Tad was drying off quickly in the sun as the trio of friends made their way up the ramps to the cliffs. Tad counted them this time, and there were six ramps going one way and seven the other. He would need to get railings built. They were a hundred feet above the valley path below when they made it to the top.

Tad had stopped on the way up and gazed back into the valley. The huge Fey Tree sitting on the island blocked the view of the top of the cathedral, but he could see the entrance below the foliage beyond the trunk. The shore had been completely changed. Green was everywhere, from vines on the valley walls to new trees and growth. He liked what he was seeing. He even saw the farm construct working in the field toward the south lake waterfall and rows of some plants growing. It looked tiny from up here. He would have to look into that further. He was fairly certain the beastkin pride followers were familiar with farming. The area around their small city had been littered with fields that had been set ablaze or trampled.

The trio made it to the top of the ramps. Tad wasn't surprised by the rocky cliffs or the path that led to the dead god being used as a bridge. The dead god's stony form crossed the moat of deep powdery sand with the blue of the magical shield shimmering in the middle as the blue magic barrier circled and encompassed the valley.

What was beyond it, though, he wasn't ready for. Near the bridge was a large flat section of hardened sand that they had fought the undead on just days ago. In the middle was a half-finished building the automatrons had constructed, and next to that was Jared's cart with is a tent. The tent was ten feet tall and twice wide. Jared was standing outside at a table while his two workers and Kizzac with a couple of dwarfs were sorting the various armors and weapons left from the battle. That was surprising enough, but beyond the hardened sand, the dunes were now a sea of tall grasses dotted every so often by a single or a clump of trees. Farther away, he thought he saw several larger groves growing. The trees were easily fifteen feet tall already. Green was everywhere he looked.

"Lamruil is it like this all around the valley? " asked Tad.

"Everywhere that isn't stone, and the lower river valley where fog doesn't touch is like this. I saw for several miles when I went up on the ridge to the north earlier, and this is happening as far as I could see," said Lamruil.

Tad nodded and smiled, "Well, that solves a problem. We were running out of things to burn to cook food with, and a couple trees will do nicely in a few days if this keeps growing. " Tad started across the bridge towards Jared's tent. He remembered the tent from the carnival, and he was hoping Jared was carrying his full supplies with him. They needed to do some trading before they tried to find Samphire. That wasn't far off. Tad wanted full sun. He looked up at the sky, just a few white fluffy clouds were there.

Tad made his way across the bridge and to Jared's tent. He nodded to the two men outside, sorting through several piles of armor and weapons. Beyond them, Tad saw two city guard constructs pushing automatrons bodies into a large pile. Tad didn't understand why they were doing that. He had instructed them to carry the automatrons to the cathedral for Kettle.

"Kettle, do you know why they are piling up the automatrons like that? " projected Tad to his friend.

"No, there is no reason that I know of to make piles out of them," replied Kettle.

Tad nodded and looked at Jared's two hired men helping sort armor. "Do you two know why those constructs are putting all those bodies into a pile like that? "

One of the men who had seen them coming but had gone back to sorting looked up. Tad saw he was wearing a workman's apron and leather cap with flaps that could be pulled down on the sides. "Well, you see Master Rockgrip, we were sorting out the weapons and armor when those two constructs came up over the bridge there and tried to carry them away. They stopped when we started yelling at them. Then we said if they wanted to help. They should look for more weapons and bring them here. Then those big statues just stopped and started bringing us the bronze weapons from those metal men over there. We were shocked at that, so we told them to pile up the bodies after they were done finding all the weapons and armor. They are the ones that made all these piles here. " The man pointed at the piles of armor and weapons around them.

Kizzac came over, carrying one of the steel long swords the undead legion wielded before they were destroyed, "Tad, do you see this? This here is good steel, it's a little rusted, but most of these weapons are useable with a bit of basic blacksmithing to clean them up. Do you know how rare steel has been for us dwarves for the last century? We cleared out all the known iron and coal needed to make it back when I was a lad. This is a wealth of metal. "

Tad looked at the longsword the dwarf carried. It was rusted in spots, but it was still usable. "Good to hear Kizzac, how about the armor pieces? "

The dwarf took a breath to speak when Jared started talking from the now open Tent flap. "The armor's leather is all gone. Many of those sword handles are the same way. If you intend to use this armor, you will need to rivet new leather harness and pads into them. The armor itself is still usable if you can find smiths enough to clean the metal and mend the rusted bits. The chain mail is just scrap. It will have to be replaced. You will need a great deal of tanned leather and several smiths and some months to bring it all up to working condition. You could also melt it all down and reforge it. It will take longer, and you will need a great deal of charcoal and wood to make this happen. "

Jared was an older man of medium height and muscular chest and arms. Tad knew he had been some king's weapons master or man at arms in his past, and Jack had once warned him to be careful around the older man.

Tad smiled at the man. He had known Jared for several years and liked the man. "Jared, I see you have your Jared's Amazing Wonders tent. Are you opening for business here? "

Jared chuckled, "No, I haven't lost my wits yet, Tad. I don't expect there will be many customers till I get back to the bazaar. We had to set up the tent so we could access the items in the cart. It rained yesterday. The tent keeps the wet out." He nodded at the piles of weapons. "You have some Bismuth weapons there. It was quite a rare find, and as you had appeared busy, I had the men here working on sorting and stacking all the steel gear inside the tent to keep it dry. The bismuth weapons do not seem to tarnish, so they are stacked there. Mostly very long swords and shields with the occasional spear. All are quite rare and valuable for their durability and sharpness. The dwarf there told me this is from the battle you fought before the bazaar closed? I'd love to hear about that sometime. "

Tad nodded, looking at the piles again, "Sure, perhaps tonight, if we get a chance by the fire, I'll tell the story so everyone can hear it. Did you inventory the weapons? How many are there? "

"I'd like to hear that story." Jared looked at a list he had on the table by the tent, "I've been keeping track of the count. I'll have a tally tonight if you'd like. There were several magical items also found, weapons of various quality. There was a set of necrotic enchanted armor and weapons, those items are not safe. I have them in a special part of the tent separated from the rest. I'd not want to cut myself with those, I could wake up as a ghoul or something worse. " said Jared with a serious sound to his voice.

Tad nodded, remembering the death knight. "I understand. Jared, we are in need of some of your special order gear. If you could let us look at it in a minute, I'd appreciate it. "

Jared raised an eyebrow at Tad, then looked at Nico and Lamruil, then he looked back at Kizzac. He shook his head, "That is fine. Come to the tent when you are ready. I'll go in and tidy up. " He went back into this tent.

Tad looked at the men and dwarfs, then out at the constructs, noisily stacking the automatron's metal bodies in a pile. Why did they stop doing what he told them? Did they have other older orders perhaps already there? It was good they didn't cause problems with Jared's men moving all the bodies, but at the same time, what if they had instructions he wasn't aware of, and he hadn't told them to forget or ignore? Could someone else still command them? It's clear these had altered their instructions when told to do so. Did they consider these men now residences of the valley? He was going to need to sort that out soon, especially if they could be commanded to destroy themselves or worse.

Kettle spoke, "Tad, if you can have those constructs bring down the two large bodies on the top there. I think that will be enough for now. They should have several sub minds that I could make work and plenty of the bismuth metal I need. "

Tad walked over to the constructs and gave them a mental command to stop stacking the bodies. He looked at the dead automatrons, and he could see where the necrotic magic had corroded and eaten deeply into the chests of the creatures. Inside each of them was a partially hollow jumble of metal pieces and cables he was not familiar with.

"Kettle, how did they die if they have several minds and reshape their forms? " asked Tad.

"Automatrons can be killed once an important part of them is destroyed. Usually, that's the primary mind in the body, but sometimes it's the parts that move the energia of magic around to keep them alive. Think of it as blood or lungs. They have metal organs that are important for survival. The corrosive necrotic magic of the undead did most of the damage. It wasn't the slashes or cuts. " said Kettle.

Tad looked at the damage, and he could see the holes caused by the corrosion. They looked like advanced rust. He touched a piece, and it crumbled when his finger pushed against it like dry soil. The uncorroded parts were solid.

He turned to the two constructs and then pointed to the four largest bodies. "Take those down the to the cathedral. Place them outside the building, away from the path. You and just you, "He pointed at a construct, "place one inside the world egg, then both of you go back to your normal duties patrolling the city. Help any citizen if asked as long as the request does no harm to you or anyone in the valley. " He sent a pulse through the torque for them to begin and stepped back as each of them took one of the large automatron bodies in hand, and they started back towards the god bridge. Dragging and banging as the bodies hit rough spots. Well, at least people will hear them coming.

Tad turned back to Kizzac, " Kizzac if you or your men find something in this mess that you would like to have. Set it aside, and if Jared agrees, you are free to take it as part of your payment for helping me win this battle. "

Kizzacs eyebrows shot up in surprise then a grin spread across his face. "Thank you, Tad, that is very generous. "

Tad nodded, "I would like to add one thing to this if there is any necrotic energia or magic on the item. It has to stay here. We are going to decide what to do with those once we sort all this. "

Kizzac nodded and went over to talk to the dwarf behind him, still sorting armor parts.

Tad looked at Jared's men, "If you see anything that you like, tell Jared, and I'll discuss it with him. "

The two men nodded to him in agreement, and Tad went to the tent.

Tad looked around as the three men entered the tent. As always, it appeared bigger on the inside than on the outside. When he had visited this shop at the Carnival, there had been racks and tables full of lower-quality weapons for sale. Now there were stacks of rusting steel armor, blades, and shields. In the back was the display case and counter, he remembered. Jared stood behind it, waiting for them.

"All of this and what's outside? That is much more than I thought had been salvageable," said Tad.

Jared pointed to the corner where there was a small pile of armor, "Those are the necrotic enchanted pieces over there. Here, " he pointed at the two long swords, a dented helm, and a dagger on the counter in front of him. "are the enchanted pieces I thought might have some value. If you give me some time, I'll evaluate what each enchantment does. I expect none of them will have life enchantments, given the nature of the wielders. "

"I can help with that. Here let me check, " said Tad. He stepped forward and started casting his identify spell on each item in turn.

Minor long sword of Slashing – you believe this weapon's edge will cause extra wounds when slashing.

Minor long sword of fire – you believe if the user can channel any chaos energia, they can cause fire to run along its blade, causing burn damage to things struck with it.

Dagger of Flight – You believe this dagger can be thrown farther than a normal dagger with little effort.

Tad paused when he cast this spell.

Long sword of the defender – you believe this is a major heroic weapon when it is used to defend, it will parry all but the most powerful blows with ease. The identify spell made the weapon have a golden glow for a few seconds before it finished.

Huh, that was different.

"Tad, your spell skill with identify just went up two ranks. What is it? " asked Kettle.

Tad responded, "I don't know. It said it was a major heroic weapon. "

Tad continued casting on the helm.

Helm of the Sentinel, this helm was forged by the smiths of the kingdom of Cheshik for their soldiers manning the walls. It allowed the soldiers to see magically concealed creatures and items.

That was a great deal more information from the spell than he had been getting. That was the first time the spell had told him who had made the item.

Tad smiled at Jared, "Do you know what a major heroic weapon is? "

Jared's jaw dropped open, then he closed it, then he looked around the tent, suddenly worried. He turned around, putting a long key into the cabinet and opening it up. Beyond was a doorway that had a corridor leading down. "Pick up the weapons, bring them down here. Be quick about it," said Jared as he stood just inside the tall cabinet doorway with his hand on the edge.

Tad looked at Nico and Lamruil, shrugged, and picked up the Long sword of the Defender and the Helm of the Sentinel, leaving the other couple weapons for Nico and Lamruil to carry, and going through the entrance.

Jared followed them down the flight of stairs into a large room carved out of stone that was lit with magical sconces along the walls. In the room were row upon row of weapon racks full of different weapons. Tad remembered the room from when he had purchased his first flex staff. It brought back memories for him. It had changed some, there were several long tables now with boxes and items stacked on them that were not weapons.

Jared walked over to a table that had nothing on it and motioned for them to place the items on the table. Then he took out a scrying tool that reminded Tad of the Eye of the Appraiser,

he had found in the getchic nest.

Jared scanned each one by one and wrote some numbers on the tabletop with a bit of charcoal. Tad was shocked when he saw the total was a bit more than twelve thousand gold for all of them once Jared tallied.

"Tad, the absolute value is twelve thousand two hundred and eleven gold. That sword being the vast majority of the value," said Jared.

Tad took a deep breath, "Well then… I'd like to see if we can find Lamruil a way to use his bow to damage void creatures and undead. The arrows do not affect either very much. " Tad nodded to Lamruil, who stepped forward.

"Do you happen to have any enchanted arrows of the forest elves? Those would do, I believe," said Lamruil.

Jared just smiled at Lamruil, "May I see your bow please? "

Lamruil nodded, took his bow off his shoulder, and laid it on the table. Jared ran his scrying tool over the bow, then he picked up the bow and drew it back. He placed it back on the table, "It is a good bow for sure, very sturdy elvin workmanship. But I think you might want to peruse my selection in the back. " Then he started walking to the back of the room past several rows of weapons to another large cabinet.

"I keep them in here to keep the moisture out. The wood doesn't last if you just leave it out anywhere. Some of these are quite old. " Then he opened the cabinet, and Tad saw twelve unstrung longbows and three short bows. All in a rack inside.

"Now you said void and undead. There are a few here that would work well. We have some here that will use your magic to empower your arrows with fire, ice, or even lightning. These are all good solid bows, but the one your looking for to stop void creatures is this one. " Jared reached around the back of the rack and picked up a long round wooden tube with a cap on the end. "Let's go back to the table" He closed the cabinet and led them back there. He laid the case on the table, opened the end, then pulled a long metallic bow that Tad could see lines of white and yellow energia running along with the wood inlaid metal handle.

"This is an ancient bow. The person I bought it from at the bazaar said it had been made long ago for the great wars between the foci gods and was found in some forgotten temple." He handed the unstrung bow to Lamruil. Jared lifted the case, and a string fell out of it. It looked worn and unraveled at the end. "This is the reason I can't sell it. No string I've found so far can take the strain of the bow or its magic. The metal bends well, and it isn't cracked or warped. I bought this bow many years ago, believing I could sell it, but nobody has been able to come up with a bowstring that can hold the magic or the strength of the bow. I think with that goddess of your paying attention to this valley, you can find something that will work. I'll give it to you in trade for the swords on the table here. You can keep the helm. It might come in handy later. I think if you are going to be setting up a city here, it's best that you can decern friend from foe. "

Lamruil was running his hand along the bow's curves. He bent it over his foot and leg with no small amount of effort straining, the bows wood inlaid metal appeared supple.

Lamruil nodded to Tad.

"Alright, you have a deal. Nico were you looking for anything while we are here? " asked Tad.

Nico pulled the two daggers from his belt, "Other than an antidote, no. I think these will do. Unless Jared here has some way of making all of this carryable when I shift." He looked at Jared then, who shook his head no.

Tad nodded, "It's a deal contingent on finding a bowstring that will work for this bow. " Tad paused and looked around a moment. "Is this a dimensional rift or astral pocket? " Tad had thought it was shrink magic when he was younger, but he didn't now.

"It is a pocket. I believe the enchanter I bought it from said it was located in a very large rock floating in the astral plane. This is good because I'd not want just some stone-walled structure out there. You never know what you could find it then. Few things care about old rocks. " said Jared smiling.

Tad nodded, his pocket space was a stone structure. He looked at the many boxes stacked on the table. "You used it to move all that? " asked Tad.

"Yes, it is nice if you want to move stuff also if the actual pocket dimension is only accessible to one that holds the key and spell," He patted his belt. "Then it is one of the most secure ways to move items. "

Tad nodded. That was useful information for him, and he was dreaming up new ways to use that magic.

***