I woke up with a drowsy mind and voices in my head. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what was going on.

“So everything’s dealt with, then?”

“Yes. For the time being, you should be safe. I don’t think any ork would get through that tunnel.”

I turned my head. My eyes found a small, purple form standing just outside the stalagmites and gesturing to a taller, green form. That was… Roguk? Talking to Alex? How?

“Good morning, Fio. How’re you doing?”

The golem turned her head back to me. It swivelled almost as my own would.

“Good morning”, Roguk greeted as well.

I hooted an answer. My mind went to the connection going off of my supersensory matrix. Somehow, it was now including Roguk as well. There was a centre of communication similar to what Alex had made yesterday to prevent my advance into her soul. I found it very calming to see this application. It was much more respecting of privacy. Something I had mostly ignored for lack of knowledge of how to fix it. It seemed the golem had some higher insight into the truths of souls.

Somehow, this way of using the supersensory matrix allowed her to add others to the connection, sort of like a group call. It also kept the flux emissions to a more manageable level, barely increasing with added people.

“Want to get breakfast?”, the goblin asked.

“Sounds good.”

The village was sluggish even though it was a few hours past their normal time. Chef had made his usual stew with some of the food I brought over. I would have to make another trip soon to restock their stores. Especially with the new ones coming in. I got a bowl with two rats, as I had often while I lived here.

We had settled down, Alex slightly in the back, Roguk and I sitting with the rest of the leader group. The alchemist retold what the golem had relayed earlier and soon it was time to hear their side.

“So, there wasn’t much happening here”, Roguk said, “We kept our guards up and worried a lot but that’s about it. I had my stonesap to work on and didn’t get caught in the mood. The stuff is really dangerous so I made sure nobody disturbed me.”

“He only came out ta eat or when ya showed up”, Chef said.

“Right. So, I decided to set up a trap for the orks when I realized a new variation of the stuff. I’m not going to tell the recipe, though. It’s far too dangerous.”

“As if danger would stop this bird”, Ira grinned.

“Can you just let me talk?”, Roguk demanded, “So… Where was I? Right. Dangerous stonesap. It’s got this weird interaction where it doesn’t sink into skin immediately allowing the stuff to stick to someone for far longer. We made a bunch of boxes and set them in the ceiling. When the fuckers walked past, we showered them in the stuff. The stone slowly drags up the skin and converts its surface level. And it keeps moving since the now stone skin is actual stone that moves to the next part of the skin.”

“That’s a gruesome weapon”, Alex said, “And… you should really work on your storytelling skills. That was… a mess.”

“Hey, we don’t really have books here, you know?”

“I can bring you some, probably”, I said.

“Please do. They need the help.”

“Aren’t books expensive?”, Ira asked.

“Yes and no. You might want to have some anyway for mining, forging, farming and whatever else you want to bring to your village”, I said.

“By the way, does this - village - have a name?”, Alex asked.

“No. It’s r village. That’s ‘t”

“You should find a name. It’d make it much easier to talk about to others.”

“Like whom?”, Ira eyed the golem suspiciously.

“Like those goblins Fio decided to guide here, for example.”

“Hmpf.”

“Alex is fine, Ira. She won’t put you guys in danger.”

The goblin turned back to her food.

“So… what now?”, Roguk asked.

“There are 17 goblins making their way to the village. Two of them are injured so they’re slowed down a bit but they should make it in two days. I only told them the path up to the ravine and not where to go in. I will guide them through the final stretch. The two orks that ran from the town are going their separate way. They don’t know where you are. I’m going to help them get settled somewhere where they don’t bother anyone. That’s what concerns you immediately. As for Alex, we need to find a way to make her independent of my vis. Not just for her but also because it’s a significant drain on my reserves. What she does after that will be up to her.”

The golem gave me a nod.

“I don’t know how far away I can be from her so I might take a bit longer for the next supply run. I will test it later tonight. From there, we will have to dig out a proper farm and move a node to power it. I’ll set up most of it but some of you will have to tend to the plants in the long run. Your tools should be ready by now as well. That reminds me, I should check on that tea farmer. It’ll take me a few trips to get everything ready. I might leave the less important parts for after figuring out something for Alex. That’s about it.”

The goblins sat there for a minute without a single movement. Eventually, Ira shovelled another spoon of soup into her mouth which got the rest of them rebooted as well.

“That’s… a good plan”, Roguk said, “Yeah. Go for it. We should take a night to rest, though.”

I nodded.

“Then it’s settled. Let’s get some rest.”

The night was spent with relaxation for everyone. I took some time to fly out and see if there was a limit on the range to supply vis for Alex. It turned out there was, sort of. The further away I got, the less efficient was the transfer. We could still communicate without any issues through the bond but if she tried to move, I felt the drain to be significantly stronger. It was not much of an issue with the distance I could cover in a single day, as long as I did not use my wings of darkness. For the longer way to Borsdown and Serrington, we decided it would be best for her to find a secluded place and simply not move until I returned. I wanted to make the full trip and bring the silverwood wand to Nymph and Vivi.

When the sun was up, I took a short trip looking for the group of goblins making their way to the village. They were on the move and would make it into the ravine today, most likely. I took a moment to give them a heads up that they should take it slow the day after and where I would meet them.

I got some more rest while Alex paged through my Thaumonomicon, looking for information on golems. Somehow, it was possible for her to read but I pried no further in the exact details. She would start on the research for her freedom while I made the wands.

When the newcomers finally arrived, it was early in the evening. Roguk, Luk and several of the guards had made their way up into the ravine. I had urged the goblins to change their sleep rhythm to be more reasonable now that they no longer had to hunt in the ork valley for extra food. They were up a little earlier today, at least.

I mostly just observed from the sidelines as the two groups met and got to know each other. They quickly moved into the village since this many people simply could not interact properly on the thin ledges over the river.

They got along well enough and I decided to take a look at the two orks. They had found a small rivulet and set up camp by its side. A tent just large enough to house them stood next to a firepit. They had found some flat rocks large enough to sit on and moved them close.

I found the two roasting a rabbit over the flames, Ugark deep in his reading. I landed not too close as not to startle them and greeted with a hoot.

“Evening, Fio”, Sra answered, “Is everything settled, then?”

“Not quite. I’ll have to make a trip to the dwarven cities to fill up on supplies for the goblins. It will be a week before I come back, at least. I wanted to let you know, beforehand, so you don’t think I’m abandoning you.”

“Thank you”, Ugark said, looking up from his book, “I think we’ll be fine for a bit. There’s enough wildlife here to live off for a week or two.”

“You’ll have to live off hunting for quite some time. Unless you make a magical farm or take to the plough yourself.”

“I’m looking into it. First, we’ll have to find a suitable node.”

“Be careful. I don’t have the time to scout for you and most medium and larger nodes are protected by a [Node Guardian].”

“We’ll deal with it”, Sra growled, caressing the handle of her axe.

I nodded.

“Good. Then, I’ll leave you to it. Don’t die before I come back.”

They sent me off with growling and waving as I returned to my workshop. I spent the night flying around and gathering the required crystals to make my wands. Alex still had the Thaumonomicon and was fine reading it since it required very little movement to turn the pages. Sadly, she was unable to communicate with the goblins and I was distracted with my crafting. It turned out, golems did not sleep. As long as they kept getting power, they kept going.

I got to work on the wands, proceeding just like last time. There were no major complications, luckily. I had two new thaumium bossed silverwood wands ready to give my friends. Now I only had to go deliver them.