Rae started to plan her next round of creations as the rest of the team got ready to move out. The wagon was nearly full now, with just enough room to comfortably sit as Karl got Thor moving, so the other wagon could take their spot along the curb.
“This is a different keg. Did you buy something?” Dana asked as she settled in to watch the road ahead.
“Yeah. I traded Rum for cooking Oil. Apparently, the Naga will drink what the beasts sent us. The trolls should need cooking oil, and if not them, someone along the way will need cooking oil.”
Dana shrugged in acceptance. The deal was made, and it didn’t actually matter what the goods were worth, as they were only trading as a cover to get across the country.
The guards didn’t even look at them as they left the city gates, headed northeast. It would bring them rather close to the site of the battle, within ten kilometres. But they would be on a well travelled main road, and at least this portion was an actual stone roadway.
That shouldn’t raise any suspicions.
The clerics changed into new dresses, colourful ones in the local style, but still predominantly in their god’s colours. Now the rest of the team blended in, but Karl was wearing the armour from [Bestial Raiment] which came complete with a Darklight Host tabard.
That wasn’t exactly subtle or nondescript.
Everyone that they met would probably be able to describe him and Thor, so if they didn’t want anyone to be able to track them back to the incident, it would be much better if they could disguise him somehow.
“Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we disguise Thor and Karl? There should be a good way to make Thor less noticeable, and Karl is easy.” Lotus suggested.
“Oh, how do you plan to disguise me?”
“We will have Rae make you a coat, and then you can keep Brutality active to make you big. You’re bigger with that skill active than Ophelia is as a Werebear without it. You have to be two and a half metres tall with it. Nobody would question you if you said you were half troll if you hid your face.”
Remi had just the thing for that.
[I can make you a mask, and Hawk can cure the clay and melt metal over it. Then with one side of your face hidden, and your beard growing, you should look more like a monster.]
“Remi thinks that we can do something about hiding the face. If I have a coat to go over my armour, it should be enough to hide my identity from casual glances. But how will we disguise Thor? He’s a Lightning Cerro.” Karl reminded them.
[I can do that too. I have all the ingredients.] Remi announced proudly.
“Never mind. Remi thinks she can disguise him as well, somehow.” Karl laughed.
Dana giggled, “I’m looking forward to finding out what she thinks will hide Thor.”
Karl thought about the abilities that he had, wondering what he could use to disguise his usual fighting style.
He didn’t want anyone linking their presence to the Royal Rank Elite named Karl from the Golden Dragon Nation, even if he hadn’t been thinking far enough ahead to make up a road name.
Disintegration would only be well known to the Pirates, so that should be fine. But he hadn’t done much fighting here, so even the Orcs wouldn’t know much.
As long as he avoided the Chain Lightning and Blizzard combo that him and Remi were famous for, or made it look like it was all Remi, even most of the government sorts wouldn’t put it together, as everyone had her recorded as a Spirit Snake, not a Naga Queen.
“Oh, we can make you look like our group’s tank! I think I have a shield in here, and you can use that Maul one-handed, or a sword.” Ophelia added.
“You all seem to be enjoying this a lot.” Karl chuckled.
[I have a coat for you.] Rae agreed.
It was black silk, woven to be rough like leather, and full length like a duster, but double-breasted like the Pirate Captain coats, split up the back for mobility, and she had even woven wind element shiny stones into it to emulate the silver buttons on the Captain coats.
Karl put the coat on, and his armour immediately adjusted. It gave him a visage mask for his helmet that looked like a black demon face, and Karl found that he could remove the helmet and keep the mask.
“That skill is so handy, always adjusting to the appearance it thinks I need.”
[Now I don’t get to make you a mask, though. That’s fine, I will start on makeup for Thor.]
That was a disturbing thought, but Remi was really into it, mixing ground plants, clay, some dirt and crushed magical stones into a paste.
It was turning into a consistency that looked like boot polish, but Remi kept referring back to one of her books, and she looked incredibly proud of herself.
[Ha, I did it. This should work. Shadowbranch paste. Take some of that and draw war paint on Thor’s face.]
Karl stopped the wagon and did as instructed, drawing wide fingered stripes down Thor’s ridge and across the side of his face. Then he stepped back to admire his handiwork, as Thor now had war paint.
Then the effect spread until Thor was completely black, not glossy but flat black and non-reflective.
“That’s impressive. Where did that come from?” Dana asked.
“Apparently it’s something that Remi can make. I can see the instructions when I examine Shadowbranch plants in her space. It should make him look like this until he washes it off, or until he returns to his space, as it is unlikely to go with him if he doesn’t want it to.” Karl explained.
He had the [Identification] skill, but there were so many plants that he had never bothered to go through them all, looking for possible combinations that might make something useful. Remi was better with his skill than Karl was, he was quite certain.
But it was just a Common Grade disguise spell, not some powerful mixture to help them advance, which was what Karl had been trying to find every time that he had gone through their stuff before.
It was possible that he had missed all sorts of little things because he simply didn’t know to look for them. When they got back, he would leave Remi with Morgana for a while to see if she had a knack for Alchemy.
She did like making things, and it wasn’t just sculptures for her totems.
Rae wasn’t particularly impressed with the versatility of the paste, her adaptive silk could hide you much more effectively. But being able to just turn Thor black was a great disguise. Now he didn’t look like a Lightning Cerro at all, just some sort of regular Cerro.
“Alright, now we’re mostly disguised. This should be good enough for now, though I’m not certain that I can get the same mask back again after I dismiss the armour to wash.” Karl informed the group.
[So I do get to make a mask. Hawk, find some metal, I will make something out of clay for you to coat.] Remi cheered.
[Alright. You could likely just paint it, though.] Hawk reminded her.
[Maybe. We will see when I’m done. But I want you to bake it with fire.]
