It seemed that my demeanor managed to set the dwarves back for a moment, giving me time to think. A short glimpse to my combat-log showed me that the amount of experience we had received for joining the battle had been substantial, enough to bump me up to level 68 and pushing my control over Ice had raised my Ice-Rune Mastery to seventy-two. The amount of experience hinted that there was more going on here, more than just a normal area with enemies, if the undead hadn’t done so already. But if the dwarven Traveller made the fact that I was here public, possibly drawing trouble from the centaurs after us, it would be problematic. It hinged on two question, would the dwarf spread the information and did the centaurs know where to go, even if they heard about my presence.

The second question was, curiously, the more important one. I had noticed that, so far, every map I had come across had very limited information, just as one would expect from medieval maps. That meant, if there was no regular contact between the dwarves and the centaurs, the groups might know about the others but merely in a “somewhere in that direction”-way, not exactly where they were located.

“I apologize, the name is Helmaic, of clan Ashenforge. We were supposed to find out what is going on in the swamp when the Shambling Crawlers attacked us. Thank you for your help.” the dwarf in the elaborate armour introduced himself. The Traveller next to us hesitated for just a split second, before introducing herself as Dargira. It was obvious that she had seen quite a bit of me on the Forum and wasn’t quite certain that she wanted to deal with me.

“Helmaic, we should move on, quickly. There might be more of them out there.” one of the dwarves broke in,

“He is right, we should continue this talk elsewhere. You are invited to come with us.” he said, before turning to the cleric that was working on the injured with a second dwarf helping.

“Gwynlyn, can everybody travel?” he asked, causing the cleric to look over and the distinct lack of beard, combined with softer features told me that it was a female, just like the Traveller that was still in front of me, looking a little like the rabbit in front of a snake.

“Tornar and Magdir will need help, but yes, we can travel. Not far and certainly not fast, but it’ll have to work.” she acknowledged gesturing to two of the resting dwarves.

At that point, I decided that I’d have to deal with Dargira, better sooner than later.

“I am not here to harm you, or any of the dwarves, Dargira. Unless I or one of mine is attacked, there will be no violence coming from anyone in my party.” I said, speaking in a soft voice but with enough volume to carry.

“However, if we are attacked, all of us will react with whatever force is necessary to protect us, without regard for collateral damage.” I added, this time speaking only to her. Hopefully, she’d get the message that telling anyone about my presence would be a seriously bad idea.

I was seriously conflicted in my plans. The rational, realistic part of me wanted to leave as soon as possible, leaving behind the swamp filled with death and undead, leaving behind the dwarves and the problems they might bring. But another part, the part that was both adventurer and gamer saw opportunity. Unless I was seriously wrong, the undead in the swamp ahead gave almost as much experience as dungeon-monsters had and there might be a whole swamp full of them. If the dwarves gave us quests to clear the swamp or even to simply kill undead, or if we found any other way to get around the penalty for repeatedly killing the same type of enemies, this could be a prime level-spot, allowing us to gain a couple of levels in a short time. Such an opportunity was worth quite a few risks, especially if they were only potential.

In addition, there was the fact that Lenore might profit greatly from the power that had seeped into the swamp, more than experience-points would account for.

I shared a quick glance with the others and it seemed that they were fine with the idea to go with the dwarves, at least for now.

“For now, we will go with you, Helmaic.” I said once the dwarf was focusing on me again. “You know this area better than we do, so lead the way.” I added, before taking a short look to the sky, estimating the amount of daylight left.

He noticed my gaze and nodded, before turning back to his people, forming them into a square with the two wounded dwarves being carried on stretchers. I was able to get a cursory look at their wounds and the wounds were focused on their legs, as if something had struck from below, ripping their legs to shreds. Thanks to Lenore, I was able to see the power that was still lingering from the magical healing, allowing me to get an even better idea how they had looked like and it made me take mental note to be careful of attacks from below.

The divine magic of the cleric had worked a minor miracle, making me realise the difference in application. My blood magic was able to do a lot but the magic lingering in the two legs hinted at a reconstruction on a level I couldn’t even dream about. At the same time, there was what I could only describe as an instability, as if the magic was only acting as a band-aid, while the body beneath still had to heal. I was curious if I would be able to speed that process up but with another Traveller around, I wasn’t too keen to demonstrate my ability to heal or the specifics how I healed. In addition, I remembered the original warning that Blood Magic was shunned at many places. No need to find out that our new acquaintances were in the camp that saw a tool as responsible for the morality of the actions taken by its users.

We followed the slow march of the dwarves towards the northeast for an hour before Helmaic called to make camp. We were on a small, barren hill, giving us good vision of the surrounding area. The foothills further to the east were easily visible above the trees, still some distance away.

“Let’s make our own camp, a little apart from the dwarves.” I suggested to the others and we split our tasks as we had become accomplished to.

Soon, both camps had taken shape, the dwarven camp quite a bit larger than ours and the smell of cooking food suffused the area. It was interesting to watch the dwarves work, it gave me something else to do while I cooked a hearty boar-stew. There was a trained method to their actions, with different groups completing tasks for the whole troop. One such group was using long branches and tarps to set up crude tents, one group was collecting firewood while the cleric and her two helpers were dealing with the wounded.

I also noted that my fellow Traveller seemed to be a little unsure about her actions, being mostly instructed by another dwarf. Giving in to curiosity, I used a sneaky Observe, using Darkness Magic to conceal my actions. The result was about what I had expected, she was merely a level twenty-seven dwarf, nothing special. If I had to guess, she hadn’t been playing for longer than a month, most likely starting in the local dwarven hold and levelling in its surroundings before joining this troop recently.

Overall, our small group was finished with the camp earlier than theirs, mostly due to the fact that our camp was simpler. We were lacking even the crude tents and as I sat there, finished the food, I decided that it wasn’t something I was willing to accept. Instead, I asked Sigmir to watch the food for a bit and, with quite a bit of Astral Power and focus, I created a sturdy set of three sturdy walls, sheltering us from wind coming from the west, south and north, leaving only the east open, where the nearby foothills should block most of the wind. After nodding to myself, I pushed my magic once again, creating a two more slabs of ice, one on the northern and one on the southern wall, fusing them together in the middle to form a simple roof. After walking inside, I added the finishing touch, a funnel made from hard ice, letting the smoke from our fire rise directly into a tube leading outside, creating a chimney.

“Impressing the locals, are we?” Adra asked, speaking very softly, when she returned with Rai and a large load of firewood.

“Obviously. There’s a traveller among them, I have a reputation to maintain.” I joked back, contemplating whether I should create my comfortable armchair throne as well or not.