The next morning, Karl woke up much warmer than expected.
Cara had come out to sleep in the open, draped across his chest, and Lotus was on Karl’s other side in the small single bed, doing her best to hug the Void Badger.
The fact that she had not chosen the dragon was surprising, but perhaps new creatures won out over dragons in Lotus’ mind.
It was a mystery how she had gotten in, as Tessa normally kept her from wandering, but at least she would be up on time today, and she wouldn’t try to keep sleeping if Karl moved Cara back into her space for breakfast.
The sun was just coming up, so it was almost time to start getting ready.
Karl shifted so that Lotus was holding Cara, who sniffed delicately then opened one eye to see where Karl was going. He was the one with the food, he wasn’t allowed to escape while she was sleeping.
She knew that she could just return to her space for food, but it was ingrained in her instincts not to let him get out of her sight.
The cleric made food, but she made Thor’s favourite flavours, not Cara’s. Cara could eat almost anything, from vegetables to magical items, but roasted meat tasted the best.
Once Karl was showered, Cara dragged Lotus out of bed, pulling the drowsy cleric into the shower before turning the water on.
It was a warm tiny waterfall, and Cara greatly enjoyed the water, so she was startled when Lotus began to splutter and curse as she was soaked.
[If she just took her clothes off, she would be fine.] Cara grumbled as she jumped and flapped around the cramped confines of the shower stall.
“What are you doing, crazy woman? I was sleeping.” Lotus complained.
“Cara says it’s time to get up. Also, to take off your clothes while you are in the water.” Karl informed them from the bedroom.
From her bed, Misty laughed. “I see that you’ve found an assistant to get your most reluctant team member moving in the morning.”
Karl chuckled. “She’s not the most reluctant, it’s just that Ophelia understands that coffee will make everything better, so she powers through.”
Lotus and Cara came out a few minutes later, both freshly towel dried and smelling like some sort of minty shampoo.
Cara was very pleased with herself. Having someone to shampoo your fur was pure luxury on a level that she had never experienced. Lotus could even get to the spots that Cara couldn’t reach by herself.
She was going to have to make this a regular thing.
Unlike Rae, she wasn’t big enough to run around with her personal human on her back. She still had some growing left, but she wouldn’t even get to the size of a wolf with short legs, there was no way that she could carry a human on her back unless she got much larger.
It did sound fun, though. If she was big like Thor, but with wings, she could fly into combat with Karl and they could dive bomb enemies.
That seemed like a pretty good goal to Cara. Even Rae approved, as she was learning to enjoy dropping large rocks on things from above.
Breakfast was a quick meal, and then the guards at the portal location south of the Temple were ready to send the group on their merry way.
The wagon that the clergy had obtained had long steps on the side, so Remi called her bodyguards onto them, while Thor waited for Karl and Rae to get him hooked up to the wagon.
Dana’s Golems were summoned to jog along behind the wagon, and everyone else took their seats inside, while Rae created a secondary tarp of strong silk for protection.
“Alright, that looks like we’ve got everything that we need to get started. Where will the portal bring us?” Karl asked as he took the driver’s seat.
“It will deposit you at an empty pull off five kilometres north of town. We have had our members monitoring it, and it was clear all night. Good luck, I hope you get the anomaly stabilized without anyone having to take drastic actions.” The gate guard informed them in a dry voice.
Karl nodded and led the team through the prepared portal, then turned Thor south down the road beside the camp site.
“Dana, have the golems stomp around the area to make it look like someone stayed here last night. Then we will head out.”
The Golems quickly worked their way around the area with the assistance of the Lamia Warriors. That should be enough to make it appear that they actually stayed the night if someone came along behind them.
Chances are it would never matter, but it was better to cover all the bases.
Then Karl remembered that he had missed one important item on his checklist. He had forgotten to fully activate everyone’s system, the way that the old items did for Orthos.
First, he focused on Dana’s wrist, where the bracelet was dangling. If it was properly equipped and not just worn, it would have adapted to her wrist size. Fortunately, it only took a moment of focus to get it to equip on her, and then Karl moved on to the others.
“Ophelia, trade me your Giant Strength Ring. I have another for you that might be better, but should also activate more of your System abilities.” He explained.
They made the trade out of Cara’s collection, and then Karl went hunting for cleric compatible items as Ophelia equipped the ring.
Thor had the answer. Gold chains that had been soaking in his pond. They weren’t originally useful magical items, just decorative items that had been taken from the bodies of Bandits and Giants. But a quick inspection said that they gave a small bonus to Holy Magic now, in addition to the bonuses they originally had, so they should be equippable.
“Ladies, try these on. Courtesy of Thor.”
The two clerics put on the necklace, then muttered the word “Status”.
“Yes, that worked perfectly. I have all sorts of information about myself now. There are still a few greyed out buttons, but almost everything works.” Tessa explained.
“Wonderful. Items that were brought back from the past still have a strong dose of the System’s power on them, and they can finish awakening the System of people now. Or at least, as much of the System as can be resurrected.” Karl explained.
“We will see if there are more useful bits available to us now. Hopefully, we can do something with this new ability. That must be why everyone was so excited about a stable dungeon.” Tessa replied.
“Exactly. Elites who awaken in the Dungeon apparently have their power capped to the level of the dungeon, at least if they’re human, but that might not apply to monsters and beasts who grow in power naturally. For them, the System is just bonus powers, a pure cheat when they were already powerful.”
The ladies considered what Karl had said as they got on the road, keeping to a pace that was a jog for the Golems so that they could overtake Thor if they needed. The Naga Warriors kept a close eye on the fields around them as the wagon left the trees, but the area looked clear, and they could see the ocean in the distance, along with a small village.
Hatbury wasn’t as small as Karl had expected. It held about a thousand people, and was built between two small bays, so they had docks on both sides of town. It wasn’t an impressive place, made with simple field stone buildings, but they should be sturdy, and wouldn’t rot in the humidity from the ocean.
The village wasn’t built at the end of the landmass, instead they had a number of fields between them and the ocean, as a defensive measure against invasion from the inland side.
That told Karl a fair bit about the region, if the lessons that Sergeant Rita had made him memorize were right. He might have only taken a crash course on tactics, but knowing nothing about the conventions and customs of war was working out well for him, as his first instinct about threats was usually right.
Hawk took off into the sky to scout for them, and immediately started sending back annoyed messages.
[Are they joking here? The town can see them there in the open grass, and they’re still going to try to set up a checkpoint? Hobgoblins don’t even taste good.
But when did they get smart enough to operate a checkpoint? Oh, there is a pair of Ogres overseeing them.] The angry bird relayed.
“It looks like we’ve got some monsters setting a checkpoint ahead. There is no actual cover, so we’re going to do this the quick and dirty way.” Karl explained to the rest of the team.
“Can we just go around? It’s not like we actually need the dried fish from the village.” Dana suggested.
“That is a good point. Hawk says the strongest of them is a Commander, though. They might not bother us if I don’t drive right through them. They are just on the road, I can go around and still get to the village.” Karl agreed.
Tessa laughed. “You think they’re not going to do anything if you just drive twenty metres away from them through the grass?”
Karl shrugged. “They might, or they might not. That depends on how smart they are.”
Ophelia smirked at him. “This sounds like an excuse to kill Goblins and Ogres with a clean conscience.”
“Oh, I don’t need an excuse for that.”
