As Lucian finished speaking there was a roar of agreement between all of the townspeople, The stomp of feet and the sound of spears and axes hitting shields rang through the town square, Being in a foul mood himself and already planning on making their lives hell Atticus howled savagely, his wolves following suit for a time.

When all became silent Atticus looked to Lucian and dropped to his knee before him. ” My Jarl I wish to be of aid to the hold once more. ” Lucian smiled as he looked at the young man, battered, in pain, and still eager to fight, not even a full day had passed since his time in the Barrow and yet here he was asking to be sent to war for a hold he had only been a part of for three months.

“ Rise, my friend, I do not intend to stand on ceremony here after all you have done for us in such a short time. I gladly welcome your aid, And I was just about to ask you if you would be willing to lead our Warband! ” Once more the townspeople roared in agreement, the young eager to go off to war and the old eager to fight and die for their hold alongside an honorable Thane.

Atticus rose and nodded. ” I will gladly lead the warband my friend, But I wish to aid in a more important way, I wish to spread my gift to the people of the hold, Give all here the blessing of the beast so they may fight longer and harder! ” As he spoke the townspeople began to whisper among themselves.

They all knew how powerful their Thane had become since he became a Lycan, How even without his weapons he was able to take down nearly a full ships worth of enemies before their very eyes. The thought of an entire warband filled with such warriors obviously piqued Lucian's interest and seeing as how the preparations for war would take them nearly three moons that was enough to spread the gift through enough of the people of the hold.

“ I am fine with this, however, i will not force anyone to take your blessing, and I can tell that some are frightened of the change, it may be hard to find one willing to be bit....” Before Lucian could finish one of Atticus’ friends stepped forward and raised her hand, She wore a bright set of chainmail in the elves fashion, but she wielded the spear and shield of the ancient warrior women blessed by odin.

“ I volunteer to be the first to be turned… ” Lucian was surprised at this as while the elves had been friendly they never liked to go to war, let alone taint their blood they usually sought to protect. He turned to the woman who had no ties to the hold and posed a question to her. “ And what would one of the Ironwood elves gain by throwing aside their heritage and fighting for a human hold? ”

This merely earned him a sultry look as the woman walked over to Atticus, pulling him close and snuggling up to him, nipping at his neck. “ What more of a reason than to be the mate of a man like him? ” As this happened there was a deep laugh from all there, though most of the unwed women of the village were clearly not happy with this as they had been hoping to take the THane for themselves

Before Atticus or Lucian could respond the other three women all but tackled them, clinging onto Atticus and glaring at Samantha. One among them he recognized as his thane, but the other two were elves like the first girl, one wore flowing blue leather robes reminiscent of a ball gown, the other wore the tight fitting leathers of a huntress much as his wife once had.

” That's not fair Sam! ” “ Yeah don't try to get ahead so suddenly! ” It was the twins who spoke out first though this only merited a smirk from Sam. ” I don't know what you're talking about. ” Atticus sighed as the women began bickering amongst themselves before he growled and let his body shift into that of a Lycan, He then grabbed Sam and bit savagely into her neck.

There was a gasp as the woman struggled briefly against him before submitting, When he pulled back there was a large scar in the place he had bitten, and at the same time Sam cried out in pain, there was a burning sensation in her chest as the same mark Atticus bore appeared between her breasts though none could see it.

Atticus then picked Sam up and smirked. ” There it is settled, The gift will take root and manifest tomorrow night, until the next full We must continue to fortify the town, build higher walls, cover them in stone, And most of all I want all of you little shits training until you pass out in the training grounds, then get up and do it again! They will come back smarter next time, and no doubt more powerful!”

He then turned back to Lucian and nodded towards the great hall, He began walking with Sam in his arms and the other girls in tow, pouting but fine with the decision. As they walked by the shops Atticus sent the girls off to gather Ivan, Erik, and James. He would need their help in preparing the hold for war.

He knew that the general time they were in they would have basic weapons and armor, thanks to his armor pattern they were at least getting lighter weight armor without sacrificing integrity. But to win he would need to advance them a few hundred years. He needed to get them working on the standard fare of castle defense. Balista and Crossbows.

As he entered the hall he laid Sam in a large fur covered chair which was new, no doubt his seat for being a thane. But for now, he stood, taking out parchment and coal from his bags as he began sketching out the basic design of the crossbow and Ballista, checking the web browser once in awhile to make sure he left nothing out.

As he finished the sketches the craftsman walked in, James’ eye went straight to the paper that Atticus was looking over. “ What is this sir? ” Atticus motioned the craftsman closer as he moved to the opposite side of the table. “ This is something we will need to ensure victory honored craftsman. “

Atticus smiled as he looked at their confused faces. ” James, how long does it take for a fighter to learn how to properly aim and shoot a bow? ” The young bowyer tilted his head at the sudden question but answered regardless. “ It could take months of strict practice to learn to properly use a bow at most ranges. As the young ladies have seen our hold is best suited to infantry fighting. ”

Atticus nodded and grinned. “ Aye, now what if I told you that with these our unskilled guards that could not hit the broadside of a barn at fifty paces could pick up one of these beauties and be killing skilled archers at one hundred paces with ease before the archers could line up a shot? ”

The mere thought of this made all but Lucian perk up, James, however, turned red with anger. “ That is not possible, there is no way that such a bizarre contraption could beat out a proper longbow! ”

Atticus smirked and tapped the blueprint. ”Prove me, the wrong boy, make me one of these using oak for the stock, Ivar makes me bow arms of steel using the design here, I also have a vast amount of fine spider silk to use for the bow string, more powerful than the hide we use now. Make me this and I will show that even the crappiest of archers can perform on the same level as an elf… ”

Lucian smiled seeing the way Atticus took charge of this little project, he knew that despite the man's strange methods he would bring them victory if all went as planned. “ See it is done men, I'll see to it you are prop… ” Atticus, however, cut in as he slammed a monstrous sack of gold coins down onto the table.

“ Not needed Lucian, I will cover this expense, see to it the workers are paid proper wages for the additions and upgrades to our walls after all broke and overworked workers are bad for morale and are easily swayed to betray their own… Besides, if our bowyer is pleased with the performance I will have dozens more made, and the Ballista is of a far larger scale, but I know that one bolt could take down a gate such as our own. ”

Ivan stretched as he then remembered something, he took out a new set of tools and held them out to Atticus as he grabbed the blueprints for his part of this experiment. ” Here you go lad, finished them this morning before you chased those Draugr out into the mine. I think I can speak for all of us here that you deserve a rest, go home and eat, have some fun with your women. Your work will be waiting for you tomorrow. ”

Sam who had recovered by now grabbed Atticus’ belt at the back and pulled it firmly. ” Besides, we need to reheat our food and it's our turn to tell you what we have been up to.... ” Atticus smiled a bit as he saw her still unsteady on her feet. “ Very well then, I shall return home for now, But should anything come up let me know as soon as possible... ”

Lucian smacked Atticus hard on the back as he smiled. ” Aye my friend you will be the first to know, but please rest for a while before you ruin your mind and body. ” Atticus nodded before he followed the girls back to his house, noticing that Alice, Lily, and Sasha were looking back at him and Sam, clearly still a bit jealous that he had chosen Sam to be the second Lycan instead of them.

However he ignored them, he would tell them the full details of his choice soon. As they sat down at the table and the girls were about to tear into him he held up his hands. ” Before we even start the yelling I chose Sam because the Lycan race favors the Warrior types, I will still turn you, girls, if you wish but for now please wait. ”

They pouted but nodded, as they began eating They began telling him all about their adventures to this point, explaining how Sasha got her new class of Siegemaster, How Sam met up with Alice and Lily. They also began discussing their guild now named Shadowfang. They had the money to start up a guild so the girls let Atticus become the guild leader simply for appearances since Atticus didn't really want to be in charge of the group.

He had not told them about the actual effects of his amulet, how it would allow him to create a guild for free, after all, it did him no good when he was still 13 levels away from being able to use it. They all talked until the wee hours of the morning, all of them passed out in his bed, though nothing going past the girls clinging to him as they slept.

When the sun began to rise Atticus slipped from the bed and grabbed all of his gear and bags, He then went downstairs to sort out his loot without disturbing the girls, Once he was done he stood up and went to the well once more to bathe. As he was walking through the living room he smiled and nudged his massive furry friend.

“ Come along pup, we haven't run together in quite some time… ” Shadow perked up and all but scrambled to his feet, falling over a few times as he was still a little sleepy. Laughing a bit Atticus pulled the wolf up and held him steady, resting his forehead to Shadows as he scratched behind his ears.

The two proceed to the well to bathe, after that Atticus took his armor to Erik and asked him to do some maintenance for him as he wanted to go out and did not have the time today, paying him ten gold coins in advance as he took only his pants and the original sheath that Ivy came with, a large bandolier style strap with a smaller support strap wrapping around his chest. And of course his hunting knife.

As for bags he carried none today but that was because he had made something special for Shadow, As the beast had grown so large that even the best-bred stallions were hardly a match Atticus decided to use him as such, Though rather than a saddle he simply made a harness that could hold saddle bags and allow him something to grip onto without hurting his friend.

The two the left to the east, Lucian as a norseman surely had a few boats, and as such a harbor was necessary right? SO he took off to the east in hopes of finding water,the only directions he had left to explore within a day's run was the east and the west now. So as he had promised Atticus took off running, having to struggle to keep up with his friend as even holding back he was outpacing Atticus with ease.

The two ran unhindered for the next hour, soon coming to a small cove which served as the shipyard and harbor for Blackrock hold. And the sight of it made Atticus cringe as he saw the shape of the docks. SIghing he made his way out onto the dock, examining the docks structure as he went.

Due to his uncle's job he knew quite a bit about dock repair as he went along to watch when he didn't have school. His uncle was a commercial fisherman who had to maintain his own dock as part of the rental agreement.

He sent Shadow off to hunt and play after retrieving the saddlebags from his back, SIghing softly Atticus began the long process of chopping down some pine trees to begin repairing the dock, The boats were out right now or so he hoped they even had some. He took a break after felling three trees, sending a message to the girls that he would not be coming home tonight, and telling them to send Lucian out to the harbor.

With that done he got up and using a saw he cut them into ten foot sections and rolled them out onto the dock as he began debranching and debarking the trees, They would need time to cure naturally as if he were to use the wood in its current state the boards would bend and bow as they dried out.

He was glad his father had begun taking him out to the lumber yard with him to learn the family business. Even now he wanted Atticus to take over though he didn't want to just settle for what was given to him, he wanted to try some other jobs first, go to school and look for a degree that he could love.

As he finished with the three trees he decided to take down a few more, giving them the same treatment as the others though with these he made them into ten and twenty foot sections, These however were not rolled onto the dock before being debarked, These he rolled to a large flat stone area and begun cutting notches into the ends of the poles.

He was making a log cabin in the long house style, something he did plenty of before they begun the conversion to stone in the village. Cutting two poles in half and laying them in place as the bottoms. He then cut a notch along the length of the poles to lay the next set of poles on top of them, Son the series of notches begun locking together, making it impossible to move the house.

He began cutting out windows and a door as he went, framing the door in properly, As he went he made trips to the shore, gathering some mud that he mixed with all the bark shavings to make a plaster of sorts, slathering it into the joints of the notches and each pole to help seal the gaps.

But then as time came to work on the roof he took a break, resting out on the dock with an improvised cane pole using one of the branches of the trees and a long strip of thick leather, and a hook he made from some thin metal, He caught a few small fish which he threw back, mainly just doing this to pass the time.

Before long however he heard barking, turning his head to see little Iris and Elena running full tilt towards him, Lucian and a medium sized grey wolf taking a slower pace as they clearly weren't in a hurry, He stood up and stretched as he whistled sharply, letting Shadow know if he was nearby to return.

As Lucian got close enough he held up his hands to prevent the questions that were about to come from the young warrior. ” I know I know, We don’t have any ships and the dock is a wreck..” Atticus sighed and rubbed his face as he looked back to Lucian.”Alright, what in god's names happened to the shipwright? Every village worth its salt has to have one. And how did this dock get this bad have you not sent anybody to maintain it? ”

Lucian shrugged as he sat down. ” Well it's hard to get the workers out here when they are maintaining a dock with no ships, and our shipwright died in a raid not long before you lot showed up… Since then I meant to send a runner to Dawn's Blossom to find a new one, But well then Floki turned and I couldn't spare the manpower. But now, Well if you wouldn't mind going out after you finish the repairs to the dock I would be more than grateful. ”

Atticus shrugged softly as he grabbed his ax once more. ” It will be a day or two but it will be possible, Though hopefully, things will run smoothly in my absence… ” As Atticus was about to finish his sentence however everything went dark, His eyes next opened to see his basement once again, sighing softly as the hud on the mask showed that the chamber needed to be cleaned and refilled, that the crew that handled the process would arrive within the hour.

Groaning Adam pulled himself up out of the gel, more watery than he remembered but he figured this is why he was being forced out of the game. He found that it was easy to pull himself out of the gel and into his wheelchair, making his way to the bathroom to wash the residue from his body and shave once more, though he only hollowed out his cheeks and trimmed along his neckline, leaving the length alone.

WIth this done he made his way back to his room and began working on the videos, editing and uploading them after he removed all the boring bits and with that done he checked his remaining auctions, Only having a few small bags left now. With all of this done he heard a knock at the door.

He wheeled himself to the front door and saw it was the maintenance men, RO had distributed two to three maintenance offices for each city to ensure minimum downtime. Adam remembered these crews as the ones who installed his cradle. Opening the door he let them in, letting them do their job with minimum interference.

As soon as the men left Adam locked the door and went climbing back inside of the gel, noticing that the gel now had a red tint to it but he paid it no mind, figuring it was just a random coloring to keep things interesting. Once he was back inside of the cradle and the link had started he was surprised to find himself on his back inside of his half finished longhouse, shaking his head as he sat up slowly.

He looked around and saw Shadow had wrapped himself around his body, Elena and Iris were snuggled up next to him as Lucian was stoking a fire, the light allowing him to see that the older warrior had finished the framing for the roof and even partially finished the roof.

He had only been out of the game for around two hours so it was now sunset, no doubt Iris and Elena had tired themselves out playing and Shadow had been standing guard as Lucian worked. Atticus yawned as he stood up, walking quietly to sit across the older warrior. ” Sorry about that my friend, rare occurrence I assure you… ”

Lucian nodded as he held out a flagon of ice cold water for the young man to take. ” I've heard tell that it happens once every three moons, a time when all of your kind are pulled back to the beyond, I have to hope that you will keep this weakness in mind as you lead our warriors into battle after all it is bad for morale to see your leader drop like a stone out of the blue… ”

Atticus groaned a bit as he took the flagon and drained it quickly. ” Aye I have every intention of delaying any battles to work around this weakness, or should I feel we have the upper hand push in and wipe the enemy out… But back to what we were saying, you need me to go out to Dawn's Blossom and retrieve a new shipwright, And just how do you want me to motivate a master craftsman to come out to our tiny town rather than stay in the capital of our kind? “

Lucian grinned and held up his fist. ” Brute force lad, There be a shipwright named Leif who owns the Erickson woodworking shop on the river, tell him his Jarl calls on him to return, should he resist beat him down and drag his sorry ass back, I think twenty years is long enough of a vacation, it's time for him to return home… I got word he just returned from a journey so I suggest you hurry before he leaves once again… ”

Atticus motioned to the dock and was about to ask about it as Lucian shook his head. ” Don't start I'll have a few prisoners brought out to do the labor, I have the knowledge of how to build a dock my friend, now if you were a normal warrior I would suggest you stay until morning before heading out, But I have no doubt that you and that beast will make it back to town easily enough. Once there speak to Erik, I had him refit my old war saddle so it will fit on your behemoth of a wolf when his armor is on. ”

Atticus stood up and went to wake Shadow when Lucian grasped his wrist. ” I have another request, my friend. When we have our first ship I want you to take Elena to her grandmother on the emerald isle... I want her away from war for as long as possible and with the hope, she will learn some of her grandmother's arcane arts… ”

The young warrior was shocked at this, The Emerald Isle, after all, meant Ireland. He was excited about this prospect as this meant he would have a chance to meet true celtic warriors. Atticus grinned and nodded. ” Aye my friend I will gladly escort the little princess out to the isle, Though I will likely end up commandeering a boat or two on my way back. ”

Lucian laughed a bit as he shook his head. ” So long as they belong to bandits or those Rising Tide whelps I don't care how many your bring back, it will help our bottom line in the end, But for now focus on a shipwright, we need at least five boats before we can begin our raids against the Rising Tide… ”

Atticus laughed and nodded as he patted Lucian on the shoulder as he walked towards Shadow. “ Understood my friend, While I am away I suggest you begin teaching the little one how to defend herself, And with your permission, i would like to take Iris with me so that I may train her as well after all our princess needs a powerful guardian to protect her. ”

Lucian hated the idea of teaching his little girl how to fight already but he knew it was time, He nodded his head and motioned for them to go. ” Aye that is fine, Take her and Iris home ill stay here to finish construction on this little storehouse in the morning, Just tell Ivar to arrange workers to be sent to me. Oh and Atticus see to it that the pup comes back alive… ”

Atticus bowed softly and nudged Shadow to wake him up, holding a finger to his lips to keep him silent before he gently placed the young girl and the wolf pup up on Shadows back, pulling himself up as well before he bent down, petting Shadows head softly. ” Take us home boy… ”

And with that Shadow padded out of the house before he took off towards the village, Shockingly enough the wolf's speed did not decrease despite having Atticus and the little ones on his back, If anything he seemed faster, the world around them passing in a blur of trees and small game animals scurrying back to their hiding places.

They arrived at the village in just over twenty minutes thanks to Shadow, Slipping off of the wolf's back he carried Elena to her home, knocking on the door and holding up a finger to his lips to keep Eleanor from waking the little one up, carefully transferring her over before he lead Shadow home.

Once there he let the wolf rest as he began preparing for their trip, packing enough rations for both of them to eat for a week even without hunting, He also packed a pair of fine leather clothes, Something that would look at home on a noble, he had made them before he went into the barrow, wanting some casual clothes to wear in case he needed to go somewhere formally.

Embossed on the chest of the armor was his maker's mark, On the right arm was the holds symbol, and on the left arm was his mark as a royal consort. He then stripped off his armored pants and pulled out a pair of lightweight basic riding gear, While made with lesser quality materials than his usual armor it was lighter weight than his usual armor and more comfortable to boot.

As he finished getting dressed he then took out Shadows armor, petting the wolf as he began the chore of strapping the full steel barding to his body, knowing he hated it but he needed him fully protected and as intimidating as possible.

He then lead Shadow to Erik's shop as he knew the old coot was up late working, motioning of Shadow to stay outside as he slipped into the shop, He saw the saddle almost instantly, Erik putting the final touches on it now. It was an elegant thing in its own right.

Made of pitch black leather it resembled a low profile horse saddle however it had a few additions. Where the lower back support was had been turned into a full rest, allowing him to fall asleep if needed, And more importantly it offered a place to hang his weapons for easy access while keeping them off of his back.

It had raven skulls for buckles, small metal pins knocked through the bone to allow for the strap to be cinched down. He noticed a small recess at the back of the saddle, a curve of sorts, He realized what it was quick, A spot for his bedroll and tent.

Atticus smiled at the sight, simple yet elegant. He walked up to the counter and knocked softly on it to catch Erik's attention. ” Good evening Erik, I assume this saddle is for me? ” The master leatherworker tugged the final stitching down tightly and nodded. ” Aye it is your’s now lad, a gift from Lucian as you know, but apparently, it is a sort of heirloom from your order. A special saddle for wolves, though I see nothing different about it from a horse saddle. ”

Erik set the saddle on the counter before grabbing all of Atticus’ armor on the counter beside it. ” I still can't believe three moons have passed since you showed up in our midst,at the time a ragged little village, And now a thriving town, I want you to know I wait with bated breath to see what new changes you will bring forth. ”

Atticus smiled as he nodded, picking up his things. ” I won't disappoint you, Erik, Of this, i can assure you... ” With that he turned and left, saddling Shadow and packing up everything, laying Iris across the front of the saddle before pulling himself up into it himself. ” Alright my friend, We need to head to the west, We have a shipwright to locate… ”

Shadow barked loudly and took off at his full speed, As he ran Atticus noticed the eyes of the raven skulls seemed to glow, He knew what made this saddle special now, It would allow his wolf mount to run full speed despite having barding.

Atticus leaned his head back as he began falling asleep, letting his wolf run towards their destination, following the dirt road out of the town and towards their next big adventure.