It is a rough road that leads to the height of greatness.

Pre-Fall philosopher.

“Same rule,” Johanna noted.

“We need a one-year residence. Apparently, that’s a statewide law,” Peter said.

“Do we have enough money?” Laura asked.

“We’ll see.”

The five of them were going to meet with someone. The City Hall had pointed them to a few landlords who currently had room. Rhyland Wade owned a pair of small three-floor buildings with apartments, with some vacancies.

“Relatively nice. Small, but clean,” Johanna commented when they got to the location.

The apartments there were too small for all four of them. There were two bedrooms per apartment, but one was clearly intended for a kid. The previous tenants had moved out recently due to an expanding family.

She did not intend to start a family right now. Their lives were already complicated enough. But the bedroom with its small bedframe was a tantalizing reminder that, in a different life, she could have already started planning for her and Tom’s future kids, how to manage a life between scavenging ruins and raising a family.

“There are two of these?” she asked.

“Yes. First and second floors are free right now,” Wade replied.

She looked at Laura and Peter inquiringly.

“Do we get a discount if we take both, with a year in advance?” Laura asked him.

They started to negotiate prices. Wade was willing to offer them “fair rates”, as he said, but not one dollar less. Johanna realized quickly prices were much higher than they would be in Valetta, but apparently in line with the costs of living in New Sandusky. The total rent for a year – plus the residency tax, which was owed immediately if you rented the full year – was $4280 for both apartments, and she still had almost $3500 in cash leftover from Zahl. Johanna had noted the tendency of increased costs of everything in the south already, but for the same price, they’d have rented an entire house in a slightly more upscale area of Valetta.

“We need more money,” Johanna realized.

“I got some I can lend to you, but not that much,” Petra added. “I need to rent something too. Not that you’re not nice, but I’d rather have a place of my own, rather than squatting the bedroom.”

“How long do we have to seal the deal?” Johanna asked Wade.

“I can wait until next week. But I’ll open up to the market again after that. If someone else comes and says okay then, I’ll take the offer.”

They found themselves back on the street, wondering about how to solve that cash problem. Johanna doubted she could get the local bank to provide a loan for non-resident scavengers.

“We may need to sell an Artifact quickly,” Johanna confessed.

“That legal problem really screws you,” Petra noted.

Kieran Macintosh, the local equivalent to Grievar back in Valetta, looked promising. There was even a team of salvagers negotiating a sale when they found Macintosh’s Genuine Items and they had to wait a bit.

“New?” he asked.

“We were salvaging in the northwest Marches. We’ve just arrived.”

“Well, most of the salvage goes through here. Want to know standard prices for the future?” he pointed to the side.

Johanna quickly looked at the panels covered with item types and what looked like price ranges. She was tempted to compare with the prices she’d gotten from the last attempt at selling but quickly focused back on the matter at hand.

“Actually, we might want to sell something right now. I doubt it has a standard price.”

“You’d be surprised, I sell most of everything you find in Ancient ruins.”

“Artifacts?”

She was already smiling in anticipation when Macintosh surprised her.

“It’s been a while since we got some. You’re right, it’s not standard pricing for that kind of stuff.”

“Really?”

“You’d be surprised what people find in the Lake Marches. Come in.”

She reluctantly pulled out the Cane. Out of the five Artifacts they now had, it was the least useful in practice. You could use it as a weapon, granted, but it was not practical to wield. The Helm of Telepathy, she could see its uses beyond protection from Laura, so they’d hold on to it, but that one was just a source of funds.

“It creates glass?”

Johanna tapped lightly the end of the three-foot staff on the table. It almost instantly turned into a clear panel, and Macintosh peered in, looking at the carpet under.

“It’s temporary,” she demonstrated, removing the tip and the table turned back into wood. “Also, you have better sight when you hold it. We noticed that immediately.”

She handed him the Artifact and he looked around. He whistled, before catching himself.

“That’s what makes me wonder every time. The sheer strangeness of those Artifacts.”

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s a true novelty, quite unique. Hmmm… I can see some potential for both effects…”

He pulled out a small notebook, humming a bit more.

“I got a list of prices of other Artifacts sold in the State. Practical ones like yours… I’d say $35,000 base price.”

She almost whistled on her own but managed to keep her face straight. That was more than twice what had been offered by Grievar, although she’d known later it was a rip-off.

“Sounds a bit low?” she ventured.

“What do you expect? Every Artifact is a risk. You can get more by waiting for the right customer. Or even going for a public auction…”

The negotiation went back and forth until they settled on a fixed, immediate price. Once Macintosh had realized – somehow – that they truly needed money rather quickly instead of waiting months, he made a final offer, saying it was his best or they could attempt to auction it in Nashville.

“Want to come back tomorrow, or I can get to the bank? It might be useful to open up an account and store the money there. 40k is a good sum. Even for salvagers.”

“I’d rather have the cash at hand,” Johanna admitted.

“Up to you.”

When Johanna entered the High and Dry again, she found Miles sitting at a table with Ulrich. She wasted no time and went straight for them. Miles Bertram noticed her and waved as she was approaching.

“I’ve thought a bit about your objectives. And if you want to probe some ruins people don’t like, I got a few possibilities.”

“Good to hear.”

“Besides, I want to see your team in action. A team of Talented, as you said, must be something.”

“Wait, you want to come?”

“Why not? You said you wanted me to use my talents – mundane ones – to recruit people. I can hardly do that without knowing better what my reputation is going to be used for.”

Johanna was surprised, but not displeased. She wanted to prepare for the expedition, and she needed to recruit. If they could be convinced to help beyond introducing her to the right people… why not?

“You’re sure you’re up to? You said you retired?”

“I can still carry a backpack, miss,” Miles laughed.

“Johanna,” she insisted.

“It’s not the busiest season for accounting,” Ulrich said, “and Miles doesn’t truly need to work all the time.”

“Hey!” he laughed. “I do have an ex-wife. She may have a job of her own, but I do pay for my kids to get all they can get. The costs of the university down in Nashville aren’t cheap, even with boarding on the premises.”

The albino shrugged dismissively.

“You know we sold enough Artifacts to retire…”

“… if we live frugally. Just because you never married…”

Johanna had to smile at the banter. The two were very obviously old friends and adventuring comrades. But the mention of Artifacts perked her, after Macintosh’s mention of having handled Artifacts before.

“You said you sold lots of Artifacts. Macintosh mentioned sales as well. Are those common around? Well, common for Artifacts, that is.”

“Ah no. We never found any in the north. That was back when we scavenged south, near the Aztlan border. Ulrich and I, we ran with a crew of almost entirely Changed races from all over before the coast. I was the token human for a while before I built my own crew here north,” Miles explained.

“We got a few Artifacts early on. They sold quite well,” Ulrich added.

“Lucky you,” Johanna said.

“Ah, luck had nothing to do with it. You know, one of us had something to detect Artifacts from afar.”

“A Shaper? Sorry, sorcerer?” Johanna asked.

“No. That was a wendigo, on some kind of exotic pilgrimage or something, and he had a pair of glasses that let him see magic.”

A wendigo with Artifact glasses?

“Big glasses that almost entirely cover your eyes. With a… reddish line in the middle on the sides?”

Ulrich frowned.

“You’ve met Snowbound?”

She realized she’d never known the name of the wendigo that snuck into the Kootenai garrison.

“We were not formally introduced. We first met…” she stopped herself before mentioning the battle “… in not quite simple circumstances. But I do remember those glasses well. Artifacts like that make a big impression.”

“Given the war in the North, I wouldn’t have expected you to meet. So, you know what those glasses do?”

“The Talent is called Mana Sight, and it lets you spot magic use… and yes, the presence of Artifacts,” Johanna said. “It’s supposed to be rare among sorcerers, but Petra and I both have it.”

Ulrich raised a white eyebrow but did not comment further.

“So, if there’s an Artifact around, you can find it?” Miles asked.

“We probably don’t have the same range as that Artifact. But yes. We’ve found five Artifacts since last summer, thanks to this Talent.”

“This expedition sounds more and more interesting.”

“So that’s your team,” Miles Bertram said as he entered the room.

He had insisted on meeting the full team and reserved the table at the big side room of the High and Dry.

“My husband, Tom. Our two friends Peter Donnall and his wife Laura. And the latest member, Petra Veldhuis,” Johanna introduced.

“I wanted to meet you all as we proceed. I know scavenging is usually a younger person’s job, but that’s a bit unexpected to see people coming from so far so young. Although my friend Ulrich would disagree.”

“He’s not along?” Johanna asked.

“We do have our own lives, you know.”

“You really ran along with other Changed? Dwarves and all?”

“I think it was just three of them in the early days. Thirster, Dwarf, and Dryad. Then the rest of us came along, and we ran all around the south for a couple of years. Places like Huntsville, Chattanooga, or some of the big ruins south of Lake Nashville. There was enough left even then to make a living from it, but of course, when Snowbound was along, we hit the jackpot. He could see Artifacts from four or five miles away. We didn’t find one in every ruin, but when we got one, it was like half of the season’s earnings in one item. We scoured the area, but he had to return to his homeland after a couple of years. He could endure summers, but not that well. Then later, we moved up north here to find easier ruins.”

“We’re not as good as those glasses seem to have been, but that still works. It depends on the Artifact, actually,” Petra said.

“You’re the other sorceress your boss mentioned?” Miles noted.

“Earth Shaper, yes.”

“Johanna mentioned being a Fire Shaper? So, you must have some Earth Talent then? I must admit I’m not that well-versed in that kind of thing. You usually hear about Talented, notably in the big cities like Vernon, but the odds of meeting one is low.”

He looked at the table, adding, “Let alone five. There is probably some pretty wild story behind this, but I have time for that later. So, what do you think of New Sandusky, then?”

“Homey, of sorts. It’s got a better feeling to it than places south. A city like Nedalshe was a kind of shock, seeing all those houses outside of walls,” Johanna said.

“You’re from the Northern Marches, no wonder there,” Miles replied. “Here, it’s a little bit different. South of New Sandusky, there are almost no mana zones. There used to be, but they shrank slowly over the last two or three generations. Most of the changed vegetation died off, and you don’t get Changed beasts being around anymore. People also killed most big predators, who usually make the most dangerous beasts if they spend too much time in the zones.”

“I wouldn’t know. Canids are not the worst. I hate Lepus, though,” Johanna said. “I think those were the closest I got to dying, at least until Laura fixed me.”

Miles turned to look at the last woman, who nodded.

“Be aware, I need to fix that kind of wound very quickly. Within a minute of the wound itself,” she warned.

“Duly noted. Anyway, New Sandusky is close to the Lake Marches and the Great Lakes themselves and has a major road toward the Marches of the Algonquin, and those do have lots of spotty mana zones, and the usual beasts coming out. It’s probably not as harsh as what I hear from near the Northern Divide, but we get beasts wandering in regularly. So that’s probably why you feel at home.”

“It’s not that bad up north,” Johanna countered. “But we’ve got fewer people than central states, that’s for sure. New Sandusky’s probably a tiny city for you, but it’s a real one for us.”

“So, you’re going to settle here?”

“We need to. We got a pair of apartments lined up. Petra?” Johanna asked.

“Found something too. Smaller, cheap, will do until you find a way to turn that adventure into untold riches.”