Chapter 55 — The Shapeshifter Returns

Ria hadn’t expected to get tied up that long helping out Jess, but things had gone surprisingly well. Jarrel was going to be shocked to find out she had befriended that group of delinquent teens. Truthfully... thinking that she had befriended the boys was probably premature, though she was sure she could count Jess as her friend now.

Ria chuckled at the thought of inviting Jess to Emily’s tea party. She would be making Jess’ dress for sure, so at least Jess would look good. Heh.

After locking up, Ria grabbed a cider from the cooler box and returned to her room. She did have an early morning planned, but there was still one more task before sleeping: the improved locator scroll.

Based of the results of her experiment with using local places of power to provide energy for her enchantments, she was definitely going to use that method to power the locator scroll. Even with the minor mishap where the first scroll had oversaturated and self-destructed, the overall results were a complete success.

That said, there were still two changes she wanted to attempt before risking medium quality paper. The first was linking to multiple power sources. The second was embedding the linking construct within a battery construct to even-out differences in flows from different power sources.

Starting with the thinnest of lines, Ria carefully added thickness to each power glyph until she had a feel for the relative power of the three sources she had chosen. The already damaged paper was sacrificed to the continued experimentation, and by the time she moved on to a fresh sheet of paper, Ria was able to complete a functional low-quality implementation of a three-source-powered multi-target generic locator scroll.

For local use, the result practically made her self-powered designs obsolete. This design would continue to function until the materials of the scroll wore out. Ria had no idea how long that would be.

Brimming with excitement from her success, she immediately got to work on the medium-quality version. Leery of the increase in power and possible changes due to proximity, she kept the power links conservative, even though it likely meant underutilizing the materials. However, with no longer needing to worry about depleting the scroll’s energy, the new design had enabled a substantially increased range.

And considering that her tests succeeded in locating Gebs and his dad, that new range was sufficient to cover the entire village…

More disturbingly, Ria located the shapeshifter at a direction and distance that was likely inside the village. And possibly worse, the phrase ‘shapeshifter’s contractor’ produced a result at the same location.

Ugh… it was already late, and there was no way she was waking up Jarrel’s parents to go with her to report it. She really wanted to put off reporting the information, but if something happened… not only would she have to live with the guilt, but knowing and not saying anything would also make her complicit.

When Ria started changing into her play clothes and armor, Ranger gave her a questioning grumble.

“We’re heading out for a bit, Ranger. I have to meet with Captain Bastach.”

Ranger thought it was a terrible idea and didn’t like that she was breaking her promise with Jarrel.

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t want to bother Grandpa Orlan and Grandma Fana this late at night.”

“Bother us with what?” came Grandpa Orlan’s voice from the door.

“Whaaa-,” was the noise that came out of Ria as she spun around clutching at her heart.

“Fana sends me up to check on you, and here you are dressing for battle in the middle of the night,” Grandpa Orlan said with his eyebrows raised. “Girl, didn’t I tell you that you can come to me with anything that’s bothering you?”

“I know, but…,” Ria glanced over at Ranger and received an encouraging nod. “You see… I was testing my locator scroll for tomorrow’s slime-hunting expedition with Leon and Young Lady Keira, and I discovered the location of a shapeshifter in the village.”

Grandpa Orlan paled. “You weren’t planning to fight it on your own, were you?”

Ria vigorously shook her head. “No, nothing like that! I was just going to inform Captain Bastach and come right back.”

“Alright. Finish getting ready and meet me in the shop. We’ll head over at once,” Grandpa Orlan decided and hurried back down the steps.

Ria quickly donned her cloak and weapons, put on her helmet, and grabbed her satchel. “Let’s go, Ranger!”

“Woof!”

Grandpa Orlan was already waiting for her. He had added breeches, boots, and a leather apron to his night tunic. A lit lantern sat on the counter ready to be grabbed, and resting against his shoulder was a massive cleaver.

When he saw Ria, he chuckled and patted the top of her helmet. “Seeing you like that reminds me of Jarrel when he was your age. Ready?”

“Ah, one second.” Ria took out the new locator scroll. “Activate #46. Captain Bastach.”

An arrow formed on the scroll.

“Oooh. That’s handy,” Grandpa Orlan commented approvingly. “Looks like he’s at the barracks.”

“Ready.”

“Then let’s get going.”

“Woof!”

The night was still overcast, and the slight drizzle surrounded them in darkness even with Grandpa Orlan’s lantern.

Seeing the drizzle, Ria immediately used her Wand of Air Shield to protect the scroll then sheepishly expanded it to cover all of them, so Grandpa Orlan and Ranger wouldn’t get wet either.

The village streets were entirely empty as they walked to the North Barracks. It brought back memories of Shadewood after everyone had been taken. Ria had to reassure herself with the smell of kitchen fires and the occasional lit window.

No one was on duty outside the barracks, so they let themselves in and woke up Lieutenant Gesler who had been asleep at the reception desk.

“Eeeaaaah?!” Gesler yelled as he saw Ria’s mask and Grandpa Orlan’s cleaver.

Thump. Slam. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Bastach slid around the corner dressed in underwear and holding a sword.

“Gesler?? The hells’ going on?!” he roared.

Gesler was still trying to catch his breath.

“Must’ve been a nightmare, Captain,” Ria supplied helpfully.

Two other heads poked out of the nearest sleeping room. Ria recognized both of them.

“Oh gods, nope!” Errol exclaimed, shoving the other guard through before closing and barring the door.

“Hey!” Harvin complained. He too only had underwear and a sword.

Bastach looked from Ria to Grandpa Orlan to Ranger and back to Ria before rubbing his forehead. “If you and Orlan are here in the middle of the night, Ria, then I know it’s bad. What did you find this time?”

“The location of the shapeshifter and its contractor,” Ria stated.

“In town?” Bastach asked as if expecting the answer.

“Yes.”

Bastach’s eyes drifted to the window and the open door. “On a drizzling moonless night?”

“That is correct.”

“We could at least pick up the contractor,” Gesler offered, having recovered from his earlier fright.

“Or we could wait until morning and nab them both,” Bastach suggested.

After some discussion, it was decided that they would wait for Master Rigure before making the arrest. Captain Bastach agreed to borrow Ria’s new locator scroll for a 3 gold coin deposit, since she couldn’t officially sell the uncertified scroll. Ria did also agree to sell the scroll at that price if Master Rigure was able to certify it, so the sale was probably a done deal.

Her business concluded, Ria and Grandpa Orlan decided to head home.

After thanking Grandpa Orlan and promising to sleep soon, Ria spent a half-hour making a replacement locator scroll and was thoroughly exhausted by the time she finally crawled into bed.