During dinner at the Inn that night, Jen messaged Sam and Tamako, “Don’t look, but I’ve been intercepting the coms and listening in on the conversations of the group of mercenaries taking up the back half of the room.”

“What did you hear?” messaged Tamako.

“They’ve been hired to provide security for five merchant families travelling to Rolling Rock.”

“Are you wanting to travel with them?” asked Tamako.

Sam closed his eyes, raised his hands, and buried his face into his palms. Tamako narrowed her eyes at Sam when he did this, and said, “I don’t get it, what’s wrong?”

Sam messaged back, “I don’t know the details, but I get the feeling we are going to…” he pulled his head out of his palms, opened his eyes and looked around the room, before continuing, “…kill about 18 mercenaries.”

Jen looked offended and a little angry at Sam, and messaged, “I didn’t say that!”

Sam replied, “Alright. I apologize for interrupting. Please go ahead and answer’s Tamako’s question if you want us to travel with them.”

Jen huffed, “No, I don’t want to travel with them. I heard them discussing plans to kill the merchants and enslave the kids after they escort them out of Big Money.”

Sam just kept quiet giving Jen a “knowing” stare.

Jen continued, “We don’t have to kill anyone. We can simply tell the merchants they are in danger.”

Tamako replied, “Why would they believe us without any proof, and won't the mercenaries confront us when they hear we’ve accused them?

“Good point, but what other options do we have?”

Tamako said, “We don’t have to do anything, but we could just send the merchants an anonymous note.”

Sam looked at Tamako with skeptical eyes, “Do you think an anonymous note will change the merchants’ plans?”

Tamako shook her head, “No, but they might be on the lookout for the mercenaries double cross.”

“Do you think that will change the end result?”

Tamako shrugged, “No, but a few more mercenaries might get killed in the process.”

Sam looked back to Jen, and asked, “Are you O.K. with us just sending an anonymous note to the merchant families?”

Sam had hit a nerve, and Jen messaged, “You’re an ASSHOLE!” and then she abruptly stood up and headed towards the room.

Tamako stood up to follow Jen and Sam grabbed her arm, “Just a second before you go.”

Tamako replied angrily, “times ticking.”

“She’s right. I handled that like an asshole. We’ll change our plans and leave tonight. While I pack everything up and pay our bill, You and Jen gather information on the mercenaries, including where they are staying. We will sneak back into town tomorrow night and kill them all, unless either of you come up with a better idea.”

Tamako shook her arm free, but nodded, and left to go after Jen.

That night they were making camp a few hours out of town, but Sam was getting the silent treatment.

“Hey Slim!” Jen said, as she felt his presence and then noticed him saunter into their little camp. Her mana bond would let her know if anything injured him badly, so she had not been worried after the battle in Casino City.

Tamako looked as Slim with interest, but Jen and Sam had already told her everything they knew about him.

Slim rubbed up against Jen’s knee and she bent over and scratched him behind the ears.

Sam had taken a liking to Slim and rushed over and started scratching Slim until he rolled over on his back and Sam said, “Man, it’s good to see you. Without you around, I’ve been outnumbered with these two ladies.”

Slim noticed the evil eye Jen was giving Sam, and said, “Log, what did you do?”

Sam explained everything to Slim, which also gave him an opportunity to acknowledge to Jen and everyone else that he had acted like a jerk.

Slim sent a message directed just to Sam, “You need to remember she has a gentle heart. She is not like you and me. If you change her, you will answer to me.”

Sam was unconcerned with Slim’s threat, because he agreed with him, and gave Slim a slight nod of understanding.

Slim also sent a concerned thought to Jen, but then changed the subject, “I have some of your stuff.” Slim rolled over, opened his jaw and emptied out all the enchanted disks that Sam had launched over the Roulette army. Slim then gave Sam a serious look, and said, “but I fought and killed for the rest of the loot and it’s all mine!”

Sam scratched Slim even more behind his ears, and said “Thanks buddy! I really appreciate you picking these up for me!” As usual, Sam didn’t really care about the other loot, but he was overjoyed at getting his enchanted disks back. After He invented something once, he barely received any experience points for re-making the same enchantment, and he had been dreading the boring task of making more enchanted disks.

Jen brought Slim up to speed on their plan to kill the bandits in Big Money, and then they were heading to Rolling Dice before jumping to the Second Deck.

Slim replied, “No, I will go with you and watch your back, Tamako will keep watch, and Sam will stay out of the way unless we need to kill everyone in the town.”

The rest of the night, Jen and Slim worked with Tamako to improve her psych ability enough to allow her to communicate directly with Slim.

The next evening Slim was licking his fur in the alley as Jen used one of her Ninja techniques to quietly scale the wall up to a window where a few of the mercenaries were sleeping. The window opening was closed with wooden shutters that were locked shut.

They learned all the mercenaries planned to turn in early to be prepared for the caravans leaving early the next morning. Tamako was on watch inside the Inn and sent a message to Jen when the last of the mercenaries went to her room. There were also a few mercenaries staying in tents near the merchants’ wagons, that Tamako was watching out for, just in case they came into the Inn for some reason.

Jen sensed the mana alarm placed on the inside of the window by the mercenaries. She reached out with her psych skill and cut its mana connection turning it off. She then pulled a small mouse out of her pocket and sent it squirming into the room through the cracks in the window. She used the mouse to look around the room to locate the mercanaries and make sure they were all sleeping before she made her next move. Jen then used the mouse to disable the mechanical trap that was also protecting the window entrance. Last, before opening the window and entering the room, Jen activated her silencing rod to make sure that the mercenaries did not hear anything.

Once Jen went inside, Slim took a single jump and landed on the now open window sill. Slim watched without comment as Jen went to each of the four mercenaries in the room and placed her hand over their mouths as she slit their throats. However, when he looked into her eyes as she climbed out the window heading to the next window over, Slim somewhat regretted telling her to use the Ninja Technique scroll. Slim noticed she failed to loot the mercenaries and their gear. “It’s the least I can do for her!” he thought, as he jumped around the room taking everything of value.

Jen only had a problem with one of the four mercenary’s rooms where they were all still awake playing cards. Just as her mouse finished disarming the mechanical trap, one of the mercenaries noticed what it was doing. Jen’s silencing rod was already activated, and she immediately kicked the window open and pin-cushioned all the bandits with one of Sam’s armor-piercing crossbow rings. As she continued into the room to finish them off, she realized all of them had already removed their armor, and the crossbow bolts had been enough to kill them all.

While sneaking out of town, Jen stopped and finished off the last two mercenaries near the caravans.

Slim messaged Log and Tamako, “Tomorrow, if the merchants leave town without an escort, wait for the merchants to catch up with you and offer to travel with them to Rolling Rock. Jen needs to be around the children to reinforce why she felt it was necessary to kill the mercenaries.”

Neither Sam nor Tamako wanted to travel with the merchants. Sam wanted to work on his enchantments, and Tamako wanted to continue their combat training, but they both understood and nodded towards Slim in agreement.

After the night’s events, Tamako had a realization, and said to Sam, “You and Jen killed the Farmer’s Guild leader huh?”

“Yep.”