Most of the herbs I had collected were still reasonably fresh, as were a lot of the roots, so I set up the dutch oven with chopped tubers, the last of the fresh carrots and celery, and, with Shiana’s permission, I stripped one of the pheasants she had cooked and tossed in the little bits of fowl and some oil. Coriander, ginger, garlic, onions, and some peppers added a nice tanginess along with the salt and pepper, as well as a hint of the wine vinegar. It was good that we were heading back to town, though, as our lack of fresh ingredients including some staples like milk and eggs reduced my creative potential.

I still had a little milk, but after 3 days it was sour, but I didn’t have any problems with that. The flip side of the plank I was using as a cutting board made a decent surface, and in a large bowl I blended the now chunky milk, some flour, and a little ammonium carbonate, or baker’s ammonia, I had gotten from the market. I wouldn’t use this normally, but what I had planned was light and airy, and would lose the distinct odor in seconds. A little salt and some butter on the frying pan, and soon I was whipping up some light, airy flatbreads.

The cooking didn’t take very long, as the dutch oven was frying merrily while I made the flatbreads, and when I called people over most were appreciative, although Mae admitted that she wouldn’t eat any more than one of the flatbreads, the ammonia odor was a little too strong for her sensitive nose even though no one else could even smell it.

I didn’t mind the tiny whiffs, but then, I was used to dealing with stuff like that. I resolved, however, to get some REAL soda as soon as I could, since, while traveling, we really couldn’t leave bread alone to rise naturally with yeast or lug a starter. I was, however, seriously considering how you might lug around a starter since sourdough was delicious. Perhaps leave something like it outside when we went cave delving? Or was there some other way to leaven bread with magic? Another experiment.

Rik got another recipe out of the dish, and named it ‘field tacos’. The dish was quite delicious and gave us a nice 24-hour bonus on our movement speed, which was quite fortuitous since we would be traveling the next day and I had run out of most of my favorite breakfast foods. Breakfast tomorrow morning would be oatmeal with honey, which was a good solid breakfast, but nothing special. Something about the name bugged me though, it sounded vaguely obscene and I had no idea why.

“You realize that if you wanted to go full-on crafter and start a restaurant in someplace like Sindaenaway or Mancy Hills, the halfling starter town, you could probably get rich stupidly fast,” Rik remarked as he turned his head sideways to polish off another field taco.

I nodded, the idea had occurred to me. “It’s possible, but you said more than a few players were becoming crafters instead of just adventuring. I am an amateur cook, I imagine some of the professionals would probably shoot past me in just a short time. Also, who wants to eat food made by a monster? I mean, players might, just for the freakishness value, but the oddity would wear off soon enough. I am good at improvising, but someone who’s been trained in real cooking could probably blow me away in no time.”

Rik shrugged, “except in the houses of the really rich, there aren’t that many trained chefs anymore. Why bother learning how to make fancy food when anyone can grab an instant meal and get their eating out of the way in seconds? And a fancy chef for a house has a great job already and might not come here.”

I looked around, I was cleaning up the food preparation implements with a bucket full of water and some more of the carbonate ammonia as a detergent, and would take it down to the river to rinse off afterward. Since, at this point, it was just me and Rik, I asked him, “What did you mean when you talked about compression?”

Rik narrowed his eyes for a moment and then shrugged, “That’s why you need a coolset and oxygen feed to play. Well, unless you are on basic. That’s why most basics are in a different part of the world. Compared to us, they move really slowly, because we are at an eight-to-one time compression, and they are at one to one.”

“Eight to one?” I asked him curiously.

“Yes, for every eight hours you are playing, one hour passes in the real world. If we sleep and stuff here, we go into rapid sleep in the real world, so it only takes an hour to get a good night’s sleep. That’s why Antowyn is bankrolled by the government and corporations since no other online service can offer that. That’s why sometimes I will just go into my tent for a few hours, so I can log out, go to the bathroom and eat, and get 15 minutes of exercise before I come back. Well, that and boinking my girls.”

He chuckled, “I understand that some kingdoms in other parts of Alandia are entirely owned by corporations and government agencies, they are moving staff there because they can get a whole week of work out of people, and get them online relaxation and vacations, for way, way cheaper than the real world. No one minds living in a pod if they can live most of their lives in a mansion here, right? That and you can, supposedly, look forward to a six hundred year lifespan. Heck, the people that can afford coolpods and reeves rigs are starting to move here full time, and if your family is rich enough, even a coma won’t stop you from living here full time, as long as the servers stay up.”

“So, how long has this been going on?” I asked him.

“Release was yesterday, and my moms have an in with the management, and got me beta access to the DLCs. Realsex is public, but Realsex plus is totally beta. The hardcore beta players, though, were all basics, that’s why they turned down pain responses to 50%. I guess dying at full pain sucks and drove some of them crazy. All the basic betas lost their characters on full start, though, and couldn’t give away any information about the game. A couple of them tried and got recoded for contract violation.”

“So that means that sometime soon you have to disappear for three days at a time while you go and do your schooling and stuff?” I asked him curiously.

He nodded, “Yeah, I mean sort of. My body doesn’t disappear unless I do a full logout, but I can eat and stuff with a hot logout. But when I have to leave for real I do have to do a full logout. If I do a full log in a shrine, the shrine holds my band while I am gone, and I understand I can give people or NPC’s permission to hold my band while I am gone.”

He grinned, “If we travel a long distance, I bet we can get a bunch of people to pay to travel with us logged out. If you have to log out in an emergency, your band just sits wherever you are, but Shiana already has permission to carry mine if something happens.”

“So… when are you going to have a long downtime, and what do you have in mind for while you are gone?” I asked him, carefully drying the pans and the cutting plank with a rag.

“The day after tomorrow, and for the next three days, with the travel time and stuff. If you and Cassie and Mae want to do adventuring stuff you can, and I am hoping you can keep Shiana with you, with my band. Technically, if you guys are farming or grinding or something, a part of the experience will go to me even if I am not here because you three are considered my pe...companions.”

Good boy. I thought. He was at least remembering that I don’t care for the term pet. “Well, I had plans to move south to Mathoria, and based upon what you have told me, I want to spend some time in the Winnowrill. I am not sure about the people down there, though, because I have heard them referred to as both elves and Troglodytes. Maybe they are some kind of underground elf or something?” I asked.

Rik shook his head, “Not like that. They are like lizardfolk. Kind of like you, but way bigger, and a lot less blue.” he shrugged, “There was some kind of war with Sindaenaway a while back, and they still prey on farmers and gatherers that come anywhere close to the Winnowrill, but Sindaenaway cannot send their army down to deal with them properly due to some kind of treaty, and there are ongoing quests for bounties and raiding parties. A lot of people are grinding out experience on them, which is fine if you can catch them solo or in small groups, but every once in a while they send out a giant group that just kills everyone trying to hunt them. After level 5 you can lose experience from dying, but right now the Winnowrill itself is just too dangerous a hunting zone, and farming lizardmen just didn’t sound like much fun.”

I noticed Cassie was walking over, seeming interested in the conversation. “I don’t like the idea of hunting a sentient species. Yeah, there’s an ongoing conflict between them and Sindaenaway, but it’s less like goblin predation and more like two opposed cities going at it all the time.” She said, catching Rik’s last sentence. “Dwarves have a long history of cutting deals with anyone that can be reasoned with and Trog… Winnowrill Elves can be reasoned with. Sure, they are insular and xenophobic, but after being hunted for generations by humans and sky elves, wouldn’t you be?” She pointed out.

I smiled slowly, “So what you are saying is, there’s an entirely different civilization nearby, that might have an entirely new and undiscovered set of quests that could potentially have nothing to do with Sindaenaway, brand new classes that no one has learned about or tried yet, and the only thing that’s stopping people is not being high enough level, and building up a bad reputation by using them for grinding?”

Rik’s eyes were opened very wide. “You know, they have a grudge against humans, but we haven’t actually fought against them. You are a kobold, and some kobolds live in the Winnowrill and they don’t fight the Trogs. Cassie is a dwarf and Dwarves cut deals with everyone. Mae is a changechild, and most changechildren travel on their own, and Shiana is a wood elf. Trogs claim that they are an offshoot of the wood elves, and might wind up being friendly with her.”

He started grinning broadly, “When I am logged out, if you can get some good rep with them, I could come back and we can see if there are decent quests or even possibly some dungeons in the Winnowrill that no one has explored yet. If you can make sure not to lose Rhydian reputation by gaining Winnowrill faction. I don’t plan on releasing the dungeon location until after I get back from my break, and according to your fairy, the more time the dungeon has to prepare, the better it will be when it starts running adventurer parties. I am going to start a wiki and start getting sponsors ASAP, and a bunch of information no one else has access to will get my name on the map big time!”

Okay, good for you Rik. The fact that Sindaenaway had been in a cold war with lizardmen for possibly generations would explain why they were so ready to attack me, and since I couldn’t explore the city personally, getting in contact with their enemies might be the second-best option. Plus, there were kobold tribes in the Winnowrill. Getting more information on my current species could be extremely useful. I was pretty sure I could talk Cassie into going since she seemed to be interested in the idea of making new contacts, but handling Shiana and Mae might be a bit more challenging.

“Talk to your girls and find out if they would like to pursue that while you are logged off, would you Rik? Also, check out your character sheet. I got some new kinds of mana and abilities and I am interested in finding out if they translated to you.”

Rik went glassy-eyed for a moment and then grinned again, “You bet your ass they did! It’s kind of weird because when Shiana gives me a new ability I get an announcement, but with you and Mae I don’t. This is cool, I get a displacement effect on activation which helps me avoid attacks, and I can throw my sword and it comes back to me! A ranged attack! Wow.” Rik stepped over to the same place I had been training and drew his buster sword. He tossed it at a tree, and it spun several times and stuck in the bark, and then held out his hand. The sword quivered for a moment and then shot, handle-first, back into his hand!

Rik flipped his sword in the air one-handed, the boy was insanely strong, and caught it by its handle, pushing it back into its straps on his back. “That is so cool,” he stated, “ but I am going to have to train it a lot. It doesn’t just come back, I can sort of push it in different directions while it’s flying and returning. Not like a real flying sword, but I bet I could boomerang this thing once I get a little better at it.”

Huh. animation mana could be used to control things in flight? My sling was looking a little tiny and pathetic right about now. I couldn’t throw something like Rik’s sword, heck, I probably couldn’t even lift it, but I got a mental image of my kobold body done up like the Crocodile man from the movies, with a big boomerang on my back. Making them was fairly easy, but with the outback look, people would probably confuse me for a fathered kangaroo or something.

I wasn’t even remotely tired, since I guessed I had been asleep for two days, so I decided to stay up for the evening and work at crafting some stuff. “Rik, I was told you had some stuff from the Seeker I could use to craft? I don’t know if I have all the stuff for making decent leather, but I know how to make some basic armors, and Shiana has a giant hole in her armor, and my armor was left behind. Do you mind if I see what I can craft with some of it?”

Rik shook his head, chuckling, “Are you kidding? That’s the whole reason we want you on the team. I mean, you have proved yourself in other ways, obviously, but man, whatever you need to make awesome stuff, if I have it or I can get it, it’s yours, dude.”

He started pulling sheets of greenish leather out of his backpack, as well as big chunks of some kind of chitin and strips of armored… straps? I started inspecting it as he hauled it out. It was weird, since it looked like it was already finished and sealed, like commercial leather, rather than the chunks of skin I was expecting. I used [observe] to see what I was dealing with.

Good quality Seeker hide (Unique)

This hide is tanned and ready for use in crafting, or for sales.

Value: High, Grade B

Weight: 8 lbs dry.

Current Status: Dry. Because of its status, this hide is considered fully formed and may be used as-is. It is considered water-resistant and will take several days of soaking or boiling in order to moisten for shaping, and then several more days or heating to dry out.

Good quality Seeker chitin (Unique)

This Chitin is made of a magical form of hardened keratin and is ready for use in crafting, or for sales.

Value: High, Grade B

Weight: 12 lbs

Current Status: Unshaped. This Chitin is unformed. It takes a very sharp implement to cut it, but if it is heated it can be bent or shaped. Be careful! Extreme heat can burn it.

“How much do you need?” Rik asked, “I have 50 sheets of leather, but only 20 of the chitin. I also have 150 of those trailing things, I don’t know what they are good for, and eight spikes.”

I looked them over carefully. For myself and Shiana, I probably wouldn’t need more than two of the two-meter wide sheets. They were thick, like cowhide rather than the thin stuff I had used before, so I would probably have to create plates and then use some of the thinner doe leather we had bought in areas that had to be more flexible.

I made plans, though. I was going to be experimenting with the [alter] and [push] verbs while I was making this stuff and finding out what kind of use they could come to. Both Shiana and I relied on maneuverability to fight, and I had real grommets and rivets this time.

“I think, maybe, this one sheet should be more than enough.” I tugged a meter and a half sheet, taller than I was, out of the stack he was making, and then two of the big chunks of chitin. “Cassie, I need you to do me a favor,” I said as Rik started tucking the chunks back into his bag. Again I envied his inventory since the bag was not even big enough to hold one of the sheets of leather, let alone the stack he was tucking into it. I caged two sheets of the nice doe leather off of him and readied my tools.

Cassie nodded to me, and I noticed that Shiana was already up in one of the trees. “You are a professional armorer, right?” I asked her. Cassie nodded, and I said, “Could you get me Shiana’s umm… stats?” I wasn’t comfortable with the measurements they used here, but the kits had measuring sticks and tapes with marks on them I could use, even if I didn’t know what they were called. Inches, but not the inches I was used to, being slightly longer.

I was certain I could take Shiana’s measurements, but, kobold or not, I was still male. Getting a good set of armor measurements would involve some very close, personal contact with a very attractive female, and I just didn’t want to deal with it right now, since it was not only impossible but probably immoral and maybe even illegal.

Cassie nodded and headed to Shiana’s tree, and after a few moments Shiana descended and discovered I was right about how invasive it would be, but I started taking my own measurements while she worked. I only needed my torso, chest, shoulders, and arms, since I was going to go with a vest and bracer setup instead of the heavy-duty lorica I had used before. It had been good armor, but I still felt it slowed me down.

I started work on the vest first, using the softer leather to create a base. The keratin reminded me very much of the PVC plates we made SCA armor out of, incredibly light and slightly flexible, so I crafted a vest much like brigantine, with the plates in between two layers of leather. Cassie brought me a piece of leather with Shiana’s measurements in charcoal marked on it, and I sighed and shook my head.

“This will work for the base, but when I shape it, she’s going to get squeezed. Is she going to be okay with that? I will try to get the basic shaping done while she’s on watch, but we might be up a little late.”

Cassie nodded, “She says she has been through a lot worse, and totally understands the necessity. I think the hole in her armor bugs her as much as it does us, even though we sort of patched it. She’s an archer, which means she is not as dependent on flexibility as you are as long as her arms are free and she can move, so I think she would be happier with stiffer armor, especially if it can protect in an arrow duel.”

I nodded, thinking about it. Yep. I could do this.

I left my vest alone for the moment and started cutting out what I needed for Shiana. I was going for a classic Roman upper breastplate, because of her, well, breasts, with segmented and overlapping chitin/leather plates down the front. The back and shoulders would be the heavy hide, and it was tied at the sides, rather than the front, to help prevent arrows from finding crevices at the front.

The arms bracers back to her elbows, without articulations because I figured upper arm pieces or heavier shoulders might slow down her bow. The knees, on the other hand, WERE articulated with both upper and lower plates, so she wouldn’t have a heavily armored skirt and could hit the ground on one knee at full speed or climb a tree using her legs easily and fully protected. There was something that could almost be called an articulated miniskirt, but any time she needed flexibility it would ride up her thighs to her waist… and with a pair of trews nothing should be revealed.

The cold with [alter] did manage to apply some very nice heat to the chitin, and I used it to shape the plates. I messed around entirely too long, but finally discovered that I could alter the state of the cold to create frost, or to impress heated water into the heavy leather, I was a walking pressure cooker, and I could strip the water out nearly as easily.

The right stitching and a tiny bit of quintessence applied allowed me to apply my stealth camouflage to my new vest and skirplate! I applied the same thing to Shiana’s armor, and patted myself on the back for being a fully functional enchanter, even though it cost me more permanent quintessence.

Morning rolled around, but I was so invested in my creation that I barely noticed until Shiana put a bowl of oatmeal in front of me. Oops. I ate it while I finished shaping the helmets and adding in the padding. Shiana didn’t have a helmet at all, and I felt a good open-faced arming cap could save her an enormous amount of pain in the future. Of course, my leather and chitin cap was much more face-concealing, and I desperately wished I had some good impact-proof safety goggles to cover my eyes. A heavier chitin plate around the eyeholes would have to do.

I finally remembered to check on the shirt I had repaired earlier as well as my own new armor.

Well-Crafted Small Ornate Linen Tunic

This tunic has been enchanted to be incredibly durable, beautifully stitched, and shifts colors to match the clothes or patterns of the clothing around it stylishly. It can repair most damage and clean itself and is virtually guaranteed to be the new hotness wherever you go.

Value: Extremely high

Weight: negligible

This shirt provides light armor without causing potential spell failures due to its lightness and flexibility. If used as the underlayer for another form of light armor, the combined armor is considered medium.

I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Mnemosyne was starting to inject a hint of humor into the [observe] descriptions, but I was cautiously optimistic. Also, Linen, not cotton. I would have to remember that.

The vest, helmet, and bracers were also light armor and would camouflage when I did, although the shirt took on a much more...nuanced pattern. I was lightly garbed and free to move, and yet this armor was barely the slightest of encumbrance compared to my old stuff! I was finally clothed and protected! I started doing Katas as Shiana tried on her own.

While the new armor wasn’t as… sexy, and exposed, as the old leather that had let the poor girl down, it was classified as heavy armor that moved like light. Every inch of her from throat to toes was well protected, and her arms, while slightly less well protected, could block blows safely from the crappy bronze weapons I had seen so far.

Yes, it was far more concealing, but the scaled and overlapping plates were very tight, so they would not catch when she was climbing. Between the color of the leather and the way the armor overlapped, she almost looked like a sexy reptile. Hmm… I wonder if I would get a reputation for that?

Chameleon armor of the Archer.

This armor is exceptionally well-crafted and custom-made for a wood elven archer. It qualifies as heavy armor for defensive purposes, but light armor for movement and maneuvering.

Because of the enchanted materials, it is crafted from, it is considered enchanted armor and can self-repair when damaged. It also tends to keep itself clean and repairs minor wear without assistance.

Value: Extremely high (Unique)

Weight: 10 lbs

This armor gives very high-temperature resistance, especially to cold, and will change its color slightly to match its surroundings, giving a bonus to stealth. Because of its design, it also protects the user from critical bow failures and has extra protection from puncture wounds.

Shiana stepped over to me, gave me a big hug, and there were almost tears in her eyes as she kissed me on the nose. “This is amazing. I love it. No one in my memory has ever made anything like this for me.”

I turned a much darker blue. No kidding, I actually saw my arms turning purple, and scuffed the ground. “Umm… you are welcome, but I could probably have done it better if I had a full shop. I had to sharpen my cutter like a dozen times, but I have seen better. I like how it looks, though.” It wasn’t false humility, I mean, I knew I could make much better if I had a full leather shop, but I had sort of outdone myself, especially with the shaping. No woman who takes pride in her appearance wants to look like a man in armor, and shaping and curving it to her form exactly made it very very clear that she was all woman, without those big gaps in protection her earlier armor had.

Cassie tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and looked at her. “Yes?” I asked.

“When we get to a shop, you are helping me make a new set of armor. I don’t care what we have to do to get the metal.” She stated, glancing at Shiana’s armor greedily.

I grinned at her, not even caring if I showed teeth. “Oh, you can bet your ass on that!”