Chapter 16 The first two days were mostly uneventful. The one highlight of the day was always as we were setting out some of the so-called nobles were complaining about their place in line. Which prompted Bob, again, to try to explain that their noble titles meant shit in the new continent. We were travelling south which was much drier. Very little in the way of cover, mostly flat with red-hued sand on both sides of the road. It was starting to become summer so the temperature would rise quickly and with almost no shade it was nearing 35c at midday. With Luna now fully healed and Moira having a mount as well. We spent the first half of the day acting as forward scouts. With the speed we had, we could find a good place for the next night's camp and be back before midday and get sleep for the night watch. And be in the cooler wagons just as the temperature would be at its highest. It gave us a good chance for some brother-sister bonding as well. Grim was very elusive and was sneaking around a lot. I first thought that he was jealous of me and Moira. But it seemed as if both of the gorgon sisters had set their sights on him. Gorgons almost always just mated for fun. Staying together with the same partner for more than a few nights rarely happened. Missy and Sissy's parents being married was the exception rather than the rule. Gorgons could mate with any other species. which was helpful as they were always female. And they would always give birth to more gorgons. I would have to have a talk with him, as I didn't want any of them to get hurt, knowing that Grim was a little bit of a player. The third day was when it all went to hell. The rains started during the night. It turned the road into mud but because the rains would stop during the day the mud would very quickly dry and would start sticking to everything and then bake into hard clay. So halfway during the day, we would have to free up gummed up axles and brush off the horses and other draught animals. Have I told you how much I hated the rain? With me doing the night watch I was always cold and wet. Then had to do the scouting when it was still muddy in the mornings. The only upside was that luna would be cleaned automatically when put in the necklace, and Moira's mount would just disappear when she didn't want to be mounted. The rain only lasted a week and we started making much better progress again. On one of the scouting trips, Moira and I ran into what looked like an ambush spot. A tree was across the road in a small dip in the land. When the closest copse of trees was a couple of hundred meters away. It seemed way too suspicious. So using the wolves' natural stealth we snuck around the sides keeping a good distance and were able to spot about fifty were-rats waiting in ambush. they must have somehow spotted the caravan and knew we were coming. We quickly made our way back and formed a plan with Bob. I would take my unit and range ahead and around to take the rats from behind. The rest of the caravan would slow down a bit to make sure we were in position, and then they would fake a wheel coming off a few hundred meters down the road to distract them. Grim and Aura would have the first two wagons and had the wind leaves hidden on top. As soon as we attacked they would try and rush in to help us out. Bob and the veterans would stay with the rest of the caravan just in case there were more of them waiting somewhere. The plan worked. Almost too well. The rats didn't see us coming until we were almost on top of them. They were focused too much on the caravan and debating amongst themselves if they should go out and attack, or wait until they were closer. As soon as we got close enough to charge the rats suddenly spotted us. Half charged at us. The rest ran away in fear. It would almost be comical seeing small halfling sized creatures trying to charges the skeletons. If not for the fact that half changed into giant rats the size of large dogs. “Moira's chosen. Form a shield wall. one volley of hand axes at 45 meters then spears up.” I commanded. Of the thirty or so rats that charged five were killed instantly by the axes and a few more merely injured and slowed down. Moira was on her mount on the right flank, and I took the left to try and stop them from getting around, I dismounted as I didn't have a good weapon to fight while on mounted and Luna would be able to do her own thing. Between us the rest of the rats were easy to deal with. the fight lasted only a few minutes and we cut them all down. The only ones that escaped were the ones that ran at the beginning. We found multiple holes in the ground and it looked like the rats had tunnels everywhere. As we knew their main warrens were in the crags a few days away, we knew this ambush wouldn't be the last and would need to keep an even better watch. That afternoon as I went to bed. Level up Level 3: 2 Path points gained regen trait up +2 HP and +2 stamina regen per character level (+6hp and +6 stamina at level 3) Milestone completed: Win a battle against forces of an equal number Reward: +1 Charisma New Milestone: Win 2 battles against forces of equal number (count starts back at 0) I decided to put both points into skeletons. Path of the skeleton. (2/5) Skeletons are now slightly tougher and more skilled. Respawn rate 2 CP per hour. Path of the skeleton (3/5) Skeleton units can now grow a bone shield on the forearm that can be linked together with others to form a shield wall and become an actual wall of bone. This ability takes 10 seconds to form the shield. And one minute to form into a wall. Hmm seems my guys are getting more defensive in nature. That wall of bone ability would be useful if we get the time to set it up. And having shields that form by themselves would free up a hand when shields aren't needed. I would have to talk with Moira to think up ways how to exploit that. The extra point in charisma also gave me an Extra CP so I put that into the Chosen as well bringing it up to 11. After that housekeeping, I finally got some rest.