now, I'll find a way to make it. I can even head back to Windsong Abbey to fully sell my car to get the gold to fully pay it off.

We headed to Thistletop, with our horses hustling. I figured that we could get them some rest after the fact or that they would end up getting rest from us not needing to ride them anymore. Either way, it should be a chance for them to relax. We got to where the thistle would have normally been and it was gone. There was also a much sturdier bridge in place than before. They must have spent some time getting it set up and installed. I would really have to apologize to Sheriff Hemlock about the need for that. It is nice that they managed to make it here without too much effort. We announced our presence and intention to cross the bridge. We were informed that we could come over, one at a time, leaving our horses on that side of the gorge. Shalelu said that she would stay with the horses while we did what we needed to do.

Arriving in Thistletop, we encountered Walda Ambrush, a priestess of Sarenrae who volunteered to be positioned at this base until we got back. She was noting how things had progressed since we had left. She told us that a one of the guards had a report for us. It was a man by the name of Jaren Basvear who we were sent to talk to. He seemed like a well put together man who knew what he was doing. No doubt he would rise through the ranks in the future. He gave us a very thorough rundown of everything that has happened. Including his report times. Apparently Sheriff Hemlock had thought up using a series of hourglasses of different durations that would indicate whether the next call would be in four hours, five and a half hours, or six hours and forty-five minutes. They would turn the called out hourglass when they received the command from Belor. They had saved a large amount of battery life by doing that. Jaren really liked these magical items, apparently. He also liked the armor, and asked where he could get some. I told him to check with Savah at the Armory. He nodded and said that he would when his tour at Thistletop ended. I told him to make sure she knows that he is a guard. He said that he would tell her that I sent her.

I shrugged, and went on looking into everything that we had. No one had spent too much time in the lower levels, and no one went in to the area that was now blocked off again. The pillar had risen back up, and it required someone to open it a second time. I was glad that no one has seen vending machines on this world. We made our way down to the last guard, a person in the room where we had killed Lyrie. I asked this guard's name and he told us Olhart Zemca. I thanked him for keeping watch and told him to keep an ear out. If he hears fighting for over two minutes, he should shut and bar these doors and run to tell Jaren. He nodded and I added another stipulation, that if he hears fighting but it is over way too quickly, or hears any of us yell out to him, he should lock and bar the doors and not let anyone out until it has been ascertained that we had not let the demon free and it isn't waiting on the other side to kill everyone.

I told him that these were just precautions, but that they were wise ones. He said that he would listen and make sure that the thing didn't escape. We made our way to just outside the golden pillar and checked out our preparations. Everyone had already had the spells prepared that they were expecting to prepare, and Jonathan's hair was standing up like he was in an anime. I loaded up the kirlian photography program that I had previously had the dream about and quickly made the changes, referencing the notes I had written. I barely even noticed when Faunra cast a spell targeting Jonathan's Kama, temporarily imbuing it with magical enhancement. I felt Dame Rebekah's blessing for the upcoming battle more than noticed it being cast. We decided that we were as ready as we could be.

I slid the two gold pieces into the pillar's slots and it dropped. We walked right over to the prison's door and unlocked it. We heard that same laughter inside as I swung the door open and used my phone to see where it was. It was hideous. A wolf with a man's face. It was the size of one of our horses. Hunger and evil radiated off of it. I yelled at Faunra to tell her it was right in front of us in the doorway and she cast her spell.

The world exploded into a gilded snow-globe as the form of the monster was made apparent by everyone, like it was drenched in Goldschläger. I guess that it was prepared for this because it roared with apparent blindness. Jonathan used this as an opportunity to hit it in the hindquarters with a ball bearing before moving into position. It tried to take a swipe at him as he made his way into the room to be right next to the beast, but missed him completely. Dame Rebekah came in with a heavy slash that caused the beast to roar. I swear that she had some of her divine force put into that hit. Then was it unleashed its fury.

The beast roared at me. I can smell the blood of an Earthling. If I get out of here I will be coming for your family next. My phone was lucky enough to record if since the Kirlian app was in video. It raged and lashed out at Rebekah, biting her with a vicious attack, crushing her boron carbide coated bicep. I had not worked out any hard covering for that area. I felt her wince as the muscles were bruised and battered, but was relieved when I didn't notice any penetration of the material. At least it held up to that. Jonathan was not so lucky however. The beast had saved it's claws for Jonathan and raked into him. He had tried to evade but it was not good. I could see the first hit being slowed by a telekinetic dampening field around him but the field collapsed and the second attack ripped right through and opened up vicious cuts in him.

I made my way around the column of fire to the beast's hindquarters and focused on helping distract the thing from Jonathan. It seemed like the only thing I could do to help, no matter what it had said about my world or family. In the meantime, Faunra launched a snowball of all things, pelting it in the face. She followed it up with two arrows and missed with the second one. It didn't like any of the above activities. I mean, I would think that being in a room with a continual fire, having a bit of cool would be a nice change of pace. Jonathan sapped more of his vital essence to power up his Kama. He lashed out and struck the monster on the second hit, providing a massive blow. I was beginning to get worried about my prospects for the next time the thing would attack when Rebekah slashed down through the beast's neck and it dropped to the floor. Its' blood flowed into the pillar of fire and was instantly consumed. I rushed over to make sure that it was dead.

We looked at each other. We had two people badly wounded but still upright, and had spent a lot to get this fight dealt with. We could stand proud. Jonathan used his ability to heal on Dame Rebekah, and then on himself to staunch any bleeding. Faunra asked me what I had heard. I was confused and asked her what she meant. She told me that it had spoken directly to me in a language that she didn't understand. Neither did the rest of the group. I looked at the video recording and stopped it. I looped it back and it was clearly German. I translated it for them. Dame Rebekah noted to me that it looks like my world isn't as isolated as I thought. I noted that if I went home without a way to defend everyone, I would just be bringing more attention to it. Faunra agreed, adding that most spells to trace magical movement focus on where the target destination is, not the origination.

I told everyone that it looked like I was going to be staying for a while. I added that it looked like I need to find more than just a way home, I needed to find a way to deal with all of this magic that might inflict itself upon my home-world if I do make it back. They all nodded and I asked what we should do with the body of this thing. Dame Rebekah asked if we could skin it. I smiled and said that yes, yes we could skin it, and got to work. Skinning a hide when you can magically repair damage that you have done is wonderfully freeing. No more worry about this nick here or that cut there.

We got the skin off of it fairly quickly, with Faunra joining in to help me. I couldn't help but ask if Faunra had decided what she was going to do now that we had killed this thing. She told me that she didn't know, but that she wasn't leaving Sandpoint anytime soon. She felt a bit better about her people, knowing that they likely would have lived the full extent of their lives and moved on to other locations after she didn't return. She told me that Shalelu and Hannah were the closest people that she had to family and that she wanted to make sure that they were safe more than anything. I smiled and told her that I can understand that.

While we were doing skinning and having our conversation, Dame Rebekah and Jonathan were looking throughout the room. Jonathan found a pair of secret doors and noted that one was empty. The other had a simple silver coffer that had white sand inside of it. He poured the sand out and said it could be a good money coffer for his new tavern. I told him that he can call it "The Barghest's Breakfast" or something like that. He laughed and said that he'd think about it. He opened the coffer and saw it was full of sand. He dumped the sand out and a ring fell out with it. It started to roll towards the fire. Jonathan dove for it and missed. I dropped my knife and dove for it, I missed. Dame Rebekah dove for it and missed. It was just about to fall into the fire when an arrow graced through the air and hit it dead center. The arrow bounced off the ground, shattering its' obsidian head, but the ring was stuck in the fletching. Jonathan went over and grabbed it.

We looked it over and found that it was magical ring that generated a field of force that acted like a shield. We all looked to Jonathan, and he put it on and tried out some moves. He said that it would mess up his flow too much. I asked Faunra if she could use it then. She put it on and noted that she could. Dame Rebekah asked why I would not want it. I told her that eventually, I might make myself a shield, I could even see myself having a ring that makes a shield like that, but that I had a specific design in mind if I was to ever wield a shield. It was a custom from my home-world. I created an image on a wall of Captain America's shield. I told them it was all about the iconography. Dame Rebekah understood better than Faunra, but Faunra was more than willing to take the Ring for right now. The fact that the thing that would help protect her was a symbol of her hated foe seemed to give her a little boost of confidence or meaning.

We pushed the skinless body into the fire pit and watched it burn. We had our filter masks up to deal with the smell of burning Barghest. When the corpse was fully consumed, we all felt some heavy magic dissipate. Faunra told us that the only thing keeping the Barghest in this room was a spell that had been cast a long time ago. She said that it was an extremely powerful one, to last as long as it had. I noted that this would not be the prison that we had thought it could be. Dame Rebekah nodded but noted that it still could be a prison or an outpost for Sandpoint. She said that it might take some work, but it would still serve to keep the worst offenders out of the town jail. It was far enough away that it would give the town time to react if a warning was given. I told her that the batteries on the radios would never last that long. She offered up the idea of signal fires. Then it hit me. I thanked her and started plotting it out in my book. I asked if this world had spotlights.

She told me that it did. I drew up a shutter system that allowed for a person to open and close the light. I showed everyone the system. Dame Rebekah said that they already had hooded lanterns here. I told them that they could have a pair of these. One on Thistletop, and one on the Old Light. They could be pointed next to each other. The shutters allow you to open and close them. I then taught them all Morse code, how a series of dots and dashes of light can be turned into words. Faunra picked up quickly and guessed that this was an invention of my home-world. I told her that yes, it was. She said that she was impressed that we had managed long range communication without magic using such simple tools. I told her that we worked with what we had. I added that if we used a couple of continual flame spells on objects inside the spotlights, they would not even need to refill the spotlights with oil or anything.

Dame Rebekah noted that she could pray for these continual light spells, but that they would take some gemstones that cost a fair amount. I told her that we could bring it up when we had our discussion with Sheriff Hemlock when we got back. I worked with Jonathan to gather up a lot of seawater from the lower levels and bring it back up to where the skin was. I used my prestidigitation powers to get the salt out of the water, only a little bit at a time, and then used it on the Barghest Skin. When it was sufficiently salted, we rolled it up and gathered up everything we could. Jonathan had lifted the racks from the room and was using them to store a lot of stuff. We got back to the door and found it was shut. We knocked on the door and the guard asked if it was us.

He told us that he didn't trust that it was us. I asked him to bring Jaren down to talk to us so that we could ascertain that it was actually us. We heard him leave off and we talked a bit among ourselves. I noted to the group that we could use a bit of a break after dealing with all of this crap. They agreed and said that they were all looking forward to a bit of rest and recovery. Jaren got down there shortly and asked us to have all of us give him our names. We did, each in turn. He asked us where I had told him to go and what I had told him to do. I told him that I had told him to go to the Armory and to talk to Savah to get a discount. He unbarred the door and lets us out. He noticed the large skin that was wrapped up and asked if he could get a look at it. Jonathan telekinetically unrolled it and spread it out to display. He said that it was a nice skin without any damage. We nodded and told him that the Island should be relatively safe now.

He accepted that and I asked him if we could have a quick chat. He took us up to what he was using as an office, the former Goblin Chieftain room. Instead of the throne, there were desks and tables with maps and ledgers. I marked it as an improvement on the décor. I told him that I was working out a better system for communication for them that wouldn't require a person using hourglasses and the rapidly dying radios. He said that this was good because he called in his last report, which was us entering the room, and the batteries died just after he signed off. I asked him to give me the radio and the batteries and he did. He noted that for now they would just have to send messenger birds. I nodded sympathetically and told him that progress takes time. I added that we would be reporting directly to the Sheriff after we got into town.

Jaren accepted that and said that he hoped that whatever it was that we had figured out to help with the communication issues would be something that wouldn't require an hourglass. I told him nope, just a person and some lights. He digested that and sent us on our way. We met up with Walda Ambrush as we were heading out, and she asked us to pass a missive to Father Zantus. Dame Rebekah gladly accepted the rolled up parchment and we got back together with Shalelu at the horses. She was glad to see us safe and took a look at the Barghest skin. She said it was good skinning, to which I replied that it is easy to skin something when you can use magic to fix up your mistakes. She smiled to that and we all headed back to Sandpoint. We got to the North Gate and Rhian Sawan greeted us. He told us that after the most recent transmission from Thistletop, communications went dead. Sheriff Hemlock had put the town on alert.

Dame Rebekah told him that we had slain the demon and were coming back to debrief the Sheriff. He acknowledged that and let us in. I keyed up my radio and quickly sent a call over it to Savah, saying that we were back in town and going to meet with the Sheriff. She sounded exceptionally happy and said that she couldn't wait to see us. Well, she said me, but I think it was just a misspeak. We went straight to the Garrison with Shalelu. She decided to come in with us, to give her updates on the areas around the town, as a freebie since it was so recent, and her thoughts on the matter.

The Sheriff was a fairly in a fairly annoyed mood and it showed with his brusque manner of speech. He asked us for our updates, which we all gave from the aspects that we could provide. Shalelu went first, as she had seen what was going on in the surrounding areas and could give a good overview. Faunra went next, noting that the Barghest was slain and that the spell that was holding it has since collapsed. Dame Rebekah noted that it could still serve as a prison, as there were prison cells on the island and the rest of the island could be retrofitted. Jonathan didn't have too much to add so it came down to me. I apologized for the lifespan of the batteries, that I was looking into finding a way for them to last longer, but that we did have a work around.

Sheriff Hemlock asked what that was, and I told him that we could mount spotlights on both a tower placed at Thistletop and at The Old Light. With baffles placed on them, they could be used to spell out words through a series of dots and dashes. As long as the people who are communicating can record what is transmitted, it can be translated back and forth. He nodded and asked that he wouldn't even need to try to explain to people about the use of batteries? I told him nope, just that the message might take a little longer to get here. He noted that it was faster than a messenger bird. I did acknowledge that. He said that he would bring it up to the Mayor and see what she says.

I thanked him and asked if this was all that his message was about. He said that it wasn't that one part of it was for all of us, and one part was for just me. I gulped. He told us that the litigator from Magnimar was here and was discussing her case with both of her defendants. She told him that she expected this to be a fair trial, and not something that was a "back-woods lynching". I apologized for her city behavior and hoped that we would come to see that justice would be served. He accepted that and the others caught the hint and took their leave.

Sheriff Hemlock told me that I specifically was making enemies with certain powerful people in town and that if I didn't want to end up being targeting by the Sczarni, I might want to cool it down. I asked if the Sczarni were a criminal gang that assaulted people and burned down the mills. He told me that they were. I then asked him if it was such a bad thing that they might get caught if they tried to kill me or mine. She said that it wouldn't. I told him that I would try to ensure that I did not kill anyone who attacked me or mine, but that my friends and family's safety was paramount over some other person who was attacking us.

He picked up on something quickly, and asked family? I couldn't take it back and told him that I had gotten engaged to Savah and that we would be getting betrothed on Crystalhue. He congratulated me and told me that he guesses that it means that I am here to stay. I told him that I only ever looked to make things better for my community. He laughed and said that we might have vastly different definitions of better, but that he could see that my heart was in the right place. I flipped the tables on him and said, speaking of heart, I've seen how you are with Kaye Tesarani, Crystalhue would be a perfect time to get betrothed publically.

The Sheriff looked at me with a bit of remorse and said that he needed to be a Sheriff for all of the people, and that he couldn't be seen to take sides. I asked him if the laws were changed right now, and prostitution was made illegal, would he enforce the laws. He told me of course. I asked him what would change if he was visibly married to her. He said that the same people that I had upset would come after him. I told him that I wouldn't specifically mind the company. He smiled at that. I told him that it had always been my philosophy that people should be free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't impact another person's ability to do what they want or force them to do something that they don't want. The thing is, if a person doesn't like what they see, they can always just look away.

He said that he would think about it. I offered up one more Hail-Mary, saying that if they both felt that uncomfortable, they could get betrothed in disguise. If they are already being faithful to one another, what would it hurt? We could even engineer a reason for you to be out of town during the ceremony, like overseeing construction at the newest Sandpoint Jail, using lumber from the Scarnetti Lumber mill, so that he is slightly assuaged? He smiled and told me that I thought like an aristocrat, I told him that I just had a lot of experience seeing politicians duck out of things on my home-world. He shook my hand and said that he would talk to Kaye about it.

I left the room and the gang were waiting outside. I smiled and said that we were all good. Jonathan snickered and Faunra joined him. I shrugged and said that we had some time off and that we should use it to our benefit. We got to all of our horses and I noted that someone was waiting at them. It was a merchant who had been out of town the last few weeks. He claimed that Shadowmist was his. I looked at him and asked him how it was lost. He said that some goblins rushed out of the bushes and knocked him off the horse. His bodyguard tried to save him, but all the merchant could do was escape.

I looked to everyone else, and I said that if it's your horse, then it's yours. I took the saddles and everything that we had gotten for the horse and left Shadowmist with him. The rest of the group looked at me as they rode back and I walked with a saddle over my shoulder. I told them that if I had lost something and someone found it, I would want to have it returned. They nodded and kept the horses slow enough for me to keep up. I told them that realized that I was going to need to go get my car anyway. I could return the gold that the gnomes had given me as a deposit and leave them with the manual. Dame Rebekah noted that we could all head back to Windsong Abbey in a few days to go and pick it up. Shalelu noted that she would have to spend some time doing her forestry efforts but that she could catch back up with us when we got back in town.

I thanked everyone and told them that I hoped I could help them some time in the future. We stopped off at the Tannery and presented him with the Barghest skin. He said that it was in great condition and asked what we were thinking about using it for. I looked around and said, rug? Everyone agreed, so a rug it was. He took some gold, far less than he would have if we had brought the skin back in worse condition, and we headed off to the Goblin Squash Stables. We stabled the horses and I turned in the saddle and equipment. Daviren asked if we had lost one on the road. I told him that the previous owner of Shadowmist had staked a claim on him and I wasn't going to challenge it. He accepted that, and I told him thank you for all of the service that he had done for us so far. He in turn thanked us for dealing with the Thistletop goblins. Now he might be able to get past it all. I smiled and wished him luck.

We all kind of split up after that, with Dame Rebekah heading to the Cathedral, Jonathan taking the shelves and heading to his shop to keep working on it, and Faunra heading out of town with Shalelu. I went back to the Glassworks and spent the afternoon with Savah, working on copying a book out of my tablet to get to get to the kids. I started out using a lot of the Cassie Mayer books; Soil, Metal, Glass, Water, Wood, and Rock. They were twenty-four pages long each normally, but each of their pages was half of a book page. Coupling that with the fact that put the information on the pages from and back, I am getting a book to six pages. That left me with around sixty-four pages left. I added the First Science Encyclopedia from DK reference to fill out the remaining pages. I used to spend a LOT of time downloading all kinds of science books, just in case. Sure that doesn't sound doomsday prepper-ish at all. That completely filled out one of the books. It took me almost two hours. I made a second copy from the one that I made to save the battery life on my tablet. It was a little quicker than the first one and I figured that I was making good time.

Savah would check up on me from time to time and smile. She had a decent influx of customers, especially people who had previously made orders and were now just learning that her shop had moved. She would have a steady stream while I sat in a corner, in my armor, acting as a de facto mannequin. There were several people who seemed interested in either her armor or my upgraded model, but seemed to balk a bit about it being new. She would recommend that the person either talk to Chelger Fespen at the Cathedral or Ameiko Kaijitsu at The Rusty Dragon if they wanted the opinions of a regular townsfolk that wasn't trying to sell them something. It was about halfway through the afternoon when Cyrdak showed up. He saw me and started to set up his act and then noticed no one else was in the shop besides Savah. He asked Savah what kind of waiting list there was to get the kind of armor that we have. She said that it would take a week or so to get the materials, and then it might take as long as two days to make the items. I added especially if he wanted the enhanced version.

Cyrdak asked what the enhanced version was. I noted that the armor that me and my team wore is only a little more effective than a breastplate. I noted that it would cost a LOT more than what Savah was going to quote him, but that it should protect as well as full-plate but weigh as much as a chain shirt. He scoffed and said that it couldn't happen. I told him that it would be more encumbering than a chain shirt, but that it would just weigh about the same. I offered to let him check my armor's arm guard against another arm guard of similar size. Cyrdak accepted that and I stopped concentrating on my book copying to take my armor's bracer off and Savah brought my old steel one. He was a bit impressed by it. I told him that it is rather stiff, so if wouldn't flew more than regular steel armor would. He asked what a suit like I had would cost.

Savah told him that it would end up costing around twenty-four hundred gold pieces for the time and labor. He asked me what the improved version would cost. I told him that it would probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of five thousand gold, when it was all said and done. I told him that I would throw in a few extra benefits if he liked. He asked what kinds. I told him that we could add a holy symbol of his choice or other icon on to the breast like my symbol or Savah's, she helpfully flaunted her Celtic heart design, a filter mask incorporated with the hood like mine has, or pockets on the outside. I told him that there were some things that I was working on that could decrease the amount of time it took to remove the armor, but they were more suited with full sets of armor rather than individual pieces like Savah and I wore.

He told us that he would get back to us, and thanked Savah for being the intermediary in the game that I had been inducted into. She said that I caused enough Chaos in this town that it wouldn't be wise to not take me into account whenever anyone tries to plan anything. He said that it might take a little while but he'd definitely want to order something special for Sir Jaspar. Savah told him that we might be able to come to an arrangement. She whispered something to him, and I didn't try to make it out. I went back to copying books. He left the Armory saying that he would think about it, and that he would get back to her.

Since we had a moment alone, Savah came over to where I was making my copies and sat down on my lap. I broke off my concentration and looked up at her. She leaned down and kissed me. I asked why she did that. She told me it was because she wanted to, and because I stick my tongue out a little when I am concentrating, and that it was cute. I told her that I have never been able to figure out why. She shrugged and went over to the door, swaying her hips while she did. She asked if we were expected to have any company over tonight while locking it. I told her that I expected everyone to be taking the night off, since we had just cleared out Thistletop and the trial was tomorrow.

Savah turned around at the door asked me what trial. Oh shit, I had realized, I had not told her. I levelled with her everything about what we had discovered at Thistletop, about how Nualia had not perished in the blaze, how she had engineered the raid, how we had captured her and one of her bodyguards. I continued on to how we had secured the services of a Iomedaean litigator for the trials. I added that I expected to have to be there for testimony, and that I would really appreciate it if she could keep it quiet until it was determined that the town should know. She accepted that but said that I was going to have to give her something to keep her quiet. I asked her what she would like and she started walking over to me.