Bhaalson Remodel Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Okay folks, here is the next chapter of Bhaalson Remodel.  However, it is only in the attachment format because when I tried to copy in the text, the page went unresponsive.  Entirely.  Ten minutes later, still no reaction, so I had to exit the page and redo this.  We'll see tomorrow if I can copy and past the chapter in from another computer, but I have no idea if that will be possible.

Despite that, I hope you enjoy the chapter, even though it hasn't really been beta-read, more like beta-skimmed because of how long it took me to finish.  It's also huge guys, even for me.  

Chapter 4: You Meet All Sorts on the Road

About five minutes after talking to the guards, another local came out, this time an adventurer, a gnome. He took one look at the guards around Harry and his party and their dead attackers, his eyes lighting on Khalid and Jaheira for a brief second longer than would have been normal. “Alright you idiots, I don’t pay you to stand around like chickens with their heads in the trough after an attack’s happened. I’ll get a few of the stable hands to take care of the bodies, get back on watch..”

Harry turned to the man, seeing the information pop up above his head, as he noticed that he read as an adventurer, but was the blue of noncombatant while the guards moved off with alacrity. And even more oddly, the information read like the information he had gotten about the guards rather than Xzar or Khalid, although thankfully he wasn’t the yellow of a possible enemy, and such it gave Harry more information than he’d had from Skitter and his companion.

Bentley Mirrorshade, level 22 Warrior.

The owner of the Friendly Arm Inn, once a powerful adventurer, now a powerful innkeeper and landowner. He might have let his body go to seed a bit, but don’t let that fool you, this gnome could still probably give any low ranking adventurer a run for his money.

Harry could well believe it. The gnome seems to have a very tough looking body, just barely going to fat, but his level was more than ten levels below Jaheira and Khalid’s. But on the other hand Harry thought, those two aren’t nearly as tough for their levels as I would’ve expected. Nor were those mages. What’s up with that?

The whole idea of levels, and whether or not he and Imoen were normal or unusual was something they would have to figure out in the future. It could be perhaps because of their Elvish heritage. They’re just not as tough physically as they should otherwise be while all their other abilities are at the correct level? 

When the last guard was out of earshot, Bentley turned to Jaheira and Khalid, thumping his stomach in amusement. “You two!  It’s been how many years we’ve since I’ve seen you, and you’re still trailing trouble after you. Of course given your profession perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Perhaps, but perhaps not. Perhaps trouble is just there waiting for us when we arrive,” Jaheira said, holding out (and down) her hand to the gnomish man.  “It is good to see you old friend.”

“And I you,” he said with a booming laugh, clasping first her hand and then Khalid’s in friendship. “How are you both doing? Did you ever find a cure for that…”

“W, we are w, well enough,” Khalid said shaking his head subtly as he interrupted Bentley’s question. “Well en, n, enough. Although I will say, I did no, no, not anticipate being att, tt, attacked like this in your inn my friend. Have you beg, g, begun to lose your touch in finding fight, fi, fighting men?”

Some dig was involved in that that Harry couldn’t follow, but which caused the man to cough exasperatedly, shaking his head. “Will you never let me live that down?”

That half-elf warrior shook his head with a laugh. “No. It, it’s too good.”

Jaheira frowned, shaking her head, the loose tufts of blonde hair to either side to move slightly, although much of it was matted with blood from the fight, it had been that close. “Again with that old joke. If you’re going to make jokes at Mirrorshade’s expense Khalid, the least you can do is let your wife in on the story behind them.”

“He promised he would never tell anyone else that story, so don’t blame him,” Bentley replied with swiftly, almost glaring at Khalid who just nodded his head. “So, who are your new companions? And how long are you staying for? And,” he went on in a lower tone.  “What was this attack about. Do you require any help?” 

The last was asked very hesitantly, and it was obvious to Harry and the others the man had no love of the idea of getting involved in what he obviously considered Harper troubles. Still the fact he was offering at all said something good about him.

Harry stood forward, holding out his hand. “My name is Harry sir, and that is Imoen over there.  We are new adventurers out seeking the world away from Candlekeep, where I was a ward of Gorion.” He had instantly made a decision to not tell the man about why they had been attacked, instead saying that this seemed to be something because of his connection to Gorion. As he said that, a new notice appeared in his line of vision just above Bentley’s head.

“Spot check passed. Your charisma has allowed your thinly veiled lie to be believed by Bentley, just don’t get used to it.”

“That makes sense,” Gorion said with a nod. “Gorion made even more enemies than you two did after all, and not all of them came from Harper business either. He was much more active around the Sword Coast than the two of you were before his retirement to Candlekeep.”

“Indeed,” Jaheira said, going with the lie that Harry had come up with quickly shooting him an approving look before turning back to Bentley. “And the fact that we might be looking into another trouble around here also adds to that.”

“The Iron Intake Issue shortage,” the man said nodding slowly. “I can’t tell you much about it, I’ not been away from the Friendly Arm Inn for more than twenty years as you all well know. What I can tell you though is that it is a big issue, it’s having an impact both economically and politically.”

There was a loud *Bing*, as his Gamer system conjured another notice in front of Harry. 

The main quest, ‘Iron Intake Issue’, has been updated. You have realized the scope of the problem. 

The iron shortage problem is much larger than you feared, and the importance of finding the reasons behind it have grown. Search for more clues and you might discover more about the final goal of the individuals behind the problem.

“But we already knew that,” Harry muttered to himself, shaking his head.

“I do, don’t believe we need that m, m, much in the way of aid old f, f, friend, although if you would l, l, let us stay for free…” Khalid trailed off leadingly.

“Of course, of course! Do you honestly think I’d let you pay after being attacked in my inn? You can stay for three days in the best rooms of that we have available. That’s a suite on the fourth floor, a small foyer and two small bedrooms. I’ll even throw in telling my wife to use her identify skill for you on any items you have for free. I’m not happy that you were attacked within my inn’s walls, to put it mildly,” Bentley said, a fierce scowl appearing on his face. “Will that do?” 

“That will do nicely yes,” Harry said eagerly with a nod. “Thank you.”

“Might I ask that we also get free baths?” Imoen asked shaking her head as she looked down at her blood soaked leggings and blood splattered leather armor, which was really little more than a leather jerkin which offered a bare level of protection. “I’m feeling kind of dirty right now, and not the good kind.”

The gnome let out a laugh that was rather too loud to come from such a short fellow, shaking his head. “The Friendly Arm Inn offers warm baths for free, and hot meals for a penny a meal. It’s part of why were called the Friendly Arm Inn after all. Now come on, let’s get you started on those bathes.”

The four weary warriors entered the inn and found themselves in the main barroom instantly, where Bentley shouted at a young boy, who ran on ahead of them up the stairs with alacrity. The barroom was a high-ceilinged area, the main hall of the former baronial home the inn had been in ages past. The interior was lit by numerous lanterns here and there along with a few chandeliers with dozens of large candles each.  About a dozen tables were scattered around the area filled to capacity, and two bars, one of at the far end, one on another wall, both of them also filled. Indeed, there were so many people that Harry could barely make out any of their names with his Gamer skill, and on the map the room was a giant sea of blue dots. 

The whole area the area was just damn crowded, the noise of dozens of conversations bombarding their senses loudly from the get go. Hmm…I don’t know if I’d be able to pick out a yellow dot among the blue like this, that’s something important to remember.

It was so crowded and so noisy their entrance went unremarked, even the blood splattering them all was ignored as Bentley led the way around the outskirts of the hall and then to a series of stairs at the back. There he left them heading around the bar set to one side of the stairs where he disappeared underneath the bar for a second, coming back with a series of keys. He handed them to the four adventurers, telling them, “Room 403, take the stairs all the way up, then turn right, can’t miss it.”

Thanking him profusely, the blood-spattered group made their way up the inn, remaining quiet as they did. In the room, true to Bentley’s word, there were two tubs in each room already teeming with water. Imoen instantly went towards one, saying, “Girls over here, boys over there. And afterwards, I think we should all head downstairs and listen into the conversations going on. Bars like this, they’re going to have a lot of rumors, and if you listen to a lot of them, eventually you can put enough rumors together to get some truth. That way we can figure out if there’s anything new to learn about the iron shortage that the innkeeper doesn’t already know.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Harry said with a nod. “But while you all are doing that; I’ll take this ring I found on that mage’s body over to be identified and ask about other temples in the area since you two don’t know about any.”

Khalid nodded, smiling. “I can ask more questions from the innkeeper while we’re downstairs, specifics that can give us some idea of the scale of the iron ore trouble, how long it’s been going on, how far it has spread and such like. Bentley will also be able to point us to anyone who might have more information for us.”

For her part Jaheira looked around at the others and scowled a little internally. She had wanted to ask the two youngsters about their odd abilities and that spell they’d both used to defend the four of them from the fireball earlier, but evidentially, that wasn’t going to happen.

“I will talk to the proprietor,” she said warningly to Khalid as she pulled her armor over her head, dropping it to one side. She was amused to see that Harry had turned away from herself and Imoen as they began to under their armor, which in her case was a chain mail. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have anything on underneath after all. “You and the innkeeper would probably simply start to exchange stories and lose yourself in that and the wine rather than keeping on task.”

“You wound me,” Khalid said, although he did look a little guilty to Imoen’s eyes, as if the idea of losing himself to the wine wasn’t one he could argue against very well.  

Later on, Imoen, out of her armor - such as it was - and into some leggings and a jerkin, smiled happily as she grabbed up a stein of ale from the bar, and began to move through the crowd, saying “excuse me,” “sorry about that miss”, and “hey love, ‘ware behind.”

As she did, she kept her ears open, looking around thoughtfully despite acting as if she was just wondering the crowd looking for a free seat. She spotted Harry instantly, moving through the crowd, looking uncomfortable as he made a beeline to the door. Funny that I didn’t notice that when we were in Hogwarts. He really doesn’t do well with crowds does he? 

He moved through the crowd too, but unlike Imoen who moved through it like a fish through water, he parted the waves like a ship, his larger frame able to just move people out of the way. Yet as he did so, he bowed his head and acted self-conscious, trying to make himself small at the same time he was pushing through the crowd. 

Shaking her head at that, Imoen moved through the crowd herself, heading towards the table that had just lost one of its members. “Hey all,” she said plopping into the empty chair.  “You mind if I take up this chair for just the time it takes me to finish this drink?”

The other table goers, two dwarves, a human, and a gnomish woman mostly shrugged their shoulders, although the human man leaned across, smirking at Imoen. “That depends, how long does it take you to finish? Because my friend was sitting there moment ago.”

She shrugged. Then she downed half of her stein in one long gulp before slamming it down the table. Imoen had learned early on in this world that she could drink like a fish, which was good since she’d been able to do that in her last life too. “I don’t know you tell me,” she said cheekily. 

The two dwarves smacked the table in approval, and the man scowled leaning back, conceding the point.

After that, Imoen introduced herself in as bubbly a manner as she could manage, which given her old life as Tonks was a hell of a lot, slapping on an actual question at the end. “So I’m Imoen, a would be adventurer out from Candlekeep with a friend, although we seem to have chosen a bad time to explore the world. What kind of dangers are out there for someone like me?”

“A lot,” the human man said, and Imoen looked up above his head for just a brief second, seeing that he was an Adventurer, a level nine Thief, which was interesting. The other two were farmers, who simply shrugged ignorance as the man went on. “Business is down all around.  The sub-humans, the orcs, goblins, kobolds, and knolls are all making trouble throughout the Sword Coast, there had been a few reports of dire spiders and other monster type issues. Especially bandits along the road. Beyond that, well, if you want more info, ya might want to pay in return darlin’.” The look in his eyes as he gazed at Imoen told her precisely what kind of payment he wanted.

“Don’t speak to me about spiders!” shouted a voice nearby, obviously having overheard that comment through the background noise of the bar. “My home, my precious home!”

“Wow,” Imoen said, looking down at her drink.  “And here I thought I needed this.”

With that, she stood up, and quickly moved over to the woman who had been sobbing, patting her back, and pouring her own drink into the woman’s.  “There there, have a bit more drink, sorry I can’t offer more, unless you’re actually having issues?”

“Define having issues dearie,” the woman, whose name read as Landrin, a civilian said, drinking her drink eagerly, whining aloud, “My home, my lovely home…”

Seeing the woman was in no mood just yet to talk, Imoen moved on from there grinning at all around her and flirting it up, pulling drinks out of men’s hands and drinking half of them before pressing them back with a wink and sometimes a kiss on a cheek or a pat on the rear and moving on, her hips twitching this way and that. Yet whenever anyone got to fresh, she smacked away their hands with a laugh, gaining nods of approval from the barmaids working the crowd. You would’ve thought that a person with pink hair wouldn’t be able to fit into a crowd like this, but Imoen did it with an ease of long practice, her normal outgoing effervescent nature playing well here. But while she seemed to just be having fun, Imoen she was listening all the time.

The first bit of information she heard that could deal with the ‘Iron Intake Issue’ (a name she still loathed, it didn’t even make sense!) which she overheard a few merchants saying that caravans were a new thing, but also didn’t seem to be working. “How the hell are they managing to bring together enough of brigands to truly stop a caravan!” shouted one man to another.

The gnome who had been shouted at growled back to the human doing the shouting, his own tone angry.  “I don’t know, if I did do you think I’d still be sitting here waiting for my guilds okay to turn around back to Baldur’s Gate? But they are. The guards are charging more and more as they lose men and material.” He spat angrily to one side.
Hah, it isn’t as if the iron is actually any good by the time it arrives in Baldur’s Gate anyway!” 

They looked around as Imoen bumped into them, muttering an excuse me, before moving on, circling around that conversation slowly as she listened while the conversation had quickly turned back to the brigands. The iron shortage was indeed only half a problem. The rest of the rumors were about lots of bandits and undead and rest, having been on the rise in the area too. There was good money for adventurers on guard detail, and not many places safe from one type of danger or the other. The dangers from these bands of sub-humans was way more even for t a place as untamed as the Sword Coast. 

The Main Quest Iron Intake Issue has been updated. You have found new information.

For some reason, the iron issue is occurring at the same time that there has been a rise of bandit activity, both from human and nonhumans. How could these two troubles be related? How could they not be, given the timing? This information adds to your information pool and counts towards solving this quest. 

How many clues can you discover in the Friendly Arm Inn, the meeting place of North, South, east and West? 

There is a bonus available for finding them all!

“It’s tainted I tell you tainted at the source!” said another man, interjecting himself into the conversation. 

He wasn’t the first one who mentioned something like that. More than one of the other drinkers said something similar about how they’d seen iron tools crack. A few had seen swords do the same, and more than half a table of hunters in from the woods said that even their steel arrowheads and daggers had started to show signs of failing. This eventually added up to another update.

The Main Quest Iron Intake Issue has been updated. You have found new information. 

Something wrong with the iron itself? How can that be? You have heard numerous rumors about there being a problem not only with the shipment of iron, but with the quality of the iron when it arrives. Added to the fact that you have seen perfectly good-looking weapons break, this gives you new information that will count towards this quest. 

There was even talk of some kind of a fortress being run by the knolls down South. But Imoen only heard one rumor about that, and it didn’t activate the quest log as the rest of the rumors had.

Thank God this quest stuff carries over though, Imoen thought, still smiling cheerfully as she turned away from one man, giving him a kiss on the cheek for the drink he’d offered her, but nothing more as she moved on leaving him with with a smile but nothing more. She paused mid-step though as she heard another *Bing*.

Flirty Little Lass: Imoen has used her body and wiles gain information that will serve the party in the future. +1 to Imoen’s Charisma. Add another two points to your charisma and the chance to confuse men will go up by ten percent.

“Bonus,” whispered to herself, then carrying on even more eagerly, though she kept from doing anything more than a wink and a kiss.

It quickly turned out that the Sword Coast was a source of raw goods for both Amn and Baldur’s Gate. Indeed, you could say that without the Sword Coast’s resources, Baldur’s Gate would not be the massive city-state that it was. Wood for the city itself and for its massive fleet, healing herbs, several types of exotic spices, the Sword Coast was famous for its spices, all sorts of ore from precious metals to nickel and iron.  All of it was able to be found here. But without iron, even other mining operations were slowing down.

“Indeed, there used to be a mining operation to the north west, a major one that should have been the start of a outposts town at the very least,” said one middle-aged man, shaking his head to a comment someone else had made about the iron issue only impacting adventurers, not noticing Imoen moving in close enough to overhear them halfway through. “But they couldn’t get mining equipment that could last at all in the past few months. If that kind of thing spreads, Baldur’s Gate won’t last, it’s power is built on trade after all.”

“I know the mine ya were talking about I think,. They were forced to abandon it about a month back. It’s a damn shame too, all of those attacks emptied the place out quickly, and I think that someone else has moved in,” said another man at the bar, leaning over Imoen to do it causing her to shift from her chair.

*B-Bing*.  Imoen almost cheered aloud as she saw another two updates after that conversation before frowning slightly as she read them. The first was fine, but the second was downright annoying.

The Main Quest, Iron Intake Issue quest has been updated, you have found information. 

You know now that the iron problem is effecting the whole economy of the region. All other mining operations have stopped, as far as the locals know. That could mean a disaster in the future for Baldur’s Gate.

Imoen has discovered a conversation that might lead to a quest. Unfortunately only the party leader can find and accept quests.

Still look at the bright side Imoen old girl, if you see a notice like that, you know where to direct Harry after he comes back from the temple, Imoen thought, keeping her spirits up. This was made easier a second later as her charisma went up another point do to her flirting. Only one more. Although I wonder if I could use ‘Flirty Little Lass’ in combat?

At the same time Imoen was working the crowd, the two Harpers had also gone to work. They had begun to speak quietly to Bentley and a few of the better dressed individuals. Imoen slowly drifted over, looking at them quizzically, and Jaheira whispered introductions into her ear which Imoen promptly forgot. Who cared if this or that individual was a magnate, whatever that meant, or a merchant prince, heck what did that even mean?  

And yet, as she listened, she started to understand more. ‘Who has to gain’ was the main thrust of this discussion. 

“Not the current power structure in Baldur’s Gate, or Amn. It’s true that our two nations, if Baldur’s Gate could even be called such are in a constant struggle, but it is an economic struggle, not a military one,” said the magnate, some guy from across the ocean, here on his way back to Baldur’s gate.

“Baldur’s Gate could call up whole armies of mercenaries with its treasures, and the city itself is near to impregnable. It’s mighty navy would make hash of any other nations maritime trade if they were so foolish as to go to war with it,” opined one man, smiling thinly at his fellows.

“Ah, but in contrast, Amn is very definitely its own superpower, with a massive military force, so wouldn’t need to pour out it’s life’s blood for a short term solution.” Said an Amnian, who despite his words was looking quite defensive, and also relieved that neither Jaheira or Khalid had a Baldur’s Gate accent, like most around the table. He went on in a more conciliatory tone. “But… they are a land-based force. Baldur’s Gate could hurt Amn severely with its navy and fighting along the Sword Coast would be horrible for both.”

“We are all agreed to that,” Jaheira said sharply. “You’re just basically listing reasons why whoever is stirring up trouble can’t be from one place or the other. But surely it must be someone in one of those areas yes? Who then?”

There were some looks between them, and the Gate natives spoke up. “…A noble perhaps, disillusionment yet with deep pockets, who wants to see himself rise and others fall. It would be an age old story, if written in different ink.”

“That metaphor didn’t work for me, sorry,” Imoen said with a shake of her head. “Could you explain that to this poor country girl?”

“He meant that a noble that nobles always scheme against one another, rising and falling, and if someone had, say in the last two generations taken in a major setback acting out in this manner might appeal to them. I think it’s a bit of a reach myself,” Jaheira said shaking her head even as she instructed the younger girl. “No, this must be the signs of something else, a criminal organization?”

“Than most definitely does not come from Amn,” the man from Amn said. “In my own business dealings I have had conflicts and issues with the Shadow Thieves, and they stomp all holy hell out of any other group that attempts to act illegally in their own territories. The Shadow Thieves well understand the limitations of a criminal enterprise.”

“Which means that it is still likely to come from Baldur’s Gate,” Jaheira said, with Khalid nodding agreement as he filled up his wine glass and that of the two men to either side of him before passing it on. It was obvious both more experienced adventurers agreed with the point the Amnian had raised. 

“And I still say no!” Said one of the city-states natives, his fellows joining in hotly. “You’re just trying to paint it like it’s our fault!” 

“How dare you?” Said Amnian native scowling angrily. “I’m simply stating facts.”

“And your facts just happened to insult us, calling into question our city and its honor?”

At that point, Imoen realized she wouldn’t hear anything more from this group until they calmed down some more. Rather than wait for that slipped away, leaving Khalid and Jaheira to play peacemakers for a time, moving through the bar area once more. She noticed though that Jaheira seemed to be doing much of the talking, and Khalid more than his share of drinking. And did she notice him glancing at a few of the barmaids too?

Shaking that thought off, Imoen turned her mind to the annoyingly named quest they were all on. Weird that they are both convinced this problem originates in or the other’s territory, and not really smart. After all the Sword Coast is huge! 

Imoen had seen a map back in Candlekeep and estimated it to be at least the length of, say a trip from one side of Italy to the other side of France, although it had nowhere near the width of those nations. But that’s only because of the ocean to the west, and the massive entirely unexplored forest to the west. Who knew what was out there? Heck who could knew what could be hidden in the Sword Coast itself. Like whoever took over that mine I heard about earlier that could lead to a new quest once I get Harry back in here. *Ding*

Iron Intake Quest has been updated. You have discovered a clue. 

Though your opinions might not be shared by others, with all the eyes facing towards Baldur’s Gate or Amn, it leaves the rest of the Sword Coast open. While this doesn’t exactly cut down on where you are searching, it is certainly a step towards doing so. It remains to be seen if you’re correct of course, but hey, baby steps.

Imoen paused, slipping into a shadow not using the thief technique just moving behind a pillar of wood for a moment, glaring up at the message before flicking it away with her finger. Okay, I’m beginning to see Harry’s point. The weird sense of humor of this Gamer ability of his is disturbing at times.

Still, thinking about it Imoen had to admit that the game was right. And yet, she still felt the locals were wrong. She didn’t think it was anyone who had anything to do with the existing power structures. Too many pies were getting upset by this move for that to really ring true to her. Follow the money, always follow the money, or whoever benefits, that’s what my instructors, and all those cop shows I watched, say. Always look to who benefits, She thought to herself, frowning. I can’t find a money trail, not yet, but Nashkel is the key, where the Iron Intake Issue is coming from. Whatever else is occurring, it’s roots are there. *Ding* 

“Oh God dammit!” Imoen shouted. This got her some odd looks from around her, and she winced, quickly making up a story. “Stubbed my toe sorry.”

Everyone else went back to what they were doing and allowed Imoen to read the message that it just appeared her line of sight. ‘For showing insight and actual forward thinking, something unheard of among most Adventurers, you have heard +1 to Intelligence. Congratulations.’ Ruddy Gamer system. She glared down at her toe for a moment, then sighed and moved on.  

OOOOOOO

At the same time that Imoen was making all of these quest boxes appear, Harry was in the Temple of Wisdom dedicated to Garl Glittergold, the chief of the gnomish pantheon of gods. Luckily, he had also inputted a command into his interface meant that those messages appeared high and to the right of his line of sight as little square bars in different colors after the fight with Gorion’s attackers.  So he could ignore them to concentrate on his discussion with the priestess of the temple. 

She was of the same age as her husband, and just as friendly-looking, but whereas he had dressed in almost somber, sturdy work clothes, she was dressed in a robe, which was made up of tiny patches of colors, all the colors of a rainbow. It matched the decor of the interior of the temple, which was lined with shiny bits of marble in various colors all around, spiral patterns, whirls of colored glass that was quite pretty in a gaudy sort of way.

At least, Harry thought I hope most of them are glass.  Surely not every temple could afford to showed that kind of wealth right? On the other hand, they are kind of dedicated to a God of gems, lapidaries and protection, so maybe people are afraid of stealing from them.

Underneath her somewhat amazing robe, Gwyneth was short, what some would’ve called dumpy, but Harry felt was more matronly than anything else. She was the first gnome lady he’d ever seen, but she certainly seems typical of the type that was talked about in the few fictional stories he had read. 

“I’m sorry, could you repeat?” she asked, turning away from what she had been doing, which seemed to have been examining a series of potions in front of her, frowning heavily, the frown disappearing into a wry quirk of the lips as she looked at Harry. 

“I was at wondering if you could tell me about where to find temples to for the Gods of Light,” Harry repeated.

She blinked, somewhat looking surprised. “That’s what I thought you said. Most of the time when they ask for directions like that it’s to the temple of a specific god, and even that is rare. Can I ask why?” 

“I’m a Paladin, but I grew up in Candlekeep so while I have a lot of the training, I have yet to devote myself to any specific God,” Harry supplied by rote. 

“Oh,” the woman said nodding her head rapidly I see. “Yes, paladins do sometimes crop up like that, although, I have to warn you that even if you find a God to worship, your acceptance into the Order of the Radiant Heart is not quite the same thing. I can tell you a bit about temples around here but I’m afraid there aren’t many of them in the Sword Coast.” The matron went on after describing the Order of the Radiant Heart, which was the Order of paladins, active throughout the world. “The Radiant Heart as an organization is somewhat separate from all three churches, although they do answer to them as a whole. You can still be a paladin and not be part of the Order, but it is much harder without that structure.”

As she spoke a quest box appeared. It flashed above Gwyneth’s head at full size since it was something Harry had done himself rather than coming from Imoen.

A new quest has appeared, Radiant Heart or Radiant Loner.  Congratulations!

The Order of the Radiant Heart is the only game in town if you are a paladin, an order made up by paladins devoted to not one, not two, but all three of the gods of light to make use of Paladins at all. You can be a paladin and not be a member but becoming a member of the Order of the Radiant Heart will open many doors for you in the future. Or it might close them. Who knows? It will be up to you to make that decision.

Despite the tone of the message though, Harry was kind of uninterested in joining any Order just yet. He would need to think about that in the future perhaps, but right now, he just wanted to figure out a way to gain access to the skills that had drawn him to choose to become a paladin in the first place. “How did I not know about them before this?” he asked Gwyneth.

“The Order is actually a relatively new thing in terms of world history. They’ve only been around since the Time of Troubles, and they haven’t actually appeared in many books,” she teased, to which Harry simply nodded conceding her point.

“At any rate, there is a temple on the outskirts of Beregost, the next settlement you’ll find if you’re going south.  It’s a decent sized town, although it’s fallen on hard times thanks to bandit raids in the past year or so. The temple is dedicated to Lathander, but that is the only temple between here and the mining town of Nashkel. And there’s no place in Nashkel that worships a God of Light.”

“…Although,” she said, perking up slightly.  “There are roving paladins who could give you some information about their patron deities if you ask. A young one who was a member of the Order came through on a quest a few days ago heading east. I rather liked him.  And I know another paladin took up station in Beregost right before these recent troubles began.”

She smiled at Harry faintly, as he nodded thanking her for the information. “Now that I’ve answered your question though, could you perhaps answer one of mine?”

Harry blinked at that but nodded politely. “If I can, certainly.”

“Why do I, when I look at you a young soul in a nearly adult body?” He blinked, and she laughed, gesturing around them. I am a priestess of the Garl Glittergold, who along with protection and gems, is a god of trickery. So we who have devoted ourselves to Glittergold sometimes see truths where others see merely reality. And souls are not nearly as simple as you might think.”

“…I never actually consider them simple in the first place,” Harry said slowly. “You could say that well I’m a traveler of sorts,” he went on, knowing instantly that trying to lie to this woman would not only not work but would be counterproductive. “In another place, I, well I made a mistake, and found myself in this new body here.” 

When she nodded with a smile, making a little go on gesture he obeyed. “Rather than try and fail to get home, I decided to make the most of my new life here. My life back home wasn’t… well it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. A lot of things were out of my control, and I didn’t want to be what perceived me as, or like how other people demanded I become,” Harry said thinking of the Wizarding World’s scary amount of interest in him the vagaries of the public over the year he’d been in Hogwarts, and the Dursley’s and how they had tried to starve magic out of him this summer and before.

“Good for you,” Gwyneth said cheerfully, reaching out to thump him on the arm. 

“You’re not going to ask more questions about that?” Harry asked, both relieved and confused.

The older gnome woman laughed gaily. “Nom no. You answered my questions, whatever other secrets you are trying to keep hidden are yours. Trying to discern secrets like that have never been my main calling, seeing the truth as I can occasionally is enough. Still I will ask you, why did you want to be a paladin in this life? That is a very hard life you’ve said yourself, one of constant warfare, quests and doing battle with darkness. Both dark things, and dark individuals at times. You will see the best and the worst humanity and the other races have to offer as a Paladin to a far greater extent than you would in any other job.”

Harry, once more struck by the realization that trying to lie about this would not be a good idea, answered honestly, looking away sheepishly. “Well, I didn’t really think about that kind of long term thing. I’ve always wanted to fight the good fight obviously but well I suppose… isn’t every little boy’s dream to become a knight? And of course, the healing aspect of becoming a Paladin was a major draw.”

“Well that’s one reason to become a paladin,” Gwyneth said with a jolly laugh, slapping her stomach lightly as she leaned back in her chair. At the same time, a green stat notice appeared in his line of vision.

You have passed the test of the priestess Gwyneth, answering her questions truthfully, and showing that you are of a good heart. +1 to wisdom, plus a special item bonus.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief at that, and she asked, “Although I do have some advice for you if you’re willing to listen?” When Harry nodded, Gwyneth smiled. “First, remember that no matter how harsh this life may be, that you remember to have fun and make it a life worth living.”

“With my friend Imoen along, that at least isn’t a big issue,” Harry said dryly shaking his head as yet another little square glowing rectangle appeared indicating an incoming message of some kind.

“In that case, I wouldn’t recommend Helm to you. He is far too serious and very judgmental. Either Tyr, or Torm would probably work best for you.”

From there, the woman went into a a basic overview of what she thought the two other Gods of Light were like, causing Harry to chuckle as Tyr was described as “not only the God of martyrs, but the God of whiners and whingers. Really, Torm would be much more fun at a party,” she said with a laugh.  “Here, take this book.”

She held out a book, the title of which read, ‘An Adventurer’s Guide to the Gods of Light and Darkness.’ “It will no doubt help you a lot as you go on, though I still maintain that mere book learning is no substitute for experience. Still, I think I’ve talked your ear off enough. The point is, knowing yourself is not a simple journey, but a never tapped changing tapestry of experiences and choices, and making certain you devote yourself to the right guide is a step best taken after a lot of thought. Just make certain when you look in a mirror, you like the person is looking back at you. That is the most important thing.”

The side quest (large) Pray for your Future has been updated. 

Listening to Gwyneth Mirrorshade has given you more information that will help you move forward in your quest to become a real paladin, little boy. Congratulations. +2000 experience.

Harry smiled at that, knowing 2000 was actually a nice chunk of the experience needed to go on to the next level. Although the fact that it gave me so much experience points for just asking the right questions and getting answers instead of actually fighting or killing someone, sort of showed how much people’s lives were worth here. That was a little disturbing, but thanks to his Gamer’s Mind it didn’t bother him as much as it should.

As Harry looked into the first few pages of the book, Gwyneth asked, “Was there anything else, the old priestess asked. “Because at this point, considering I just handed you a book, which cost me some money to buy in the first place, well, we priests tend to demand a monetary room recompense.” 

Harry fumbled in his pouch for a moment, bringing out several gold coins as well as the ring he had found on the corpse of the wizard.  “Um yes, could you identify this for me?” Harry knew his intelligence was high enough that he could use the identify skill himself, but he had never seen how someone went about using the skill before and apparently he had to, since his first attempt to identify the ring hadn’t worked, nothing changing nor did any message box appear.

The woman nodded, and held up the ring to her eyes, spinning it thoughtfully, then looking at it through a series of refractions of light from above. Then she nodded. “This is a ring of wizardry; it adds to the number of spells that a wizard can memorize per day below the spell level three.”

You have learned identify: 

This is a skill based on your own knowledge, along with your intelligence and wisdom stats combined then divided by half. You will have better luck identifying simple items, rather than more difficult ones, but as you learn about the world, and your knowledge base and stats, so too will your ability with this skill and what information you can glean with it about unknown items.

“Thank you,” Harry said, paying the hundred gold crowns for the identify spell, and then 50 more for her advice despite Bentley having said he would get access to that skill of his wife’s for free..

A hundred and fifty gold coins was chump change for what Harry had learned today, even if it would normally have cut into his and Imoen’s budget given how short a time they’d been on the road. But Harry had a bit of a trick there: the jewels he had collected during the tutorial phase back in Candlekeep. Harry had a total of five hundred forty seven lynx eye gems which he could sell to make some quick cash. Each alone wasn’t worth much, but given the sheer number of them he had, Harry knew they could make him a lot of money, so long as he was careful how and when to sell them.

“Thank you young one. Bentley might have told me to help you with identify for free, but well, my church does need to pay its own upkeep. A sense of independence is necessary in a marriage like ours,” she said chuckling. “I hope that your quests go as well as they can in this imperfect world of ours, and remember what I said, always remember to know yourself.”

Harry nodded, and turned exiting the temple. Outside he paused in a patch of shadow to go over the message boxes that had built up in his peripheral vision from Imoen, shaking his head as he noted she had upgraded her ‘Flirty Little Lass’ Life Skill. He also saw the Quest notices, and smiled at how much progress she’d made, although learning she couldn’t’ take, quests for them was something of a mixed bag. 

On the one hand, she can’t sign us up for something silly or promise that we’ll go out of our way. Having lived with her for more than half a year by this point Harry had a very good grasp of Imoen/Tonks’s personality.  On the other hand, it would hurry things along at times. Still, not a big deal right now.

Entering the inn he found Imoen still working the crowd. She spotted him almost as fast as he had spotted her, waving her hand. “There’s my buddy now!” She said expansively, waving a tankard of ale around and gesturing Harry over to join her. She had found her way back to the woman who had yelled about spiders, thinking it might be another quest, and had been proven right a moment ago. “This young laaaady here,” she said slurring her words slightly and very deliberately. “hasss an issue with some spiders down in Beregost.”

Harry nodded agreeably, having seen a notice to that affect a moment ago. What’s your name miss and what kind of trouble are we talking about?” A few minutes of conversation later, a new quest message box appeared in a blue color, although the Gamer’s continued use of alliteration made Imoen conk her head against the table. 

“You have agreed to the quest (minor) Spider Splatter: 

The weaver Landrin has a rather ironic problem in the form of an infestation of spiders in her house. Get Rid of these overgrown insects and you will be rewarded.

Reward: two hundred gold, plus an extra fifty for every spider killed.

However Harry saw something Imoen didn’t, a little odd button like addition to the bottom of the message box which read ‘haggle possible’. 

Thinking quickly, Harry slowly nodded. “Well miss, my party is going that way, and I can certainly say we’d be up to the job. The reward also sounds good, but I was wondering if, once we clear out the house, could we have use of it while we are in Beregost? Obviously you’re comfortable enough here, but our business might have us staying in the town or to the south of it for some time, so having a house of our own would be very nice. I can promise we’ll clean up after ourselves,” he said with a wink.

The old woman smiled at him and harry saw two more messages appear.

Charisma Check Passed. You have convinced an elderly woman that you can be trusted to look after her home for her, what are you, a teenager?

The second read: 

Your first attempts to haggle was, successful though you aimed low. That could be a good thing, but perhaps next time, you can figure out how to really use that Potter Luck enhanced Charisma of yours?

From there Imoen led Harry around to several other people she’d met. The next conversation was with a dwarf woman who had decided to make an early night of it, retreating to her room after having met Imoen earlier. She led Harry up, and to her room, where they were let in without much preamble.

“You want us to what?” Harry asked a moment later, frowning. 

“Return a girdle,” the dwarf woman said, growling. “Are you an idiot, or just hard of hearing? said. She was the first dwarf woman that Harry had met, and she was exactly how you would envision a dwarf woman, stout, with muscles and a large chest, although she didn’t look nearly as stout (read as fat) as most rumors made them out to be. 

“That’s what I thought you said. Um, how exactly did you lose this girdle?” Harry asked, wondering what ‘girdle’ meant here, and hoped it only meant a belt of some kind rather than anything else it could be.

“I was waylaid by an ogre who has some kind of fixation on girdles. He forced me to choose between my girdle and my life, and well, the decision was quite obvious. But I still I would like it back. I will pay 100 gold coins for its return,” the dwarf, Unshey, replied.

Harry nodded slowly reading the notice as it popped up thinking, then slowly nodded as he once more attempted to haggle. “150, plus I think, and the cost of any healing spells we might need after.”

Another Charisma check failed here, and Unshey refused, but still offered them the quest, so Harry decided to take this with a grain of salt and move on. At the same time however, she was staring at Harry’s forehead.

Having gotten out of the habit of expecting that kind of thing in his new life where the scar on his forehead was just one scar among several his new body had rather than a symbol of his status as the Boy-With-Hyphens, Harry finally got fed up with it and asked, “excuse me, but is something wrong?”

“Hmm, no, not, not wrong exactly,” Unshey said, frowning. “It’s just, I have to wonder why you carved out what looks like a rune of protection on your forehead.”

“What?” Harry asked, blinking while Imoen’s face radiated confusion.

“You didn’t know? That scar on your forehead matches a rune of protection, one that is connected to Clangeddin Silverbeard, one he, it has been written, actually received from Lord Ao the Over-God. I’ve seen it on temples occasionally devoted to the god of battle, and at times on the armor of some of his priests.”

Clangeddin Silverbeard was not the head of the dwarven pantheon, but he was a Lawful Good deity whose portfolio was war, honor, and blacksmithing. That was almost all Harry knew about him, though he had heard that he was called on more by war leaders and those seeking wisdom in war than for courage or anything else. 

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Harry said, frowning.

Unshey shrugged. “It could be a coincidence, who knows, stranger things have happened. It just caught me by surprise is all.”

You have discovered a Side Quest (unknown) Fate Marked or Just Marked? Congratulations.

The dwarf Unshey is positive that the scar on your forehead, which once marked you as the Boy-Who-Lived, is a rune of protection from a dwarven god on this plane. This is, needless to say, extremely unusual, and something you will no doubt need to follow up on… somehow… in the future. But perhaps knowing what it is, and figuring out what happened that night when your parents gave their lives for you, would be an important down the line.

Unknown reward for completion.

The unknown was interesting, Harry reflected, but he also realized that this was one quest that would almost undoubtedly go unresolved. He glanced sideways and Imoen shook her head, indicating she had no idea either and Harry believed her. Imoen had told Harry all she could remember about the Potters, who she’d met when she was a toddler. Still, for now there was nothing they could do about it, and when he spoke, he had moved back to the quest Unshey was offering. 

“Well, that’s interesting, but I think we’re done here. Be aware though that we won’t be going out of our way to return your lost girdle to you after we reclaim it from this ogre. We have business down in Nashkel. We might be able to send it back this way with a caravan from Beregost. If we do, you can leave our payment with Bentley.” Harry said, to which Unshey agreed. 

They called Bentley up to witness it, and then Harry and Imoen left Unshey in her room with her books. They spoke about the odd new quest for a time, coming to no conclusions before they made it back into the main bar room.

Imoen and Harry went on from there to collect two minor quests that they could perform on the way down to Beregost, although they would have to return to the Friendly Arm Inn to collect their rewards in most cases. Imoen had also found bounties: money that would be paid for specific criminals or proof of the death of various criminal types: bandits, ogres, and hobgoblins. Hair for the bandits, ears for the ogres, and fingers for the hobgoblins. 

That made Harry a little queasy to think of but given the trouble those bands were making in the area, Harry couldn’t say he didn’t see the logic behind offering money for their extermination. He was more interested in the other quests and the use of haggling, which didn’t seem to be a set skill, but rather a bonus that connected to his charisma stat.

Still, the use of Landrin’s house while we’re in Beregost seems to have been the best reward so far. If we are going to stay there to search around our any clues about the iron shortage or if I want going to check in at the temple of Lathander having a house to stay in will just make everything more pleasant. 

The most important quest Imoen found though revolved around the mine to the northeast. Engaging the middle-aged trader who had spoken about it before, Harry let Imoen do the talking for a time. 

The man gave them a bit more background about the mine, and when they had been forced to close. “Aye, bandits have been seen in the area, a mix of hobgoblins and human bandits. A ranger came in here a few days back, asking about that mine too. The problem is, it’s so far out into the wilds that it’s deucedly hard to get to, now that the miners aren’t keeping the road clear. But the lands worth a lot of money, even so. They’d just found a vein of silver to hear a few ex-miners tell it any road. If that’s the truth or just boasts I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this: if that’s the case, and you can stake your own claim on the mines, silver or no, it would make you money hand over fist given the troubles with the mines down south near Nashkel. Or if you so wanted, you could clear it out, and inform the Baldur’s Gate Council you had. They’d pay you your weight in gold for that alone.”

A Main Quest, Iron Intake issue has been updated. You have discovered a clue.  

You have learned that other mines I the area have suffered hugely due to the iron shortage, many of them being turned into dens for demi-humans. This then adds to the general upheaval going around the sword coast. But this also means that the reach of those behind the Iron shortage grows over time. Perhaps you can then hurt them in turn by taking out these side operations?

You have discovered all the information to the Main Quest Iron Intake Issue available in your current vicinity. To discover more you must travel to Nashkel, one of the main sources of this problem. 

Rewards: + 1000 experience to all Party members, + 1 to the wisdom of all party members. Warning: these kind of bonuses will only cross over to those party members at relationship Friend or higher.

Harry barely had time to purse his lips in surprise, having realized that this plus his earlier quest had allowed him to cover a full fourth of the way to his next level up, before another message box appeared.

A Side Quest (Large) Has been found. This quest is one you do not have to accept or act on. The rewards will vary depending on the difficulty (size) of the quest.

Mine, Mine: The mines in Nashkel are not the only mines currently running into hard times. You have heard tell of a mine to the northwest that has become home to demi-humans and bandits. Defeat the current ‘owners’ and take over the mines, and you will be rewarded, or can take the land for itself if you are strong enough.

Rewards: 80,000 or more gold, ownership of a silver mine and long term income of 2,000 gold for every week you are within the Sword Coast territory.

As soon as it was polite, Harry and Imoen pulled away, looking at one another in some shock. “Damn.”

“Damn!” Imoen replied, nodding her head eagerly. “I think we know what we’re going to be doing after we clear up the Iron Intake Issue.”

“Maybe,” Harry prevaricated. “Remember this is the real world Imoen, time and other people can effect what we do.”

Spotting the Obvious: For stating the truly, utterly, easily seen by a child obvious, you have won + 1 Intelligence.

Harry and Imoen gave one another deadpan stares, shaking their heads. “Snarky arse Gamer skill,” Imoen muttered. 

Lips twitching in a grimace Harry was about to reply when he heard a name he he had heard before when he was back in Candlekeep reading about strange monsters. The book he had been reading at the time didn’t have enough information apparently to activate the bestiary Harry that he had been able to access since exiting the tutorial, but the name of the anima now caught his attention.

He moved over in that direction, pulling out a chair across from a fat, if quite tall human farmer. He looked well into his cups, his hands shaking, his eyes bloodshot. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear what you were just saying,” Harry began. “Could you say it again. My companions and I might be able to help”

The man looked up blearily, then burped, sending a waft of smelly air into Harry’s face causing him to recoil slightly. “My farm, my farms completely overcrowded with those, those damn ankheg!  Killed most of my cattle they did, moved in before I could even try to stop him.  Not that I could damn ankheg are as tough as they are ornery.”

“And are you offering a bounty for them?” Harry asked slowly, hoping not to spook the man.

“Nah lad,” the man said, picking up his bottle face twisting into a parody of a sly smile. “Sold the land I did, moment they showed up. Got a pretty penny for it too, and then hightailed it here, before the buyer understood what they were buying.” He cackled at that, draining the glass. “Going to just drink my days sit my life away right here thank you kindly.”

Charisma Check Passed. The Drunkard across from you likes the cut of your furrow and is willing to tell you something actually important for your lending him an ear.

“Although, come to think of it,” he said setting his cup down after the charisma check past. “I think that the blacksmith down in Beregost is offering some money for ankheg hides. Apparently you can use their hides to make a good suit of armor. Light enough to be leather, but strong enough to stop steel.”

“Interesting,” Harry said with a nod as another side quest, medium turned up in his line of sight and he stood up, pushing the stein of beer Imoen had pushed into his hands across to the other man. “I’ll have to look that up. Thank you for the information.”

“That was a good find,” she said.  “That armor sounds dead useful. Especially if it’s so light, since that might mean I could use it.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Harry said the grin. “I read about those creatures in a book back in Candlekeep, and how their hide could be turned into armor like that. I figure we’ll have to sell to a few for any one set of armor, but that’s still very good.”

“well, unless you think there’s another quest like that around, we’re all done here,” Imoen said stretching. “I didn’t find any more people offering quests when I was working the crowd, so I think it’s time to head up to Jaheira and Khalid. They went up about an hour ago, although it’d be fairer to say Jaheira was dragging Khalid away from the wine than anything else.”

Harry nodded agreement and the two of them moved over to the stairs. As they ascended however, Harry Imoen leaned in, grasping Harry’s arm and whispering in his ear. “By the way, I think the two lovers are going to ambush us. I’ve noticed both of them giving us some odd looks over the past few days, and Jaheira certainly noticed our use of the Shield Spell during the battle even if Khalid didn’t.  They’re going to have questions about that at the very least.”

Harry frowned, scratching at his neck thoughtfully. “Okay, thanks for the heads up.”

They finished the ascending the staircase to the fourth floor, in silence then Imoen asked “Come on, the least you could do is tell me if you’ve got a plan. How are we going to play this?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the one that’s supposed to be the senior one here after all,” Harry quipped. 

She just gave him a deadpan stare, then said simply “Leadership, tactics and the Gamer ability? Do these words ring a bell?”

Know yourself, Harry thought to himself, know yourself as another message box appeared in his line of sight. Judging by her start, Imoen saw it too. It read:

Warning: a major decision in how you and the Harper Couple will interact has been activated. 

Jaheira, the suspicious one of the duo, has noticed yours and Imoen’s odd abilities and is planning to question you about them. How will you explain your odd strengths and abilities to them? And what will the long term consequences be?

If you are found to be lying what will the effect be? You honestly trust two people you’ve only known for a few weeks? Can you see yourself traveling with them for longer than it takes you to find Gorion’s killer? If not, can you trust them to not share what they learn from you? Choose your course wisely!

But despite that, it was Gwyneth’s earlier words that stuck in Harry’s head, and which made him reply as he did. “I’m not good at lying, despite what I was able to do earlier with the innkeeper I’m not very comfortable with prevarication. That being said there are some things that I don’t think we need to be sharing, ever.”

Imoen looked at him quizzically and he elaborated. “The tutorial for example, that experience going to stay between the two of us. And the idea of coming from another world and taking over these bodies too. Maybe eventually we can both say that you know we were merged into them like you and the original Imoen were, but nothing about my whole character creation thing or the tutorial. The power over the world implied by it is too damn scary.”

To that Imoen could only nod in agreement.

“On the other hand, I think we can play it pretty straight with a lot of my Gamer abilities. We won’t call it the Gamer though, that’s lame. The Advanced Adventurer Skill perhaps?”

“Hmm, that might work,” Imoen said with a nod. “I don’t think it’s how I would play it, I don’t know if I would tell them anything, I mean yes we’re kind of friendly with them, but our relationship status has hasn’t changed much, and Jaheira’s an extremely trying woman.”

Harry shrugged. He felt much the same occasionally, but sometimes, Jaheira was actually quite nice. When she was teaching them woodcraft and other stuff like that, Harry had seen the person within her prickly exterior coming out.

“Regardless, that’s how we’ll play it,” he said definitively.  “We’ll talk the about the Gamer ability or rather the Advanced Adventurer and abilities, all of them that we can, because I think in so doing, we’ll be able to get a lot more out of them eventually. Remember they are a lot more experienced and knowledgeable about the world than we are. They could be a major help.”

As Imoen had warned, Jaheira quickly ambushed them, smiling thinly at them as she stood up from where she had been sitting at the main room’s small table. “Excellent, there you are. Perhaps now can finally get some straight answers out of you. You showed abilities and skills that no Level Five thief or Level Six paladin should have. “What are you? How were you able to protect us from the fireball? What are you hiding?

Harry growled, furious suddenly. Questions like this reminded him all too easily about how the kids at Hogwarts had demanded to know everything about him, or how he’d lost Gryffindor the points he and Ron had after helping Charlie pick up Hagrid’s dragon. It had gotten worse at the end of the year, and Harry had hated it. “Jaheira, shut up!”

The woman backed away quickly, scowling angrily at his tone. “This isn’t the first time you have treated us Imoen and I like like we’re second-class citizens just because we’re young. Stop it. We might be young even for humans let alone half-elves, but we are adventurers too, and this is our adventure just as much as it is yours if not more. You acknowledged us as such didn’t you? And we agreed from the outset of this arrangement between us, that we would be equals.”

He deflated a little, shaking his head.  “I understand where your questions are coming from, and I will answer them, but not like this, not like some one-sided interrogation!”

Jaheira frowned, then nodded looking almost sheepish as she backed away, moving back to the table and sighing as she saw even her husband’s eyes on her in condemnation. “I’m sorry. I realize that came off more harshly than I intended. But you have to understand, those shields of yours, we have seen others use such of course, but they were mages. You two are obviously not mages. How were you able to re-create them, what kind of skills are they based off of? That could be huge in the future. And before that, there were other clues as to the two of you hiding something. Your strength and physical abilities abilities are too high, and there have been flashes of, of some kind of secret between the two of you. Things that have grated on my nerves the more I noticed them.” 

“It h, hints at something, something th, a, that Gorion told us at one point,” Khalid added, looking at the two youngsters sadly. “Something, th, th, that could be dan, dangerous. Very dangerous. M, my wife’s concerns, ar, are not just about the secret y, you are keeping, b, but the dan, danger it rep, represents.”

“What?” Harry asked, looking at him askance, and Khalid frowned, looking away. He twisted his gaze to Jaheira as Imoen sat next to the woman. She looked between the two youngsters, then back at Harry, her face still apologetic for earlier but she didn’t look away from his gaze. “Okay…. If we are going to keep travelling, I do want to come clean. But in return, you need to tell me what you mean by that, and you might need to help us understand what we are able to do. And you have to promise that, whatever else, you will keep what we tell you to yourselves. Not even your fellow Harpers can be told.”

One eyebrow rising in eloquent query, Jaheira stared back at Harry for a moment, then nodded sharply, while, to his surprise, Harry didn’t see any Charisma check or anything similar. It was evident that whatever else, this decision was based on more than his stats. “Very well. We will tell you why we are worried, and we will help you discover the, the limitations of this power you are so subtly hinting at. And as to keeping your secret, I give you my word I will do so unless you prove to be a threat to the stability of the world that we Harpers are sworn to protect.”

Imoen scowled but Harry nodded. “That’s fair. First, I have to explain a single skill I’ve had since I hit puberty. It’s called the Advanced Adventurer skill.”

Harry briefly explained how his Gamer system worked, and the control, experience and stats. There, Imoen broke in explaining her own stats, saying that she had eighty-eight points spread out through her various physical and mental abilities, discounting the point’s she’d won during that night.

“That is h, higher than, it, it should b, b, be,” Khalid said thoughtfully staring at the two of them.  “F, far more for yo, you, your levels.”

“And it sounds as if, correct me if I’m wrong, but you said ‘to use’ when you mentioned that you had leveled up recently. But when you level up young man, your stats are automatically integrated into your abilities by how you leveled up?” Jaheira asked.

“Thanks to my Advanced Adventurer ability, I can put those stat points where we want them to go for both of us,” Harry said with a shrug. “Imoen leveled up after the fight against the attackers that night with Gorion, and I distributed her points the way she wanted me to one to constitution and intelligence, and two to strength.”

“I felt the results right away too, I was able to carry about ten, maybe twelve pounds more because of that,” Imoen said with a nod.

Khalid and Jaheira stared at them in shock, and Khalid asked hesitantly, “You, your sta, st, stat points Harry, h, how many do, do you have?”

Harry shrugged and instead of answering, pulled up his stat sheet itself, hitting the level up button and then being directed to the physical stat sheet which he read aloud, leaving out his skills and background notes as well as his gender and name, considering them unnecessary to this discussion:

“Class: Paladin level 5

Strength: (19)

Willpower: (11) +9 + 1

Dexterity: (16)

Constitution: (12) +7

Durability: (10)

Wisdom: (8) + 7

Charisma: (11) +4

Intelligence: (6) +11

Luck: (8) +/- 4”

“And I have four stat points to distribute,” he finished.

Khalid seemed in a bit of shock. “Th, that is at least tw, tw, twice as high as it should be.” 

“And much more balanced than a paladin’s normally would be. The ability to put your stats where you want them, that is a game changer,” Jaheira muttered, more interested in that aspect than the actual numbers.

Harry coughed, hiding a laugh at how his words her words referenced the actual name of his abilities, nodding his head. “I gathered that much from talking to Imoen once she joined my party as it were and was able to activate it.

Eyes narrowing in thought, Jaheira stated, “And by that I have to assume that despite traveling with you, we have not joined your party. What does that entail?”

“No, I’m afraid you haven’t. As to what it entails, how much of my abilities carry over to you is based on our mutual trust and respect, our relationships between one another.” 

Jaheira winced at that, knowing it was a comment on her personality just as much as anything else. But she refused to be brow beaten to change that personality, shaking her head. 

“Wh, what about skills?” Khalid asked.

There there wasn’t much of a difference at least in terms of combat related skills. 

“Th, this explains much. S, skill points w, work much the same for you a, as they would for anyone else, b, b, but you have missed out ce, certain things that you sh, sh, should’ve learned. This ability of yours does not give you e, e, experience, but ra, ra, rather abilities that you must then ho, ho, hone.” Khalid said looking at Harry thoughtfully.

Harry nodded, understanding his point. “Yes, I actually got a minor quest to incorporate what you were teaching me about footwork and body control when you started to spar with me. I’m nearly finished and looking forward to the combat bonus I’ll get.”

“Hmm… a, and if you learn a new ski, skill, say kn, knife throwing, you, you would be able to th, throw the knife, but would, wouldn’t have the knowledge of i, i, it’s weight, wha, what happens after it lea, leaves the hand. Int, interesting, but not w, world shattering.”

“But with that said, what can be shared between you two, and what is your relationship level?” Jaheira asked, moving on quickly. It was indeed obvious that whatever else, Harry’s physical abilities were close to what they should be whatever this Advanced Adventurer system did for him. But the way he and Imoen worked together in a fight hinted at more.

“We can share certain abilities, both those that need to be activated and which can occur automatically. I gained the ability to backstab for example from Imoen, among other skills, and if I activate Turn Undead, the aura can also start to flow out from her.

“Harry can also use my Blood Mage skills,” Imoen explained, the two of them agreeing she should take the credit for that. The name made the two half-elves eyes widen, and they stayed that way as she explained that their spells used life force rather than mana.

“That explains where those shields came from,” Jaheira said, shaking her head. “Do you need any more healing to deal with that?” Both youngsters shook their heads, and she asked, “Does this adventurer System have anything to do with your Item box?”

“Oh yeah, that and it also has a map, which can update me where enemies are.” Harry said with a nod. “Both Imoen and I can access our item boxes at will, and can create what are called quick slots, which we can fill with weapons and maybe other things eventually. It makes for easy access to whatever we’re carrying.”

“Je, je, jealousy is rising fr, fr, from deep within me,” Khalid muttered, his lips twitching to showing he was joking. Mostly.

The questioning went on from there for several hours, moving from whether or not Gorion knew, to how they had pushed their stats so high, although there, both Imoen and Harry tried to ask questions about the older adventurer’s levels, getting nothing in return except a flinch from Jaheira and a sigh from Khalid that said whatever it was, was very serious. 

The idea of getting some stat bonuses like Harry and Imoen did was intensely fascinating, an idea they had not come upon before and one they were interested to see the reality of in the future. Further, getting such during conversations, and getting clues like Harry and Imoen described for quests, was just as interesting. But it always came back to the fact that neither of them was at the ‘Friends’ relationship level. 

Yet the questioning did tell Harry just how unique his AA (Advanced Adventurer) Skill was in the amount of control it gave him. Jaheira was impressed with the item box, Khalid with his states, but Harry was interested in the level up system they described, which was highly limited.

First, half-elves only got two stat points per level, with a quarter point added to dexterity or Wisdom randomly with every level. This had made those stats very lopsided, made worse by the fact they couldn’t control where those stats were spent. Instead, as Jaheira had said earlier, where the stat points went was determined by what you had done to level up. If you were in a fight, you could get strength, dexterity or durability. If you did it while completing a quest, it varied wildly. So their stats, which they did not share, looking guilty but adamant about it, were all over the place. For example, Jaheira’s strength was almost as low as Imoen’s but her dexterity and willpower were in the high thirties. 

“That explains so much,” Harry said aloud as she said that.

“Oh~?” Jaheira drawled, crossing her arms and mock-glaring at him. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Er, I meant your skill with the sling of course,” Harry quickly replied, quickly, smiling innocently. “What did you think I meant?”

Charisma Check failed. Jaheira has not believed your obvious attempt to cover your ass. Luckily, Jaheira knows herself far too well to care what other people think about her personality.

“I’m certain it was,” Jaheira replied with an eyeroll.

The quest function was different as well, and the identify function, and the idea of Charisma being directly linked to whether or not you could bargain or have a lie be believed was also fascinating. Imoen shared their quest journal, her and Harry taking turns reading aloud all the points they had found, and both Jaheira and Khalid were impressed with the skill and with the way Imoen had been able to find all that information. 

Eventually the married couple’s fascination with Harry’s AA skill began to wane, and Harry could finally turn the discussion – for that was what it had become thankfully – back to what Khalid had hinted at the very beginning, which Harry very much feared would be this world’s version of the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense. 

“Now you tell us, Harry said turning to Jaheira, since she had settled into the role of talking for both herself and Khalid as the discussion continued. “What did you two think we were. Why do you think we have these powers? What did Gorion hint at that Khalid mentioned earlier.

The married couple exchanged a glance, and for a moment, it looked as if Khalid was going to suggest they not say anything, but for all that she was up confrontational and prickly as all get out, Jaheira was honest to a fault. Or at least as honest as a Harper could be. When she gave her word, she meant it.

“He’s right,” Imoen said with a nod. You both think there’s something unusual about Harry, and come to think about it, I can kind of see it too. I mean come on, orphan boy, raised on his own in a sheltered keep, then the instant he gets let out into the world, he gets ambushed by some mad armored giant? Doesn’t take big brains to see that there’s something going on there.”

As Harry growled at her in mock anger, Jaheira spoke in her abrupt, to the point manner. “You are both correct. What do you know about the Time of Troubles?” 

Imoen frowned, not getting it, and Harry began to think then remembered. “The Time of Troubles ended about nineteen, twenty years ago? It was a called that because a few evil gods attempted to steal Ao the Over-God’s power, only to fail. When the attempted theft was discovered, they didn’t step forward, and the Over God decided to punish all the Gods by throwing all of the gods but Helm out of heaven, right?  Forced them to walk among humans. …Something like four gods died in think. Including all three of the gods who were actually behind the attempted theft and the goddess of magic I think. There is no one book that covers all of what happened during that age though, so I think that could be wrong. 

“Actually, that is essentially correct Jaheira said with a nod. She looked over at Khalid, before going on slowly.  “…But it is wrong to say that the Time of Troubles ended twenty years ago it in fact ended near to eighteen years ago. And there have been persistent rumors over the past few years that one of the gods who died, the God of Murder, Bhaal, had anticipated his death and had created… call them vessels which would contain portions of his power. Eventually those part parts would come together, and he would be reborn. But as they are buried in the individual, until then they give those individuals powers beyond the norm.

“Okaaay, what are you talking about when you say vessel?” Harry asked frowning. Between him and Jaheira Imoen gasped, scowling and running a hand down her face in exasperation as if she understood where the store was going. 

“T, t, tell me H, Harry,” Khalid said, patting the young man’s hand. “D, do you r, remember anything about your father? About l, l, life before Gorion found y, y you?”

“Yes,” Harry said instantly, nodding his head I remember my mother, she had red hair, and a bright smile, she’s where I get my eyes and hair. But why are you asking?”

“The way th, th, that the Bhaal created his ves, vessels was by spawning them,” Khalid said, hesitating before spitting it out quickly. “He did so by im, impregnating women of all r, r, races except possibly dragons by ap, ap, appearing in their minds, and th, th, then simply well doing the dead,” He said finishing lamely while Jaheira rolled her eyes, knowing he was annoyed to speak so in front of her and Imoen. 

“Are you telling me, that this murder God basically intends to survive by sticking his soul into women he sexed up!?” Imoen asked. She might have gotten there sooner than Harry, but she didn’t like the conclusion she’d reached for that. “How does that even work!”

At the same time that Imoen was asking that question, Harry’s eyes strayed to a new message, it’s importance denoted by the solid gold outline. On it read the message:

Your Bloodline Skills has been updated. You know now you are a Bhaalspawn. Increased Stat growth in comparison to normal Adventurers. 

So this is why me… and Imoen too, get so many stat points per level, when normal Adventurers don’t grow nearly as fast. Still, not exactly important, although it might point out why that guy had targeted me. Not that I care.

Main Quest Vengeance or Justice Has been updated. You know why you were targeted now.

You are a son of the god of murder, and either the armored giant, or his possible employer could also be one, aiming to element you from this bloody competition. Does this change anything? How can it? How can it not, knowing that your father figure was killed by or on the orders of your half-brother?

Half-brother my arse. He’s no brother of mine, and Bhaal’s no father. This, all of this is like the Boy Who Lived. That might describe what I am because of fate, but it doesn’t describe who I am, because that is my decision now, and always will be. 

As Harry finished dismissing those two messages, Jaheira was speaking.

“These soul fragments will be driven to fight one another, and when one kills another, the portion of god-soul within the one who has died will transfer itself into the winner. There have been four documented cases of such events occurring that the Harpers know about, and there are probably far more that we don’t. We have no way of knowing how many offspring the God of Murder left behind after all, or how violent such a confrontation and later joining will be,” Jaheira said before going on more slowly, her expression compassionate as she looked at Harry. “And the majority of the women he impregnated were worshipers of his.” 

Coming back to the present, Harry’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that. “Mine wasn’t,” he said firmly.

“Can you really be so sure?” Jaheira challenged.

“My mother was no murder man-whore worshiper!” Harry shouted, getting upset despite his Gamer’s Mind – which he hadn’t mentioned to the married couple – interfering in his becoming so. Any such comment directed to his mother annoyed him, since his few memories of her had, during his younger years, been his sole source of love amidst the neglect and contempt of the Dursleys.

Jaheira blinked, while Khalid and Imoen both burst out into laughter. “Where did that come from?” Imoen shouted amidst her peals of laughter.

“What?! It’s appropriate, after all we’re talking about this guy having hundreds, thousands of children after all, all with different women.  What would you call him?”

“A lucky bastard?” Imoen quipped with a laugh. “I mean if he hadn’t died, think of all the money he’d have to spend to make the women keep their mouths shut.”

“A G, god?” Khalid asked quizzically.

Jaheira just rolled her eyes once more, staring at them all.  “You’re all mad,” she intoned, before pointing at Harry. “But you were saying?”

Harry smiled, and it was this not the smile of someone who was being questioned about something that he shouldn’t remember. No, that expression was of a little boy, despite his age, remembering a sweet memory. “I remember her. For a long time, it was all I could remember. Before Gorion found me. My best memories. A redheaded woman, she cared for me a lot, picked me up, hugged me, played with me sometimes, and then gave her life against the bandits to protect me.” 

He sighed, deflating a little realizing that even with that, he couldn’t explain how he knew that his mother wasn’t a murder hobo believer. After all, those are the memories of a baby, and Gorion had taken him in when he was but a toddler. So how could he later learn about his parents as he did when he was just Harry Potter instead of Harry Potter, possible murder-man-whore’s son.

But, he realized that maybe that didn’t matter. “I can’t prove or disprove the fact that she wasn’t worshiper of the murder God. But I can tell you that she loved me. And I think she love me for me, died to protect me. I’m sorry, but that’s just how I feel.”

“And!” Imoen said triumphantly “we just meant a dwarf named Unshey who said something about your scar. She said it was a rune of protection connected to one of their gods.” 

Unlike Harry, Imoen had known Lily Potter for a few years when she was a toddler. She had really liked the lady, and she wasn’t about to let them say anything about her. James, she would’ve defended too of course, he was easily her favorite non-blood related uncle, who you know didn’t turn into a a murderous assassin. But like Harry she could tell that this was the way the game was set up, that the body that Harry inhabited was indeed the body of a Bhaalspawn.

Jaheira stared at Harry, then nodded slowly. “I believe you. The way you speak of her, it’s obvious that you do retain those memories, and now that I think about it, the idea of that scar on your forehead being a ward of protection makes some sense.”

“Good,” Harry said with a nod before sighing. “But I can’t argue against the idea of my father being this Bhaal. So, so does this change anything? Harry asked staring between Khalid and Jaheira.

“No it does not,” she said briskly shaking her head. “Would I prefer not to travel with someone who is almost undoubtedly going to attract trouble like dung attract flies, certainly. But I’m a Harper, and it is our job to look out for trouble. So perhaps trouble coming to us instead of the other way around will save time.”

“I feel so loved right now really,” Harry said dryly. “But what I meant was, do you think that this means you will will trust us more?

The married couple exchanged glances and then Jaheira nodded firmly. “Yes. You didn’t have to be so open about your Advanced Adventurer abilities as you call it, and the skills it gives you are quite obviously real. Real and truly amazing. But, trust is not something that can be formed just like that. While I trust you more and even respect you a bit for how you comported yourself during this conversation, that doesn’t mean I’m willing to cross the line into honest friendship. That’s takes longer to build.”

Harry nodded. “I can live with that,” he said, reading off a notice box that had just appeared.

Congratulations! Due to your honest, forthright, and above all, pragmatic, manner you have earned respect and trust with Jaheira and Khalid, not turned them aside or convinced them you should be locked up in a loony bin.

You have gained 5,000 Trust and 5,400 Respect with Jaheira.  You are at 5225/10,000 Trust, and 5530/10,000 Respect with Jaheira. Jaheira now views you as a Travelling Companion.

Not a real relationship change, this title implies that she trusts you to have her back in battle and to travel with her, while also respecting your sense of honor, yet at the same time still not being a true friend.  

Note: Though Traveling Companions do not receive the benefits of fully integrating into the party, they will gain the advantage of certain combat abilities relating to tactics. Your Leadership will also be effected by how you treat your Travelling Companions as well as your party member(s).

You have gained 400 trust, 250 Respect with Khalid.  You have 680/1000 Trust and 550/1000 Respect with Khalid.

While not as impressed by your attitude, Khalid is even closer to calling you friend due to his more trusting, friendly nature, and also will now see you as a Travelling Companion. So long as your cause remains just and moves along the same lines as their own quest as Harpers, these two will remain with you and Imoen, even if they aren’t yet truly part of your party.

Holy freaking hell, that’s awesome! There might be a light at the end of the tunnel that is getting Jaheira to be a friend after all! Harry thought, but wisely kept to himself.

“Well, you’d have to, won’t you?” Jaheira said with a laugh, and the others all laughed too. Imoen shook her head, chuckling to herself internally at how the two powerful wills of Harry and Jaheira had clashed during this conversation before she shrugged saying, “Well, in that case, I’m knackered. And I suppose we have an early day tomorrow.”

“In, indeed, I w, w, want to see this map o, o, of yours, and what you called an enemy z, zone in action,” Khalid said briskly. “To b, bed everyone, an, and we will s, see you tomorrow.”

The next morning Imoen had thought she would wake up with a migraine, but upon blinking away the now normal ‘you have rested and recuperated” message she blinked, her eyes going wide as her headache was not there. “Okay, I just learned a new thing about your AA skill Harry, I realized that this gamer thing was messing with our sleep before this, but getting rid of my hangover, now that is amazing.”

In the bed across from her own, Harry rolled over his eyes showing he too had gone from asleep to wide awake with no intervening steps.

Whatever Harry said, shrugging his shoulders that and flipping his legs out all out of the bed. He stood up, stretching and cracking his back and shoulders, shaking his head. “You’re right the AA is great for sleeping, but it just feels still unnatural.”

“Hah, at least you had months on end to get used to it. I only started to see that aspect after we formed our party,” Imoen replied.

Outside, Harry found Khalid and Jaheira waiting for them. Jaheira was sipping at a mug of tea of some kind, while Khalid was sipping at a stag and of ale, the woman looking slightly worse the wear for their late night while the man was showing red eyes and keeping to the shadows. Huh, I suppose he decided to go for what I’ve heard called ‘the hair of the dog solution’.

Harry nodded to them both and sat down asking if they either of them had ordered breakfast. Khalid answered in the affirmative and stated that they were also already packed. “You and Imoen look fully rested and awake, despite all the wine, is that another gift from your Advanced Adventurer skill?” Jaheira asked, sipping at her tea delicately. Whatever it was was waking her up quickly, her eyes clearing as Harry watched.

Harry nodded. “When we lay down we are out in an eyeblink. We don’t even dream either, we lay down close her eyes, and then are awake eight hours later.”

“That c, c, could be dangerous,” Khalid stuttered. “If it forces you t, t, to sleep for a s, s, set amount of time you are v, v, vulnerable if there are enemies about.” 

“No idea,” Harry said with a shrug. “It’s happened every day on the trail, but we’ve never slept near where enemies were, so I have no clue how it would react.”

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing myself and Khalid are not part of your Adventurers’ Party just yet. How are we for arrows,” she asked, changing the subject abruptly looking over at Khalid. “I would like to pick up some sling stones if we can. I’ve not been able to find many worthy of the use on the road, and my iron balls are all used up.”

“I’m sorry,” Imoen said brightly as she came out of the room, grinning evilly. “Did Jaheira just say that she had iron balls? And used them all up?”

“Child, it is far too early for your sense of humor right now,” Jaheira growled, shaking her head. “And you and Harry don’t have to rub in the fact that you are not feeling the effects of our late night drinking and talking please.”

Harry nodded though, interrupting the banter. “Actually, Jaheira’s got a point. How are we for provisions? And after this, I think we can dispense with a lot of our actual baggage, that should speed us up right? If you all put your bags in my item box?”

“We need bread,” Khalid answered promptly, also cutting through the ladies back and forth. It was amusing to see the two women go at one another sometimes, but it could also just be a waste of time. “W, w, we might also want to lo, lo, look around for some new weapons."

Harry instantly nodded agreement to that. “My second sword broke during that fight, and I don’t think any of us wants to be caught out in the wilds without working weapons. Speaking of, Can I see your longsword +1 Khalid?” he asked.

Khalid obliged by pulling the sword out of its scabbard, which was hanging by his chair, and Harry looked at it.

Khalid’s Bastard sword +1 +4 to Defense when wielded by Khalid. Durability: 25/100

Khalid’s favored weapon, this has seen service in his hand for three times your own lifetime. It was an early present by his superiors in the harpers and has been with Khalid through thick and thin.

Now that he was holding it and had the identify skill, Harry could make out the wear and tear on it, whistling a little. “Khalid, I think you might want to pick up another longsword too. This says that it’s durability is twenty-five out of hundred. I’ve no idea if that will equal directly to the amount of hits it can take or whatever, but since it says that, it’s obviously gone down.”

“So, so, sound thinking, but c, c, can you make out tha, tha, that kind of thing on regular sw, sw, swords?” Khalid asked.

Blinking, Harry looked down at handed back Khalid sword, and Imoen wordlessly handed her own over. He looked at it and the Warhammer he’d used last night after his longsword had broken, but they read simply as short sword and warhammer. “Doesn’t look like it, no. I think that the durability issue only comes up with either enhanced items. The others will just last as long as they will and that’s that.”

“That’s also makes some sense,” Jaheira said frowning. “After all, a Bastard sword +1 like Khalid cow costs about as much as two thousand five hundred gold to three thousand in a large city when trade is flowing. A regular weapon only costs twenty five, possibly as much as seventy depending on the type of sword it is.”

Harry nodded. “The only other time I’ve seen durability like that was on my razor back in Candlekeep, and it was a gift from Gorion.” He frowned, looking into his inventory for a moment turning away his fingers flicking around the empty air to everyone else’s eyes. “I don’t see it. Darn it, of all the things to forget.” He raised a hand to his chin and scratched it. “Razors,” he said definitively “add them to our shopping list.”

Jaheira raised an eyebrow. ‘You don’t think you’re going to grow a beard? Most human men seem to think of it as some kind of rite of passage. I’ve never understood that myself.”

“N, nor I,” Khalid said with a chuckle of his own. As a half-elf, growing a beard would have been incredibly difficult for Khalid, even if he had been so inclined.

Imoen laughed. “Well I for one approved. I don’t think a scraggly Harry would be quite as good-looking,” she said ruffling hair Harry’s hair affectionately. 

Shaking her head at their antics Jaheira stood up. “In any event, we should head down and see what what supplies we can find. But you need to watch out for that Harry. We saw you doing something when you were looking through your item box. You must keep it a secret that you get so much honest utility out of that skill.”

Frowning, Harry nodded. “I suppose I shouldn’t get into the habit of showing you and Khalid then, even now that you know the secret.”

“Exactly. We want to benefit from that skill, but we do not want others to know about it.” Jaheira suddenly scrunched her brows in an honestly cute expression of confusion. “Is your item box or these quick slots you mentioned the reason why you are able to change weapons so quickly?”

“Quick slots,” Harry replied, standing upright. Between one blink and the next he was suddenly holding Imoen’s short sword and his own shield, and then again a shield and Warhammer. Then, a little slower a staff and a crossbow. He looked down at the crossbow thoughtfully and then at Khalid. “Why can druids like Jaheira use slings but not crossbows or bows?”

“Cr, crossbow and bows ar, are weapons m, meant to kill. That is, an, an, anathema to the teachings of the druids,” Khalid said instantly. “A sling, is a weapon to, de, de, defend the flock.” 

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “That sounds like an amazing bit of justification for something that just exists, without any greet real reasoning behind it. And dare I ask about why druids can wield scimitars?”

“Because nature, like the gods themselves, are prone to whimsy,” Jaheira replied dryly, looking at her husband with amusement plain on her face. “Now if you are ready to move Khalid, I think we should be going.”

Harry and the others headed downstairs, finding the innkeeper and one of his bartenders still up already up. Bentley waved at them, looking at Jaheira and Khalid quizzically, and asking “If they needed anything.”

“Nothing but access to your stores old friend. We will of course pay,” Jaheira added, seeing his hesitance.

Bentley breathed a sigh of relief. “Good to know you aren’t going to prevail upon my hospitality to that extent my friends,” he said with a laugh. “Now come with me, and we will see what we can see.”

He led the way to the back of the main hall of the inn, where there was a locked door behind the bar there, leading them in and lighting the torches within. “Now, what do you want?”

“What do you have?” Jaheira answered quickly. 

Harry was about to say that they had more than enough resources to buy anything. But remembering the haggling skill, he decided not to shoot himself in the foot.  He didn’t want Bentley to gouge them after all. Instead he turned and looked at each item on the walls in turn seeing the notices everyone else could see and the ones only he could see thanks to his Gamer ability. Moving over to one side, he pulled out from a pile of slings and leather armor to find a sling made of some kind of gray material, it’s large sling sack well-made and slightly larger than normal. 

Sling +2 Durability 100/100 

This sling is made of elephant hide, made to be tougher and stronger. Though giving no additional bonus to range or aim this sling can add more damage to your slingshots.

+2 to damage 

Jaheira stepped forward and taking it from his hand, examining it carefully as Harry subtly nodded to her. “Khalid, how much money do we have?”

“Only around a thousand and fifty gold,” Khalid replied, examining a few longswords with a mournful expression.

“Add our three thousand to that,” Harry said gesturing to himself and Imoen and speaking about the money they’d made during the tutorial dong small quests over and over. 

Keeping their money separate like this was something again that would change once he earned the trust of these two: they would then combine their money into one purse for the party. But until then, their funds were still separate. 

Harry found another find, a small Buckler which had a name Buckley’s Buckler. As Jaheira pulled it out, he placed his head on the shield of the same time as her, and instantly got a bit more information about it.

Buckley’s Buckler: 10/100 durability

A rectangle of mammoth hide forms this small shield. No amount of cleansing can dispel the pong of decay from this poorly tanned device, yet somehow the malodorous shield fortifies its wielder.

This shield gives +1 to Constitution but has at least two unknown negatives.

Despite the plus to constitution, Harry shook his head, gesturing to her to back away. She frowned at him, but he whispered is not worth it, “it’s only got 10 out of 100 durability, and some odd negatives I can’t make out.” 

Her eyes widened, and then a small smile appeared on her face. “That AA skill of yours. That is truly going to be very helpful into the future.”

Harry grinned, and moved deeper, moving over to Khalid, who gestured at a few weapons, asking loudly for Harry to test the heft of them for his build. Most of them were simple swords, and Harry bought three of them, having them disappear into his weapons space. He also bought himself a helmet for himself and Imoen. Imoen also got an upgrade to her leather jerkin, a studded leather jerkin. His own chain mail he replaced with a chest plate and he bought.

However, he was able to find a single buckler that had a hundred durability. This, the smallest kind of shield only really protected the forearm, but it would do for Jaheira or even Imoen the thief, in close combat. He handed it over to Imoen first, who put it on her arm, then equipped her sort sword, moving through a few forms.

Imoen has started to learn the importance of Stance, Lower Body Strength, and Body Movement. These combat skills will now be treated separately from her weapons skills. 

-15% chance to hit in Close combat. -15% chance to dodge. -15% chance to block.

Once mastered these skills will rejoin Imoen’s combat skills to give combat bonuses to Agility, Dexterity and Strength.

Harry blinked at the familiar message, the same one he’d gotten when he learned the same thing, and smiled inwardly appreciative that even Imoen, who could only put a single skill slot into any one weapon, could still become a little bit better with that weapon than otherwise. In fact, the combat bonus for her would probably be more noticeable than the one for him because of that. 

Harry left Khalid and Imoen to it for a second, moving over to Jaheira who was examining a few sets of chain armor, and staffs near the doorway. Her own staff had come through the fight last night relatively unscathed, but the same could not be said for her armor, which had been torn. “Are any of these any different?” she asked quietly as he walked up.

Harry glanced at them, shuddering slightly as the air from the open door brought the flower and grass scent of Jaheira’s hair to him for just a second. Gah, none of that, she’s married, it doesn’t matter if she smells of fresh grass and has elf ears. God, I need to find a girlfriend. Curse this eighteen year old body and it’s urges!

Shaking those thoughts off, Harry took in the items she was examining. But his Gamer ability didn’t tell him anything different about any of them and he shook his head. “I don’t think so. I wanted to ask you though if you felt that the innkeeper would give us a good price on jewels?”

“That will depend on the jewel, and how many you are selling. He won’t actually be the final buyer after all, anything you sell him will have to be sold began to someone else,” Jaheira replied promptly. “There’s no jeweler working in the Friendly Arms Inn.”

“in other words, he isn’t the correct one to sold jewels too, right?” Harry asked cutting to the quick.

Jaheira rolled her eyes and nodded. “That’s correct, child.”

Harry twitched, at that. Being called child or lad always reminded him too much of Dumbledore’s ‘my boy’ and sounded way to condescending. “Okay, I’ve had enough. I’ll make you a deal Jaheira, you don’t call me child, and I won’t call you Grandmother. Deal?”

She reared back, but Harry gave her his best innocent look, which due to his eighteen-year-old body wasn’t actually all that good in comparison to what it might have been in his original form. “After all, half-elves live forever, and you’re obviously much more mature then your physical form would indicate, right?”

No woman likes to be called grandmother unless they really were one, and even then only by their actual family owners. Thus it was no surprise when, after a Willpower Check Passed, Jaheira simply nodded, “I believe we have an accord.”

Harry nodded back, but his eyes had been caught by something, a notice hovering behind several others among the shields that she had been studying.

Harry instantly began to push toward it, moving aside the items between him and the notice that had gotten his attention, and removing the notices themselves. Until he finally revealed what he had been looking for.

Tower shield +1 Durability 100/100

An extremely well made a shield, further enchanted for strength, although the weight of the tower shield is something that most adventurers would be unwilling to work with.

Harry hefted it, sliding it onto his arm, then pulled out his sword, and moving through some motions, nodding. “I’ll take it,” he said, sliding his sword back into its sheath and turning to look at the innkeeper. 

the innkeeper grimaced. “I didn’t expect you to find that,” he said honestly. “It’s easily the best thing I’ve got in my in my inventory. I’ll sell it, but not for a penny less than three thousand gold.” 

Harry frowned, then said, “I’ll pay two thousand in gold, and the rest in gems.”

“Depends on what kind of gems boy,” he said, shaking his head.

“Don’t call me boy.” With that, Harry pulled out a large pouch of jewels and handed them over. Inside were the lynx eye gems that he had collected during the tutorial, seventy of them, Harry having quickly transferred twenty-nine of them out of the bag and into another gem bag in his item box.

The innkeeper pulled them out, staring at one than the other, his eyes widening. “These are all fine quality gems, and they’re all cut already. Aye, you have yourself a deal, boy,” he said, spitting into his palm and holding out his hand. 

Harry growled at that, and Jaheira chuckled behind him, shaking her head before hefting up a chain mail armor. Khalid’s armor had not been replaced, nor Harry’s though they had taken a lot of hits in the fight the evening before. But the armor for them both was too expensive and not better than what they were wearing by enough to interest them.

The four of them soon left the inn, with both Jaheira and Imoen armored with new chain mail, although Imoen could barely use it. 

From the inn they moved down onto the road going south for a time until they broke off. They weren’t going to use the road the entire way, instead, the four of them had decided last night to see if they could find any bandits, not just for the bounties that Imoen had found first, but also because they needed see if these bandits were actually working together with the individuals behind the iron shortage, or if they were simply a symptom, not connected to the actual issue.

It was slow going for a time, both because of the distance, and because they were going overland, paralleling the road instead of on it. Harry had agreed with them in the inn that it was necessary, and still agreed with them now. Because this way they would get a chance to see his Advanced Adventurer ability in action in a smaller, less dangerous setting.

The first opportunity for this came four days after they had left the inn behind. Harry was walking along in the center of the party as usual, when he blinked, staring up into the side as his map updated showing a single red dot to one side. He frowned, then whistled in a way that Jaheira and Khalid had taught him and Imoen early on in their trek out from Candlekeep. 

The others quickly closed in on him, Jaheira coming out of the wood lands as if she had been summoned there, causing Harry to shake his head. “Is that Druid thing or half-elf thing?” he asked jokingly, gesturing to her and then around at the woodlands. “How quickly you move and everything.”

“Elves are at home in the forest, yet, I was not born in one. I was born in a city and came to my powers later. Much later.” 

“Oh really how much later?” Imoen teased, before Harry slapped her upside the head very light. 

She had done this a time or two to him back when they were in Candlekeep, and though it’d taken them a while to get used to it, gentle head slaps like that were not a sign of anger or hate, rather they were assigned of comradery. “No, bad Imoen.”

“Why d, d, did you call u, u us back, Harry?” Khalid asked, cutting through the banter.

“My map is telling me that there is an enemy of some kind out there,” Harry reported seriously, pointing in the correct direction. “Right at the edge of my map range.”

“Hmm…I’ve been seeing spore and pawprints of wolves…How large is your map range?” Jaheira asked, musing aloud. 

“It doesn’t have any indicators like that, although that could be possibly be upgraded in the future. I’d say maybe about an hour’s worth of walking in the forest, thirty minutes on the road. They are definitely out of my sight, that’s about all I can tell you for certain.” 

“Which means we m, m, might well be wi, wi, within the range of a wolf’s nose. And where th, th, there is one, there will be a pack,” Khalid said, scratching at his nose thoughtfully. 

“Khalid is right, but this could do for a first test of your abilities. Does your map ability tell you anything else?” Jaheira asked

Harry shook his head. “No, only that there’s an enemy out there.”

“Then let us see what we can see. We’ll move in that direction until that first dot is well into your map range, then send the pink haired one here out to scout. You believe that I am good at appearing, and it is true when we are here in the forest, but against enemies, Hide in Shadows works far better than the dual than the Druid skill of Forest Melding. Even a wolf’s nose will be defeated by that skill.” Jaheira said.

Harry nodded, looking over at Imoen. “Are you up for this?”

She just grinned at him, not even bothering to answer as she turned and started to head off in the direction Harry had indicated. Harry quickly caught up with her, and the other two as well, all of them now pulling out weapons just in case. After all, despite the map it would hardly be good for them to let their guard down. About an hour and a half later Harry stopped, as more and more red dots appeared ten in number. He looked around at the others and said, “There’s ten of them now.”

“Is there any indication that there might be more beyond your site?” Jaheira asked.

Harry frowned, staring at his map, then shaking his head. “I don’t think so. But to be certain, I’d have to try to come at the pack from another angle.”

“Let u, u, us do that,” Khalid said, clapping his hand on Harry shoulder. “Imoen ca, ca, can go forward now, and Jaheira w, w, will stay here, to mark our regr, re, regroup point.” 

Harry nodded, and the two of them moved off as Imoen left heading on straight towards the wolves, causing Jaheira to sigh. Leaning back against tree, her fingers slid down it’s bark as she communed with it, savoring a few moments to herself, melding into the forest. 

She opened her eyes from her meditation as she felt Khalid’s presence through the forest, and Harry’s a second later. Khalid she was used to feeling, his presence a firm, familiar presence to her expanded senses. The fact that she could already sense Harry’s as well, was somewhat surprising, mitigated by the fact that a few minutes later she felt Imoen coming towards them too.

Harry nodded to the others. “It’s just the ten of them, no other enemies in sight.”

“Excellent Harry!” Imoen said, coming out from behind him and Khalid spooking both men, causing Khalid to actually let out a squeak. “And it is just wolves, well, wolves and one Ogre. The ogres cooking some kind of meat over a fire, and the wolves are laying about it like lapdogs.”

Jaheira rolled her eyes, but did not look surprised, the forest having warned her of the thief’s presence a second before she had revealed herself. When she had compared Imoen’s skill to her own forest melding, she had not told them that she could see through it here in the forest. “Let’s get to it then.”

The four of them moved forward, and sure enough, Imoen was correct. It was a wolf pack, led by a large ogre, who seemed to have tamed the wild wolves to a certain extent.

“Do you think that’s the girdle where stealer we’re supposed to be on the lookout for?” Imoen whispered.

“Maybe,” Harry said with a nod. “In which case, this is doubly good. I think we can try a bit of what I’ve called a flanking attack here…” 

Moments later, he and Khalid were gone, moving wide around the campfire, until they were to the side of it. As they settled down, Harry stared at the ogre, and a new bestiary page appeared in front of him.

An ogre is a large, brutish creature that can be found in many places around the world, or perhaps all of them save the bottom of the ocean. Ogres have just enough intelligence to be able to work with others and are more than strong enough to cow wolves or even other animals into serving them, acting like a pack alpha. They aren’t as smart as orcs or humans, and their culture, such as it is, is even more devoted to the rule of the strong than the orcs.

Attitude toward Adventurers: It depends on the time of day and if they are hungry, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup, but Ogres are lazy and prefer easy meals.

Weaknesses: Ogres are animalistic in many ways, and their defense against mind magic, or indeed being scared at all, is low, so long as other ogres are not around.

Once they were, Khalid let loose a very lifelike owl hoot, signaling Jaheira they were in position.

At that signal, Imoen and Jaheira let fly. Imoen’s arrow hit its mark, and to her eyes one of the wolves lost about half of its health bar. Jaheira’s sling stone also hit, but not the target she had been aiming at, rather another wolf directly behind that one.

The wolves yelped and howled, and the ogre stumbled to his feet, grabbing up his club and moving in their direction. But halfway to them, Harry and Khalid attacked from the side. As they did, both Imoen and Harry saw the message they had been hoping to see.

You have performed a dual attack and a flank attack! Damage increased by X 2 for all participating party members.

A longbow’s larger arrow slamming into a wolf with punishing force, sinking deep into its body and killing it instantly. Jaheira’s next sling stone hit another wolf in the head, cracking his skull open as Harry’s slower crossbow arrived, killing the wolf that Imoen had wounded.

Then Jaheira was casting. Before the wolves and ogre could react to the fact that they were being attacked from the side, Entangling Vines burst upon the wolves which had charged towards her and Imoen’s position. Khalid and Harry then raced forward from their own flanking position, moving around the entangled wolves to engage the ogre.

The ogre seems confused for a moment then roared out, ‘You’ll pay for hurting my pets! I’ll have your lives and girdles for this!”

Harry blinked, and shook his head. “Well, that confirms this is the girdle obsessed ogre. Good to know.”

Then the ogre was on him, and Harry raised his tower shield, letting his club hammer into its face head one. This was a mistake, as Harry learned when the blow nearly lifted him off of his feet, causing him to stumble backward. He still kept the shield up between them, but his arm throbbed from the effort.

Khalid nipped in, slashing at the ogre’s back but the ogre turned, fantastically quick for something so large, it’s club flashing out in a thrust that should’ve caught Khalid in the chest. Yet Khalid dance aside, his longsword flicking, cutting not at the ogre’s main body out but at his knuckles. It was evident to Harry instantly that he was trying to wreck the ogre’s grip on his club. But it failed, the attack not cutting deep enough into the ogre’s toughened hide.

Thanks to the bestiary page Harry knew what its weaknesses were though, so instead of going for the main body, he went for one of its knees, slicing into it from behind just as the ogre turned again, to face him. When the thing tried to bring it’s club around again, Harry got into its swing with his shield, carrying the club to the side, and attacking the same knee.

Critical hit! Your strike has crippled the ogre!

Harry saw the message and instantly backed away das the club was swung again, ducking underneath it and rolling, despite his encumbering tower shield. He was then up and out of the ogre’s range, and the ogre was falling back, his one leg now unable to bear his weight.

Khalid followed suit, nodding approvingly at Harry. “S, s, sound thinking,” he said as Harry idly noted that he had won a bit more respect from Khalid. Harry nodded, then looked over as Jaheira and Imoen came out of the Woodlands around them into the fire of the ogres campsite. The wolves weren’t dead yet, but they were still heavily entangled and could be dealt with in a moment. 

The two of them instantly joined Kevin and Harry in firing at the ogre, killing him within a few seconds from outside his own weapon range. One lesson Harry had never been needed to be told was that in a fight, there was no such thing as fair play. That left the entangled wolves, and Jaheira turned to Imoen. Your Blood Mage spells, do you think you can show us one?”

“Hmm, I suppose I could,” Imoen replied, then slowly an evil smile appeared on her face. “Hey, are the vines that spell conjures up flammable?”

“They are, but given how close we are to the forest, I don’t think we want to risk of fire spell,” Jaheira cautioned.

“Well then there’s always my old standby,” Imoen said, then thrust out one hand towards the pile of the entangled wolves. “Bombarda!”

“Imoen has cast Bombarda. This Area of Effect spell costs -20 to health,” Harry read aloud, even as the explosion hit. All four of the remaining wolves were blown apart, and Imoen’s lips quirked into a less evil smile as she looked over at Jaheira. “Well?”

She exchanged a glance with Khalid. “The explosion aspect of that spell is much more concentrated than a Fireball, but not so much as one of the higher end spells, like Explosion itself. We would have to see it’s effect against armored targets to tell you which is truly more dangerous to its immediate targets.” 

“Quite go, go, good though. I think a, a, anyone who sees your levels and b, b, believes that a co, co, correct indicator of how dangerous you are go, g, going to be sadly disappointed.”

“I don’t know about that,” Harry said shaking his said. “Remember, that armored giant that killed Gorion actually got away. So he at least knows were more dangerous than our levels would indicate, although he might not have seen us actually use our Blood Mage spells.”

“True, yet setting those spells aside, I have to admit that your tactical skills are impressive. I would not have thought about flanking on such a simple target, but I did notice the extra damage that you were doing,” Jaheira said gesturing around them.

Harry grinned at that nodding and noticing that the respect between him and Jaheira had again gone up.

“And now we loot the bodies,” Imoen said mock cheerfully. Wolf pelts go for what forty gold each?”

True, and with you and Harry here, well we would be fools not to make use of your incredible item box abilities, although thanks to your demonstration we are down four possible pelts,” Jaheira mockingly reproved to which Imoen stuck out her tongue. “Come child,” she said to Imoen in response to the younger woman’s expression, a smirk appearing on her own face. “I can show you how to skin a wolf.”

Harry frowned at that and moved over. When Jaheira that him quizzically, he shrugged. “I don’t know how to skin a wolf either and I want to see if this Advanced Adventurer system of mine can do anything to make it any easier.”

“If so, I will cheerfully call it the most magnificent gift of all time. However, I am most doubtful that will be the case.” 

“You never know,” Harry said with a chuckle, kneeling down next to the wolf across from the two women. Khalid also wandered over, stopping his journey towards the dead ogre, Harry simply touched the head of the wolf, running his hands through the fur. After all, beyond the wolves that attacked him that first night out with Gorion, this was the first time he’d seen one. 

A moment later, the image of the animal in front of him was superimposed by a wire outline showing its fur as if it was already pulled off and laid out on top of the animal. Harry blinked, then looked over at Jaheira. “You’re going to hate me.”

Jaheira and Khalid’s eyes narrowed, and Harry very deliberately pulled with the hand that had been touching the wolf. An instant later, there was a tiny flare of blue light and the wolf was both skinned, and the wolf meat cut into different haunches. 

For a moment his fellows were silent, staring at Harry, then Imoen growled. “Why, if could do something like this, did you make Khalid and me prepare that one deer he shot on our way to the Friendly Arm Inn?”

“Because I didn’t know this was a possibility!” Harry said quickly holding up his hands quickly. Although I do wonder why I was able to do it now when I couldn’t when we were dealing with the dead bodies of the attacks back where Gorion and I were ambushed. Maybe it only works on certain animals and creatures? Or could it be tied into my identify skill?

Jaheira’s eyes narrowed, staring from him down to the skinned wolf, while Khalid shook his head. “Can I just say, th, tha, that is very much like ch, ch, cheating?”

“Humph, regardless, this means we will let the wolves and ogres to you then.”

Harry rolled his eyes but nodded and moved around. Imoen did o wondering if, now that Harry had shown her this, if it was possible she could do the same thing. It turned out she could, and with a whoop, she moved from one wolf to another, adding them to first her own item box, then shifting it over to Harry. With the wolves taken care of, Harry moved over to examine the corpse of the ogre that they killed.

On his person, Harry found three different belts, only one of which was labeled ‘simple belt’ and was therefore left on the body. When he looked at the second it came up as Mysterious Girdle followed by a query asking if Harry wanted to identify it. The other belt read as: 

‘The Elf’s Bane:

An infamous highwayman in his day, Pandar of Scardale made quite a name for himself vexing the elves of Cormanthor forest. To their annoyance he continually used the wood to escape the law; and with the aid of this girdle, the elves' arrows as well. Unfortunately for Pander, pit-traps and starvation proved a slower, but effective, substitution.

Armor Bonus: +3 VS Piercing, +3 Vs Missile 

Harry nodded. “I believe that is the girdle that the surly dwarven woman wanted I think, right?” Imoen nodded, and Harry put it into his pouch. With that done, he turned his attention to the Mysterious Girdle, hitting the identify button with his eyes. The Mysterious Girdle label disappeared in a little bit of blue color, replaced by:

Mysteriously Magically Enhanced Girdle:

Although you tried to identify this Girdle, you have not come across an item like this before. It seems to have a few layers of enchantments on it, a few bonuses to mages for one, like the robes of the Seekers in Candlekeep. 

You can also tell it is cursed: not in a malicious or harmful way but rather in a deliberately comedic manner, somewhat like the Tickling Charm of Imoen’s. Wearing this girdle is bound to make people laugh, and that wearer moan, not in agony, only in embarrassment. Why that is, you cannot tell.

Harry read that aloud, looking around at the others. “Any guesses?” None of them said anything, simply shrugging her shoulders in ignorance, and Harry shrugged too. “Well, I’m certainly not going to try to put it on and see what happens so unless someone else is volunteering?”

In th, tha, that case I suggest we move on. T, th, the dead bodies will no doubt bring predators. A s, s, shame really, this area is quite a nice c, c, campsite. That ogre cho, ch, chose quite well.”

To Khalid’s words, Jaheira nodded, and Harry and Imoen, not having any real experience with how quickly the smell of dead bodies could carry through the woods, simply agreed with them. As they were walking away however, a thought occurred to Khalid. “You ne, ne, never said how much experience wolves and that ogre were.” While most Adventurers say the experience they got from completing quests or fighting other adventurers they didn’t see them from fighting demi-humans or animals like this.

Harry blinked, then nodded. “Sorry, I forgot afterwards. He looked at the messages which had gathered up in the corner of his eye, enlarging and getting rid of them one after another with eye flicks. “Each wolf was 25 experience, and the ogre was 125. Not enough really to matter for any of us, which is a pity.”

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he opened up his status page, calculating for a bit, then looked at Imoen’s. “Okay, something else has carried over. The experience wasn’t split before us or went only to the person who got the kill. We each get 25 and 125 experience regardless of who got the kill, so long as it was one of us rather than Jaheira and Khalid.”

The married couple grumbled good naturedly about that but didn’t care overmuch about it. Not until they could join Harry’s party fully.

About two days later they came upon something else that Harry had told them about. He read the reading aloud now for the benefit of the others. Warning, you have entered an enemy zone. An enemy zone is an area where creatures spawn at intervals and will attack anyone entering the range. These areas vary in difficulty, and can be either a source of good experience, or a good way to die prematurely. Be aware of which is which.”

Finishing reading Harry looked around at the others, then explaining a bit more of what he knew. “This is like those first skeletons we fought as a team. “The respawn area will keep on respawning a certain number of enemies.” 

I, I, is there anything else about it th, th, that you can tell us?” Khalid asked, frowning and scratching at his chin. “What ty, ty, type of enemies, h, how long betw, be, between respawns? I, is th, th, there a reward for clearing it o, o, out?”

“There wasn’t a reward for killing all those skeletons before, and I can’t remember the experience they gave us, so I have no idea if it’s worth it or not,” Harry said with a shrug. “It’s probably more of the same though, skeletons or other low-level enemies. If we see a high level enemy, we can always retreat. “

“It is good to know that despite this gigantic cheat function that you have somehow been rewarded with through fate and the lechery of a dead god that you have not become arrogant,” Jaheira said caustically. 

Harry looked at her, shaking his head. “That was kind of impressive actually. Should I be flattered you put that much effort into insulting me?”

“Don’t min, mind m, my wife,” Khalid said with a chuckle. “She gets into these mo, mo, moods occasionally.”

“Oh, like once a month or so?” Imoen said shrewdly. “So Elven women get that too huh?”

‘Yes,” Jaheira said irritably “yes we do. And Bentley alas had run out of the necessary herbs to counter my pains. Now, can we please find these enemies? I wish to kill something, and if I can’t find something else to vent upon, the two men in this party might enough alternative.”

Khalid blinked, then nodded rapidly, and led the way, grabbing Harry and pulling him along. “Do you have any chocolate in your item space?” he hissed, actually not stuttering for a brief second.

“No, sorry” Harry said with a shake of his head. Harry had tried to find chocolate at one point, but after getting used to the almost medieval tech level that this world had, he had realized quickly that it was either completely unknown, insanely expensive and hard to ship. Khalid was actually only the third person to have ever mentioned it to him. “I have a lot of different spices and other things; I even have some yeast from the Friendly Arm. I could try to make some kind of sweet cake for her over the fire tonight. Would that help?”

“It might, yes.”

You have earned +50 respect and +100 trust from Khalid. Good grief, apparently that time of the month is worse if you’re already a bitch.

Harry blinked, looking away from Khalid to read that and Khalid looked at him quizzically. “Did your Ad, ad, Advanced Adventurer j, just give you som, so, some information?”

“No,” Harry said hastily, “Nothing like that, ju, just an errant thought.” Is it trying to get me killed? Or does it just really not like her for some reason? For his part, Harry really didn’t have a problem with Jaheira except for when she was being insanely bossy. Now mind you, that was about forty-nine percent of the time. The other fifty-one percent she was actually kind of nice, and her sense of humor was an odd mix between Prof. McGonigal, and Hermione’s with a lot more sarcasm thrown in. Heck, even her bossiness sort of reminded him of his best friend at home, so he could take it far easier than Imoen could, right up until she started to really talk down to them. That, he hated.

The enemy zone turned out to consist of kobolds, giving Harry a new page in his beastie Harry. 

Kobold: 

small kangaroo like creatures, who are weaker than even goblins, Kobolds are only a threat to extremely low-level parties, or in groups of hundreds. Unfortunately, most of the time they do come in groups of hundreds, so fighting them can in fact be quite dangerous. 

Favored weapons include short bows and swords. Watch out for poison. Their shamans can also be a little difficult.

“There are about thirty of the little creatures,” Imoen reported, returning after getting close enough to see the enemy under her Hide in Shadows skill. 

Harry looked over at Jaheira. “How many times can you cast tangling vines?”

“Four times per day,” she replied promptly. Since she wasn’t part of his ‘party’ Harry had no access to her spells as he would if Imoen had such spells. But after a little under three weeks, she trusted Harry enough to know her spell repertoire, although she didn’t trust him enough to ask him for input on what spells she should use. “I also have two spells of Cure Poison, and four Cure Minor Wounds, two spells of Summon Animal, two spells of Hold Animal, and two spells of Cure Serious Wounds memorized for the day.” 

Harry nodded, then had Imoen described the area around the 30 kobolds. “So the enemy zone’s respawn point is probably that cave behind them…” Harry said musing thoughtfully. “And how large is that rocky zone?”

“Um… about fifty yards maybe.” Imoen guessed, closing her eyes as she pictured the camp. The tunnel Harry had mentioned led into a small hill in the landscape, in front of which was an open area abutting a rocky segment of the forest, where large chunks of granite stuck of of the ground, scattering the few small trees that were attempting to take root there. At the same time, the forest grew up over the hill very slightly, but there was enough of a clear zone that anyone above the cave could see in every direction. 

“We’ll circle around them up I think, let my map work out there whether or not there are any others around in the forest on the other side of the hill before we attack. But I think that Rocky area that you noticed to their east might be the best bet,” Harry said.

“Why so?” Jaheira asked, cocking her head quizzically.

“The rocks would break up any charge. We could leave you and Imoen there behind us and create a killing ground in front of them.” He looked at Khalid. “I know you prefer to use a medium shield, but with the main threat from kobolds being from their arrows, do you think you can switch to our extra tower shield?”

Khalid nodded wordlessly, and Harry pulled out the item in question, handing it over.

They did circle around the kobolds, finding no other enemies in the area bar a cougar that Jaheira sent off in an opposite direction with her druid powers. She couldn’t have dominated it entirely, not without actually using an animal friend spell, but as a Druid she did have a certain way with animals regardless. “A, and, it wasn’t a b, b, bear,” Khalid teased. “Jaheira, h, has issues with those, a, as you’ve noticed.”

Jaheira huffed but didn’t deign to reply to that, and Harry led her and Khalid around the camp and to the rocky area, leaving Imoen behind to use her thief skills to flank the enemy. But as they moved into it, they were immediately spotted by the enemy, as Harry had figured. Jaheira instantly started to cast, and Khalid and Harry stood in front of her, their shields up to protect her from any missiles that might interrupt the spell.

The spell went off, catching the kobolds as they charged forward in its vines. The little creatures didn’t seem to have any kind of immunity against the spell, and more than half of them were caught instantly, with several more bounding forward into the rocky area only to be unable to move quickly through the rocks. That left eight archers free in the distance, but Harry and the others instantly started to fire at them with their long range weapons

Soon the trio had killed the six of the kobolds still free on the other side of the vines. Then Imoen appeared in among the archers, and Jaheira hid behind Khalid and Harry lobbing her slingshots into the kobolds who had gotten into the rocky area. At the same time, Khalid and Harry moved forward to engage them in melee combat, Harry simply changing his weapons out, and Khalid dropping his longbow on the ground behind him. 

As their numbers whittled down, more kobolds appeared from out of the cave, proving that it had indeed been the enemy zone. Harry scowled, as most of those moved through the tangling vines towards them. Kobold Commando came the announcement as he Harry looked at them, opening bestiary at the same time.

Kobold commandos, the more more trained better armed version kobolds. Still not very tough, except of course in numbers.

Twenty of these kobold commandos appeared to attack them, but Jaheira simply cast tangling vines again, catching many of them. The only real danger to in the fight occurred a second later as another kobold came out of the spawn point and cast a spell of his own toward them before Harry could even glimpse it’s label. Several Magic Missiles flew from it towards Harry, who took them on his shield, each hit taking a bit from his shield’s durability.

Before the Kobold Shaman thing could even get off the spell, Harry shouted, “Target the mage!” But it dodged around nimbly and was able to cast another spell towards Jaheira. A Cone of Silence struck, and Harry saw a status symbol appear above her information to one side.

‘Silenced’. Jaheira has been silenced, she will no longer be able to intone spells.

“Damn! Khalid, with me, Jaheira fall back. Imoen, fall back into the woods and circle around.” Harry shouted. 

A second later, Imoen yelped as the Shaman sent a prismatic spray of colors into the woods around her. The spell didn’t do much damage, when it hit her, only taking her health down by three points. But, it did reveal her, and many of the kobold commandos turned on her. “Crap!”

Harry and Khalid charged forward, braving the area plagued by the tangling vines, racing through ignoring the still tangled kobolds within to engage the kobold commandos before they could swarm over Imoen. 

She was still forced to shouted out “Protego!” As they circled her, their swords flashing. The defensive spell encased her in a shield, and their swords smashed into it ineffectively. Then Harry was on them, his longsword, slicing two kobolds in half with a single blow, ignoring the critical hit announcement he’d just seen as he smashed another one bodily to the ground, trampling it under him. The next second he was in among the kobold commandos around Imoen, hacking this way and that, scattering the little creatures.

He felt a few sword blows go home on his back and shield, but he ignored them, trusting to his shield and chest plate which protected and to his own high health points. A second later, Khalid was there, slicing into the side of the troublesome spell user, ending its life quickly.

Harry then looked around the battlefield, noticing instantly that all of the kobold’s marks via his map had turned yellow on his map screen. This was shown a moment later in real life as the few free of Tangling Vines fled away from them into the woods. Even those still entangled panicked, no longer trying to fight towards them, rather tossing their weapons down and running in place, tearing at the vines in a frantic effort to run.

“Finish them or not,?” he asked Khalid, glancing over to where Imoen was breathing a sigh of relief and releasing her Protego spell. 

“What kind of exp, ex, experience points have they g, gi, given us?” Khalid asked, showing a bloodthirsty side of him Harry hadn’t seen before.

Harry frowned at that, realizing that indeed, adventurers didn’t seem to see the other races as real unless they could communicate. He looked through his built up messages, and replied, “Not much, seven experience points for the normal kobolds, 35 for the commandos. And… huh, only 65 for the shaman.”

“Th, then don’t bother.” Khalid said, as Jaheira came out from the woods behind him, having circled back and around the fight as Harry had ordered, though she would never have admitted to having so followed his ‘suggestions’ like that.

“So,” Harry said thoughtfully looking around them. “What have we learned?”

“Kobolds don’t make for good experience points. Not worth the hit points it took to take them out,” Imoen grumbled. “At least not to me with my damn thief type’s crappy health level.” 

Harry chuckled, ruffling her hair affectionately, to which she pushed him hard enough to nearly topple them over, growling at him. “Just you wait, just you wait until I can dual class, then I’ll show you.”

Nodding, Harry turned his attention to something else which had bothered him from the moment the fight started. “Are they all like that? All of the demi-human races I mean, so mindless and aggressive?”

“Not all, no. Ko, kobolds yes most of th, them are. Goblins yes, o, o, ogres and ogrillions. Half orcs are no, no, not. Orcs can be di, di, different too, although their morality is very diff, diff, different from most of sen, sen, sentient races. They sometimes m, m, make excellent mercenary g, g, groups. Their society is b, b, built upon the idea of survival of the fi, fi, fittest, and rule of the strong. They l, l, loathe book learning outside of m, m, mage craft, and e, e, even their shamans are not ex, ex, exactly held in high regard, merely f, f, fear. Fear is enough for them t, t, though.”

“Does it bother you?” Jaheira asked, after Khalid finished speaking to which Harry nodded, looking uncomfortable. She smiled at that, touching Harry’s shoulder gently as Khalid smiled. “You’re not the first to worry about the morality of offensive actions such as this,” she said gesturing to the dead kobolds are all around them. “If we could coexist with them, many adventurers would be willing to give it a chance. But the kobolds and the other sub-human races have to be willing to meet us halfway, and in the main that they are not willing to do so. I am not going to tell you to not let it bother you, but do not let it stop you from protecting yourself against them. The only effectiveness a bleeding heart can do is by bleeding himself yes?

Harry chuckled at that, nodding his head. Message received ma’am.

She twitched at that, then laughed, shaking her head.

Congratulations, your beliefs and morals have effected your relationship status with those around you positively.

You have learned +20 respect +20 trust with Jaheira.

+10 trust, +10 respect from Khalid. 

You have earned +100 respect relationship points with Imoen. Your relationship status with Imoen remains ‘Family’ but remember there are varying degrees of closeness to that term.

All right, Harry thought. On the one hand that’s nice to know, but on the other hand I’m not thinking like this for the damn points!

“S, s, still, it was somewhat in, in, interesting” Khalid said looking around. “But y, y, you are saying if we sta, st, stay here for a certain amount of t, t, time, that we would find these kobolds somehow re, re, respawned?”

“That’s what my Advanced Adventurers system is implying,” Harry replied with a nod.

“I have heard of something that might explain this phenomenon,” Jaheira said thoughtfully. “Chaotic mana. Magic from the earth itself has come to the surface here, and Ao decided to put it to use, creating these nodes to continually challenge adventurers, give them a leg up as it were before they can take on tougher of opponents.” 

“Well, with this as a clue to go with those skeletons, I believe I can emphatically state state that any enemy zone will only contain low level enemies. They could be useful if we were willing to take the time to sit here for months and kill them, but I would feel it incredibly bad about doing so, and it would be a horrible use of our time.”

“Agreed Harry,” Khalid, Jaheira and Imoen all said as one.

Harry went on. “I vote that in the future, while we need to be aware of these enemy zones, we don’t actually need to go out of our way to search for them unless they are connected to an actual job that were already on. Agreed?”

All three of the others again replied in the affirmative before the group split up, Imoen and Harry using his AA skill to easily search the bodies.

They pulled out arrows of fire arrows, adding around thirty two of them to Harry’s item box, each of the kobold commandos having had at least two of them on their person, which Khalid was happy to see. But beyond that there were only a few bits of gold and others things, and Imoen scowled. “Damn, even when it comes to loot, enemy zones didn’t seem to be worth it.” 

“D, did you see an e, en, enemy zone or anything of that n, na, nature that night with Gorion?” Khalid asked, frowning as he brought up the topic.

“No,” Harry said shaking his head. “And it was obvious that those adventurers wouldn’t respawn either. I think Jaheira’s right, enemy zones are only to give low level experience. We have to use other means to level up like everyone else.”

In contrast to his AA skill’s ability to notice enemy zones, the map was an ability that the two experienced adventurers were coming quickly to see as being worth Harry’s weight in gold. This was proven the evening next, when they were setting up camp. The map was clear, but as they were turning in for the night, Harry’s eyes widened as he saw message he never had before. 

Warning, there are enemies about. Do you still wish to attempt to go to sleep?

Harry instantly sat up, the action dispelling the message. 

From where she had been about to lay down. Imoen looked at him, quizzically. They had seen before this that she had to wait at least a second to go to sleep before Harry to take advantage of the benefits of Harry’s Gamer skill. “What is it?”

“Um, the Gamer Skill just warned me that there are enemies about.”

Pushing out of the tent he found Jaheira on watch, with Khalid next to her, asleep in a blanket beside the fire instead of in the tent.

The site was kind of touching, but they both woke up instantly as the two youngsters came out of their tent. What is it? Just Jaheira said some only tents. Harry explained to them what had happened, then asked, “You’re the expert on woodcraft, is there any anyway you could tell which direction these enemies might be in?”

“Yes,” Jaheira said instantly, turning slightly and pointing. “That way. It’s the way to the road, about…” she frowned thinking remembering where they had last seen it and triangulating their position and their speed of movement through the forest with all the expert knowledge of a Druid and experienced adventurer. “About, I want to say ten minutes sprinting in clear day. At night, more than two hours, possibly as much as three depending on the density of the forest.”

Harry whistled, shaking his head. “They have to be just outside of my map range then.” They had estimated it by separating into groups, and Harry’s map was a 360° field of around an hour’s quick jog during the day in the woods.

Harry looked over at Imoen who nodded. “Let’s go,” she said, “I don’t think we want to try to rest here just yet, do you?”

Khalid and Jaheira both scoffed at that one, readying their weapons wordlessly. 

It was full dark now and pushing through the forest like this was hard going, especially for Harry and Imoen who did not have the night vision their Elvish side gave the half-elves. But each of them took the youngsters by the hand, Jaheira taking Imoen by the wrist, and Harry being led by a hand on his shoulder by Khalid, through the pitch darkness of the forest. 

Not for the second or even fifth time as they moved Harry was struck by the wild nature of the forest. It wasn’t so impenetrable, so alien, during the day with Jaheira and her druid craft. You could almost forget how ancient the forest was even here, this tiny splinter of the greater forest to the east. But now it came crashing back on him, making him almost nervous, twitching this way and that at odd sounds in the night. He saw Imoen was similarly affected, her green dot pulsing to yellow and back on his map, though she herself was nearly invisible to him through the forest.

When they started to see fires in the distance through the trees it was almost a relief.  That relief did not last however, when they came close enough to stare through the darkness of the forest to what was causing that fire. 

Because what was causing it, was a burning caravan. Several large carts were on fire, and bodies were strewn here and there, barely visible in the backdrop of the flames. Standing over them, Harry could now make out at least 12 bandits. They looked human-sized, but that was about all he could tell from this distance.

Thinking quickly, Harry pulled out his crossbow, and used its aiming function to heighten his eyes. That allowed him to see the marker over the bandits, actually getting a bestiary page for them as he did.

Bandits:

Human-shaped trash which plague the land wherever you go, they are one of the non-adventurer combat types that humanlike beings can become. Do not let their apparent humanity fool you. Bandits can be as inhuman to their victims as any orc or kobold. A kobold would kill you quickly for what you’re wearing, a bandit would rape you, then sell your dead corpse for gold.

Harry whispered “bandits,” to the others, who all nodded grimly, Imoen having already assumed it was something of that nature. He looked at Khalid and Jaheira. “Can you both describe the area to me?”

Khalid quickly did so, having come to trust Harry’s tactical sense, even if he didn’t quite have a grasp of the true utility of that skill yet. 

While her husband did so Jaheira stayed silent, moving to one side and crouching down next to Imoen where she had left her a second ago. “We’re obviously going to attack them, just so you know,” she whispered sarcastically. “So much for the idea of picking our battles thanks to Harry’s mapping ability.”

But there was a hard edge to her voice where there was normally just a regular prickly edge, and Imoen nodded grimly. She too could make out the bodies lying on the ground out there, and as a former Auror, she was even more determined not to let these scum walk away than the others. She quickly pulled out her short bow, then scowled realizing that in the dark, she would only be aiming at silhouettes. Even with the bow in hand she couldn’t make out the regular red dot, although she too could see the labels above the bandits now.

Jaheira chuckled as Imoen whispered that aloud. “Nice to know that there are some things that even Harry’s overpowered Advanced Adventurer skill won’t help. I however can see them perfectly,” she finished, fitting a sling stone into her sling but not twirling it just yet.

We can tell their numbers, but we can’t tell anything about their strengths, armor or anything like that, Harry thought, scowling. Ironically, without the fires Khalid and Jaheira would have been able to make out how the bandits were armed and suchlike, but the fires defeated their night vision. They could make out features occasionally, and thanks to their Elven heritage again could hear the course voices of humans and could occasionally make out flashes of leather armor but they couldn’t make out more than that.

Still, that was enough for Harry. “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said gesturing the others to huddle up. “I think it’s time that Imoen and I start using the Blood Mage spells in earnest. We’ll split up again, come at them from two sides, one from here the forest side, the other from down the road a ways. The ones coming from the forest will grab their attention, then we’ll flank them.

“Like we did against the ogre, sound thinking,” Jaheira said with a nod. “Although you are getting a little too enamored of this whole split and attack from two angles concept. Against an enemy that can think and react, it might not work.”

“But th, th, these aren’t thinking or r, r, reacting people right now,” Khalid said shaking his said. “Y, y, you saw them drinking just a, a, as well as I did love.”

“True, I just wished our omnipresent authority figure here to be aware of the danger of falling into having a favorite tactic, when others might work just as well.”

“If you cast Tangling Vines, straight where that mean fire is, is it far enough away for you to do so without fear of causing of forest fire?”

“I would have no fear on that score anyway, given the rain last night,” Jaheira said tartly. “I’ll warn you though that bandits are far less likely to be caught. Unlike skeletons and kobolds they will reacted like that group we fought at the friendly arm Inn.”

“I’m not,” Harry said grimly. “Trust me, I know this’ll be tough.”

With a limited plan in place, the group moved in quickly, getting to their prepared positions. When they did, Imoen came out of Hide in Shadows, and tossed the first spell and only spell she would be using in this fight, straight into the center of the largest fire. “Bombarda!”

Imoen has used Bombarda, the explosion-like Blood Mage spell. -30 to Health.

A bare second after Harry and Imoen saw that note the fire exploded in all directions, catching the attention of every bandit there. Three of them were hurled aside, one of them dying having been too close to the fire blasted sideways so much by the explosion he was slammed into a burning cart, snapping his neck. The others were merely singed, having been moving around the caravan’s carts. Now they tried to race towards Imoen as she disappeared again into Hide in Shadows, the skill coming back into play easily thanks to how dark it was beyond the fires. 

This put them out in the open, and Jaheira struck next, conjuring up Tangling Vines. Instantly as the spell head it began to catch fire from the fires in the carts and the scattered bits of burning debris. 

A few of the bandits were caught, but what the spell did most was slow them down and force the bandits to split their attention. “Fuck, are we dealing with two spell-users!?” shouted one of them, turning to the woods and barking out commands to two more, only to have them ignored. 

All of this activity had three bandits who hadn’t been drinking and who were still free of the Tangling Vines. They instantly moved toward Imoen’s last position, shouting out to one another. “Keep close!” 

“Be ready to dodge when the thief shows up again!” 

“Right, it’s gotta be a thief, did you see how the bastard disappeared like that!”

Harry then burst out of the woods, running hard for ten paces, and before they could turn towards him, he was in among them. His sword’s tip drove into the back of one.

Harry has used backstab! Critical hit! 

A second later his tower shield slammed into the center of the other man, and the ubiquitous ‘you have attempted to shield bash, shield bashes an advanced warrior skill, you do not know shield bash’ appeared in his vision, before he blinked it away. Still, the blow had, if not knocked the man backwards, at least staggered him slightly, allowing Harry to twist around, crippling the next one with a blow to the side of the knee.

By that point, the other man had brought his own sword up, and stabbed forward hard, trying to catch Harry in his side.

The blow hit unfortunately riding up the side of his armor, the point of the short sword slicing into his leather undershirt and into his side aiming for his armpit.

“Guhhh,” Harry groaned in pain, but he had already been backing away from the blow before it landed, and only the tip caught him, entering into his side a bit further down rather than up into the upper armpit. He turned, blood dripping down his side. as the sword was quickly pulled back out of his wound. Now the bandit came in again, and Harry had to defend himself quickly, pushing past the pain.

Elsewhere, the remaining eight bandits who had found themselves in the quickly expanding fire zone of the clinging vines where not having fun. Two of them had been caught by the spell, and a third faltered as he tried to get to his feet. The rest were able to break free, until one of them was caught right at the edge. As those men started to scream in suddenly sober fear of the fire crawling over the vines reached them, Imoen attacked from one side, and Khalid and Jaheira came out of the wood from the other. 

You have attempted a flanking maneuver. flanking maneuver has succeeded! X2 to damage for all participants.

With the damage multiplied, two of the remaining bandits were down by sling stone and arrows before Khalid was in among the others, his sword flashing out. He landed a crippling attack of his own, cutting a leg out from under one bandit, while Harry was still dueling with the one remaining bandit who hadn’t been drunk. That dual ended, as the man’s sword smashed into Harry’s shield, and Harry used a trick Khalid had taught him which his Gamer skill hadn’t told him about. His sword came up in an arc not to hit the man, but to catch the man’s wrist before he could pull his sword back.

The man’s sword and hand went flying, and as he stumbled back with a scream, Harry thrust forward ending his life, without further preamble. He ran towards the others and grinned as through the pain of his wound as another flank attack announcement appeared, making for a total of X4 times damage.

Now attacked from three sides, with two of those sides containing long range fighter who were willing to shoot then move backwards, the the bandits were never able to coordinate and died to a man in the next few minutes. Ironically, the ones who survived the longest were the ones who were still within the fiery area of the tangling vines spell. It turned out that the fires didn’t spread as fast as they had wanted thanks to the rain that afternoon. Only one of them had died thanks to the fire crawling up the vines before Harry and the others had finished off the bandits who had gotten out of the area effected by the spell. The last two bandits were shot down from a distance, and finally, the sound of battle receded, leaving only the sound of the fires crackling to drown out the night noises of the forest.

When the last bandit fell, Jaheira instantly moved towards Harry, shaking her head as she began to move her hands and fingers in an intricate pattern. “A well thought plan I believe, but next time perhaps you could not get yourself injured in the doing?” 

Jaheira Has used Cure Minor Wounds, +10 to the target’s health.

Harry was the most injured among them. One of the bandits had gotten off a shot towards Jaheira, but her buckler had interposed itself to catch the arrow on its face despite being so small thanks to her own ability in weapon and shield techniques. Khalid had taken a light grazing to one thigh and another to his side, but his armor had turned both, despite the fact that his shield had been held out of position by another bandit before that bandit had fallen to an arrow from Imoen.

Sighing faintly as the wound in his armpit closed up Harry nodded. “Agreed, I turned around too much to deal with the second one of them, I need t remember to keep my eye on the fight as a whole. Regardless, I think we should move away from here for a bit.”

“We’ll want to at the very least take their scalps now,” Khalid said professionally. “It’ll be easier because of your ability so shouldn’t take long.”

Harry shrugged, and moved over to one of the bandits, the man’s hair coming away in his grip a second later as he looted the body. “By the way did you see that one message when I began my attack?” Harry said looking over at Imoen 

“Yes I did, Imoen,” said with a laugh. “It’s proven, you can use backstab.”

“So, n, n, not only can you loot a bandit of h, h, his hair by simply touching them, but you c, c, can also share different techniques, at l, l, least some of them anyway. That is ch, ch, cheating, that is,” Khalid said with a chuckle shaking his head. 

As he moved from one body to another, Harry asked, “How close to Beregost do you think we are?” More to keep his mind on other things other than what he was doing than an actual desire to know.

Turning away from Imoen who had just been healed by another one of her spells Jaheira thought for a moment, looking around and pursing her lips thoughtfully, her eyes lighting on a banded rock set a few feet down the road, recognizing it as a feature she had seen before. “I believe we are about four more days away. If we go overland any rate. If we go by the road rather than paralleling it, that cuts it down to two days, since this area of the forest isn’t nearly as dense as the area we’ve been moving through.”.

Looking up from the task which should have been grisly but thankfully wasn’t thanks to his ability, he looked at Khalid and Jaheira. “I think we’re done with checking out all of my abilities. Unless you two have anything else you want to test?”

The two more experienced adventurers nodded, and Harry went on, not noticing how Imoen smiled as he once more took charge, showing his leadership ability. And his Leadership skill, she thought with a wry smile. This marks the third plan he’s made that worked darn well. I wonder if his leadership have gone up, or his tactics? 

Later that night she would ask him about that, but Harry would reply with a shake of his head. Tactics was upgraded via combat and solely via combat. Leadership was something else entirely. But his Tactics skill hadn’t updated at all either, despite him coming up with good plans for them all. Harry figured this was because Imoen was his only other party member. Khalid and Jaheira were merely traveling with them.

Now Harry went on, pointing down the road to the north. “In that case, I vote we backtrack a little bit, find an area of the roads to camp out on or near to, then come back here tomorrow morning to see what we can salvage from these carts. Then we push on, and I don’t know about you, but I think we should push on hard, not stopping so long as were on the road. That’s possible right?”

“It is, with your mapping ability to warn of enemy threats,” Jaheira said nodding approvingly. 

Congratulations. You have earned +10 respect with Jaheira. Sometimes good decisions are their own rewards.

Harry blinked, nodding at her, but not commenting on the relationship change as he had decided early on to keep most of that aspect a secret. It looks as if the longer we interact, the easier it is to gain her respect and trust. Trust was slower building than respect, but Harry could live with that. He was just grateful to see the change, since he figured that Khalid wouldn’t want to join his ‘party’ via his AA skill without Jaheira.

A few minutes later, Harry led the way north along the road. Khalid and Jaheira soon spotted a small out of the way culvert where they could create a campfire and hide themselves away. After a full day’s worth of travel, and a fight at the end all of them elected to go to sleep, trusting Harry’s ability to notice enemies were about for the first time.

Early the next day, Harry woke the others with a good breakfast, already prepared, and Khalid shook his head when he saw Harry had made them some fresh bread somehow, using a flat rock and his special utensils. “S, s spoiling us a, a, are you?” He asked, chuckling a little. He did however notice that both Imoen and Harry looked far more rested then they should have after only five hours sleep. Another benefit to his AA skill?

Harry shrugged, then gestured down the road. “I figure that a light meal like this is probably the best thing, when we’re about to deal with what was left over last night. No meats for certain.” He paused, then went on in a somewhat lighter tone. “And that thing Bentley called Traveler’s Bread is a travesty.”

The others all nodded grim agreement to both Harry’s statements. But despite his moment of levity, conversation petered out slowly, none of them looking forward to this duty.

Soon they were on their way to the battlefield of the night before. Thankfully a few of the bandits bodies had been dragged off by it wild animals, and the fires had died out dramatically, which made searching the caravan simpler.

“I d, d, don’t suppose you have a spell t, t, that could make digging holes eas, ea, easier?” Khalid asked looking over at Imoen.

Imoen frowned, then nodded slowly. “Well I could use Bombarda, although I don’t know how often I would have to in order to dig even one grave. And with the number of dead guards, merchants and bandits…”

“We won’t be burying Imoen the bandits,” said Jaheira’s sharply. “We will pile them up and burn them like the scum they are. That is what everyone does with the scum.”

Harry nodded, grateful for the hatred towards bandits she and Khalid were both showing, if much more subtly for Khalid. It was much better than the seeming apathy they had all felt after the battle against the kobolds. It made having killed the bandits seem somehow more righteous than the fight with Khalid.

Once their bodies had been searched, the bandits were piled up into a large heap, whereupon all of the remaining alcohol was poured over their bodies, and Imoen set them up on fire with an Incendio at Jaheira’s request. The druid still wanted to see more Blood Mage spells in action to get an idea of their abilities.

Later, while Harry and Khalid were busy digging the graves, and Jaheira frowned, looking at the items they had found. “Several letters to loved ones, most of them romantic in nature,” she reported sadly, though she also looked relieved something her next words explained. “No fathers or sons among them. I always find that kind the worst to bear, sons especially. No parent should outlive their child.”

Harry nodded understanding, then looked at the ring Imoen had just dropped in front of him as Harry was hip deep in one of the graves. Hitting yes to the routine identify question, he blinked as he actually got a full response instead of the partial one he’d been expecting. 

Prince’s ring, armor level +1.

This ring despite its overbearing name, is actually quite ubiquitous across the land of Faerun. It is able to heighten the armor level of the wearer. Similar rings can be found in numerous places, although a few have other powers.

Armor level +1.

“Now that’s an interesting find,” he said, before telling the others of what it was. He looked between Jaheira and Imoen, considering, then tossed the ring to Imoen. “There you go. With your inability to wear better armor, that kind of thing is best suited for you, I think.”

Jaheira and Khalid both nodded, while Harry idly noted he had again won some trust with both ladies. Imoen put the ring on her hand, admiring it for a moment, then laughed. “That’s great and all, but I hope that when you finally get a girlfriend, you don’t give them gifts like that! Rule number one for all girls: we like jewelry and any gift of such should be somehow special.” 

Even Jaheira nodded at that one, a faint smile on her face as she winked at Khalid, who rolled his eyes at some old joke between them.

“So, all in favor of racing on to Beregost the instant we’re done here?” Harry asked, shaking his head at the married couple’s antics.

Khalid and Imoen instantly raised their hands, but Jaheira shook her head, gesturing over towards the bodies. “I certainly agree with that, but before we bury these four fellows, there’s something we must see.”

Harry frowned, as his identify skill went off as he looked at one of the bodies. “That’s very weird,” He said aloud

‘What?” Imoen asked.

“Well, most of these bodies I don’t get anything via my observation ability, they are just, you know, corpses. “But this one, he’s dead, but I can still see an actual name over him.”

“He co, co, could be important in some fash, fashi, fashion, or perhaps linked to a q, q, quest. See if there i, i, is anything upon his per, per, person that could identify him,” Khalid said. 

Given what adventurers sometimes did for quests that made some sense, and Harry nodded, moving over to the body. Unlike with the bandits, or the wolves, or the kobolds though, Harry had to physically search this man, and he wondered idly why that was, but shook it off as unimportant for now. He eventually found a series of letters, to and from the man, whose name was ‘Entar Silvershield Junior’, and held them up to the others. “Will that be enough you think?”

“I imagine so yes,” Jaheira nodded. Harry nodded back and the group went back to burying the bodies.

“Is there anything we need to say over them?” Harry asked about two hours later. The sun was high in the sky at this point, so he estimated it was a little past noon. They needed to get going if they were going to put any real distance under their feet today, but they still could make time for this.

“There would be, if any of us were priests. But a druid is not a priest, rather a servant of nature Harry, although some of our skills may overlap. As it is, all we can do is make markers for the grave and carry what remains of their goods and personal effects to Beregost. That is all.” Jaheira reached out and took Harry’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Yet it speaks well of you Harry that you worry not only about the state of their bodies but the states of their souls. Not even most Paladins would be so concerned.”

You have won +100 respect with Jaheira. It would appear she does have a soul and approves of the fact you have one too.

Shaking his head to get rid of the message, Harry nodded to Jaheira, wondering again if the Gamer skill was trying to get him killed or just really didn’t like her. Soon they all began to make up little markers and writing down descriptions of the individua. Slain by bandits was the epitaph for all of them, slain by bandits and were avenged on this day. 

Tt worked too, although they wouldn’t know it until they passed by this way again. None of these men or women would rise his restless dead. That was a victory in and of itself. 

However, burying the bodies had taken so long, and exhausted Imoen so much – her constitution was very low at five - that Harry decided both that she needed more stamina points the next time she leveled up, and that they could take a day’s rest. They marched down the road about ten miles before the sun started to go down, finding a nice campsite to use that night soon after.

The feeling around the campfire was sober, all of them lost in their own thoughts, as they eat the extremely good fair which Harry had created for them: a kind of minestrone soup, to go with the bread from this morning. And with the food, it was Khalid who broke the silence.

“I m, m, must say Harry, of all of your o, oth, other skills, I think that the most important and use, us, useful one so far is your ab, ab, ability to cook,” Khalid said with a chuckle, patting his stomach happily. 

“I’m trying to work out if I should be insulted or flattered by that,” Harry said with a laugh.

“You co, co, could be both,” the other warrior replied with a chuckle.

After that, the air around the campfire turned a little more convivial, but there was no real chatter as they started to make preparations to head to bed. Even with Harry’s map, it was decided that with bandits in the area, they would have to post to guard. Harry volunteered to take first watch, followed by Imoen, then Jaheira and Khalid. 

The others were just about to head into their tents when Harry called out, ‘Hold on someone just entered my map range.”

“Someone?” Jaheira asked. “Not an enemy?”

“Blue neutral, that means he’s a civilian.”

“That’s odd, but… a lone civilian?”

“Yes,” Harry said with a nod, his eyes widening as he saw how fast the blue dot was approaching them. “And he’s going like blazes!”

The two half-elves came out of their tents at that, and Imoen followed from her and Harry’s. They stood, watching to the north as the man came towards them, rushing so fast he was leaving a dust wake behind him visible even in the failing light.

He was moving so fast Harry whistled. “Is that some kind of spell?”

“An enchant, t, enchantment,” Khalid said nodding. “They are called b, b, boots of quickness or something like that. Ex, ex, extremely expensive, they go f, f, for around two thousand g, g, gold, for a pair t, t, that has been used and is o, o on its last legs. The en, en, enchantment doesn’t wear out of course, b, b, but the boots themselves do.”

By the time Khalid finished his explanation the man was close enough for Harry to identify. 

A messenger.

A civilian who is tasked with rushing messages to and for, this individual is worth far more trouble than he’s worth to attack as every barely sentient individual knows. when he dies, where he dies becomes known to the authorities who sent him out. Since those authorities tend to be powerful, this often does not end well for the individuals involved.

“Interesting use of magic,” Imoen murmured, staring at the same message.

“Make way, make way!” the messenger shouted as he came on them. “Must dash to Beregost I must! Governor Kelddath must be told of the extra troops being sent his way. Beregost is to be garrisoned in case of Amnian attack. Though Amn has denied such intent. Of course they would deny it the snakes. Make way for the messenger!” the man shouted, all in one breath before he was past them.

“W, w, well,” Khalid said thoughtfully, “That was in, in, interesting. So h, he, he’s not only serving as messenger but Cryer a, a, as well.”

“Baldur’s Gate must want everyone to know that there sending troops south. As if we needed another reminder,” Harry said, having ignored Khalid’s pronouncement to stare at the announcement from his AA skill. “The Iron Intake Issue just got another little bit of information. Rising tensions. Nothing new there either.”

Jaheira nodded. “The iron ore itself is not the goal, the tensions between the two parties seem to either be the goal, or a side effect. Could someone be trying to use this to start a war?”

No one answered her question, and with that sober thought, all four of them fell silent before Harry told the others to get some sleep. They would be pushing on to Beregost without pause starting tomorrow.

OOOOOOO

“And this is where the school intersects the local wizards quarter. It also has a point of intersection with Paris to the east down the main street. I have been told you have parents out there waiting for you. They will be coming through that entrance over there,” the older, blonde said pointing to a gateway to the south. “The parents of prospective students are given a tour of our government building before they are allowed onto the campus itself.”

The older girl was gorgeous, Hermione had been able to acknowledge that within a minute of meeting her. She had long, amazingly lustrous platinum blonde hair down to the middle of her back, let loose at present, long legs, and even curves which, at fourteen, were just becoming clear to see. Her face was clear of blemish, angular, with just a bare hint of baby fat on high cheekbones, a small pert nose, deep blue eyes, a petite mouth marked by the tiniest hint of pink lipstick. She had also been relatively welcoming and kind to Hermione after being introduced to her in the Headmistress’s office.

“I, I’m of two minds about this,” Hermione said, almost frowning as she looked around. “It’s a lovely campus, and I have greatly enjoyed the tour, but a giant school, with so much free land, smack dab in one of the biggest, busiest cities in the world? It smacks of hubris. A single series of alleys is one thing, but this? Especially… well, I don’t know what you have heard about muggle technology but it’s advancing very quickly, and it might, eventually…”

“You’re not the only one to worry about such things,” the tall blonde young woman said from next to her. “Many non-magical born who come to our school worry about that kind of thing these days. I believe that is why the headmistress has started to push for our moving to another location. We are simply waiting for the new buildings to be built up. I understand there was also supposed to be some kind of large tournament or some such the year the new campus is supposed to be finished. But I believe it has been canceled recently, your old school, Hogwarts, pulled out of it.”

Hermione shrugged ignorance of that, looking from the older student towards the gate, then back around the school. “I have to thank you for showing me around, I realized that it was part of your duties as an upperclassman, but I presume you also have other things you could be doing.”

“That is true I do,” the French girl said without any attempt at prevarication. “However, it has not been nearly as onerous as you might think. Your questions were direct, intelligent, and your French has improved as we’ve been speaking. You are quite quick with languages. I wizh I waz” she, finished in English, her accent coming through very clearly. “I cannot get zome of zhe sound juzt right.”

Hermione almost shuddered as that accent washed over her, shaking her head. Something about that accident did weird things to her. “I, ahem, I rather think the boys in the world would prefer you to keep that accent honestly, Fleur.” she said with a quick, forced laugh.

Fleur, for that was the girls name, laughed too. “I do not think I need an a’cent,” she said switching to English for that last word before going on in French again” to attract the boys. It is alas all too easy for me. So easy I attract them even when I do not want to.”

Following her gaze Hermione saw her glaring to where a few upperclassmen, students older than Fleur, had been practicing dueling a moment ago under a few trees set to one side of the main thoroughfare that lead between the front yard of the school. Hermione stared at the two older students as they glared back. But not at her as she at first thought Hermione suddenly realized, but Fleur. A second alter they noticed Fleur and Hermione staring back at them, they looked away.

“And I thought it was me,” Hermione said to herself.

Fleur blinked, looking down at her. “I’m sorry, what?”

Hermione didn’t reply directly, looking away. “Attracting boys to you. Is that why many of the girls here seem to want to glare at you half the time?”

One well-manicured eyebrow rising in surprise Fleur nodded, raising her estimate of Hermione’s intelligence another notch. “You noticed that?”

“At first, I thought it was me, and I would have to deal with non-magical bias again like in Hogwarts. But I just realized that it was actually you they were glaring at.”

Fleur nodded. “I have heard that there is this issue of the blood in England. We have it too, but Madame Maxime has put a stop to much of it in the school, all that she can find anyway. If you insult another student through racist language, you either face him or her in the dueling ring, or if the offended are in their first or second year such as you, they face Madame Maxime herself. She is not quick,” Fleur said judiciously, “and her magical strength is only a little above par, but she is very dangerous nonetheless.”

After meeting school’s headmistress, Hermione could well believe it. She was easily the largest woman Hermione had ever met or even seen. Indeed Hermione could state she was a large as Hagrid and had idly wondered if she was so large for the same reason too: having a giant for a parent.

But that didn’t mean she was willing to let Madame Maxime do Hermione’s fighting for her. “I wouldn’t want Madame Maxime to be put out on my behalf, I’ll do my own dirty work thank you. My father’s taught me how to punch, and my friend Harry, well he told me to stand up for myself more a time or two,” she said, suddenly looking a lot smaller than she normally did as she thought of her missing friend. 

After they became friends Harry had always told her to be herself, and to stand up for herself more than once when he saw Draco or some other students trying to make fun of her. He’d even told Ron more than once to stop taking advantage of Hermione to do his homework! That, and the whole saving her from a troll thing, was why she knew he had been a friend to treasure.

Fleur decided she didn’t like that depressed, sad look on the little girl. She has such spirit it would be a travesty to have such be beaten down. “Who is this Harry you speak of, was he a boyfriend that you had to leave behind?” she asked, adding a deliberate note of humor into her voice.

“Oh, no,” Hermione said with a laugh. She frowned thinking. “I… I suppose it could’ve gone that way eventually, but…” she looked around, then gestured Fleur to walk with her towards the gate to the school, and out into the streets beyond where she would meet her parents. “Have you heard about the disappearance of the Boy Who Lived?”

“Of course. I have mentioned my papa is the Advisor for Judicial Affairs, have I not? As such he is in touch with what you call Aurors in England and knows all about it…” Fleur slowly stopped speaking, looking at Hermione with even more interest than before. “You knew him, I take it?”

“Yes, he was my best friend. Frankly looking back on it, I think he was my only real friend. My other so-called friend stopped actually contacting me, when I started to refuse to help him to do his summer schoolwork.” When Fleur’s eyebrow rose once more in query Hermione shrugged. “I don’t think he was using me for it entirely, but I definitely think that our friendship was started because we were both friends with Harry. If he wants to reach out and keep our friendship going, he has to do some of the work, and I don’t mean just his schoolwork,” she said ferociously to herself, muttering about idiot redheads.

This caused Fleur to laugh. The girl indeed had spirit and intelligence too. She approved. Then she thought of something. “I’ve been meaning to ask, why are you only taking part-time classes. While we certainly offer them, most of the time those we do offer them to our people who have to work for a living as well. Surely your family is not so badly off?”

“Oh, no!”, Hermione said with a laugh. “My parents are actually quite well-to-do. There both dentists you see.”

Flares Fleurs eyes widened at that. “Those are the non-magical to work with teeth, yes? You truly must introduce me to them. I would love to get my teeth looked at by such experts.”

And here’s hoping her father has some of this one’s defenses against my Aura. Fleur’s mother was a Veela, which made Fleur a Veela too, and she had hit puberty last year, which had caused a lot of upheaval in her social life. This morning she had accidentally released it entirely when a most bothersome boy had decided to accost her, when she was actually running late to meet young Hermione in Madame Maxime’s office. She had still had her Aura at full strength when she entered the room, and Hermione had reacted by blushing, flushing, and looking away until she got it under control with a speed that had impressed Fleur.

“Yes they specialize in teeth whitening, realignment, and other things of that nature,” Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. “And yet they still don’t want me to try and find a potion that could shrink my teeth.”

“You will grow into them,” Fleur said firmly. “That kind of talk is ridiculous. You have such pretty hair, and your face is already losing its baby fat. You will grow into your teeth, and the boys, they will be all over you.” 

“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment I suppose,” Hermione said with a laugh.

“But you did not answer my earlier question,” Fleur asked, prodding Hermione delicately.

Hermione shrugged. “While magic is amazing, I have… let us call it a goal for my future. It sounds so much better than obsession after all she thought, with wry self-awareness. “And to reach that goal, I need to have a foot in both worlds.”

“Interesting,” Fleur murmured. “What are you learning then on the other side? I know of some of what they teach there, mathematics, astrology certainly, we have long acknowledged the muggles are well ahead of wizard-kind there, and history.”

“All of that and programming, some engineering, advanced string theory when I get to it, and other things.” In particular, Hermione was interested in programming, because she was almost certain that the magic had somehow reacted to the computer’s program, and that had influenced whatever had happened to Harry. Once she could figure out where, or rather how it was done, she could figure out how to bring him back. 

The headmaster and the others don’t want to share their thoughts on the matter, and the Unspeakables don’t let anyone in to see the computer again? Fine, I don’t need them, I can find my own solution! The petite, extremely frizzy haired genius thought to herself, not noticing how her eyes began to light up like a madman as she thought, rubbing her hands together gleefully as she imagined all of the learning she had to do for this.

Fleur did notice and took a step back, scratching at her ear thoughtfully as she stared at the younger girl. Why do I think that with this girl around, school is going to cease being boring quite quickly?

OOOOOOO

Of course, there were some students who would prefer boring. Back in Hogwarts, a disconsolate Ginny was sitting with Luna, her only friend from before Hogwarts, as she waxed eloquently on the fact that she had finally gotten to Hogwarts, only for Harry Potter to not be there. “I mean what the heck! I thought the headmaster was supposed to be watching out for him. And then this disappearance happens, and he steps down as headmaster, and all the rest of it and the Boy-Who-Lived isn’t around anymore” she growled ferociously, poking her lunch with her fork. 

She had initially pulled Luna over to sit with her because the other girl looked a little lonely to Ginny, but also because Luna was good Ron-repellant at mealtimes. She had gotten into Gryffindor of course, just like the rest of her family, but there was no rule that said you had to stand at your own tables. Besides, they’d already gotten their course schedules, and the rest of the students were only waiting for the headmistress to make an announcement at this point before the first day of school could begin.

Luna smiled that special smile of hers that showed her brain was somewhere else, a look that would’ve gotten Luna teased by anyone else, except for Fred, George, and the rest of the Weasley’s bar her dumb bunny of a brother Ron. Ginny had thought at first that teasing Luna was Ron’s way of showing that he liked her, but since he’d taken to calling her Loony, that a gone out the window.

“Harry Potter will return due time, when the time is right for him to do so. And not before. But he will be changed by the experiences I think,” Luna said.

As Ginny was blinking at her friend in confusion, wondering what she meant, Ron was busy worrying about another missing student. “Darn it, I can’t believe that Hermione went through with her plan to transfer to Beauxbatons. Is that even allowed?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never heard of such transfers, but if she didn’t want to continue her education here after last year and all that’s occurred this summer it was probably her best choice.” Percy said from where he was trying not to notice his brother’s horrible table manners. “I think we should just be glad her parents didn’t try to pull her out of the Magical World entirely.

“Huh? Why? If she weren’t in school at least she’d still be in England you know?” Ron asked around a mouthful of bacon.

“I believe that once you enter the Magical World, you must complete your magical education in one of the schools. There are no tutors for muggleborn. If they do not finish their education, the individual’s magic would be burned out of them, all of their memories of the magical world erased along with those of the parents. The Statute of Secrecy must be maintained after all.”

“God I hope that didn’t happen,” Ron said, his earlier irritation with Hermione disappearing instantly. She might’ve gone to the frogs, but even that was batter better than being without magic.

“I’m still getting used to the fact that Dumbledore is not around,” Fred muttered. “What do you think McGonagall is going to be like in charge?”

“I think brother dear we’re about to find out,” his twin replied. 

Everyone at the table looked up towards where Prof. McGonagall it stood up and was waving her hand in the air, intoning a spell none of the students could hear over the chatter they were generating. Silence slammed down throughout the hall, and she stood there for a moment holding the spell like that, before canceling. 

“Thank you for your attention,” she said a second later, her town firm and no-nonsense. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, Albus Dumbledore stepped down as headmaster prior to the school year beginning. However, I have been acting as his deputy for a very long time, so you should not be concerned about the quality of education here going down. Indeed, I believe that with a bit more discipline and adherence to the rules of this school, it will go up.”

She ignored the groans from the two Weasley twins with ease, gesturing to one side, as a large parchment floated up off the table. She hit it with another spell, and it duplicated into fours, before floating out to each table. “Copies of this, the new guideline for students, has already been posted in your common rooms. There are new rules on there that I urge you all to look over closely. Ignorance of the rules is no defense.”

She glared at a few students in Ravenclaw, then twitched her glare to a silently fuming Snape then to a few of his Slytherins. “These sheets will tell you the system that every teacher will follow regarding punishments in terms of points and detentions, all the way to expulsion. They also will show you the rules, showing what will be regarded as bullying, the penalties for the usage of racial slurs, and what is and what is not allowed as personal property on Hogwarts ground.” 

Albus might’ve thought that the statues, ghosts and portraits were enough to keep his thumb on the lives of the students. I don’t, McGonagall thought as more than one of the Slytherin students shouted a protest as they saw the forbidden words on the list. 

The Weasley twins too were shouting angrily at some of them, knowing that a few of those rules have been targeted towards them and their pranks. The Ravenclaws were also protesting, although not about that. Instead they were shouting out about the new rules for taking books out of the library. All of them thought they should be allowed to take any book as long as they wanted so long as it was returned in pristine condition. But hoarding like that would no longer be allowed. The other three houses needed equal access to those books.

Deciding this had gone long enough, Minerva decided to end things here. “These are rules ladies and gentlemen, not subjects for debate!” she boomed in the thunderous voice, a voice trained in hundreds of classrooms. This instantly silencing the room except for Draco, who began his normal shout of when my father before pausing as he remembered that his father was in jail, most likely for the rest of his life. 

His pace paled, and he sat down, but he was still glaring at McGonagall angrily. Draco had hoped to return to a bit of normality after his life had been turned upside down this past summer. But that was not going to happen.

He wasn’t the only one glaring at her, but Minerva was fine with that. These rules were meant to make this school a better place, a safer place, a place with more equality and more emphasis on education. I will never be as famous, or as well-liked as Albus. But that is fine, I will make my own mark on this school, in discipline and safety, she thought, smiling thinly as she felt Snape staring at her. And that might mean more changes in the future, and not just to the rules of the student.  

OOOOOOO

“Amelia!” Shouted Prof. McGonagall’s voice through the fireplace.

Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, jumped, slamming her leg into the underside of her desk both surprised by the sudden call and thrown off balance by the tone of the older woman’s voice. She had not heard that tone in the old woman’s voice since war against Voldemort ended and it shocked her out of the dull blah mindset she had fallen into after a routine day of paperwork. 

“What is it Minerva?” she asked, looking over at the slightly older woman. 

“I have an unregistered Animagus who was hiding among my students, for years apparently,” Minerva said scowling angrily. But Amelia could tell he wasn’t directed towards her, rather it was directed toward Minerva herself, something her next words proved. “All these years, all these years that rat lived! I should’ve realized! 

“Rat?” Amelia asked, cutting through the other woman’s self-flagellation.

“The Weasley’s pet rat, Scabbers. I just conducted a survey of the school’s pets, a routine set of tests on them you know, disease, intelligence, familiar check. none of the Spells worked on the rat and it seemed to panic in its cage the instant I started to cast spells on it. Thank goodness I had all the pets in cages when I went over them. I instantly stunned it, and then used the Humanum Revellio on it, which gave me a positive return.” Minerva reported crisply. “I would rather undo its animal form with more wands than my own and Filius’s here, so if you could…”

“Of course! I’ll get a team together and be there instantly.” Amelia stood up purposefully. “In fact, I’ll come myself.” This looked way more interesting than paperwork after all.

And so the stones kept tumbling down in the avalanche of change that had begun with Harry Potter’s disappearance.

OOOOOOO

Beregost was a small town, surrounded by an outer hedge wall, with brambles and thorns growing through it that looked almost like barbwire to Imoen’s eyes, with more than two dozen houses and larger buildings within. Some of these included inns, many of which had signs telling you how to get to them before you even reached the town from the north.

At the entrance way cut into the outer hedge wall there was a squad of six Flaming Fist guards. Harry examined them as they came up, and though he didn’t have as good an idea of armor as he should have, he thought they looked smart and organized. The notification over their heads also agreed with them.

Flaming Fist Guard. 

Another type of humanoid, or specifically human in this case, type of warrior who is not an adventurer. While not able to stand up against an Adventurer one-on-one, Flaming Fists come in packs like wolves. 

Organized, well-equipped, and sometimes even well led, these are the soldiers of Baldur’s Gate, its principal army, police force, and investigation team all in one.

Leading them was a woman, whose title read,

‘Valerie, level ten adventurer’.

An Adventurer who joined the Flaming Fist Valerie is known to be somewhat fast with her sword and much faster with her mind, an organizer and decent field commander all in one, despite some… question about her time out of uniform.

Status: Wary Interest. While she is leery of you as a stranger coming to her town, she is willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and maybe become interested you in another way…

That relationship status threw Harry for a moment, but he still noted that she was wearing the same armor as the Flaming Fist guards, and she stood among their number, which Harry felt was something he had to note for the future. It looked as if the mercenary groups could also have adventurers among them, which, if he ever had to fight one, was something he’d have to be aware of.

“Name and reason for your visit to Beregost?” the woman asked.

Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen all looked to Harry to speak for them, which caused him to groan a little, before he stood forward smiling at the woman politely. “Harry, and his party, Imoen, Jaheira, and Khalid. Might I ask why you’re checking visitors? Is it just the recent troubles, or something specific?”

“Just the recent troubles, no one can be too careful after all,” the woman said, actually sending him a smile, her eyes flicking up and down Harry’s body.

Valerie’s Relationship has changed from wary Interest to Interest. Charisma for the win, boy!

Harry blinked at that, noting that Valerie’s name over her head had changed to the pulsing pink that Cassandra and Phyldia’s had.  But then, as Imoen elbowed him in the side, smirking he replied. “Well Miss…”

“Miss?” Valerie interrupted, laughing. “I don’t think so, or are you trying to make me feel old?”

“Not at all,” Harry said with a shake of his head. “I was just trying to be polite. After all your what b,,”

At that point he was interrupted by Imoen putting her hand over his mouth, while Khalid laughed behind her. “I have to stop you there Harry! Just say she’s beautiful and young and leave it at that. Don’t play guessing games.”

After Harry nodded Imoen released him, holding out her hand to the woman who took it, a smirk on her face after watching the two interact. “My name’s Imoen” she said.

“Charmed, and I wasn’t going to take offense unless he guessed in the high thirties or something,” she said chuckling as she led the way through the hedge wall. “I’ll need you to sign your names to the book here. You’re all adventurers correct?”

“That’s right, why?” Harry asked.

“We’ve got several bounties you might be interested in, and there’s a paladin looking around for help to hunch down a band of ogres. I also have to to ask you what the conditions were like on the road from wherever you came from,” Valerie rattled off as she crossed to a small desk set out in the open next to the inner wall of the hedge. 

“We came from the Friendly Arm Inn, and the conditions of the road itself was nice, the conditions not so much.” From there Harry began to relate what they had run into with the help of the others occasionally.

Valerie frowned, listening to the description of the bandits that they had taken out. The ogre wasn’t of much interest to her, oh she’d heard about him, some strange ogre with a girdle fetish, but he was well out of her jurisdiction. 

The bandits though, she grinned savagely hearing of their demise, her joy only slightly tainted by the fact that they had taken one final group of victims. “Hard luck on that caravan, and harder luck for some of the guards. I know one of them was some kind of highborn from the gate, an heir to one of their noble houses. And I know at least two of those boys came from here in Beregost. Stupid idiots, who thought that just because they could pick up a spear meant they could fight.”

“This world is often times cruel to the foolish,” Jaheira said with a sigh. 

“You said you had some of their belongings?”

“We’ve got their chain mail, notes, messages, some jewelry and a cloak a or two,” Harry said pulling out the items from his item box. Jaheira rolled her eyes, and Harry paused, as he lost -10 trust with Jaheira. And -5 trust with Khalid suddenly. Right, the item box, most people can’t use it like I can.

quick thinking quickly, he then accidentally pulled out several other things, while looking for the final bits and pieces.

That did not regain the trust he had just lost with the married couple but earned him a few points of respect from both half-elves, and Valerie stopped looking as amazed, putting down that first time pulling out what he had been looking for as luck.

“Still, wiping out those bandits was good work.

Finding their camp like that after you killed would have been even better, but I suppose we can’t be too picky.”

Having ‘finally’ found the bunch of scalps from the bandits Harry dropped them onto Valerie’s desk. She looked at them, counting each of them off, then went back to looking through the effects Harry and the others had brought back before nodding. “The scalps seem in order, and the rest I can send on to the proper families. stop by later at our garrison and I’ll give you the money then. Or…” she said as if a sudden thought had occurred to her. “We could meet up at one of the inns. The Red Sheath? Maybe have a drink and talk then.”

Harry slowly nodded, flushing slightly as he went through all the extra meanings of that statement and the way she’d said it. “I’d like that.”

“Excellent, I’ll be off doing the rounds for…” she looked up at the sun. “Another three hours I think.” Harry nodded, and turned back to his companions

They entered the town proper after that, with Imoen and Khalid and even Jaheira teasing Harry about how he had gone from accidentally insulting, to flirting with the guard officer, and now had something of a date to look forward to. “It’s just drinks,” he protested feebly. “And it’s not important regardless. We should be looking around for jobs we can do while waiting.”

“Actually Harry, you’re forgetting one of them already, that house with the spiders. Landrin’s job for us, remember?”

“Good point,” Harry said with a nod to Imoen’s comment. “Let’s see if we can find it.”

A few streets later, they found a house with a notice stuck to the outer gate. “’Caution spiders: enter at own risk’. So these are not going to be run-of-the-mill spiders,” Harry quipped.

“Actually they probably are,” Jaheira said with a shrug. “Certain spiders after all can grow to the size of a man.”

Harry simply blinked at that, then shook his head slightly. Fine, we won’t touch that one. Do you think we’ll need a torch or something in there?” He asked, looking at the windows. They seemed blocked up by something, though Harry couldn’t tell what it was.

“Quite probably, and don’t expect Tangling Vines to be as useful here as it is out in nature. That spell works much better when there is some plant life to work with.”

Harry nodded, but pulled out his tower shield and sword, as a helmet he had taken from one of the bandits in the last fight. It was a simple bucket-shaped helmet with a bit of metal moving down from the rim above the eyes to cover his nose which left much of his face and neck unprotects. 

Looking at that helmet and comparing it to his own helmet with its armored mouth and nose piece and longer sides to protect his neck, Khalid shook his head. “W, w, we’ll need to be getting you some bett, t, t, better armor lad.”

“Good point Khalid, and we’ll want to find someone here that we can sell jewels too. Uncut jewels, like the bag I sold as part of the payment for my shield.”

“And you still haven’t told us where you got all those?” 

“I’ll tell you after we clear out the spiders,” Harry said nodding. He would have to come up with the story for that that was the kind of thing he couldn’t put down to his AA system after all.

“I don’t know why you’re so concerned about that Harry, it’s not like Frederick is ever going to leave Candlekeep. And that gem duplication product of his was actually just a byproduct of his real experiments,” Imoen cut in, smirking. 

“Gem duplication?” Jaheira asked quickly, frowning as she thought through all the implications of such a thing.

“Frederick is this Seeker we know, who likes to experiment. He figured out this way of basically re-creating the process through which gems are made. But that was a byproduct for his real experiments.,” 

“Let me guess, he was trying to turn lead into gold,” Jaheira said with a sigh. “Such nonsense. Alchemists, ugh.”

Harry chuckled, but nodded. “Something like that I think. When I started to do odd jobs for him, I didn’t actually understand what he was saying. Anyway, Imoen here discovered that the copies were just as good as the original, and were exact copies, so were even worth more as a set. We kept on doing small jobs, and he kept on paying us for them in gems, thinking he was skimping us. I’ve got over four hundred of the things still.”

By that point they had reached the doorway to Landrin’s house and Harry opened it, quickly entering, his shield up and pushed forward to protect as much of his body as it could, ankle to chest. Harry figured that any threat from spiders would come at ground level.

But they were not attacked right away, and Jaheira rolled her eyes. “I see that at least in this, you have not had any training. Spiders are ambush animals; they will not simply wait by the doorway and charge forward. They will wait until we are within, and then they will come at us from every direction.”

“You are a little bundle of joy sometimes Jaheira,” Harry muttered, looking at her thoughtfully, causing Khalid to let loose a crack of laughter and her to scowl. But he went on more seriously. “I don’t suppose you have a seeing in the dark spell that you could use on Imoen and I? It’s dark as blazes in here, and I’d rather not have one of us have to hold a torch instead of a weapon or shield.”

“And here is an, an, another thing we can te, te, teach you,” Khalid said with a laugh, as Jaheira stopped glaring to pull off her buckler, handing it to Harry to put in his items space for her with just a bit more force than was needed. 

As he did so, Harry noticed that he had also somehow won twenty respect points.

You have earned +20 Respect points for Jaheira.  Huh? It looks like Jaheira might have a sense of humor. Don’t let on you can tell though, she might have to kill you.

While Harry read that and again wondered why the AA skill didn’t seem to like Jaheira, the half-elf herself pulled out from her bag, her physical bag rather than her item box, some flint and tender. Looking around she then picking up a hunk of wood from a box next to the door, dowsing it with a little bit of cooking oil, to get the fire going.

She then held the torch in her shield hand, while still holding her slingshot in the other.

Imoen looked at her, then around the interior of the house from the protection of the doorway before shaking her head. “No way could I get an arrow shot off in these close confines. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow that buckler of yours.”

“Not at all child, although I do not think you had a spot in sword and shield.”

“Only the one,” Imoen said grimly. “But, any help is, you know, helpful.” She then equipped her short sword, before activating her skill Hide in Shadows. 

Harry ignored the normal heads up communication on that score as he entered the doorway, with Khalid behind him for a moment before Harry had him spread out and back to Harry’s shield side. They fell into a diamond formation, with Harry in the front, Khalid to one side, with Imoen to the other side of him and Jaheira in the far back closest to the door, which slowly closed behind them, leaving them in torchlight alone. Imoen was not there to the other’s senses, but Harry could still see her on his map. 

What he couldn’t see were any enemies. That wasn’t good. It meant that creatures with an ambush specialty could avoid his map’s detection, something which he told the others as it occurred to him. They all noticed then that the interior of the house was as dark as Harry had feared. The windows, such as they were, had been covered up by inches thick webs, blocking out the light. But from the light of the torch, he could make out a fireplace set to one side, a few chairs, one quite nicely padded, a doorway leading into what was probably a kitchen, judging by what he could see through the doorway, and a set of stairs leading upwards.

They moved forward, and he asked in a whisper, “Is there any way to spot them before they attack? My map is not helping here.”

“No,” Jaheira said, her own eyes sweeping the interior, looking very deliberately away from the torch in her hand. Then she spotted the fireplace and pulled back her hand hurling the torch forward with surprising accuracy.

The torch landed in the fireplace, where, as she had thought, some very dry wood started to catch fire as well, which gave them a little more firelight first set few seconds and as she did, the spiders attacked.

One of them appeared in front of Jaheira, leaping forward and bearing her to the earth with a startled cry. But she had been tensed since entering the house expecting something similar and had her staff up between herself and the biting mandibles of the spider.

Another spider appeared in front of and leaped onto Harry. But he lifted his shield, getting it between the two of them and taking the things wait on it, slicing quickly with his sword. The side of the spider seemed to absorb much of his blow, but still it started to bleed, chattering in as much pain as anger now, it’s mandibles flailing and it’s legs trying to scrabble around the shield to Harry.

Khalid faced two of the beasts, and wavered moving one way than the other, blocking and then dodging. Then Imoen appeared out from behind her own Hide in Shadows, beside one of the beasts, thrusting sideways, slamming her hand on to the hilt of her sword to push her short sword deeper into the creature. It squealed, convulsing but its touch hide was unable to stop a thrust like that and Imoen’s sword burst through her his abdomen unlike Harry’s slash,, which had been blunted by the naturally bristly skin of the spider.

Khalid has used shield bash.

Shield Bash successful, Huge Spider is stunned.

Harry saw this message as Khalid attacked the other one, smashing it backwards with his shield. The Stun actually caused it to collapse to the ground, it’s legs flailing out from beneath it. This opened up its head and body to a stab from his sword, and Khalid killed it a second later with a stab right between the eyes.

That spider was the first to actually die, followed next by Imoen’s, but the one which had attacked Harr had retreated, and Harry could hear the skittering of more as suddenly a rash of tiny red dots appeared in the corner of his map in the direction of the stairwell. Lots of them. 

Seeing that and also having taken in the rest of the downstairs, Harry made a choice. Tower shield don’t fail me now! “Khalid, Imoen help Jaheira, then clear out the kitchen, I’ll guard the stair!” He shouted, as he himself moved towards the doorway and the stairwell leading up. 

He got halfway up before several dozen more spiders, smaller ones began to skitter into view down the stairs, crawling over the stairs and one another to get to one another. 

Small Spiders.

While still much larger than the common house spider these younglings are much smaller than the average giant spider. Like all spiders, they are immune to Web but can be affected by other immobilizing spells such as Entangle. Beyond their unusual size, their poison attack is more potent than the larger variety of spiders, but their hit points are less than a fourth of the huge spiders they later become, making them ever so much more squishable.

One of them died instantly as Harry smashed it with the bottom of his shield, indeed squishing nicely despite Harry not having the Shield Bash skill. He then sliced his sword sideways, catching another spider across its eyes, causing it to back away, one of its eight eyes busted open.

But the spiders coming behind those two were not stopped by Harry’s first victim. They crawled over them then started climbing up his tower shield, and around him, trying to swarm him under, but unable to: thankfully they couldn’t push themselves through the banister to one side, and Harry’s shield protected him from one side of the stairwell to the other. 

Harry stabbed over his shield and down, killing one spider, then another, but the weight of them started to tell on his footing and he fought for balance on the steps. “Gah, I hate giant spiders!” 

Behind him, Imoen and Khalid finished off the one spider that Harry had wounded, before moving to Jaheira’s aid, who had been holding off the spider that had taken her to the ground with her staff, the middle of the staff latched between the mandibles of the spider, as she twisted this way and that trying to shift its weight off her.

Luckily, the larger spider’s feet didn’t seem to be strong enough to punch through her chain mail, although she looked more than a little battered around the edges as they finally got to her, Khalid thrusting down into the back of the spider before grabbing the spider by the back of the head and pulling it off his wife tossing it aside.

Jaheira rolled then, push to her feet, and angrily slammed her staff into the ground. “Bark Skin!” She shouted, gesturing towards Harry.

Jaheira has cast bark skin on you. This spell gives the target’s skin all the durability of the bark of a mighty oak.

Durability +8 For the duration of the spell. Harry is now immune to poison.

It was a good thing she had done that, because Harry had been unable to keep the spiders from trying to swarm over his shield, and three of them had already bitten him. He had started to see the world in green, accompanied by the blasé notice of:

You are now poisoned. -1 to health every minute until healed.

But once Jaheira’s spell hit, Harry could feel the bites no longer being able to sink home. Okay, I think I have a new favorite druid spell, he thought, crushing one of the spiders to him with a bear hug, then grabbing up his sword and pushing to of the one still on his shield away.

He still held the bottom of the stair though he’d been pushed backwards several steps, and the spiders still couldn’t move around him. Thanks to his tower shield, and now’s Jaheira spell, Harry was able to withstand it. Jaheira cast two healing spells, and a cure poison spell in swift succession, her fingers flying as she intoned the spells while Imoen and Khalid dealt with two more huge spiders in the doorway leading into the kitchen. 

“Clear the kitchen before you come and help,” Harry repeated. “The last thing we need is to be attacked from behind.”

Grabbing up a chunk of now burning wood from the fireplace, Imoen and Jaheira and Khalid entered the kitchen quickly, looking around. Jaheira stayed there to tear out the spiderwebs and then moved resolutely to the windows, tearing down the spiderwebs there as Khalid and Imoen went to Harry’s aid. They took up position behind him and to the side of the stairwell stabbing up. Unlike the spiders, their swords could get through the banisters. 

She was called back to heal Harry one more time before the flow of spiders finally began to peter out. “That was reckless, stupid, vainglorious…” Jaheira said, before breathing in deeply. “And quite effective, much as a I don’t like admitting it. She shook her head. “You have a head for tactics I have to admit. It that lot of spiders able to spread out, we would’ve had a much harder time.”

True, although I think from now on you were going to get into a fight, I am going to ask you to use that spell on as many of us as possible,” Harry said in reply, looking up the stairs. “So, do we finish down here first, or…”

“Finish down here first,” the others intoned, and Harry nodded approval. He stayed at the stairwell just in case more spiders were going to suddenly decide to throw themselves down into the murder alley that he had created there, but none appeared. 

After that despite Harry’s concerns the fight on the second story was much easier than the first. They only ran into two large spiders there, larger than the others called sword spiders. Their legs were tipped with sword-like ends that were troublesome to deal with, causing several wounds to Harry and Khalid as they leaped out of their own Hide in Shadows. But without their fellows around they died faster, though the last one did knock Harry off his feet when his sword shattered on contact with one of its legs. 

Groaning in more annoyance than pain, Harry held out his hands and was pulled to his feet by Khalid and Jaheira. “Well,” he said cheerfully I suppose that will teach me to…”

“Always make certain that an enemy is downed and dead Harry,” Jaheira said sternly, although her lips were twitching as she did.

For the next hour or so, the group went around the house, always in teams of two, just in case. They found several of the Small Spiders in areas whereby all rights they should never have been able to hide given their own size. However, they didn’t find any further dangers. The house was small and had been quite organized and clean at one point.. 

“It makes me wonder how the spiders got in,” Harry mused. 

“Spiders like that can creep in occasionally, although, I don’t know how they were able to multiply without her calling in the guards.” Jaheira said with a nod.

“M, m, maybe the guards just don’t c, c, care about anything within the to, to, town so long as they’re protecting it fr, fr, from external threats,” Khalid asked shrugging her shoulders.

Imoen laughed shaking her head. “Nope, it was all a land grab scheme.”

“A what,” Khalid and Jaheira asked, while Harry simply for his brows, confusion plain on his face. 

“It was a land grab scheme. The woman who gave us this job gave me a bit more background before you came back Harry. Her next-door neighbor planted them here, she wanted to basically buy out the house cheap. But the Flaming Fists discovered her part in the scheme and though they were unwilling to put forth the effort to clean out the spiders once the infestation had gained so much members, they arrested her the day before Landrin met us,” Imoen reported.

“That is kind of disturbing to be frank,” Harry said with a shake of his head. “I mean come on; those spiders could eventually have spread out from the house right?”

“Yes they could have,” Jaheira said simply. “I imagine that the next-door neighbor is going to be answering some very pointed questions by the town’s counsel about this.”

“Regardless,” Harry said with a shrug “I think we have a base of operations for our time in Beregost.” 

“Indeed. If we stay here for any length of time this place will serve,” Jaheira approved. She looked around, smiling slightly at the sight of the interior of the main room now sans spiderwebs. “It certainly nice enough, almost homey, and once we get rid of all the spiderwebs, it’ll actually be quite clean and then wash down the interior it will be very nice indeed. But, I’ll warn you that Beregost isn’t near enough to Nashkel to serve as a base of operations for our investigation there.”

“True, but it’s a big town, I think we should stay here for of maybe three days, look around, do some odd jobs while also investigating anything about the bandits, sub-humans and the Iron Intake Issue.”

“Two days max,” Jaheira said firmly. “We must go on to Nashkel as soon as possible.” 

“Khalid, Imoen? Your thoughts?” Harry asked, rather than trying to persuade Jaheira on her own.

Khalid thought about it, then shrugged. “I thi, th, think we don’t have enough in, in, information about what is go, g, going on here. Valerie to, to, told us, or rather she told y, y, you,” the older man said teasingly, “that there were a few dangers ar, ar, around the town, b, b, but are they connected to o, o, our real purpose? We don’t kn, kn, know yet.”

Harry nodded, understanding his point. Imoen shrugged. “I’d prefer to stay here a few days, but I have to admit that they’re right Harry. With that messenger guys message, I don’t think we can afford to really wait.”

“Exactly. The tension between Amn and Baldur’s Gate must end before anything else,” Jaheira said.

Harry winced. “Okay, I’d forgotten about though political tensions, sorry.”

Jaheira simply nodded magnanimous in her victory, deliberately biting her tongue to call him boy or youth or some such. Harry had proven himself to her over the past few days, and so she would not denigrate him like that. Not unless he screwed up royally, which simply forgetting the political aspects of the Iron Intake Issue was not.

“So one day? Or a day and a half?” 

Something like that unless we find clues to a local individual who is connected to the Iron Intake Issue,” Jaheira said, sighing. “And oh my, that alliteration is getting irritating.”

“You’re telling me.” Harry grumbled. “My AA skill’s sense of humor can wear on anyone, but you all don’t have to put up with a 24 seven. Did you know what it said that one night we camped out right after taking care of the kobolds?”

He waited, then went on in a louder tone, making his voice deliberately jolly, like someone trying to come off as friendly but with a snowballs chance in hell of actually being believed. “’You have slept for eight hours. And you haven’t been attacked either, wow, that Luck stat really does work for you, doesn’t it?’”

“Yes,” Jaheira said dryly “That would be quite annoying. And now I am quite correct grateful that I do not have such a system. With my temperament, that would drive me up the wall.”

“We would say drive you batty,” Imoen said with a laugh. “But then again, we grew up in a keep.

“Bats are quite nice creatures, why would you say something like that? They eat mosquitoes and other allies, and are actually quite intelligent for their size,” Jaheira said her brows furrowing as she looked at the two of them. “I quite like them.” 

Harry and Imoen blinked staring at her, then looked at one another and shrugged “Must be a druid thing,” they said as one, causing Khalid to laugh and Jaheira to roll her eyes.

Soon the cleanup was done, and after getting their beds ready, the group of them left the building, checking the time of day by staring up at the sun, which was just starting to set. “I think we should look around for short-term quests, stuff we can do in a day or so, and then head over to that tavern that Valerie mentioned.”

“Anxious for your date?” Jaheira teased, getting the words in before Imoen could, causing the younger girl to pout.

Harry shrugged, looked away sheepishly. “Well, she is good looking, and um, seemed interested in me so we’ll see where it goes.”

Unfortunately, while there were quests around the town, none could be accomplished without going out of their way. There was a ‘Blast Barbarous Bandits’ quest, which was being offered by the Governor of the town. There were several quests to hunt down this or that sub sentient band to return lost items. There was a missing person, a wife asking them to keep an eye out for her husband when they left the town heading south. There was indeed the Ankheg quest being offered by the local blacksmith, but they didn’t have any Ankheg hide yet. 

And finally, there indeed was a paladin in the town, but he was not at all what Harry had expected. First of all, they found him in the Jovial juggler, a tavern which was popular among the younger set of the town, which was apt, since Bjornin was young, almost as young as Harry, and seemed even younger, with a baby face and innocent, if down on his luck, expression.

Harry took one look at the guy labeled ‘Bjornin, Paladin of Tyr level 7, and bit his lip to stop himself from asking if he really was a paladin. Instead, he slid onto a stool next to him and asked, “Paladin Bjornin? Officer Valerie said you had a quest to offer a party of adventurers.”

Bjornin twitched, nodding his head as he took in Harry, who was at least a foot taller than him, then his companions. “Um, yes, I, I do have a job for you. Um, I, I was ambushed by a group of ogres. They are attempting to fortify a chasm near Fisherman’s Lake. It’s an important source of food in these times of trouble. I, I attempted it myself but as much as I am a paladin, my skills have never laid in warcraft really.”

“You don’t say?” Jaheira muttered under her breath, obviously not impressed.

“Is this quest time sensitive?” Harry asked, ignoring her words and Imoen’s snicker.

“No, um, no. There aren’t very many of them, just the four, and they moved into the area just the day before last. I attempted to oust them the same day, but as I said my strength lies in my faith and piety rather than my sword arm. I was able to injure two slightly and take the arm off one, suit, but I was forced to flee back to town when my blade broke. I shan’t try that again, believe you me.” 

“In that case, we have an existing quest that is taking us south. But as soon as we are done that quest we will return to Beregost and deal with these ogres for you,” Harry decided.

Bjornin thanked them, and after asking a few questions about Tyr, Imoen provided Harry an excuse to leave quickly before Bjornin could start proselytizing. After that with night now fallen, Harry led the trio to the Red Sheath, where they were going to meet Valerie for the reward of six hundred gold for the twelve bandit scalps. As they were walking, Harry frowned noticing something for the first time.

“What is it?” Imoen asked, looking over at them quizzically having notices frown.

“I just realized, that my mapping ability doesn’t look into houses and suchlike,” Harry said. 

“Ac, ac, actually, that and the fact that it wa, wa, wasn’t able to see the spiders as t, t, they were using h, h, Hide in Shadows m, m, makes me feel better a, a about it. If it could d, d, do those two things, it would ju, ju, just be too powerful an ab, ab, ability to be believed could be si, si simply randomly given to you. E, e, even if you are a s, s, son of the Murder Manwhore,” Khalid said with a chuckle, using Harry’s term for the former God.

“Hey! That might be my father you’re talking about,” Harry said, causing Jaheira Imoen and Khalid to all stare at him in shock, before he went on smirking “even if he is a manwhore.”

They laughed, and Harry opened the door, pausing as his map updated instantly. He moved forward, frowning instantly as he saw where everyone’s markers were. There were fourteen people within the Red Sheath, it was hard to tell given some of the dots were overlapping in the main bar room. 

But That wasn’t why he was frowning or had slowed down his steps. This was caused by the fact that most of them were the blue of noncombatants. One of them was even pulsing blue, and he supposed that might mean Valerie. But one of them was yellow, and that yellow one was a dwarf named Kharlat, Warrior level 5, who had been lounging against the wall in the outer area of the inn, a small welcome area cut off from the rest which had two fireplaces, unlit at the moment, and lots of coat racks. He supposed it was for wintertime. People could warm themselves up out here, leave behind the codes, and any snow they tramped in. 

But the man, a dwarf, had been waiting there, and he looked up, his eyes bright as he sought spotted Harry. But Harry knew the yellow meant a possible enemy, and so was ready when the man said, “No offense, but you shouldn’t have ever pissed off whoever you did piss off. But, money is money, and I’s mean to earn mine.”

With that, the man moved forward, stepping in close and moving for a stab with a short sword. Harry however simply dodged aside, his previously empty hand now holding a sword which came around in an arc to slice into the side of the man’s face. This greatly decreased the man’s hit points and burst an eyeball as well as tearing across his nose even as he pulled away. Kharlat staggered sideways and then Jaheira’s sling stone put out his other eye right before Harry’s sword swept back, cutting his throat. Before he could even start screaming really the dwarf had fallen dead at their feet. 

“Let that be a lesson folks,” Harry muttered, shaking his head. “Even a warrior’s hit points aren’t enough to make you invincible. And one on four odds are freaking horrible. The moron.”

The brief sounds of battle had been audible inside the Sheath, and Valerie and two others stepped out. The other two were workers of some kind, large powerfully looking man, but unarmed, whereas Valerie had a sword, holding it like the Warrior she was. However, she frowned seeing Harry, and then the gnome. “Kharlat! He’s a cut purse and a drunk, but I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to ply his trade with you all.”

Harry shook his head. “I believe he intended to make the jump up to bounty hunting. It seems I have made an enemy somewhere out there,” said, searching the body and pulling out the bounty notice he had expected to find there, reading it aloud before handing over to Valerie. Everything was the same as the last one but the price being offered. “It’s gone up to, it was only two hundred and fifty gold before, now it’s three hundred and fifty.”

Harry also noticed that dealing with him so quickly had given him two hundred and seventy experience points. Not as much as the first assassins they dealt with back in the Friendly Arm Inn, but then again this one was acting alone.

Valerie grinned, her eyes racking up and down Harry’s body, and Harry saw a message.

Valerie’s interest in you has increased, Valerie’s relationship status is now Extremely Interested. She doesn’t want to jump your bones, but she wouldn’t say no to your jumping hers either either.

Harry shook his head slowly internally at that, almost but not quite worried about where this was going now. 

“Mmm, that’s interesting, I like a man who makes powerful criminal enemies~,” she said almost cooing the words, linking her arm with his. “Let me buy you a drink, and you can tell me all about it.”

“Do you kn, kn, know what the wine sel, se, selection is like here?” Khalid asked, moving into the main hall with the two of them, his face lighting up eagerly.

“We’ve got quite a large selection I think,” Valerie said. “Although I’m more of a mead drinker myself.”

Khalid side theatrically at that. “H, h, humans, you wouldn’t kn, kn, know a good drink if you sw, sw, swam in it.”

“Harsh,” Harry muttered, turning his head as he heard Jaheira huff irritably. 

Imoen was also looking at Khalid, then back to Jaheira. “So it wasn’t just at the Friendly Arm Inn?”

Jaheira shrugged, looking a little defensive. “He started to drink to help with the pain initially from the spell blast he took that caused his stutter. His recovery from the physical impact was at the time quite painful, but since, he does seem to have started to take too much interest in drink for my tastes.”

“Well, I’ll stay sober with you if you want,” Imoen said with a chuckle. “I’m not much of a drinker myself, whatever ya might have thought seeing me in action back at the Friendly Arm Inn.”

“No you just like flirting,” Jaheira teased back, and the two women followed Khalid, intent on keeping him out of trouble.

Once his friends had moved off, Valerie took Harry’s arm in both of hers, snuggling up next to him, pushing her chest into his side. Since she was no longer wearing armor, this was very noticeable. She then started to pull him, unresisting, to a nearby booth, where a magically chilled pitcher of mead and two steins already waited for them.

She pushed Harry into one side of the booth, then sat down next to him, wordlessly urging Harry to pour. After they’d both taken a drink she asked, “So are you going to tell me how you one that bounty?” 

“I’d really rather not,” Harry replied shaking his head. “Sorry, it’s nothing personal but I think it might be dangerous for you?”

“Ooh, looking out for little old me big boy? Well, don’t worry, I won’t push. I think we can find something a lot more interesting to do with our time…” 

A second later, their lips were locked in a kiss, and Harry found Valerie moving into his lap, slowly undulating against him. For a moment Harry just kissed back, then he began to see the messages he’d seen when with Cassandra. 

You have activated advanced Perception at 67%. 

This ability will allow you to read the body language, intent, and even desires of the individual you are romantically involved with. This will be shown by both a bit of an overall description, and then a wire outline.

Valerie enjoys being in the lead but might also enjoy the student passing the master. She is only mildly turned on and is into you for the moment due to your good looks and the air of mystery and power about you despite your relative low level. She has no wish to be involved further than a one night stand but might not even let it get that far if you start boring her.

After that, Valerie’s body was outlined to Harry’s eyes by an outline made of different colors, which faded into Harry’s mind, giving him more ‘impressions’ than anything else, guiding his actions subtly. Her mouth was green, and as Harry slowly deepened the kiss, he started to feel how to kiss her, how she liked her tongue teased, how she liked her thigh touched, but not her rear. In this manner, Valerie slowly lost control of their make-out session to Harry first becoming flustered, then aroused before pulling back, her expression shifting from aroused to confused. 

Harry let her, smirking slightly as she slowly moved off his lap to sit next to him. “Ahem, well, that was a nice start I suppose, but I think I need another drink now. Before that though, tell me what you think of our town?”

Later, Imoen was staring at a very happy, yet somewhat bemused Harry as the four of them returned to Landrin’s house for the night. He had gotten several kisses make out sessions though she had seemed off-balance after the first kiss, as if not actually enjoying how well Harry could read her. It was something to keep in mind in the future. He had also gotten a promise for more from Valerie if he helped her kill off more bandit groups around Beregost.

“Why does it feel a little wrong that she put it like that?” Harry asked looking around at the other three as they sat down in the main sitting area of the house

Khalid was no help, his face was a little red from his wine intake, and Jaheira had propped him up in one chair. She was currently using his lap as a footrest, occasionally kicking him lightly in the side as she was doing it. It seemed as if it was a regular thing for him to get a little drunk, and for her to abuse him because of it, but Harry wasn’t going to get involved one way or the other.

“Not so much,” Jaheira said shaking her head. “It was obvious that Valerie liked the look of you, she only added on that bit of incentive at the end to make you come back to see her. Or she likes young men who are willing to get their hands dirty. Were you looking for something permanent?” Jaheira asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Harry thought about it, thought about Valerie, then thought about what he knew about relationships and what he liked about them. “I think I’m looking for something more permanent, but not from her. Hmm, that sound callous.”

“Do not worry about it,” Imoen said with a laugh. “She’s what I think my mentor called a cougar.”

Harry’s eyes widened and much of his guilt about having not lived up to Valerie’s expectations for the evening disappeared. But Jaheira needed more of an explanation, which Imoen, giggling gave. “It means an older woman who is into younger men.”

“Ahh, yes, I have met such women before, although the age difference here isn’t that large,” she mused before shrugging and getting to her feet. “Still it is time for bed all.” They had replaced the reed thrushes before heading out for the evening, and their cleaning up had been very thorough, so they were able to sleep the night away with only the faint scent of the spider repellent Jaheira had made invading her and Khalid’s dreams.

The next day, Jaheira looked at the morose, bleary-eyed Khalid, and the cheerful Harry. He had also drunk enough last night to gain a hangover, but that didn’t seem to be in evidence now. “Another advantage of your AA skill?”

“Yep,” Imoen replied for Harry. “I ran into it back in the Friendly Arm Inn. I think if we can get to sleep, any status change will go away.”

“Heh, now that is most definitely an incentive to become a full, trusted member of your party Harry. Certainly it would help my husband, especially if he insists on continuing the self-destructive behavior of last night. Getting drunk in public, honestly.”

Her husband turned her head to mock glare at the woman, and she only pulled back the tea she had just made specially for him. “I’m sorry, what do we say?”

“I, I’m s, sorry,” he whimpered, and I p, pr, promise not to drink t, to excess again.”

“If only I could believe you’d actually keep that promise,” Jaheira said with a laugh, handing over the herbal remedy for hangovers quickly. “I’d rather you promise not to eye up busty human barmaids, but I know that too to be an impossibility.” And rather harmless besides, since he would never jeopardize our relationship by going further.

It was a known problem among elves and half-elves who travelled among humans: they became entranced by humans as humans are by elves, attracted to their liveliness, their energy and enthusiasm, and, it had to be said, their bodies. Elves, both man and woman, tended to athletic and lithe forms, and half-elves too. Broad chests, powerful muscles, and large breasts, these were almost unknown among elves (although Jaheira had heard that Drow broke that mold). Jaheira knew Khalid had a wondering eye, but also knew he would never act on it. 

In all honesty, she had a bigger problem with his addiction to wine, something he had begun to deal with the pain of the interrupted spell which had given him his stuttering problem. But even there he has it under control. He never drinks to excess unless we are in a safe place, and other than that he won’t even drink while we are on the road. I will take that trade off every time. 

A few minutes later after it kicked in Khalid once more apologized for his attitude before adding, “But my dear, it isn’t as if you are without fault either. I do seem to recall a time where we were forced to spy upon a gladiatorial arena which was being used to launder funds for a Zhentarim operation, and you were quite taken with…”

Jaheira scowled, looking away. “That was one time,” she said primly. “And indeed only a one day thing.  Besides which, it was the gladiator’s face rather than his body or what he had below the neck that attracted my attention, like you and barmaids.”

Khalid chuckled, knowing he’d scored a point, and the two half-elves smiled at one another, shaking heads in unison.

“Is this a married thing?” Harry asked looking over at Imoen.

“I think it’s a married half-elf thing,” Imoen replied shaking her head.

“Anyway…” Harry said clapping his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “I think we have enough money now, with the money we’ve picked up along the way, and from the bounty on the bandits Valerie gave me, to check out the local blacksmith’s wares. Especially if he’s willing to pay good money for my lynx eye gems.”

Valerie’s words on the quality of the Smith quickly proved to be spot on as the quartet entered the smithy. It was large, larger than the Inn in Candlekeep actually, with seven different blacksmiths at work at any one time. One of them was on a small dais in the back, and read to Harry’s eyes as 

Taerom Fuiruim Civilian.

Taerom is one of the most skilled and renowned blacksmiths in Amn or Baldur’s Gate, if not all of Faerun. Why he is acting as the chief blacksmith of a town like Beregost is no doubt a mystery. Regardless, he knows his craft, and what it is worth. Down to the last gold piece, alas. 

Beware: Haggling is not advisable with Taerom or anyone who works for him.

He was working on something as they arrived, a gauntlet of some kind from the look of it, forcing them to work with one of the blacksmith’s clerks instead of him himself. Harry looked through the weapons and armors the man was trying to sell them in thought. A few items instantly stood out, including one that was an interesting number.

Beruel’s Retort.

Throwing axe +1. This series of throwing axes were designed by a dwarven blacksmith who always wanted a retort hand and one which could follow the person he was…discussing things with if they should flee from his argument. This weapon is enchanted to deal extra damage.

Sold in packs of 5.

Throwing Axe +1, 50% critical hit if the user has two skill points in Axes.

Hmm, I really like having a long range weapon I don’t have to sacrifice my shield for, so it’s either something like this, which I honestly hadn’t considered before this, or the one-handed sling that Jaheira used. Pity I don’t have a skill point in axes. And that second enchantment is impressive too. I think I might just by them to speculate, it’s not like they are much money, only seventy five gold. 

“First I want a pack of those,” he said pointing at them. “After that, I suppose we should get the essentials out of the way. We need more arrows and arrowheads as well as at least one pack of crossbow bolts. And two each short and longswords. That should at least get us to Nashkel.”

“Heh, aye they’ll do that, and you’ll be doing us a favor taking that crud off our hands. Not even the Master knows what’s wrong with the iron, it heats the same, it reacts the same when struck, but it still cracks when tested. We’ve not been able to get in any good iron for more than a month. Lucky for us we’re just as good working with wood and leather than iron, and we’d put away a good bit of iron too.”

Iron Intake Issue has been updated: a clue has been found. Even one of the greatest blacksmiths in the area can’t tell you what has happened to the iron coming out of Nashkel. That points to something either magical or alchemical being done to the iron. The question then is, where is whatever this is coming from, and how is it getting into the iron?

+400 experience for the party members. 

Be on the lookout for other single clues out there that will help you discover the source of the Iron Intake Issue!

Harry looked over the rest of what the smith was offering, quickly found a Short Bow +1 and a Medium Shield +1. A Small Shield +1 was reluctantly added to the pile, even though it’s durability was down to 30 out of 100, while the others were still at 100 out of 100. 

Harry asked about it, and was told that, “We got that sword in lieu of a payment at one point. If you want, you can perform some maintenance on it for you, but it will be an extra two hundred gold.

Harry winced, shaking his head. “Hell no. It’s way too expensive as it is. Are you willing to take gems?” If not we are not going to have gold for everything already. Having gone through much of the cash they’d made in the tutorial to buy Harry’s shield and pay half of the cost of Jaheira’s sling back in the Friendly Arm Inn, Harry and Imoen had around one thousand, five hundred gold, most of which came from the bounty on the bandits they had killed and selling off all the items they had found on the bandits and guards yesterday. Khalid and Jaheira had a further one thousand gold from their share of the bounties and items. 

“It depends on the quality,” the clerk began, before Harry pulled out a pouch from his side. He had remembered Jaheira’s injunction about not showing off his item box’s utility and had prepared for this beforehand.

He poured out several of the gems he had earned back in Candlekeep, and the man put them up one after another, examining them with disinterest at first, then excitedly. “They’re all the same, “he muttered in some shock, pulling away his jeweler’s monocle. “And they’re all of good quality. I think I need to speak to my boss about this if you’re… um… how much are you going to sell?” 

Harry was about to reply but paused as Imoen said, “Harry, look at these!”

He turned and looked to where Jaheira and Imoen were looking over several items set aside from the regular stuff on sale.

There were four of them, and they were listed as master crafted works of Taerom himself. One, was shadow armor a highly modified version of the best armor a thief could have, which was apparently used almost exclusively by the Shadowmasters of the Shadow Thieves in Amn. The next was a poisoned dagger the size of a small sword, which had a +2 to its base damage and a poison that would be automatically used on the victim every time it hit. After that was the Army scythe, a light crossbow with a speed spell on it to make it fire at three times the normal speed along with a +1 to damage. 

The fourth item wasn’t enchanted at all but was still expensive as heck at nine thousand gold. Though given the iron shortage and the craftsmanship that was obvious in it Harry couldn’t argue with the idea of a full suit of plate armor being expensive.

All of them were expensive as hell, and Harry rapidly tallied everything together, then said very firmly, “No.”

Imoen looked at him and Jaheira raised an eyebrow. Harry gestured them close and whispered, “We don’t have enough money. Even if I sold all my gems at once we wouldn’t have enough to buy the items we’ve already picked out and even one of these.”

“Th, th, that’s a pity, la, la, lad. Your armor is not going to last v, v, very much longer. Y, y, you need an up, u, upgrade.” Khalid said.

“I’d like one, but we can’t afford it,” Harry said. 

Making it look as if she was hugging him commiseratingly, Imoen whispered directly into his ear to ask “Would we if you unloaded your spices? The amount of that salt, pepper, and the rest would surely add to our tally. And Khalid’s right, even if we can’t get the rest, you need an armor upgrade, mister close range combatant.”

“I’ve already added them in to my calculations, and I’m not selling them here,” Harry said with an eyeroll. “Apparently, spices like that are the purview of a local merchant who has a monopoly on them. so I’d have to pay a major fine, which would half the amount of money I could get for them.”

Looking around at at the two half-elves, Harry raised his voice. “Regardless, I’m not about to spend all of our money on something just for me. It’s better to spread out the money for all of us, have all of us be better prepared than only one of us.” That was why he had pitched in to buy Khalid and Jaheira armor after theirs had been near to ruined in the ambush back in the Friendly Arm Inn.

Khalid smiled, and Jaheira nodded approval, although Harry noticed that he had lost twenty respect with her for the decision, and gained fifty trust, while gaining ten in each for Khalid. He could almost understand her reasoning behind that one considering he’d shown in the fight against the bandits that yes, he needed better armor and should be looking out for himself more. But his thoughts on that score stopped a second later, because another message box appeared on top of those.

+1 Level to leadership. Twice now you decisions regarding equipment that serve the good of the party, rather than yourself, proving that you have their best interests at heart and know that the many is stronger than the one. Your Leadership ability has leveled up!

Charisma +2, Willpower, +4. Your observation skills will now see more than the the average adventurer. 

Now, that’s interesting, Harry thought to himself, not noticing that both Khalid and Jaheira were looking at him closely. Breaking out of it he saw their stares and asked, “What?”

Jaheira moved over and whispered, “Now that we know what to look for, both of us were able to see you staring off into the distance there, Harry. What happened?”

Harry shrugged. “I’ll tell you later, it’s more a long term thing than a short term one. And thanks, I’ll try to work on that.”

The half-elven woman nodded, still looking at him in interest for a moment before he turned back to the clerk. “Now, where were we?” 

Eventually, Harry was able to buy the items they’d already picked out. He was able however to get a refurbishment of the small shield +1 for free, though he parted with the better part of a third of his remaining jewels to do it. Apparently Taerom was going to use them to create a kind of armor for a nobleman so was quite happy to see so many jewels cut similarly.

“Thank you for this, Harry,” said Jaheira, shaking her head in some amusement as she put on the small shield +1 on her arm. “We’re so used to having to deal with the bare minimum on assignment in this area that having some good gear is an immense relief.”

Harry shrugged, and tapped his side where he had been stabbed during the fight with the bandits. “Let’s call it even for all the healing spells you’ve used on me,” he said, winking at her and causing Jaheira to laugh dryly, shaking her head.

As they at exited the blacksmith’s property, a man was walking by on the street in front of the shop. He took one look at their clothing, and then turned, purposefully moving towards them as he raised his voice in a near shout. “Gentlemen ladies, are you adventurers, and if so, might I inquire as to whether or not you are available for a small job?”

Behind Harry, Imoen murmured, “Oh my, now that is a pretty, pretty face.”

“Far too pretty to be of much use,” Jaheira replied. The two of them looked at one another than laughed.

Harry shook his head, looking over at Khalid. “Why is it if as if I feel as if my gender was just insulted?”

“F, f, female solidarity will give you that feeling quite a lot, H, h, Harry,” Khalid said with a chuckle before turning back to the other man who had just strode up to them, so he didn’t have to shout again. Evidently having been happy enough to get their attention first. Harry looked at him, taking his body in before looking up at the message he saw above them.

He was at least a foot shorter than Harry, maybe standing 5 feet nine, 5 feet 10 with a thin, but still well-built body, a short sword at his hip, and some kind of instrument on his back. He wore leggings, and leather armor, although that wasn’t exactly important, considering Harry had just left a blacksmith shop where he learned how expensive better armor was. A simple longbow also was tied to his back unstrung at the moment, and Harry supposed that he carried his arrows in his item box, although whether or not those were the only things in there and that they were thus useful, he didn’t know. 

His face was indeed rather pretty: high, sculpted cheekbones, a wide smile, that almost but didn’t white cross the line into vacuous, deep blue eyes, and magnificent blonde hair, obviously well cared for pulled back from his forehead into a ponytail. If I was a petty person, I might hate this fellow on first sight he’s that pretty, Harry thought to himself. Sort of what a good-natured Draco, if such a thing is actually possible at all, could look like.

What was more interesting to Harry than his physical appearance though was the information he got from his newly advanced observation skill.

Garrick, level IV Bard. 

A wandering Bard, Garrick has trained his wits, and his melodies rather than his body, hence his low level. Whether or not that equates to actually being useless is in a fight, is unknown. 

His strength, endurance, durability and perhaps willpower are all suspect, but Garrick’s dexterity is something to be reckoned with.

That bit about his stats being impacted by his past choices, that’s a very telling bit of information, Harry thought, fighting the urge to look at his companions and then activate the journal pages about them to see if he could discern more about their stats in turn. The mystery of why they were so much less capable in most ways they should be given their level was eating at him, but he refused to invade their privacy like that.

And he’s our age Harry thought, turning his attention back to the pretty boy, or should I say mine and Imoen’s ages anyway. Still, the fact that he had walked up to Harry and the others like this, meant he was either in trouble, and Harry is saving people thing wasn’t going to let him pass, or this could be interesting. “What do you need?” he asked instead.

“My name is Garrick, and I am currently in the employ of a famous singer, whose name is Silk. She was here on request of the Governor, but she was supposed to move on. However, she is being threatened by a local merchant whose threats have scared away her other guards. They are threatening to kill her unless Lady Silk stay and perform for them in a private setting. She is offering to pay any adventurers I find to aid her against this menace.”

“By private setting I presume you mean something more will be required of her performance than merely song and dance?” Jaheira asked dryly. 

“You have the right of it great lady,” Garrick said with a bow that was as graceful as it was overdone towards her.

Jaheira’s eyebrow rose in amusement, and Khalid coughed, staring at the man with unfriendly eyes for a moment. Harry chuckled, amused at the interaction, while Imoen mock-swooned, amusement plain on her own face. 

“Still,” Harry said aloud, “perhaps we should at least meet with the Silk. If she is in danger of being forced to what I think you are suggesting, I can’t in good conscience leave a lady in such straits.”

“Nor would I expect you to,” Jaheira said, as the others all nodded. The decision was the right one instantly apparently, not just because Harry wouldn’t have made any other decision of course, but because it won him one hundred relationship points with Imoen, and twenty trust and respect points with both Khalid and Jaheira. That put Khalid within a hundred in each of leveling up into friendship status, which was very interesting. Harry still had no idea whether or not the man would be willing to take part in the party system without his wife, who Harry was still less than two-thirds of the way to making the shift from travelling companion to friend.

“Lead the way Garrick,” Harry said, once more putting the notes from his AA skill to one side in his mind.

Garrick coughed, and asked plaintively, “Um, might I have your names, adventurers?”

“Oh, right, I’m Harry, that’s Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid,” Harry replied.

Garrick nodded, and started to lead the way, making conversation with Imoen starting with her bubblegum pink hair. “It’s an amazing color, how do you keep it that bright a shade? I know a lot of bards and actresses who would love to be able to stand out like that.”

Imoen kept his attention on her for a time until they reached a small side street, where Garrick broke off, moving to the front of the group again. “There she is,” he said pointing ahead of them. 

In the shadow of one of the buildings, a lady stood leaning against the side of the building. She was dressed in a cloak that covered her from shoulder down to ankle, but Harry could catch a glimpse of a good dress underneath, along with some jewelry around her neck, and some bangles on her wrists. She wore a kind of circlet or something in her hair to keep it out of her face, and the rest of her hair was slicked back and down.

She certainly looks the part of a decently wealthy actress, and singer. Her eyes however told him something different, and Harry’s newly upgraded of observed also warned him, as did his map, which showed her as a yellow dot instead of the neutral blue of noncombatants.

Level 12 Mage, Silk.

Silk might look as if she is a fluttering nothing, but she has magic at her fingertips, and magic is the great equalizer. Beware, for you can also detect that she is wearing magical items. 

As a Mage her stats are skewed to intelligence, wisdom and willpower above all, though like many mages, she might be able to offset this weakness in strength by summoning some muscle to help her.

Harry frowned, took a step backward from Garrick, to tap the nearest party member on their shoulder. This turned out to be Imoen, who had been looking down at Garrick’s butt with some approval on her face. She blinked and looked up at him, and Harry rolled his eyes but remained serious. “She’s more than she appears. If this woman needs help, we might be in for more of a fight than I thought.”

Imoen’s eyes narrowed, but by that point, Garrick had hailed Silk, who was moving towards them so they both shut up and watched her come. “These are the adventurers I found to help us Lady Silk,” Garrick said with a smile, and a deep bow, looking at Silk with calf eyes, and Harry blinked as another notice appeared in front of him, Garrick’s name suddenly being lined with a light pink color. 

Garrick is infatuated. While not as bad as being Charmed, this status disability will impact his willpower and his ability to make logical decisions in the presence of his light-a-love.

For once, my AA skill’s snark is actually helpful, Harry mused, now more than a bit worried about what they might be walking into here. He gently nudged Imoen backwards bumping her into Jaheira and Khalid, and all three of them soon spread out, staying away from Silk but doing so in such a way that it almost looked natural. 

“Thank you for your help adventurers,” Silk said, her tone, low, almost velvety or smoky, a voice made to grab a man’s attention. Both Harry and Khalid felt it, and Khalid had to shake his head and look away. Harry saw another message from his AA skill about his having passed a Willpower Check as Silk continued to speak, staring at Garrick, then the others, coming back to stare at Harry with deep, almost luminous black eyes.

“I know not what I did to draw this unwelcome interest from the man, but the chief gem merchant in this town has been after me since I arrived. I ordered a bird necklace from the man, and when it was finished, I had intended to pay him, but instead of allowing me to simply pay for it and leave, he raised the price, and then indicated he would be more than willing to lower it back down for a, a private session.” 

Silk shivered, a frightened look appearing on her face. “When I refused to such a deal, I found myself accosted by his toughs every time I turned around, up to and including harassment at the inn I am staying at. He frightened away the two guards I arrived with in this manner. But because he is a wealthy merchant, the Flaming Fist guards refused to believe my story, so I am forced to look elsewhere for help.”

“Not even Lieutenant Valerie believed you?” Harry asked sharply.

The woman frowned a little bit at Harry, perhaps for his knowing the name of the Flaming Fist officer, though Harry wasn’t certain, but nodded her head. “She and I, well, women sometimes develop irrational hatred’s for one another upon meeting, and I’m rather afraid that our first meeting was when I was on stage singing. So Valerie and I do not get along to put it mildly.”

Harry frowned at that; he didn’t think that Valerie would be that irrational. But who knows, Pansy and Hermione certainly formed a cordial hatred the instant they met one another, so it could be possible. “Okay, I understand your problem miss. So do you want us to guard you as you leave the town, or…”

“Not at all no, I would not wish to take you out of your way like that,” Silk said, a faint scowl on her face as she gestured down the street behind her. “The man has reached out to me for a meeting, here at this time. That’s why I was so thankful to see you and your fellows Mister...”

“Harry,” Harry supplied. “And you agreed to meet with them?

“The alternative was to have them stop taking my no for an answer entirely. I felt that even if Garrick would be was unable to find adventurers that could help me, I could at least talk my way out of anything dangerous for a time in public like this.” She looked over at Garrick, bestowing a wan smile on him, and Harry could almost see the other young man’s mind go on a holiday as he flushed. “And I had told Garrick that if couldn’t find adventurers, to at least find a few witnesses.”

Garrick nodded, indicating that had been the case, and Harry scowled internally, idly noticing that Khalid and Imoen seemed to have bought Silk’s story while Jaheira looked skeptical. For his part, while her story seemed plausible, there was something about the woman that was setting his hackles on end, above and beyond her being a mage and a possible enemy. He just couldn’t figure out what.

Still, he nodded, and told Silk, “Well we’re at your service then.” He smiled suddenly. “We can talk about our payment afterwards, although I’ll warn you, we are in the need of some funds right now.”

Silk nodded agreement to that, since it made sense not to make any such plans before they understood what was needed. As Harry and Silk finished talking, six men appeared at the far end of the small alleyway, moving towards them. One of them was very obviously a well to do merchant, a little overweight, and very, very well dressed. He reminded Harry of some of the lords and ladies back in, Candlekeep who had paid their way into the keep rather than found a book to use as their entrance fee. 

The other five were obviously bodyguards of some kind, leather armor, small shields, and short swords. And like Silk, in the map to Harry’s senses, unlike the rest of the people who Harry’s map had found in the town, they were yellow. Each of them was reading to his senses as private guards not much on their own, but be wary of them in groups, but unlike the Flaming Fists, they each had their own names. Weird, but not something Harry wanted to think about right now.

At that moment, Silk pointed at the men coming towards them dramatically. “You see! This was supposed to be a meeting between myself and the merchant himself alone or with one companion, and he comes with five, all armed for trouble? He obviously intends to strong arm me despite our being in public! Do your duty adventurers!

“What do you mean?” Harry frowned, while his companions all readied their weapons, even Jaheira, although very reluctantly in her case.

“Attack!” Silk she shouted, pointing at the merchant and his guards. “Is that so hard to understand?”

“You want to attack us before we even hear what they have to say? Hell no,” Harry said shaking his head. “I’m not going to do it.” 

As he spoke, Harry barely noticed the notice going up in his vision of the fact that he had made a choice, and Silk growled, as the merchant came up to them. 

“Lady Silk,” he said, smiling disarmingly. “I thought that this business was supposed to between the two of us. Why have you brought adventurers with you? Surely you don’t feel threatened by my me and my men. Even here in Beregost when one goes to deliver as many gems as you purchased from me one should have protection.”

“That’s interesting,” Harry said, stepping back away from Silk and now looking at the two of them with a frown on his face. “Because she told us she had paid you for some work you had done, and you upped the price and refused to turn it over without a more personal payments than money.. But the way you’re talking, it sounds as if you’re here to give her some of your wares?”

Behind him, he could feel Imoen and the half-elves both stepping back as well, moving into a formation Khalid to his right, and Jaheira and Imoen directly behind him. With the enemies this close, both women had shifted from there long range weapons to a short sword for Imoen and her staff for Jaheira and were watching the possible conflict closely. 

The merchant huffed. “Good sir, I am a prosperous and wealthy merchant, why ever would I jeopardize by standing in the community by importuning someone like Silk! Besides, my wife would skin me alive! No, I had given lady Silk a piece of jewelry that she had commissioned, but she had only paid me half of the agreed upon price but then mentioned she would pay for more, and for some cut gems too, at this time here.”

Silk scowled at Harry, pointing at the man dramatically. “He’s lying, obviously.”

“Someone’s lying,” Harry said with a nod. “I’m just not certain which of you is the one doing it. Regardless, I’m not about to start a fight here in a town, until I have all the information.”

While the merchant just nodded his head, evidently understanding and approving of Harry’s caution, Silk scowled angrily, her beautiful face now nowhere near as beautiful. She waved her hand slightly and a series of messages cascaded through Harry’s mental eye. “Are you sure you won’t change your mind,” Silk whispered, smiling at him, her tone shifting into a sensual caress. “For me?”

Willpower Check Passed. You have a strong will and have thrown off Silk’s attempt to use the spell Charm on you.

Imoen has been confused.

At the same time, Harry could see new status symbols appearing under Garrick, Khalid’s, and three of the five guard’s names. They all had been Charmed and would thus obey any order given to them by Silk for a set amount of time. 

“I don’t think so,” Harry said taking a step backwards. “This is not my problem,” he said as he reached out and thumped Imoen on the back of the head, causing her confusion to falter, and her to step back into Jaheira. Khalid was still looking at Silk with love in his eyes though, and Harry scowled angrily remembering the fact that Khalid had a negative to such mental spells. “Release my companions from your spell Silk, or else!”

Jaheira to was looking at her husband worriedly, whispering something Elven. But that was all the attention Harry could spare for his party as Silk growled angrily, stepping back. “Fine! I should’ve known better than to trust Garrick to find right sort of adventurers for this! But if I have to do this myself, I will.”

“Boys!” she said suddenly to the merchants guards. “Get them.”

The four charmed guards instantly turned on the merchant and one guard who hadn’t been enchanted. The remaining guard put himself, his sword hacking out before they could attack, tying up one of them instantly. “Snap out of it ya bastards!” 

Another moved to help their fellow against him, while two of the others came for Harry. But Harry leaped forward, moving quicker than the two to charmed men had been prepared for, going shield to shield with one man, and pushing him into his fellow off balance. I’m getting a real hang of this shield combat thing, even if I can’t use Shield Bash just yet. At the same time Harry’s sword flashed, and took the man in the side, cutting through his leather armor and deep into his chest, before pulling back out, sending him falling to the ground gasping in shock. “Don’t kill them, just wound them severely enough to knock them out of the Charm spell!”

To one side, Jaheira had engaged her husband, an utterly ferocious scowl on her face as she used her druid’s staff to smack away his blows. Luckily the Charmed spell removed the individual’s higher brain functions, and he was just attacking her in the same pattern over and over.

Imoen had already disappeared under Hide in Shadows, but she now reappeared next to to the non-enchanted guard, successfully backstabbing one of his opponents, and then engaging the other beside the last remaining guard. The stabbed fellow fell groaning and holding the injury to his side, the horrible nature of the wound knocking him out of the charmed spell. But Garrick, who had been edging forward to confront the merchant before this, now took up her attention, the two of them exchanging blows back and forth. It looked as if Garrick was extremely fast and accurate, if not very strong, but then again, neither 

That part of the fight looked even, but Harry cursed as he realized that Imoen hadn’t realized how dangerous Silk was. Before he could finish the last guard facing him Silk had already conjured up a shield around herself and was now gesticulating and intoning rapidly in a magical incantation. “Summon Monster: Golems!” she shouted.

Two long strips of red and black that looked almost like wounds torn into the air appeared for a moment, and from within two large humanoid looking creatures. They were large, taller than Harry, wider in the body, with formless faces and chests, oversized fists and two gleaming red eyes. And as they did, the bestiary page about them appeared, with a bit more information than before thanks to Harry’s observation ability having gone up with his Leadership skill.

Flesh Golems, level 4

Golems are tough, durable creations of magic that enchanters and sorcerers often use as labor or guards. Depending on the variety, they can range from just dangerous, to insanely deadly. Flesh golems are the lowest class of Golem, but do not let that fool you.

Immune to Backstab. Immune to Poison. Immune to Pure Magical Attacks. Immune to electricity. Immune to Cold.

Enhanced durability: +25% Extra Armor against blunt damage, +50% resistance Against Slashing, +25 Damage Against Long Range Weaponry

These golems don’t seem as well made as most of the breed though, perhaps you can have some success aiming for the same weak points you would find on a human body. And remember to Stab, not Slash! 

“Get out of here!” Harry shouted at the merchant, smacking the guard he’d been facing off balance and racing around him towards the mage, getting in close. But with Khalid tying up Jaheira, and Garrick and Imoen dueling to the other side, that left Harry alone to face Silk and her two summoned guards. She didn’t seem to be conjuring anything new though, and in fact looked to be gasping, swaying in her feet. 

Summoning the golems must’ve taken out of her on top of that shield. No wonder Jaheira thought that my and Imoen’s shield was strange though, her shield looks really different in comparison to ours. Whereas their shield was an almost solid construct of blue energy, the sphere around Silk was a coruscating wave of different colors,

The next second Harry winced as a blow landed on his shield, so strong his arm throbbed, and Harry stumbled backwards, all his momentum halted. He also noticed that his tower shield +1 had just lost about ten points of durability from that one blow. In turn the golem he’d stabbed had lost five.

In reply his flashed forward, stabbing into the side of the other golems as it tried to come at him from the side. But the golem kept moving, wrenching his sword out of his grip. A second later, his ability to switch from one weapon to another came into play once more, and he twisted around the next blow of the golem, using his shield to carry the blow to one side, and then bringing his backup warhammer down in an overhead strike, slamming it into the thing’s forehead. He could see that the blow had made the thing lose about 15 health, with twenty five left, and he shook his head. Damn, just like fighting an adventurer, you can’t kill them with a single good strike. 

The next second, the second golem’s blow slammed into him, and this time Harry wasn’t able to superimpose his shield in time, the shield out of position having carried the blow of the first golem to the side. He grunted in pain as he saw a message pop up informing him he’d lost 14 points of health, followed by a second.

You have broken a rib. Movement is impaired, speed is impaired. Agility is impaired. 

If not healed by a spell, this wound will continue to have an impact on your body.

Rolling along the ground, Harry came to his knees, flinging his hammer around in a wide arc. The blow slammed into one of the golem’s knee causing it’s knee to collapse under it for just a moment. Then Harry was past it his hammer disappearing as he stabbed forward with another sword, slamming his full power behind the thrust. It staggered back, losing another fifteen health points, but it grabbed his outstretched arm with both arms, and before Harry could set his feet he found himself hauled off them and hurled into the wooden side of the building to one side. 

So hard was the throw Harry’s back broke through the wood and he continued to crash to the floor until he slid to a stop, his body, in particular his back, throbbing with pain so much he didn’t need the message about his having lost another twenty five health to know he was hurting. 

But then the two golems made a mistake. They followed him into the house, away from any witnesses. Still kneeling on the ground Harry looked up at them and allowed an almost vicious smile to appear on his face. “Incendio!” The fire spell lashed out in a line of fire to slam into the head and chest of the least wounded Golem. Then Harry changed his target, flashing the fire towards the second golem, who almost panicked despite being a construct, backing away rapidly. A second spell, Imoen’s Lacero spell lashed out, pulling both golems off their feet, and they rolled on the ground, desperately trying to put out the fire despite still not letting out a sound.

Ignoring the twin hits to his health points even as he started to feel a pounding headache at the back of his skull, Harry trooped forward, and brought his hammer down hard on the back of the Golem’s skulls one after another. With the least damaged golem before this it took three heavy blows to the head, with Harry actually having to dodge around it as it rolled around on fire. But eventually the two golems were dead, and he trooped out the hole in the wall, grateful that no one had been home to see or be run over by the battle.

At the same time Harry was dealing with the two Golems, Imoen and the guard were fighting the last two guards on their feet, the one Harry had bypassed having joined their part of the fight, and Garrick. Garrick wasn’t a bad swordsman despite his lack of strength, and he was actually faster and more dexterous than Imoen. Imoen’s agility allowed her to dodge his blows, but she hadn’t been able to land a blow in return or back away to slip into Hide in Shadows again. 

Then the notice that Harry had used his Blood Magic popped up, and Imoen suddenly felt very stupid. Right, I’m not just a sexy thief darn it, I’m a sexy thieving Blood Mage. Got to remember I’m not a muggle, ugh, whoever would have thought I’d ever have to think about that? When next they clashed, Imoen dodged to the side rather than trying to take Garrick’s blow on her shield, her shield disappearing into her item box as she threw out a punch. 

As the blow landed onto Garrick’s chin, she whispered, “Stupefy!” willing the spell to come out via her punch. She’d been experimenting with this on and off back in Candlekeep, and it paid off now. There was only a brief flash of red before Garrick collapsed, and she shouted. “Hell yeah, glass jaw for the win!” Before leaping behind one of the two remaining guards, bringing the flat of her sword down on the man’s head. The last guard turned and nearly stabbed her for her troubles, but the other man slammed the flat of his blade into the side of the man’s head, sending him crashing to the ground to join his fellows.

But of course, that left Jaheira and Khalid. Jaheira had kept her husband busy but had been slowly pushed back. Only the mindlessness of his attacks, and his desire to engage harry in defense of Silk, had kept her from being overwhelmed. Yet Jaheira had eventually been knocked to her knees, and was now straining upwards, her staff held sideways above her head pressing back against Khalid’s sword. 

“Behind you my love!” Silk shouted, desperate now and directing her voice towards Khalid, who was the last of her Charmed victims still on his feet. Khalid turned, but too late, and Harry, who had snuck up behind him, got his arms up under Khalid’s armpits, locking them in behind his head. He then twisted this way and that, shouting into his ear. “Snap out of it man!” Khalid didn’t and continued to struggle, but despite his much higher level, the half-elf lacked the strength to break out of Harry’s arms.

Now without even Khalid to protect her and with her shield losing strength quickly, the sorceress decided it was time for the better part of valor. She turned, her icon on Harry’s map turning yellow as she raced away.

“I think not,” Jaheira shouted, quickly flashing her fingers through a series of moves, then thrusting out her hand, sending out Tangling Vines. 

“That spell must be one of your favorites,” Imoen said, also glaring as the retreating sorceress was grabbed by the spell.

“Indeed, it is most efficacious. “Now it only depends on whether or not her shield lasts longer, or my spell. And if it doesn’t, I can always cost another which she most certainly cannot,” Jaheira said smiling evilly at the sorceress, who was looking down at the tangling vines which had burst up through her shield from below. Her shield after all was only a fourth level magic shield, which didn’t do anything against spells which didn’t cause direct damage.

Harry wondered idly if her shield would stop a stunner, before he looked down at Khalid in his arms, who was shaking his head blearily. “W, wh, what happened?” Khalid asked, looking up at Harry and then over at his wife.

“You were charmed and deeply too,” Harry said shaking his head. You really need to work on getting some more immunity to those kinds of mental attacks my friend.”

While she was not looking happy, Jaheira shook her head. “It’s not his fault.” She narrowed her eyes, looking at Harry speculatively. “In fact, I’m impressed that you were able to throw that spell off.”

“My willpower is strong,” Harry said pompously, before leaning in, whispering. “Besides, you saw my stats back in the Friendly Arm Inn.”

“True,” Jaheira said with a nod, a frown appearing once more on her face as she turned back to Khalid, saying something to him before moving to heal the wounded guards they had been forced to fight a moment ago. 

Behind her Harry paused, seeing that answer had made her respect for him go up, and he frowned in confusion. Maybe just the memory of that discussion was enough? How much I showed them all that I trusted them yet also was smart enough to withhold information? Or maybe she just likes the fact that I can’t be charmed. Weird, but whatever.

Shaking that off he looked at the merchant, his one conscious and uninjured guard, and the unconscious Garrick. “What do we do with him?” he asked, gesturing down to Garrick.

Garrick however was already stirring, shaking his head. “ooh, did som’ne throw a flagon at me head agin, oooh….” He looked up, frowning as he took in the surroundings, first in confusion then in moral outrage. “What, that, that witch! She she ensorcelled me!”

“The proper term is charmed,” Jaheira said with an eyeroll, removing her hands and wiping at a sweat-streaked forehead. Keeping her husband from overcoming her defenses had taken a lot, and she’d been forced to use every healing spell in her repertoire to save the lives of the formerly Charmed guards and heal Harry’s ribs. He’d broken a second rib in the impact with the wall.

Seeing this the merchant breathed a sigh of relief as his last guard, the one Harry had stabbed in the side, began to breath more easily. None of the downed bodyguards were going to get up anytime soon though. But they were alive, and so was he, that was the most important thing. “Thank you Adventurers, if not for you, we would all probably be dead right now. Is there anything I can do to pay you back for this?”

“Actually,” Harry said with a smile. “I have quite a few gems I need to sell, and…”

“Say no more, my lad!” the merchant said with a laugh, shaking his head. “All buy them at the same price I’d give to a fellow member of the Merchants’ Guild! You can’t get better than that in this town.”

“Would I if I went somewhere else?” Harry asked seriously.

Flush off of his recent brush with death, the merchant answered easily. “If you went south, you might get some promissory notes that are worth more in Nashkel, but you’d have to go much further south, into Amn, to find someone who was willing to pay you in cash. A promissory note from Nashkel would only be good to cash in up in the Gate – possibly, I’d bet no money on that - or there in Nashkel. We wouldn’t take them here, not with the way the wind is blowing.”

Harry nodded slowly at that, thinking hard, looking around at the others for their opinion. Jaheira of course had one, saying that he should wait for the promissory note. “We might need the money to fuel our… quest down there,” she said, hinting at their true mission.

Khalid said that having something in hand now was actually a better idea disagreeing with his wife for the first time Harry had ever heard. Imoen said that it depended on where they be going to shop. “That blacksmith guy, I think we’d have to go really way a far field to find anything like his goods, and the merchant here just said they wouldn’t take the promissory notes here. So cash to spend back here would be the best idea.”

Harry nodded, thinking about it then said “I think I’ll take the cash now. After all, cash will spend just as well down in Nashkel as promissory notes, and I doubt we’ll need that much money to grease our quest’s wheels when we arrive.” With that he turned, pulling off the heavy burlap bag on his back, reaching inside in as obvious a manner as possible as he used his item box to pull out 3 bags worth of jewels. He handed over a bag and this is the gym I’ll be selling in large quantity, two-hundred and ninety seven gems.” This left him with thirty gems remaining, but he figured that selling them would be useful to push him over the edge in any future trade. 

The jet merchant looked through them, his eyes gleaming with interest. “This is amazing! Are they all like…” The merchant cut himself off, looking at each of forty randomly selected gems from the three bags. After examining them each under a jeweler’s glass, he began to laugh. “Lad, I think we’re both going to make one another quite a bit of money today! I know exactly who to sell these to, a merchant that’s going south with the next caravan that’ll be bypassing Nashkel, and the two jewelry makers in this town. Why, if I do it up right, I can sell to both, without either of them knowing I’m doing it, so they won’t try to undercut me. I can give you four thousand, five hundred gold for it.”

Seeing that he could haggle, Harry did so for a time, and ended up bouncing the total to four thousand eight hundred, which would be enough carry them halfway to the full plate armor Harry had his eye on. It would have to wait until they came back this way though. “We have a deal. Two of us will go with you and your wounded men for now, then we can make the deal at your shop. If you could send your guard to find some of the Flaming Fists?”

The merchant nodded, and Imoen and Harry left with him, while Jaheira and Khalid stayed guard over Silk. Harry had seen the look in the married couple’s eyes and thought the two of them had some words they both needed to speak to one another after this incident. 

When the two dimensional travelers came back, the married couple were looking much more sanguine. Officer Valerie was there too, questioning Garrick closely as he sat on the ground tied up. Silk was nowhere to be seen.

“Why is Garrick tied up?”

“Silk had one more Charm spell on one of her bracelets, and it hit him. He attacked us and we were forced to subdue him again,” Jaheira said, almost looking proud and for a moment Harry couldn’t figure out why before he saw her glance at Khalid. He then realized Khalid must have been able to resist it. “So, oh illustrious authority figure, what will you do with your money?” 

“Set it aside. We’re not in desperate need of more supplies at this point, but we do have several more things at the Thunderhammer Smithy once we have enough of a war chest. That shadow armor and the poison dagger and the crossbow are just too good not to try to buy eventually, to say nothing of the full plate armor.”

“You know,” Imoen said in a low tone, looking at the other three, while Garrick was being questioned most strenuously by Valerie. “I could try to lift one of them. The Dagger at least.”

“Can you name one time that ever worked for you Imoen?” Harry asked with a laugh. “I remember your mentor despairing of teaching you how to pick pocket, let alone attempt to steal something out of a glass case in a busy room.”

“It wouldn’t be busy at night,” Imoen protested, although not very hard. It was true her actual pickpocketing skills were not very good in comparison to her general sneakiness.

“Smithy’s are always busy my dear,” Jaheira said dryly. “Especially ones as large as that. They’ll have commissioned work to work on at night, which can go on throughout the evening and well into the darkness with a team of blacksmiths taking turns. Besides which, I’m still of the opinion that we shouldn’t stay here over long.”

Harry sighed, shaking his head. “And here I was looking forward to cooking us a proper lunch today and maybe even a dinner…”

“L, l, let is not be hasty dear,” Khalid said quickly. “Aft, af, after all, there might be more clues to the Iron Intake Issue around here.”

“I am somewhat hungry,” Jaheira said slowly, staring at Harry, her eyes narrowed. “But do not think that I will always fall for this this blatant bribery.”

Harry nodded agreeably and led the way back to Landrin’s house. The meal he cooked up was magnificent, Seabass grilled with tomato, olives and basil, fresh bread bought in the town, and slices of cheese and a local meat that he had found in the town, cured and seasoned by Harry.

During the discussion, Harry told the married couple about the he’d used on the golem, and then asked the two Harpers more about bards, singers, Harpers and traveling the road in general. The two of them dominated the discussion, with Jaheira of course doing most of the talking, while Imoen was looking at the two older adventurers thoughtfully taking it all in.

However, despite Harry’s teasing and Imoen’s desire to stay here for the night, one meal was enough, and they had honestly not found anything more to do in this town that could be done without going out of their way. A few quests that were so minor that they would be able to saw them along the way perhaps, but nothing to stay here for. Not with more than half a day they could use to get a head start on the trip to Nashkel.

“Are you sure you won’t miss Valerie?” Imoen teased.

“No I won’t,” Harry said repressively, sending her a scowl while Khalid chuckled and Jaheira shook her head in exasperation. From the glimpses of the two she had gotten the evening before it was clear to her that Valerie had been doing most of the work in seducing Harry, rather than him showing much interest in her. And she did ignore him earlier when she was questioning Garrick. That says much of the depth of her interest in Harry.

So, soon after eating the four of them left Beregost, heading south. However, the day had one more twist to offer them. 

As they were leaving, they were costed by a shout of, “Hello friends!”

As one they all turned and stared at Garrick, who had been waiting by the side of the road. Apparently for them, given how his face had lit up as he spotted them.

“What can we do for you this time Garrick?” Harry asked warily. 

“No further damsels that aren’t exactly in distress that we’ll then have to flight I trust?” Jaheira added.

“No no,” Garrick said with a wan laugh. “None of that.” His laugh sort of trailed off after a few seconds. “Although it is sort of because of that that I am here. You see, I’m afraid that Lieutenant Valerie was not very, well, very sympathetic.” 

Really Harry mused looking at him with a wry smirk. “I would’ve thought you’d be right up her alley, frankly.”

“I’m sorry what?” Garrick asked, looking confused.

“Nothing,” Harry said while the others laughed. “Nothing at all. What were you were saying?”

“Well yes, you see I’m well, a I’m a Bard, and to play in any town you have to get a permanent, of course, and I did,” the young man added hastily but, “Lieutenant Valerie decided that with my association with Silk, that I am accountable for some of the damages. So either I stay and work to pay for the damages to the house that was damaged during the fight as well as enough money to help the families of the guards pay for more healing spells than Miss Jaheira used on them, or I leave immediately. And as you well know, it isn’t exactly good for a single sure on the road. I was, um, hoping that I could come with you,” He finished lamely.

Harry’s eyes narrowed. Garrick had done okay in the fight against Imoen it was true, and he remembered that bards were actually supposed to be able to use a few mage spells. He could actually be useful without Charm clouding his senses. 

He looked at the others. Jaheira looked neutral, which probably meant she disapproved. Khalid simply nodded, indicating without words that he understood the youngster’s plight and sympathized. He also smiled at Garrick, perhaps feeling some fellow-feeling towards him for enduring Silk’s Charm spell together. Imoen simply grinned, giving Harry a thumbs-up, while surreptitiously looking at Garrick from head to toe. 

That did not make Harry want him anymore in the party than he already did, but eventually, he sighed, and nodded. “Oh very well, if you want to come with us, come with us. But we will only take you on at on a trial basis until Nashkel. After that, if we’ve discovered were not compatible as a party, we can part ways amicably understood?”

Garrick nodded eagerly. “Thank you for this, friends!”

You have earned +200 Respect, +200 Trust with Garrick. You have 290/500 Trust, 310/500 Respect with Garrick. Garrick is now a Travelling Companion. Good grief, but that happened quickly didn’t it?

Harry groaned, internally shaking his head. A guy he just met was closer to becoming a friend then Jaheira. And yet at the same time, Harry realized that he approved more of the way Jaheira was all prickly to Garrick’s way over-the-top openness. He’s like a strange mix between the Weasley twins, a used car salesman and Seamus with how he seems to be a little off-balance around the girls.

With Garrick added to their party, the group moved on with Harry questioning Garrick closely about his equipment and spells. Learning that the man had skills in a longbow, Harry pulled out the fire arrows that they had taken from the kobolds days ago before pausing, looking over at Khalid. “Do you think he can join us in training at sword-fighting Khalid?” he asked the more experienced adventurer. “He’s apparently pretty decent, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Khalid nodded firmly. “Of c, c, course. I’d l, l, like to get a handle o, o, on his skills. Indeed, I thi, th, think he needs to show u, u, us his skill w, w, with the bow before you hand hi, hi, him those fire arrows Harry,” he said gesturing down to the quiver of fire arrows in his hand. Harry nodded, and slipped them back into his items space. 

Garrick didn’t seem to notice anything unusual about that, for which Harry was thankful, since Jaheira was glaring at him now for trying to give away that secret again. He shrugged at her, gesturing to Garrick as if to say, ‘he didn’t notice’. She sighed and nodded, understanding the point, but not liking the fact that Harry still hadn’t gotten used to trying to hide that ability, which to her mind was more useful in many ways then his map ability.

As they continued walking, Garrick pulled out his balalaika, strumming the the strings. “I don’t suppose anyone would like a tune to while away the leagues?”

“Heck yes,” Imoen said with a laugh. “Give us some happy tunes, that’ll make this trip less boring.”

“In, in, indeed,” Khalid said with a chuckle. “Music will m, m, make the miles go f, f, faster.”

Harry shook his head, moving ahead of the others, the better to use his map ability, something he’d gotten into the habit of doing over the past few days. Jaheira joined him after a single song from Garrick, a love song it had been, about a young Swain wooing his love, which apparently was not to Jaheira’s taste.

Behind them, the man moved into a bawdy drinking song, and Jaheira sighed. Harry heard this and after hearing the first refrain of the song, he asked, “How long will it take us to get to Nashkel?”

“I think we should take the road at this point After all, shouldn’t we learn what dangers are on the road as well?” Jaheira said mock-brightly. 

“I agree,” Harry said. The two of them looked at one another, an unspoken thought being shared between them. Anything to get this journey over with as fast as possible!

OOOOOOO

Albus stared down at his notes then back to the ancient Egyptian scroll he had started to start translating the day before about pocket dimensions. Like the Soul Trap itself, and the idea of horcruxes, this was a kind of magic that the Egyptians had been the first to discover and manipulate, and what he found out about them was all. First of all, the experiments into pocket dimensions had been made by a group of scientists back in the first Pharaohs of Egypt, and it never been investigated since. 

The reasoning for this was that many of the notes of how to create the magic had been destroyed in different ways. There had been so many wars between various wizard factions that a lot of individual wizard’s notes and learning had disappeared long before, a harsh example of why the school system had won over the apprentice system in the modern world. 

Searching these notes out had involved translating from more than three dozen languages but these notes, still held a few clues. Translating them was the work of days hard work even for Dumbledore, who had spells he had personally developed and never shared to help him understand dead languages. Even with them he wasn’t certain about many of the words used. But he was making progress. 

He had finally discovered tales that spoke of people disappearing into what could be pocket dimensions, returning none-the worse for wear, or horribly changed, it varied. There were also stories of using dimensional travel like that to simply ‘send a soul on to its next life ahead of time’ as one interesting scroll had put it. 

He had not found anything about horcrux and their interaction with pocket dimensions. The first bit of knowledge had been deliberately wiped out over the centuries by people like Albus. The second had just been lost. So Albus was left with his initial questions: Would a soul shard have been immediately destroyed the instant the body inhabiting it was inhabiting was taken into the pocket dimension, pulled so abruptly away from the main soul? Or would it simply have been pulled out of the item?

That could be good and bad. Good, since even if Harry doesn’t return, that might mean his part of the prophecy is done. Bad bad because if so, perhaps that shard would be forced to re-integrate with the original making him stronger and more intelligent. Or the soul could also have made the jump. By this point Riddle’s soul might be permanently bonded to Harry, so if his soul was transported, it stands to reason that shard was taken along like an extra passenger, somewhat like side-along apparition. 

Albus looked up frustrated as someone waved a feather duster between him and the scroll he was attempting to decipher. “Professor, I realize that what you are researching is obviously very important to, but we are twenty minutes past closing time!”

Nodding, Dumbledore got up, thanked the man for allowing him some extra time, “it took me longer to translate the sections I wanted you see,” before leaving, smiling and shaking the man’s hand. Despite the hits his public persona had taken since Harry Potter had gone missing, Albus Dumbledore was still one of the most revered wizards alive, and his reputation had opened doors here that would otherwise have been firmly closed and boobytrapped.

He returned to his hotel room, and after using several spells to scan it for listening spells, or any other kind of eavesdropper – one could never be too careful when working on such Dark topics - he laid out his work, continuing on through the night. He however did not come to any conclusion, and sighed, and at around 3 o’clock decided to call it a night. Yet he had reached another decision. 

There is one simple way of discovering whether or not the original soul’s strength has been increased. And the last time I had word about it, the shade was in Armenia I believe. That will be a trek, but it is necessary. Yet who to bring along with me? Even as he is now, Tom’s shade is dangerous. I have yet to discover any magic that could properly contain a spirit. If I had, I would’ve gotten rid of Professor Bins years ago. 

Dumbledore sighed shaking his head. “Well, putting that to one side, it’s time for bed. I can come back to this topic tomorrow.”

OOOOOOO

Determination deep within them, Jaheira and Harry drove the band hard that first day and then the next, keeping to the road all the while. No longer were they trying to stay out of sight. Rather, they were going for speed. But they could not go faster than Garrick’s songs, and the man could play as well on the march as standing still.

And yet as they took to the road, the two musical critics didn’t really have much problem them as a companion outside of his music much to Harry’s annoyance. He had the skills of a Bard, and his skills with his voice and instrument were decent enough, it was just that his choice of the balalaika was not to Harry’s and Jaheira’s taste. 

Jaheira was able to escape into the woods for the first two nights, which apparently was enough to give Khalid the idea that his wife didn’t like the music. After two nights of the emptied tent Khalid finally asked Garrick and in Imoen to tone it down. “Af, af, after all, if there are en, en, enemies about, your music will ca, ca, carry further then the sight of t, t, the campfire through th, th, these woodlands.”

And it was woodlands here once more. Oh, the road itself was decent, Imoen even said something about it almost looking like a Roman road after they had left Beregost, although that didn’t mean much to Harry who hadn’t studied much history in his old world, something he regretted since coming to this new world. But the forest was literally two feet away from the edge of the road with new growth, and beyond that deep forest. Despite having seen numerous cycles of civilizations try to tame it, the Sword Coast was still very wild, and with much more reluctance than many areas to give over its wild ways.

Beyond that, Garrick was decently intelligent, happy to help around the camp, and generally as nice as he first appeared, making Harry take back at least the used car salesman aspect of his first impression of the other young man. He and Imoen got along quite well, talking about this or that story, this or that song, types of drinks, and other such things. Luckily, Garrick stopped trying to flirt with Imoen within two days. After hours of being teased mercilessly and made so red as to resemble a tomato, Garrick had finally understood that when it came to flirting he was a novice, and Imoen was at least a journeyman if not a master. 

“Or should that be mistress…” Harry said aloud later that night, cocking an eyebrow at Imoen later that night.

Imoen laughed, shaking her head. “What are you talking about?”

“Your flirting. You do know I get notices when you activate Flirty Little Lass right? So whenever you decided to to use your wiles on poor Garrick I knew about it. Not exactly fun, let me tell you.”

“My wiles?" Imoen said with a laugh. “God Harry, you do talk some rubbish sometimes don’t you? No one uses that word aloud like that.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “All right then, what would you call it?”

“Just flirting, or maybe using what my mom gave me,” Imoen replied with another little laugh. She flopped down on Harry’s bedroll next to him pulling him into a friendly hug. “Why?” she teased, whispering into his ear as Harry once more saw a notice that Imoen had activated her skill Flirty Little Lass. “Do you want some pointers?”

Harry dug his elbow into her side very lightly pushing her away then got his other hand up between them, and tickled her unmercifully, causing her to shriek and leap away. That was his new defense when Imoen got a little too into teasing him, the girl was ticklish as heck. 

She escaped quickly, flopping back onto her own bedroll, turning to look at him with something like awe in her face. “Still, I have to admit to being jealous. Do you have any idea how many men and women would kill to be able to see real progress like that in terms of their relationships and everything else you described to be back in Candlekeep?” She shook her head. “You are one lucky little boy!”

“I’m not so little any longer,” Harry retorted with an eyeroll.

“I wouldn’t know. I’d have to ask that barmaid back in Candlekeep for that one wouldn’t I? Or maybe Phyldia?”

Shaking his head, Harry determinately looked away, ignoring his blush in order to try and change the direction of the discussion. “Speaking of flirting, are you actually interested in Garrick? I mean you have flirted with him occasionally, and he’s actually traveling with us so you could have an actual relationship unlike me and Valerie. So, I’d much rather you tell me out right if I will have to move out into the woods rather than me coming back to the tent one night to find the two of you snogging.”

Imoen burst out into laughter, rolling her around and slapping the ground next to her. “Garrick and me? God no. I flirt back with him ‘cause it’s fun to watch his attempts at coming off as suave and confident shatter like so much glass. He thinks he’s handsome and all that, but he really isn’t experienced with girls., certainly not as much as he tries to portray himself as. And he’s more than a little leery about me now, knowing that I have more experience than him.

She chuckled grimly, remembering a past relationship gone sour. “Although, he isn’t exactly alone. Lots of men prefer to have more experience and knowledge than the woman in the relationship.”

“Why?” Harry asked blinking in honest confusion, which Imoen found rather endearing. “I mean if the girl knows what she likes and doesn’t, then isn’t that a good thing?”

“You’d think so, but mainly it has to do with the male ego. A lot of men, especially in this day and age, don’t want to, shall we say, tread territory that was tread by others.” 

“Then why are whores so popular? I mean we saw an entire quarter devoted to them back in Beregost.”

Imoen winced. They had, and had steered clear of it, although several of the courtesans had called out to Khalid and Harry. Which was undoubtedly the first time Harry had ever seen the darker side of his own gender’s need for sex. “I thought we were talking about relationships. Men go to whores if they want relationship sex,” she said bluntly. They don’t take a relationship the guy doesn’t need to take their emotions or even their pleasure into account. They just take cash, and that makes it perfect for a lot of men.”

“Ugh. No thank you. I’d like to think I have better control than that. And what’s sex without at least affection, if not love?” Harry said, scowling and shaking his head. He had created views on such things in his time during the tutorial, else he would have been able to go quite a bit farther than he had with the barmaid in Candlekeep. 

“Good,” Imoen said with a laugh, patting his fight companionably. “If you liked that kind of thing, I’d probably have to smack you for it upside the head a few times. Although,” she teased if you want to go to say a courtesan at one point, to learn what you’ll be doing once the lights go out, that I could understand. It could even be called a rite of passage in this era.”

Harry winced, then surreptitiously looked around, breathing a sigh of relief as there was no quest statement appearing. “Oh thank goodness. Don’t do that to me girl!” 

When she realized what had caused his sudden fear Imoen laughed again, and Harry growled at her pouncing and tickling her mercilessly, to the sound of shrieks of laughter.

Outside Garrick and Khalid and Jaheira all looked at one another. “Sounds like they’re having fun,” Garrick said, sounding a little wistful and a lot jealous.

Jaheira shrugged her shoulders. “Siblings often rough house like that, I understand.”

“Siblings?”

“Not my story to tell Garrick,” Jaheira said lightly, patting him like a child on the head. She rather liked the fact that she could call him child without any repercussions, her so-called agreement with Harry grated sometimes. Even if he has shown an astonishing level of maturity and intelligence at times. She looked back at the tent, rolling her eyes as she heard the faint sound of Imoen shouting about having gotten the upper hand. Most of the time, at any rate.

Early the next day, Harry was once more in front of the party, when he paused, frowning. Looking ahead of them it was a blue dot. But there were no red dots around, so he continued walking, until he could reasonably have been able to see the owner of the blue dot ahead of them. “Khalid, can I have your half-elf eyes up here for a moment?”

Khalid moved ahead of the others, where the three of them had been talking about what it was like down in the south, and if Khalid or Jaheira had ever spent time in Amn. Harry had taken part in the conversation at first, but when it became clear that they hadn’t spent much time in Nashkel or around the border between Amn and the Sword Coast, he had moved ahead of the others to use his map ability.

“What is it l, l, lad?” Khalid asked, looking ahead of them been blinking. “I, is tha, tha, that a young boy?”

“Indeed it is,” Harry said talking quietly so Garrick wouldn’t overhear. “I spotted him on my map, or I spotted the blue dot on my map, about ten minutes ago.” 

“What is a b, b, boy doing out here?”

Harry shrugged. “Searching for something from the way he’s been moving around.”

The others joined them, and all of the others expressed some surprises well as they moved forward down the road towards the boy. He didn’t look up from what he was doing, searching around the bushes near to the road, scowling irritably.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there a bandit problem around here?” Jaheira said tartly as soon as they were within hailing distance “What are you doing out of the alone, child?”

The boy, whose label read ‘Sam, farmer boy’ jumped, putting the bush between himself and them, looking like a frightened rabbit ready to run. “Nothin’! Nothin’ that needs done to deal with adventurers anyways. You just be about your business; I’ll be about mine.”

“you didn’t answer her question,” Harry said, smiling kindly of the young man. “And what are you looking for anyway?”

Staring from him to Jaheira and then back, he seemed to relax a little as he looked at Harry. 

Charisma check passed. The young boy, Sam, thinks he can trust you, despite disdaining Adventurers normally.

“Just looking for a Bluebonnet, Mary Lou wanted one,” Sam said.

Garrick began to chuckle and moved forward, looking through the bushes, shaking his head. “I can tell you for certain that you won’t find it among them, bluebonnets grow underground trees not bought bushes.”

“What’s a Bluebonnet?” Harry asked out of the corner of his mouth.

“A very pretty flower, cheap, but extremely hard to find,” Garrick replied in a similar manner. “It’s the kind of thing that farm girls send out there young boys to find, to show how seriously they are taking their courtship.”

Jaheira sniffed obviously having overheard them thanks to her half-elf ears. “He’s putting his life on the line for something so, so silly?”

Harry shrugged. “That’s the aspect that I’m interested in too.” He raised his voice, and asked “But aren’t you worried about the bandits or other dangers Sam?”

Sam laughed. “Nah, I can run faster than them, besides, they wouldn’t be interested in me, I don’t carry iron.”

That caught their attention, and Harry quickly signaled Garrick to move forward with him. “How about this: you explain what you mean by that, and Garrick and I will help you find this Bluebonnet thing.”

“What does it look like?” he asked looking at Jaheira. 

“I note you’re not asking me to help,” the druid replied with a smirk.

“He does find you scary,” Harry said with a chuckle.

“I am scary,” Jaheira said dryly. “To fools and idiots, and a boy who is willing to be out here with the current troubles is most decidedly an idiot.” 

It turned out that Sam had actually seen the bandits in the area and had spied on them occasionally. According to Sam, he’d seen them let two large caravans which had been carrying food to the mining town of Nashkel go. But they had attacked an equally large caravan that was carrying iron.

“One with lots of guards and everything!” Sam exclaimed nodding his head sagely. “They attack anyone carrying iron, but let other people go. I’ve seen it dozens of times.” 

At that point, Harry was able to find the Bluebonnet quickly thanks to his observation skill and the description given him by to Jaheira and he and Garrick returned to the others with Sam. 

“Thanks Mister,” Sam said taking the Bluebonnet from him, and holding it critically. “Don’t see what’s so interesting ‘bout a flower, but then again I ain’t a girl.”

“No you ain’t” Harry said with a laugh, clapping Sam on his shoulder light. And isn’t that a good thing.” 

“Too right!” The youngster said then looked at Harry speculatively. “You been asking a lot of questions about them bandits Mister.”

“I’m an adventure, and it our job to deal with that kind of thing,” Harry replied glibly, with Garrick nodding alongside him.

“I suppose,” the youngster said with a nod then looked at Harry again. “Ya helped me right quick, So I’ll tell you something for free. One time, when I was watching, the bandits, they attacked a large caravan and I’m tellin’ you, t’were the biggest I ever did see. The guards were good too, adventurers such as yourself one and all, and they couldn’t overcome ’em. They figured that out right quick, but then, as they were fight them, other bandits snuck in. I saw ‘em from the woods. Three bandits, all of them sneaking in like, like thieves. But instead of stealing anything or trying to get behind the guards, they snuck into the wagons, carrying someat. And when they came back out, they weren’t carrying it.”

He frowned at that, and nodded, pulling out twenty gold coins and showing them to Sam in his palm. “Tell me everything you can about the attack, from beginning to end.”

Later that day he and Garrick told the others about what Harry had learned. Which had been enough to give Harry another clue worthy of updating the Iron Intake Issue.

The Iron Intake Issue has been updated. You have found a clue pertaining to ‘Something wrong with the iron? 

You know now for certain that something is happening even to the iron that has been successfully mined and shipped. This speaks of both organization and communication to know when it’s being shipped and the ability to get people into place to do something about it. This problem is much larger and much more convoluted than you anticipated, and it’s reach is growing.

Experience Bonus, +500 to all party members.

“The bandits attacked the camp right before they were able to set up defenses and were carrying some kind of substance in green vials. Sam didn’t see more than that, but they put the vials into the carts carrying the iron. Then at all of them retreated. The bandits took severe losses and the caravan went on its way with no one apparently the wiser. But I very much doubt that iron arrived without issue.”

“Alchemy, some foul concoction that rots the iron from within in some fashion,” Jaheira said with a scowl. “And for bandits to throw away their lives on a feint like that, it speaks of fear and power. A lot of both. This is becoming more complicated every time we learn more.”

Garrick looked at them all with interest, then grinned. “Well now, I know I’ve chosen an interesting group to join if you all are willing to look into the problem with the iron. Perhaps I will stay with you after we reach Nashkel, hmm?”

However, the group was soon to find another source of trouble appearing before them. Early the next day, Jaheira came back as the others were cleaning up after breakfast, smiling thinly. “I believe that we are within a day and a half at most of the outskirts of Nashkel. However,” she said gesturing up to the sky “it’s going to start raining soon. I’m afraid we will not be having a pleasant time of it once that occurs.”

“In other words cloaks on over your armor everybody,” Harry said with a wan laugh. “I don’t think any of us wants to deal with rust or anything of that nature, do we?”

True to Jaheira’s prediction, the rain started to come down to bear hour and a half after they started to move, making visibility difficult at any more than a few hundred yards in every direction. However, that didn’t stop Harry’s map ability, for which they were all very grateful by this point, even Garrick despite not knowing about it.

It was because of his map ability that Harry spotted trouble up ahead. “I’m starting to see red for dots folks,” he said, glaring ahead of him, hoping his voice would carry over the sound of the rain to the two half-elves behind him. 

“How many?” Imoen shouted over the rain. The other two also moved closer with Garrick trailing at the back of the party.

“I don’t know, they’re moving around so much and overlapping too. More than twelve for certain, maybe as many as twenty or twenty-five.”

“That many?” Jaheira muttered, “Operating a bare day from Nashkel?”

“Are you sure we’re actually that close?” Harry asked, looking towards her while waving his hand I the air for Garrick to come closer.

Jaheira scowled, trying to picture in her mind what the area had looked like the last time she was here, and finding she couldn’t quite make the claim that she did in fact know where they were. “No,” she said after a moment, shaking her head. “We could still be as many as two days out going our normal speed.”

Garrick frowned, as he came close hearing that. “What’s going on?” he shouted, unable to use the map and not having the two half-elves hearing he had not heard Harry’s shout.

“I think there might be trouble up ahead,” Jaheira shouted, so loud that it all of them could hear her. Like his item box, Harry’s map ability was so good, they should probably try to keep it a secret for as long as possible. Even from Garrick, who had proven to be a decent sort after a very rocky start.

Imoen grumbled, then looked over to Khalid who was the closest of the two half-elves to her. “Do you have any idea what rain like this will do to my ability to Hide in Shadows?”

“So long as you d, d, don’t step into any puddles you sh, sh, should be fine,” Khalid shouted back.

The thief nodded and was about to move off when Harry grabbed her shoulder. “Hold on, they’re not here for us,” He said staring not at her, but at her his map, which he had enlarged, something he had learned to do since his leadership level had gone up.

“There is a blue dot in there, breaking out this way towards us. And one less red dot too.” 

“Could they have been the same somehow?” Imoen asked.

But Harry quickly shook his head. “No, the blue dot intersected the red one as it was fleeing the rest and killed it. I can’t wait until my observe skill is able to give me more information from my map than this,” he muttered, to which Imoen simply nodded rueful agreement. 

“What do you think we should do?” Jaheira asked, coming close enough now for Harry to make her out through the rain. The cloak she wore was matted to her body which could possibly have been sexy for both her and Imoen, if not for the fact that they both wore armor underneath, and, despite some of the comic books that Harry had seen in Dudley’s collection, for the most part armor on a woman, if it was actually any good, was not sexy. All those comic books lied to me, he thought idly with a chuckle to himself as he took in the two women, although calling them women at this point was being very gentle and generous. Bedraggled rats were more apt a description.

Harry however didn’t say so aloud, nor did he allow himself to think such thoughts that for very long, instead turning his attention back to his map, speaking low enough that Garrick could still not hear. The blue dot is coming this way, but the Reds are going to cut him off unless we do something, fast.”

“We don’t even know what we’re dealing with,” Jaheira protested, a but it was a very limp protest. Given how he was describing matters ahead of them, she thought this would be pointless but trying and failing would be better than not trying at all to save a life. 

“We can’t try anything fancy and get there in time,” Harry said gesturing up into the rain and ahead of them to indicate the chase going on, not realizing how he took control now that there was combat in the offering. “Not without knowing what we’re dealing with, or anything about the terrain. But I don’t want to send Imoen forward. At the pace they’re going, they’ll be within hearing range of you two I think…”

He was stopped by Khalid holding up his hand. “I he, he, hear it, some kind of yipping n, n, noise over the rain. A, a, and bellowing. Lots o, o, of bellowing.”

Harry nodded, then made a quick, very dirty plan. “All right, Jaheira cast Treebark on me and Khalid. Garrick, you cast resist Fear just in case, I’ll call up Turn Undead if we are facing undead. Beyond that…” he scowled. The rain would make Garrick’s balalaika near to useless, and without it, he couldn’t use most of his spells. “Stick to arrows for now, don’t get in close unless you have to. You too Imoen, and Jaheira. Only Khalid and I have the armor to really stay in close against these numbers.” He smiled wanly. “Well, unless we’re facing kobolds or goblins anyway.”

With Garrick still protesting that he didn’t really understand what was going on Harry raced forward as fast as his feet could carry him, his shield up and ready, but most of his attention was on both his foot work and his map, watching until finally, he too began to hear the sound of yipping dogs of some kind. 

The road flowed onto a large clearing that went from east to west following a river about three yards wide but possibly as much as two feet deep. There was a burnt out house to one side, the river was close to flooding its banks, but Harry could still see the bottom of it, right before he realized what they were up against. 

On the far bank was all large band of about twenty dog men, which Harry recognized as gnolls. Their bestiary appeared in Harry’s vision for a brief blink, giving him some useful information but not enough to somehow turn this on its head. 

Gnoll:

Gnolls are large chaotic evil creatures that closely resemble humanoid hyenas. They are found throughout the world. They have the strength of larger-than-average humans, but the constitution of hyenas, able to run men and horse down in short burst or continue to move with little food and drink for long periods of time. They are slow of limb, but use halberds and large numbers to overcome this, and there are those among them who have trained themselves to a greater degree.

Attitude toward Adventurers: While their leaders can be reasoned with and even make deals to help control their people’s natural aggression, the normal gnoll believes that most other people in the world would serve best by being either far away from gnoll territory – wherever a gnoll is – or dead.

Weaknesses: Like ogres they can be seen as more animalistic than truly thinking once a battle has begun. Fire can frighten them as it would a true hyena, and high pitched or just loud sounds can cause them to freeze. Once broken, it will take hours for a gnoll to regain control of himself. Their legs and knees in particular are vulnerable.

In among them, racing into the river was a human man, a large near-naked unarmed human man with what looked like a tattoo or large bruise on his face, a bald head dripping with the rain. He was covered with slowly bleeding wounds and was obviously in dire straits. He was also pulsing on Harry’s map now that he was close, and his observations skill told him who the man was.

Minsc, level 5 Ranger.

From the eastern steppes of Rasheman, the Ranger Minsc is a might warrior who, despite having a way with animals, also specializes in combat to a tremendous degree. He is monstrously strong, decently quick, and has incredible constitution, but has rather low wisdom, willpower and intelligence to pay for it.

Minsc is in a Berserk state and will barely be able to tell friend from foe. Though, he won’t feel his wounds either, not unless he loses a limb or is on death’s door.

The word Berserker was pulsing in red letters. Harry hadn’t heard of that status change before, but he could tell what it meant thanks to his higher ability with observation. 

At first the gnolls and the man didn’t notice his arrival, or that of his friends as they came down the road behind him, and Harry knew he couldn’t let this chance go. “Spread out!” Harry shouted, use the advantage of the river to to keep them at range. Jaheira, see if you can Summon Animals over on the other side of the river, break up their numbers. Garrick, Imoen, target a single gnoll each, kill him then move on. Jaheira, after you use that spell as often as you can, concentrate on picking off wounded and supporting Khalid and me. Khalid, let me get stuck in first, then guard my back and that big guy!”

With that, Harry had given his last order and he raced forward, crashing into the water and shouting “Big guy! Catch!” at the top of his lungs as he pulled out one of his spare swords, tossing it through the air aiming above the man’s head.

His throw went lower than Harry had hoped, but the man had seen the sword flashing through the rain, which was now slowly starting to peter out. He reached up with both hands, and caught it, by its handlebars, before grabbing it in one hand, and slaying the first gnoll that came at him.

The gnolls were armed with pikes, and the nearest to their victim thrust forward at the man just a second too late. Minsc bellowed something in some foreign language, smashing the haft of a halberd to one side, then lashing out with a lightning quick strike that cut that gnoll in twain.

Harry watched that for a brief second then he was dashing forward and guarding the man’s back from a halberd strike that would have torn him into his side.

He had almost forgotten to reequip a weapon, but then, his trusty backup warhammer was back into his hand, and he twirled it, smashing it not into the gnoll that had attacked the man, but into the gnoll’s weapon, smashing it into pieces. The gnoll fell back, then died as the man took him in the throat with a sword thrust, roaring in fury.

A second later seven more Gnolls were on them, striking with their blades and shafts. Harry blocked dodged and smashed, slamming his warhammer into anything that offered a target, kneecaps, faces, chests, arms weapons, even the halberd heads occasionally. His tower shield moved wildly, and Harry was grateful that he had followed Khalid’s advice and put his skill slot point from leveling up back in of the Friendly Arm Inn into sword and shield. That gave him the Max skill he could in it as a paladin, but the automatic nature of that defense was serving him well now.

Elsewhere, Imoen had hissed angrily, roaring, “How am I supposed to backstab ever supposed to stay on this side of the river, stupid Harry!”

“Shut up and fire as he told you too!” Jaheira shouted, turning words into action. Her fingers moved in a wild dance as she shouted out, “Summon Animal!”

Jaheira has used the druid spell Summon Animal. This spell summons an animal from the nearest forest, the size and number of animals summoned being effected by the level of the summoner.

A second later an animal, in this case a tiger, appeared. For a second it stood blinking. Normally this was where Jaheira would have to take a second to mentally befriend (or dominate, it varied) the animal. But since the animal appeared in among a group of gnolls attempting to enter the river downstream from Harry and the unknown, it came under immediate attack, and responded appropriately. 

Two of them fell to its fangs and claws before it was harmed, and then it was really going to town as the gnolls tried to fall back, using their long halberds to their advantage. Another spell, another animal, this time a wolf, joined in. Then Jaheira turned her attention to her sling. Her sling stones flew rapidly, the half-elf barely bothering to aim. She was looking to disrupt the attack on the other side of the river, not score outright kills. 

At her side Imoen and Garrick started to fire their bows, Imoen’s Short Bow +1 now proving it’s worth, each shot going home. But the gnolls, for all their animal features, word chest plates like Harry’s or at the least chain mail, and her shots weren’t the instant kills they should have been. Garrick’s composite long bow – which he’d had before he had joined them - proved a little better in that area, but his own shots sometimes missed their targets due to the tumult of battle.

Khalid had reached the two beleaguered warriors on the other side of the stream by this point and shouted a warcry in Elven. The gnolls that had surrounded the two warriors turned, but before they could, his sword took one of them in the back. If he’d had Backstab like Harry or Imoen, that attack would’ve killed that gnoll instantly. As it was, the gnoll screamed in pain, and stumbled forward, wrenching himself off of Khalid’s weapon while two more swung their halberds at him.

He raised his shield, taking both blows on the plus shield mediums shield +1 that he had been given by Harry back in Beregost. His sword then flicked out, not up or straight, but down, stabbing one gnoll in the foot through the water, causing him to yowl in pain, and back away, allowing Khalid to push up with his shield. Using his skill Shield Bash he smashed the other gnoll’s weapon out of his way. Two swift strikes with his sword, and both of them fell, gurgling their life’s blood away, their throats cut neatly.

Then he was standing with Harry back to back, trying to protect the Berserker at the same time.

The spell on Harry had faded, and he had taken three hits by this point from the halberds of the gnolls despite everything his shield and sword ability could do, and his chest plate was torn through in two places. Even his helmet had been sliced into from one side, the blow leaving a long gash on his chin and jaw. That had probably protected them from a killing blow. 

But even so, they were in dire straits. Despite the arrows raining in from the other side of the river, there were more and more gnolls piling into the three warriors. Harry fell back a step slamming a halberd to one side with his warhammer and then circling around another gnoll, his tower shield, a battering ram to slam one gnoll into a second, using them to guard himself from several more. He was able to turn and glance to the side, noticing the total battle. 

Counting quickly he saw about twenty two gnolls still alive and in fighting shape, with ten dead and at least seven wounded. But the Berserker was flagging, and as Harry looked around, he saw Garrick run out of arrows and Khalid take a blow to the side that got through his Barkskin. The two summoned animals were both dead as well, and more of the gnolls were moving to surround the three warriors in the stream. Five of them were even moving across the stream to attack the archers. 

“Imoen or Garrick, cast a spell that’ll push them away from us to the south! Jaheira, Tangling Vines or something to the west” Harry shouted.

Garrick hesitated but Imoen did not, shouting out, “DUCK! Expeliarmus!” With her spell’s effect somewhat shaped by her visualization the flash of energy blasted out, picking up the gnolls on that side of the battle and hurling them sideways into their fellows messing up the gnolls attacking Harry and the other two warriors. The other side had been badly depleted by Jaheira’s summons and were slow to move forward.

This let Harry take the next step in his plan to regroup. Standing upright from where he’d crouched, he shouted, “Protego!” while flinging both arms wide. The shimmering blue wall of magical energy appeared, spreading out from in front of him to cover all three of the somewhat scattered warriors with a shield from all three directions, backing away into the middle of the stream. 

Gasping, Harry shook his head, feeling his health points deplete at about twice the rate they should have for that spell. Still it was working, shown by the gnolls in front of them bashing away at the shield ineffectively.

“H, ho, how long can you ke, ke, keep this up?” Khalid asked, stabbing his blade into the ground of the river for a moment, shaking out one leg and wincing. He’d taken another shot from the butt end of a halberd there before Imoen’s spells had done their work.

“I don’t know I’ve never tested to destruction. Especially not with someone inside, trying to hack his way out,” Harry said, looking exasperated as he saw that Minsc, in his berserk state, was trying to do just that. I thought he was running away before this, but it’s like with a sword in his hand he’s stopped being able to think of anything but killing the enemy.

“J, j, just be thankful that he doesn’t think that you meant to attack him with this Khalid said, examining the naked man and from this close finally was able to the whole package. Because this guy was huge. So large, that Harry felt that he might be as tall as Hagrid back in his old life, although he wasn’t quite as broad across the shoulders. And then there’s the tattoos, the lack of all hair and, oh yes, the murderous fury with which he’s battering against my shield trying to get at the small company of gnolls attempting to kill us.

Harry then felt one of Jaheira’s healing spells hit him and nodded towards her gratefully from where she was moving toward them through the water. Strangely enough the gnolls weren’t doing much on their end except trying to break through the shield, so the other two were still safe on the far bank. “So you’re saying he won’t be able to think of running away?” Harry asked. 

“No, he, he, he’ll only see the e, en, enemy. We can probably wa, wa, wait i out, I think the ber, be, berserk state only lasts for an hour.”

Just then a crack appeared in the shield, and Harry winced. “Well I can keep casting shield, but I doubt I’ll be able to fight afterward, even with Jaheira’s spells keeping me alive. And even worse, they have reinforcements incoming.”

More Gnolls were appearing at on the edge of Harry’s map, and he shook his head. “We can’t stay here, we either need to finish these Gnolls and then retreat or knock that guy out and retreat.”

Khalid winced. Att, att, attacking him would n, n, not be a good idea. Kno, kn, knocking a Berserker out, that’s j, j, just not happening. And I do, do, don’t see this number of gno, gno, gnolls retreating.”

“Then we’ll have to kill them all,” Harry said. “Do you think he can put on armor? I’ve got us a few spare leather armors and leggings at least.” He stopped as Khalid shook his head again. 

At that moment Imoen and Garrick reached them then, with Imoen glaring at him. “That was the most idiotic thing I’ve ever seen, just, just charging forward like that.” But then her eyes strayed to the man, she whistled. “He’s a big one,” she said admiringly.

“Well if I hadn’t been the most idiotic thing you’d ever seen, he’d be a dead big thing, and it isn’t like I didn’t plan as much as I could, there’s just something not be said for facing more than six times your own numbers, you know,” Harry replied dryly. 

Jaheira finally pushed her way through the water behind Garrick and Imoen, staring upwards as the shield started to collapse. “This rain is nearly gone,” she reported. “That means we can try the same old trick of lighting my Tangling Vines spell on fire. I’m afraid I’m out of Barkskin and call animal spells, however. I am also down to three Cure Minor Wounds and one Cure Serious Wounds.” She looked at the large, almost naked man with pity in her eyes. “And none of my spells could break him out of his Berserk stats.

“Um, well if the rain lets up I can start using my songs, but I’ve only got two Agannazar’s Scorcher Spells. Oh, and one Armor spell, but I can’t use it one someone else, only myself. My Songs though, they might make a difference. I have ones that can heighten speed and healing too. Um… well I suppose now would be a bad time to ask right,” Garrick mumbled the last to himself, before nodding resolutely, casting fearful glances towards the company of gnolls trying to shatter Harry’s shield. “Right.” 

Harry waited a moment expecting to hear Imoen say something, but you didn’t say anything, causing Harry to turn his head just slightly to stare at her. To his chagrin, she was staring at the naked man too, but instead of Jaheira’s pity. Instead she had a weird grin on her face. “MMM, all those muschles yum, Imoen likey. It’s like Charlie and Hagrid had a love child!”

“Imoen how is it that you can both freak me out and put the most disturbing image in my head when we are more than likely about to face the toughest fight we’ve faced yet?” Harry said, with a scowl. Jaheira could you smack her upside the head for me?”

“Gladly,” the druids said, smacking her so hard upside the head of that Harry actually noticed that she lost two hit points. 

“OW, bitch what was that for?!”

“You can ogle the poor man after the fight is over child, concentrate now please,” Jaheira said tartly.

Meanwhile, the reinforcement for the gnolls had arrived. This meant that all of the earlier losses they had sustained had been made good. There were at least forty gnolls now, spread out, some of them actually forming into a strange looking line of soldiers, their halberd’s all pointed forward as they waited to charge forward towards the beleaguered adventurers in the river.

And as Harry watched, 10 more red dots appeared at the outskirts of his range, moving towards them. “This just keeps getting better and better,” he muttered, shaking his head thinking quickly. Tactics don’t fail me now. 

“Jaheira, stay to the middle of the river, the gnolls don’t seem able to move through the water as well as we do. Stay out of their range of those halberd’s entirely, if you have to retreat to the other side of the riverbank, do it. They don’t have any long-range shooters, and I don’t see any spellcasters among them either. Cast that Tangling Vine spell of yours to our right, that should help guard the big guy’s flank. Garrick, you stay back and start lobbing fire arrows into the mass of that is caught by the Tangling Vines.”

“When you have let that the Tangling Vines on fire, move on and cast again on the other side of the line. Try to keep them from surrounding us, but if the choice is between catching us and not catching a lot of them, do it.” 

Jaheira nodded, but she was glancing up at the sky which had cleared up by this point. “I don’t know if that attack is going to work, it’s a little too wet.”

“Against these numbers I will take whatever I can get,” Harry said sternly. He turned to Imoen. “Imoen, you and I will cast our Blood Mage spells right into that mass of more organized troops that just showed up. They’re the center of the line, and if we break them, the Berserker, Khalid and I can charge forward, grab their attention and pull it back down on us.” 

Becoming serious instantly, Imoen nodded. “What spell?”

“How destructive can you make a Bombarda spell?”

“Pretty damn instructive Harry,” Imoen muttered.

That had been one of Jaheira’s suggestions after they had fought the wolves and the ogre. She knew that some Sorcerers could overpower spells, and given their innate understanding of magic, the Blood Mage spells Harry and Imoen could use were close to that school of magic. Indeed, it was what Harry had done a moment ago to his shield spell.

“Imoen, once we finish casting, use Hide in Shadows. Try to flank any of the Gnoll Elites that you can see with long range fire. Do not get close unless you have to.”

Among the Gnolls now attacking Harry’s shield, were the ten slightly pulsing red dots Harry had seen Earlier. They were reading to his AA skill senses as:

Gnoll Elites. The second level of the common Gnoll Warrior.

With more HP, greater speed and dexterity, these gnolls have proven themselves above the common Warrior stock. They might still have some of the same weaknesses as their fellows, but they are simply tougher all around. They might use the same halberds, but their plate mail tends to be of better quality, and they are far more experienced and trained.

Before Harry could read further Imoen interrupted his thinking with a shout. “Shit, the shields breaking!” 

Harry nodded, and moved to face it seeing those same Elites directing groups of gnolls to hit separate parts of the shield in a rhythm. 

Fine, ready Harry said to Imoen, with the others behind him. On either side of the Berserker. Thankfully he hadn’t started attacking them, instead he had stopped attacking the shield, and now stood, breath heaving. Harry frowned for a moment then decided not to change to one of his other spare swords, the warhammer seemed to be working just as well, and Harry was unwilling to mess with the something that was working. 

Instead he summoned a second sword from his item box and held it out to the Berserker, fearing the one he’d given him earlier would break soon given how hard the man was on it. The Berserker grabbed it up, and held both swords one in each huge hand, making them look like short swords almost, and Harry wondered if he actually had any skill in dual wielding. 

He had to put that thought aside though as the shield came down. As it did, he and Imoen cast as one. “Bombarda!” An instant later they both groaned, and Harry’s head started to pound. Harry noticed both of them were in the orange on their health bar now, with him close to the red, and Imoen right at the top of the orange.

The spells flashed forward into the mass of the gnolls in the center of the enemies, as they had begun to charge forward. The spells struck, and it was as if kegs of dynamite had gone off in the center of the gnolls. Body parts and gnolls flew everywhere, the front line and most of the second just disintegrating in front of the adventurers as fourteen gnolls instantly disappeared from Harry’s map, with four of the warriors being so badly hurt they panicked, turning to run away.

At the same time, Jaheira had been casting Tangling Vines on one aspect of the line. She caught four Gnolls spell, then twisted around, and cast again on the other side of the line, catching only two this time. None of the caught gnolls panicked though the entire group of the doglike sub-sentients had recoiled from the dual spells, letting her catch just a two more.

At the same time, the large man named Minsc (although Harry couldn’t’ tell anyone that just yet) had charged forward, and Khalid and Harry charged, on his heels. By the time the gnolls had recovered, the three warriors were in their faces, and Harry’s hammer flashed out, smashing into a dazed gnoll in the head, pulping it, then around into the side of another one. Imoen moved with them, ignoring Harry’s earlier orders to start using Hide in Shadows instantly, conjuring up a Lacero instead, and lashing out in either direction to protect their backs

Imoen has used fire whip. -10 to health.

Imoen’s Would-be Dominatrix skill has activated. This will add half again as much damage to any attack with her whip.

Other than noting he had forgotten to look at Imoen’s learned skills the last time they had compared stats, Harry ignored the message and any others he saw about flank attacks, critical hits or damage taken, dodging this way and that as the gnolls finally started to recover, their halberd’s flashing forward. Only one of the higher-level gnolls had died in the initial bombardment spells, and the remaining nine started barking orders in their strange doglike tongue, reorganizing the warriors around.

Khalid was the first one to meet one of the Elites face-to-face, and nearly paid for with his life. The halberd of the enemy warrior shifted its aim slightly as another two gnolls attacked his shield, keeping it in position while the halberd of the Elite dove straight over his shield, right towards his chest.

But, Khalid was the only one who wore full plate mail, and he twisted aside just enough for the halberd to score a glancing blow along it, creating a large dent but not penetrating. He then twisted around, bringing his shield up into the gnoll’s center, and activated Shield Bash. The successfully executed skill blow smashed the gnoll off its feet, where the Berserker stopped on its head with a foot, crushing it with a show of power that took several of the surrounding gnolls aback.

He even roared out a battle cry, the first actual words that Harry had heard Minsc say. “Butt kicking for goodness!”

With that he hurled his second sword into the face of another gnoll, then chopped that gnoll down when he tried to block the thrown sword with his halberd.

Guess that answers my question about dual wielding, Harry thought as he twisted around behind the big guy, using his tower shield to block one, then two, then a third blow, thanking all the heavens that he had the foresight to buy the Tower Shield +1 back in the Friendly Arm Inn. It’s durability was slowly degrading in this fight, occasionally after a particularly strong swing, but like in the earlier portion of the melee, the tower shield and his Sword and Shield skill was proving its weight in gold. 

Elsewhere, Garrick had fired his fire arrows that Harry had handed him into the mass of Tangling Vines, which had lit on fire fitfully here and there. Thankfully however, the regular Gnolls were susceptible to panic at a fire, just as any wild animal would be. So while not a lot of them had actually been set on fire, most of those trapped had begun to panic, no longer taking part in the battle.

This left only about around seventeen Gnolls facing Harry and his fellows in close combat along with eight Elites. But that was more than enough.

Khalid gasped as a halberd took him low in the leg, smashing into his greave, the greave stopping the halberd from cutting his leg off. The blow still broke bone though sending into the ground. Jaheira instantly cut off the spell that she had been about to perform, another Tangling Vines, spell, and centering her eyes on him began to cast a Cure Minor Wounds. 

But even as she did, Jaheira despaired, knowing she wouldn’t be fast enough to protect Khalid from the downward flashing blades of the gnolls surrounding him. He hacked at one of their feet, causing him to yet painfully and back away, but the other two, both Elites swung their halberd’s down aiming for his chest and head.

Harry desperately cast a Reducto spell, catching both of them in one blast, sending their bodies falling backwards, their weapons and upper bodies both cut in twain, then, his head seriously frowning and a warning about his health appearing in his vision, he twisted around, barely getting his shield up to block a blow it would’ve taken his head off. Another blow came into his side and he couldn’t move his hammer fast enough to take it on its shaft. The blow crunched into his side armor, denting it badly and breaking at least a rib or two. “God damn it, what is with my ribs being everyone’s favorite freaking target!?”

Another blow came in over the top of his tower shield, as it was engaged with the first attacker, one of the Elites having aimed his weapon at just the right time. The blow smashed into Harry’s helmet, and he saw stars, stumbling backwards. 

The Berserker too was taking a hammering. Since the shield came down he had been hit at least three, maybe four times, and Harry knew that his health had begun to fall precipitously. Or at least he supposed that was the case since his name was now flaring red and black over his head.

Imoen had been forced to back away into the stream herself, having killed five gnolls with her fire whip, before nearly losing an arm to another Elite. She was now bleeding profusely into the water, her arm useless, cursing the fact that she couldn’t use her other arm at all well with any weapon. Jaheira however turned to her, healing her quickly, then turned back towards Harry, as Khalid pushed himself to his feet, healing him in turn. Khalid was still badly wounded, but his bones were broken anymore at least.

“I’m down to one healing spells, now!”

“Garrick!” Harry roared. “Now’s the time for those spells of yours!”

“OH, great gods of Light~~, bless us with good he~alth~~~!!” Garrick belted out, strumming his balalaika to a deliberate short tune. A wave of green energy splashed out from him, impacting Imoen, Jaheira and the others as he pointed the head of his instrument at them one after another.

Garrick has used Song of Regeneration. 

A spell calling on the god of bards and travelers, this spell creates a healing aura among those targeted, healing one hit point every few seconds. Both the amount regenerated per person and the speed can be modified as the user gains levels.

+1 to health every three seconds.

Even as Harry and the others started to feel their health slowly regenerate, Harry felt another blow land on the back of his helmet, but he had felt it coming and ducked forward. Instead of smashing into the back of his helmet with enough force to possibly crack skull underneath, it simply smashed the helmet off his head, and Harry turned, bringing his hammer into the side of the gnoll Elite that had been about to kill him. The gnoll groaned in pain as its ribs gave way, but grabbed Harry’s outstretched arm, before an arrow from Imoen slammed into the back of his head, Flank Attack doing it’s work.

Shaking his head, Harry took in the total battle in a brief lull before shouting, “Garrick, those Scorcher spells, use them on the right then switch to swords and get to the berserker. Imoen go with him but keep an eye on Jaheira we’ll need our healer still. I’ve got Khalid!”

“Right!” Garrick started to intone the spells and an instant later the spells flashed out one after another, bright tongues of flame much like that of a flamethrower only far narrower in diameter. Three more gnolls screamed and started to flee as the spell lit up the four gnolls still trapped on that side of the battlefield. Unable to escape they started to burn, their screams causing many of the other gnolls to start acting more wildly, angry and fearful at the noises of agony coming from their fellows.

With that done, Garrick put his balalaika on his back, the spell keeping the strings moving as he charged forward, pulling out his short sword as he went. Imoen went with him, disappearing into Hide in Shadows. Two gnolls turned to him, and Garrick engaged them, ducking under one blow from a halberd, and then twisting around another, using his shield to push it out of position to stab with his short sword. 

His short sword was dodged just enough to avoid the tip, however, that had pushed that gnoll out of position to defend the back of his fellow. Imoen appeared there, stabbing viciously, then turning, and cutting at the first gnoll’s leg. He couldn’t defend himself, and it hit, then Garrick was there, stabbing up into his face.

Minsc howled in triumph as he killed another gnoll, then turned, gasping as a halberd blade stabbed into his chest. He had dodged just enough that it hadn’t gone completely through him, but it still stabbed deep, and at last his vitality started to fade. Yet even as his feet faltered under him, the mighty Ranger still grabbed the shaft, and stabbed forward, taking the gnoll Elite at the other end, stabbing through his mouth into his brain. 

Then he began to collapse, but Jaheira was already casting another healing spell on him, as Imoen and Garrick tried to close in, protecting his down body. Harry and Khalid fought through two more warriors to meet up with them, and the four of them became a shield around the downed warriors body.

All of them were battered and bleeding. Even Garrick had taken a hit and was wincing, favoring one leg. Harry’s side and head were aflame in pain, Jaheira not having another medium healing spell able to heal his broken ribs. Indeed, she was out of spells now and was down to lobbing sling stones. Facing them were still seven gnoll warriors and five Elites.

It was as if both sides knew that this was the last last gasp, because even as Minsc slowly pushed himself to his feet, the battle reached a brand new crescendo, the Elites pushing the remaining warriors, who were looking very nervous, into the fight with roars and growls. Halberds flashed forward, swords sliced, and the sound of battle rose again, with the Elite’s constant roar a backdrop behind everything. 

A second later after Harry had downed another warrior with a blow to its kneecap, a halberd sliced in over his shield. Harry flinched back, which protected the top of his head from being sliced off, but the ragged tip of the halberd still sliced across his forehead, and suddenly, Harry’s world disappeared into red as his blood flowed down his face into his eyes.

He backed away as he a message appeared in front of his eyes. 

Head wound! Wow, does that bleed or what? You are blinded.

Harry desperately tried to defend himself, but unable to see, seemed to mean that his shields automatic shield block didn’t work either.

Another blow came in, luckily turning on his now-ragged chest plate before Khalid, Garrick and Imoen could pull him away. Soon Garrick’s slow healing spell did it’s work, and Harry wiped away the blood, his shield instantly flashing up to block a blow that would have caught Khalid in the side.

In a moment of vicious irony just as Harry was back in the fight thanks to his spell, Garrick went down a second later, gasping as a halberd’s shaft, it’s head cut off a second ago, slammed into his chest just above his groin, actually hurling him backwards to land in a small bundle of agony.

Another warrior tried to bring down his halberd blade on the downed bard. But Minsc was back up on his feet and charged, slamming into the thing bodily shouting, “For my witch, for goodness!” 

He had lost his weapon, in the skull of his last victim, but he bore this creature down, a blow to the face actually pulping the thing like one of Harry’s hammer blows. He then wrenched the halberd out of the gnoll’s dead grip twirling around to slam the end of the shaft into one warrior, then cutting into a second. 

“Thank you for your help good friends!” the Ranger shouted. Harry realized with a start that the earlier wound had apparently been harsh enough to knock him out of his berserk state.

Next it was Khalid who cried out in pain, a halberd cutting into his shoulder from one of the elites. But this opened the Elite up to a wild blow from Harry which shattered the side of his head. 

The last Elite might have gotten him in turn, but then Jaheira was there her staff lashing out with all the force of a tree falling. The blow lifted the Elite and hurled him to splash down into the river.

That broke the last gnoll warriors, and they turned to flee, but Jaheira and Imoen weren’t having any of that. As they turned and ran the two of them took them under fire. The last gnoll fell with one of Imoen’s arrows in the back and it’s skull smashed by one of Jaheira’s sling stones. 

It was just as well they’d broken though, Harry realized dimly as his hammer dropped with a splash into the water from his nerveless grip. All of them but Jaheira, who had stayed behind the rest of them and whose spells were the only reason they were all still alive, had been battered near to near collapse by this point. For a moment, all was still, as Harry stared around them, exhaustion clear on his face, so tired he couldn’t even lean down to try and find his hammer now that the adrenaline was starting to leave him. He unequipped his shield, stowing it in his item box, and fell to his knees in the water, gasping. He found the hammer then, and made it disappear too, before he plunged his head into the water and gasped in relief as the water flowed over his head.

Next to him, the big guy stayed taught and ready for a moment, staring all around him, then being to smile down at Harry and around at the others. The might Ranger Minsc thanks you for your help stranger, but I think,” he began to sway on his feet as his eyes started to close. “It is time for all those good and righteous to rest.”

Like a mighty oak, he fell backwards, splashing into the river soaking Harry and the nearby Garrick and Harry chuckled wanly, lifting a tired hand to wipe away the water from his face. “Well, that’s one way to make an exit.”

Standing up and grabbing the big guys shoulder, Harry began to pull him back to the riverbed, met halfway by Khalid, who, with his one remaining working arm – the other shoulder having been broken along with the shoulder plate of his armor - helped Harry get Minsc up onto the bank. “All those in favor of making camp right here say aye,” Harry muttered, shaking his head.

All of the others nodded tired agreement, taking stock slowly. Garrick was the worst off, though not by much. He’d lost his sword on the other side of the river or it had simply shattered no one was sure which. He was still in quite a lot of pain and not answering any questions yet, and unfortunately his falling into the river had halted Garrick’s regeneration spell. Khalid had a broken shoulder and was limping despite his thigh bone having been healed from his earlier wound. And both Imoen and Harry, while looking better than the others for the most part, were in the red in health thanks to their Blood Mage spells. 

Imoen was worse off despite Harry having several broken ribs making every move agony, because he had much more health than Imoen. She was now shivering in place, her skin clammy to the touch as Jaheira put her arms around the younger woman and slowly led her after the others, starting to drag her as Imoen’s adrenaline left her.

All of her spells were spent, her mana horribly depleted but of all of them, only Jaheira was physically fine. Once she got Imoen ashore she began to bustle around creating a fire, while Khalid and Harry moved the big guy over to it, slowly laying him down the ground, before moving to do the same with Imoen. Harry bundled her into her sleeping bag, then piled his own on top, figuring that being warm would help, before cursing himself for a fool. 

“And why for are you doing that?” Jaheira said instantly interrupting him. 

“Back in the Friendly Arm Inn, I could’ve bought some healing spell potions I mean.”

“Yes, you could have,” she said, but unlike Harry’s tone, hers was not at all condemning. “Yet did it occur to you at the time?”

“No,” Harry said shaking his head. In fact, the fact that the priest is had healing spells hadn’t even registered until several days later when he found the empty vial of the minor healing potion he’d found in Candlekeep.

“Exactly. Hindsight is always more destructive than helpful at times like this Harry, and, while healing spells might help Imoen, so too will rest and food. Did we do everything right here? Perhaps not, although I would contend we did the best we could. Could we have done everything right for ourselves and still saved Minsc, again no. We won, we succeeded in defending him, and we slaughtered a band of gnolls many times our number, a feat that is an extremely impressive considering that we didn’t have any time to prepare. Learn from this later, when you are not feeling guilty about all of us being hurt during an adventure we chose to go on. Do not beat yourself up over it,” she ordered.

“Yes ma’am,” Harry said, smirking.

She glared at him. “Let us put the phrase ma’am under the same heading as ‘Grandmother’ shall we? Other without wise I will start calling you impertinent youngling.”

“Was that the best you could come up with?” Harry asked, smiling at her as Khalid chuckled from where he was now helping Garrick along.

“I’m tired, so you’ll forgive me from not giving you my best material,” Jaheira said tartly.

Khalid chuckled once more, slumping down next to her. “W, w, we probably should m, m, move away from the battlefield. T, t, this ma, many bodies will no d, d, doubt draw animals.”

Jaheira shook her head, gesturing down to Imoen and Minsc. We can’t move them. The big one, he is barely clinging to life.

“He said his name was Minsc,” Harry supplied.

“Minsc then is barely clinging to life, and it is only because of the added durability that the berserk state gave him that he is still alive at all. And Imoen, her spell usage sucked out all of her vitality. Until I am able to cast a few healing spells on her, I refuse to move her.” Jaheira said firmly, almost glaring at her husband.

“B, b, but,” Khalid said calmly, only quailing slightly under her gaze. “th, tha, that doesn’t change the facts th, th, that this b, b, battle will attract both an, an, animals, and other demi-hu, hu, humans. None of us a, a, are in a fit st, st, stage to fight back.”

Harry made an executive decision and stood up from beside Imoen. “How much do you think that Minsc weighs?”

Frowning at the apparent non-sequitur, Khalid shrugged. “Thr, thr, three hundred pounds t, t, two hundred p, p, pounds something like th, th, that. W, w, why?” 

Harry nodded slowly, then said “I think, well I have to wonder if I’ll be able to put them in my item box.”

The now aware – if barely - Garrick, Khalid and Jaheira all stared at him and he shrugged. “I don’t think I’d be able to do it if they were conscious, able to fight the effects, but like this? It’s possible. And Khalid’s got a point Jaheira, none of us are in a fit state to fight besides yourself. I’m not saying you couldn’t guard us, but then you wouldn’t be able to get any sleep, and we’ll need your healing spells tomorrow.”

Khalid nodded, glancing at his own health bar which adventurers could see, pretty much like Harry, although they couldn’t see the status bars of anyone else. “I f, fu, fully agree wit, wi, with that.”

“…Very well,” Jaheira said. “Let us get some food into them both, soup and broth I believe, they’ll be able to keep it down, while I dress the big fellow’s wounds.”

Minsc, Harry replied again.

Jaheira shrugged. “Big guy is more descriptive.”

Khalid chuckled at that, and Harry pulled out more bandages and wraps, something he had thought of buying back in the Friendly Arm Inn, and then again in Beregost. He gave them to Jaheira and as she went to work on that, started to make some soup and sandwiches for those who could chew at present.

About an hour and a half later, Jaheira finally agreed to move, and Harry doused the fire with a helmet full of water from the stream, then moved first to Minsc, reaching down and activating his item box at the same time as he was touching. There was a moment of wrenching disjointedness, where Harry instinctively knew if he had tried this on someone conscious, the individual could have fought him. But Minsc was not conscious, and Harry was able to see his body disappear into his item box, shown in front of his eyes by a small doll-like picture. 

He then moved over to Imoen, where he touched her forehead, gently stroking her hair back for a second, before doing the same thing. The added weight of the two of them made a warning pop-up. 

Warning, your item box is at full capacity. Anymore, and you will become encumbered.

Meanwhile Garrick, who despite limping and holding his crotch occasionally, was in decent shape, had moved back over the river and looted the bodies, cutting off ears as he went. The bounty for Gnolls was for 75 each, which meant this fight could add quite a bit to their stores. But soon enough, they were on their way.

With Jaheira in the lead, they retraced their steps up the road to the north, where she had spotted a decent sized camping area near the road, which they had gone past earlier that day when it was raining. There, Jaheira, Khalid and Harry began to move around the place, creating a campsite for them, while Garrick watched the wounded after Harry had pulled them out of his weapons space. 

Neither of them looked any worse for wear thankfully, still unconscious, still shivering in Imoen’s case. Jaheira and Harry once more fed them some, broth and a very light soup, before packing them back into the bed rolls Harry having donated his to Minsc for the night and laying them out by the fire Khalid and Garrick had lit a second ago.

“Go to sleep,” he ordered Jaheira. “Your spells are easily the most important thing to getting these two back on their feet. Garrick, you’re on first watch, wake me in two hours. You and I are going to switch off throughout the night.”

“Am I going to get that explanation about you and Imoen suddenly able to use spells at some point?” Garrick asked sarcastically. “We’re supposed to be traveling companions, you can keep secrets from traveling companions.”

“You don’t keep secrets from friends,” Harry replied coolly, in no mood to be diplomatic. “You can certainly keep them from traveling companions especially were only known for a few days.”

The man winced at that but went on doggedly. “I’d still like that explanation.”

Harry shrugged, looking over at Jaheira who hesitated, then nodded, and then Khalid, who just nodded. “I’ll give it to you I suppose, in the morning. Can you wait that long?”

Garrick rolled his eyes and the conversation slowly came to a close and soon everyone was either sitting down and trying to stay away, or very deliberately going to sleep.

When his eyes snapped open the next day, the first thing Harry did was sigh in relief. 

You have rested for four hours

Due to not resting on a bed and not for a full night, your normal Paladin health regeneration has been reduced to a quarter.

Even so, that had given him twenty more health points than he had had yesterday, and he felt better for it. He slowly pushed his way up from where he had been sleeping, moving around and beginning to prepare breakfast.

Leaving her own tent to the smell of food, Jaheira frowned looking around at the rest of the party. She had rested for a full eight hours in order to regain all her spells, and by nature’s provenance they had not been been attacked during the night. So she had her spells and her mana was back up as much is it could be. She scowled irritably internally.  There was a time where that number of gnolls would’ve been but a minor challenge to Khalid and me. Blast that curse!

Regardless, she looked to Harry. “Which of them should I start with?” 

“Imoen,” Harry said quickly. I’ll watch her health bar. Get her up into the yellow I think, and then switch to Minsc, then Garrick, Khalid, and finally me.”

“Why not start with him?”

“Is in danger of dying?”

“No,” Jaheira replied with a shake of her head. “I dressed his wounds, so he won’t bleed out, but he won’t wake up either without healing spells.”

“Then we stay here another day,” Harry said simply. “I want the rest of us able to fight, just in case another band of gnolls comes after him. They seem to be really determined to kill him didn’t they?”

The others all chuckled agreement, then Garrick said firmly while she’s doing that, I’d rather like that explanation please.

Imoen was sitting up, within a few minutes, and Khalid, Garrick, and Harry’s wounds had been healed for the most part. They still weren’t at 100% but going into a fight now didn’t seem as suicidal as it would have been before Jaheira saw to them. Garrick even started to slowly strum his balalaika, conjuring up the bardic regeneration aura around him, which filled the others with vitality and added strength.

He had taken Harry’s explanation about their Blood Mage skills with aplomb, but Harry had not shared with him his Advanced Adventurer skill, only his item box skill and the Blood mage skill which Imoen had taught him somehow. That seemed to the lesser very much the lesser of two evils.

They stayed there the rest of the day, simply resting, talking quietly and sleeping, all save Harry, whose Gamer ability did not allow him to nap. He made up for it though when Khalid and Imoen stood watch, Jaheira needing another full night’s sleep.

The next day, after using all of her Cure Minor Wounds spells on the others, Jaheira used her two Cure Serious wounds on the big guy, and Harry watched as the bandages were peeled off Minsc, to show fully healed skin, leaving behind tiny scars in some cases, like the one massive hit he’d taken late in the fight, which had forced Jaheira to use her last Cure Serious Wound spell on it.

That seemed to be enough, and slowly Minsc’s eyes began to open. He grumbled, one hand moving to his face as he said something about “That is the last time Minsc we’ll ever drink so much mead before bedtime. Milk only, for strong bones the better for hunting for evil to kick.” Then he blinked, staring up at them, before looking around frantically, his large hands slapping his still bare chest and sides. “Boo! Boo where are you?”

There was a squeak, and from out underneath the big guy, a tiny hamster appeared, rapidly climbing up his side, to rest on his chest. Imoen instantly cooed, “Oh it’s so cute!”

Harry however had him very much more important observation. “Where was that hamster hiding?”

“Did you not see him before?” Minsc asked. “He was taking part in the fight just as Minsc was. Truly, for all his tiny size, Boo is a might warrior.”

Harry blinked, trying to go over the fight, but then he frowned. “There was that one gnoll that I thought had a drop on you,” he said slowly, staring at the small creature. 

Giant Space Hamster? 

The Ranger Minsc believes that this is a fine example of the species known as Miniature Giant Space Hamster, although whether or not that is the case, you cannot tell. Regardless, this furry companion never leaves Minsc’s side, and at times might be seen as the more intelligent of the pair.

Special ability: Plus 100% to Minsc’s morale, grants immunity to mental attacks.

Harry raised his eyebrow at that, as Minsc replied “Of course! He goes for the eyes! No enemy protects his eyes well enough against the mighty jaws and claws of a miniature Giant Space Hamster warrior!”

While Khalid and Garrick just blinked, Imoen laughed. “All those muscles, and he’s a little wonky too. Excellent!”

“If by wonky you mean insane, then perhaps” Jaheira replied dryly. She moved over to examine Minsc’s head from behind, sighing as she found a few old scars indicative of head trauma. “Ah, that explains much.”

“Can I touch it?” Imoen asked looking at the little critter and ignoring Miss Grumpy Pants.

“You may pet him and feed him, but do not attempt to lift him away from Minsc. Only I can lift the mighty Miniature Giant Space Hamster that is Boo.”

“Mental trauma is not so easily healed alas,” Jaheira said with a sigh.

Harry shrugged and whispered so only the two half-elves could pick up on it. “Beyond the hamster, he seems to track pretty well. We’ll let him have his little foibles for now.”

“I have to thank you friends,” the man looked said looking around at them all. “Without your help, even mighty Berserker Ranger Minsc would have been overcome.”

Harry nodded thinking internally that Minsc seemed to like his lengthy names. “We’re adventurers, were supposed to help one another. Although I will say that fight was a little too close for comfort.” He then introduced himself and his friends. 

Minsc boomed laughter. “And yet those are the best ones! Where you win much glory and renown, with tales to tell in the drinking halls back home in Rasheman.

“I don’t have a drinking hall,” Harry replied dryly. “And I don’t think I want to start drinking.”

Minsc gasped. “A warrior that does not trick! That just means that you have not tried Rasheman mead!”

“If w, w, we could get b, b, back on topic,” Khalid said ignoring the faint smile that had appeared on his wife’s face at Harry’s professing to not enjoy drinking. “C, c, can I ask, why exactly were y, you, running around nearly n, na, naked?”

“Not, that that’s entirely a bad thing,” Imoen said, ogling the man as he sat up against a log.

Minsc frowned, looking at her. “Minsc feels somewhat violated yet does not understand why. Nor do I understand why Boo is telling me good for you.”

Harry laughed but gestured Minsc to speak up. “Tell us your story Minsc.”

The story of why one so large and strong as Minsc is in such dire straits? It is a terrible tale.” He sighed, then took a bowl of hearty meat-based soup from Harry, sipping at it before going on. “Minsc was on his Dejemma, to become a full-blooded warrior. One must go on a walkabout around the world, accompanied by a witch, whose own Dejemma is to find some problem in the world and to solve it. We had come to this area, fearing the rise of some evil power.”

He then slammed his hands to the ground before covering his face, seemingly overcome by guilt and remembered pain. “But the gnolls, they came upon Minsc when he was resting his eyes for but a moment! And then… oh woe is Minsc! For they stole her away. They stole his witch, the Lady Dynaheir.” 

“And all of your clothing and weapons?” Harry said.

Minsc nodded., His large hands clenching and unclenching. “Where they were taking us I know not, but while they simply knocked my witch, the Lady Dynaheir unconscious and kept her so, they made sport of Minsc.”

“But ha, the last joke was on them!” he said with a booming laugh, slamming his fists together, creating a sound almost like crushing skulls. “For they did not count on the Berserker strength that Minsc could call upon at need. When Minsc saw his chance, he called his Berserker fury, killed his guards, and escaped. Alas, beyond the simplest of commands, to himself Minsc is unable to think while in such a state, and so could only run.

“Well, let’s solve that issue right now,” Harry said, pulling out a spare pair of leggings and then a shirt.

Taking the clothing from Harry, Minsc stood up and moved off into the woods. “Minsc thanks you for while he is strong enough to deal with the elements, young Boo sometimes has trouble with the cold and would rather like to have more places to burrow.”

From next to him Harry heard “yummy muscles” from Imoen, as she stared after him, causing him to shudder. Not that Harry couldn’t see her point. The guy was all muscle, making Harry wonder if he should put some more stat points into strength, and he was taller than harry too. 

After the big guy was dressed and sitting down again, Harry asked, “Do you know where this Dynaheir might have been taken?”

Minsc blinked looking up at him his eyes wide in hope. “Does that mean you will help Minsc even more? Does that mean you will help him find his witch?!”

“Yes,” Harry said with a nod. “Of course we’ll help. Saving a damsel in distress is after all, something all Adventurers should do.” And if the gnolls are strong enough to operate so close to civilization in such numbers, it’s best we nip them in the bud now.

Jaheira groaned, and Harry saw several messages one after another. He had gained trust with her, but lost respect again, which Harry supposed he could put that down to the fact that he was so quick to offer his help and was willing to set aside their main goal of solving the iron intake issue for this one.

Imoen though gained points, as did Garrick.  Minsc instantly slipped from it’s previous, stance, which Harry hadn’t had time to read but had been combat ally, into full friend, while another message popped up about Khalid also sliding into friend. 

Through your decision to help him rescue his kidnapped witch charge, you have Gained 500 respect and 500 trust with Minsc. You have 500/500 Respect, 500/500 Trust with Minsc. 

Minsc is now your friend, for better or worse.

With your decision to save a damsel, you have earned +200 Respect, +200 Trust with Garrick. You have 510/500 Trust, 490/500 Respect with Garrick. 

While you have enough trust with Garrick, Garrick doesn’t quite respect you enough to make the leap from Travelling Companion/Acquaintance to Friend.

To save a person in need from durance vile has cut Khalid to the core. You have gained 500 trust, 500 Respect with Khalid. You have 1180/1000 Trust and 1050/1000 Respect with Khalid. 

Khalid is now your friend. You have to wonder how Jaheira will react to this…

Another message instantly popped up afterwards and Khalid jerked in surprise, staring at something none of the others could see. 

Khalid has become your friend and is eligible for full party integration. Would you like to add Khalid to your party?

Minsc has become your friend and is eligible for full party integration. Would you like to add Minsc to your party?

Harry’s eyes widened as did Imoen’s, breaking her out of her momentary stupor, but Harry was unable to concentrate the on that. Because he found himself lifted up into the air by the larger man and nearly squeezed in half, Minsc apparently not having noticed or cared about the message appearing in front of his eye. “Yes! Harry, Minsc and boo! We will be butts kicking to retrieve our witch!”

“Gah, not if you break my ribs we won’t damn it I just got those healed!”

End Chapter
five iminutes on the best comp in my families house later... lol hope you all enjoy!