As I entered my suite I saw that a few changes were made. It had probably been waiting until I left to make the changes. The door to the suite now opened up into a sitting room. A small lectern with an open book on it stood against one wall. Flanked by empty bookcases on both sides. One of the other two doors led to the hallway with the barracks and Moira’s room. The other doorway led to my bedroom.

Moira’s wolves seemed to be all up and ready. So I decided to finish the spell and summon Moira. After she stepped through the portal she gave me a hug. “Took you a while sleepyhead. Any news on the rest?”

I filled her in on the messages left by Grim, and also told her about the quest I was being sent on by Dave. “I’m thinking we can get up there and back again before Grim and the rest make it back. Maybe leave tomorrow?”

“Maybe it’s a good idea to look at your notifications before planning anything. I feel a good amount stronger so I’m guessing you have leveled up.”

I really needed to get into the habit of checking my notifications as soon as I can, forgetting about them again until mentioned.

Moira explained to me that each band of five levels would be harder and harder to go up. The only reason I leveled up so fast was just the insane amount of low-level enemies killed. I also got credit for all the kills my units and companions made.

I saw a ton of notifications that looked almost identical so messing with the settings a bit I had them combine the same type.

New paths

I had a short conversation with Moira about what to take. Her preference was command, to begin with. After that, it was up to me.

Figuring more troops or units would come in handy I followed her suggestion and picked the next level in the command path.

As I now had a new unit slot I decided to take the zombie path.

As I got a few more options now I decided to dump an extra point into command.

So it seemed that not every level of command would be the same bonuses. I decided to spend one more path point now, leaving the other four points free for now. If what Moira said was true and leveling would be slower I would like to have a few points free in case I unlock a new path on the way.

The last point I decided to put into inspiration.

It seemed that Moira got the same ability when I unlocked it.

I decided to upgrade Moira’s Wolves up to 10 members and add a drummer boy to the unit.

It would take a few hours to get up to full. As the next leg of the journey would be going through the forest and I wanted to make some time, I decided to go with Zombie cats instead of swordsman, figuring they would be a lot faster.

So I selected to fill my second unit slot with the cats, it seemed that I then got a choice of what cat type and I went with panthers:

It seemed the summon time was a bit longer for the panthers with each taking two hours to spawn. I spent that time having a closer look around the rooms to see if anything had changed. The barracks room was now a bit larger with more alcoves. The backside of the wall now had three pallets of hay. Tobias occupying one of them. The other two piles were almost as big as the one for Tobias so I was excited to see what the cats looked like when they appeared.

I then went back to the sitting room and had a look at the book on the lectern. It was the user manual for the suite, for lack of a better word. It explained the function of all the rooms in a bit more detail. Like explaining that the barracks would increase in size for now, but would need upgrades later if the units got too big. Right now I was at the maximum amount of free rooms for my level. If I wanted to I could spend money or materials to add more rooms. With the cost depending on the supplied materials and the type of room.

There were thousands of options available, from chapels and shrines to specific gods to rooms for almost any profession. Moira and I spent the next couple of hours going through all the options. After talking it over there were only two options that were interesting. Moira wanted a small shrine to Odin. We would need to gather some granite for that. The other room that interested me was a map room. It would have an enchanted map that would get filled in automatically the more we explored. Which would come in really handy if and when I would make my own domain. That upgrade would cost a lot of wood and some enchanting materials.

By this time I got the notification that the panthers were done summoning. So we made our way back to the barracks. When I entered I saw two majestic panthers lounging in the middle of the room. They were about 5 feet in length, about 200 pounds, with jet black fur. They slowly got up when I walked over to them. When they opened their eyes I could see that they were completely red. No pupils or irises. As I got closer I noticed that the fur was slightly more patchwork than it seemed, but as the skin was the same color, you didn't notice until you got up close. They nudged my hand and purred a bit when I stroked their heads. Then in true cat fashion, they quickly got bored, walked over to their sleep spot, and took a nap.

“They are really cute, it's hard to forget that they can tear your head off.” Moira chuckled. “I know that I will be hanging around in here a bit more to play with them.”

Letting the cats, and Tobias to their naps we went back to the sitting room. We had a few talks on how to get the materials needed for the new rooms, or if we should just buy them. As we also had the quest coming up my first idea was just to wait until we got back. Then Moira came up with an idea.

“Why don’t I stay back with the Wolves, Merryn would probably lend us some axes and pickaxes, and we will gather the materials. Probably the only thing we will need to pay for are the enchanting materials for the map room. But I figure we can do some extra gathering if needed and sell those. You, Tobias, and the panthers can make much better time going through the woods than the skeletons can.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving Moira here by herself, but the materials were widely available close to the city. Moira could fly away and the skeletons could re-spawn on their own. It didn’t take her much to convince me. She could also fill in Grim and the rest if they got back before I did.

After all that planning I was hungry so I went downstairs to grab an early dinner and then figured I would get an early night.

The next morning, first thing I put in a request at Merryn for enough shields and swords for the new skeletons. I also asked about axes and pickaxes, it was no problem to borrow them as long as we got him some extra wood, as he was running long on supplies. I thought that was more than fair so I told him that Moira would be by later to pick everything up and that I would be out of town for a few days.

I then made my way to a leatherworker to get a better saddle and saddlebags for Tobias. I figured if I had to ride him for extended periods of time I would like to be comfortable.

After a quick chat with Janet, it seemed that any summoned unit that was too big to use the regular doors could exit the pocket dimension through a side door in the guildhall. They would disappear from the inside and just appear outside the side door.

So I made my way to that door then had Tobias and the panthers come out. I saddled up Tobias and mounted up. When I got back to the front I saw Moira and her Wolves waiting out front, on me. The 5 corporals in front with the wolf head helmets and the other 5 behind them with just the regular armor and the spear for now. A small skeleton, couldn't tell if it was a halfling or a child stood in front of them playing a bone-white tabor. The drum sticks looked to be small animal bones.

They gave us an escort to the city gates. I informed Moira that I had already taken care of the equipment and that she should just swing by the Valiant Arms later. With a final salute From Moira and her Wolves, I set out on the next arc of the adventure.