After Meira fell asleep Bjorn left the tent making his way towards the alchemy area. Once again it was difficult to navigate through camp and he found himself getting turned around several different times. Eventually he was able to find it though.

  The area that had been designated for alchemy was wide open. There were 8 different tables that were all filled with people doing various different tasks brewing potions, or creating salves, or even just grinding up herbs. On the ground there were 10 separate caldrons all filled with people in other parts of the brewing process. And finally there were 4 tables that had a few alchemists working on bottling and organizing the products that were being made. It was the most assembly line thing Bjorn had seen in this world.

  Standing off to one side of the small area right next to a few dozen small crates stood Skarit, the runic that gave Bjorn the book of recipes. Bjorn saw the man and made his way over to where he stood. “Hey, I don’t know if you remember me but…”

  “I remember you.” Skarit cut Bjorn off. “You were the young aspiring alchemist who wanted to join the alchemist guild but your skill level was too low. Two questions for you. Firstly, what are you doing down here?”

  “I got drafted and we just recently made it to camp.”

  “I see. Secondly, do you still have a desire to become an alchemist?”

  “Uh, yes I do.” Bjorn said.

  “Very good, follow me, I will find a place for you to be useful around here.” The runic started to turn back towards the alchemy that was happening all around them.

  “Actually, I have an idea that might be worthwhile to explore.”

  “Oh? Do tell.”

  Bjorn filled Skarit in on everything he had found so far about the properties of the snatcher spider venom. He then gave him an extremely detailed breakdown on how he found out about the properties. Skarit was an exceptional listener. The nitty gritty of how alchemy works bored everyone in his party, so he learned not to explain things in detail to them. However Skarit was studious in his listening. Not once did his attention waver from Bjorn’s explanation.

  “So what is your thought process? How can we capitalize on this information?”

  “I find it odd how the spider’s venom that breaks down our bones doesn’t affect their carapace. My thought is that if we find a way to make the venom interact with the carapace we will find a way to kill these spiders easier.”

  “You want to weaponize their own weapon against them. Fascinating, I hadn’t thought of that. I think it would be hard to know if it is even possible though, don't you?”

  “Not at all, I already know that the venom could be used to brew two different poisons, one being a spider bane poison, and a bone melting poison. If we can find out the recipe to brew those poisons I think it would be a great help in this fight. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect that there will be some sort of spider queen that we will have to fight at the end to eradicate this menace. We are struggling so far in the fodder, how will we handle the strongest one at the end?”

  “Alright, you have convinced me. It will be an avenue worth exploring. Tell me though, how do you know for a fact that the venom could be used to make those poisons?”

  Bjorn got a sheepish look on his face. “So I am trained in herblore as well as alchemy.”

  “Any alchemist worth his salt is trained in herblore, go on.”

  “Well, you see when I became a novice in herblore the perk I got was being able to learn different effects of any herb. The only downside to that is that I need to ingest the herb. Well as it turns out the venom counts as an herb.”

  For the first time during the conversation Skarit looked shocked. “What? You are telling me you drank the venom?” He took a single step away from Bjorn and gave him a look up and down. “Are you insane? How are you still alive?”

  “I was lucky. I drank a healing potion, one of those traveling in my party has access to healing magic, and other circumstances that I don’t think I will divulge.”

  “That was a boneheaded move, I don’t care if you think it was worth it or not. You gambled your life.”

  “I know, I know. Everyone keeps telling me that. I understand that it was a risk. But the way I see it, it was a risk worth taking. We are already losing so many lives to these damn spiders, what is one more? If that life could give us a chance to win, and win with less casualties that would be better. I think I would trade that life.”

  Skarit was silent for a moment, his face screwed up in contemplation. “I think you are right, I would expend a single life if it meant I could save 10. It just feels wrong when the one life I am expending is someone I know. I am sorry, I think I jumped to a conclusion way too soon, I think you took a calculated risk and it paid off.”

  “Exactly. So now that is out of the way, do you have any ideas on how to make this poison?”

  “I have a few.”

  They spent the next few hours discussing how to make poisons, and how their effects happen. Bjorn’s knowledge on poisons expanded greatly during their conversation. Skarit was surprisingly knowledgeable on the topic. When Bjorn commented on just that Skarit’s response was. ‘I seek to become the best alchemist, and poisons are a facet of the profession. It would be foolish of me to ignore that.’ During their discussion Skarit would call in the alchemists who were working from time to time to give their input in the project.

  By the end of the discussion they had a game plan on their attempt. Taking that information they started working on brewing some sort of spider venom poison, while several other alchemists were dispatched to retrieve more venom. Bjorn described to them how to milk the venom. Only a few were sent because they needed to keep brewing healing potions that could be used for the army. Apparently the effort was a never ending task. The army seemed to use the potions faster than they could brew them. One of the cauldrons was dedicated to Skarit and Bjorn’s use though.

  Throughout the day they didn’t seem to make much progress. They did learn about 7 different combinations and the combination process that didn’t work. Each time they tried to make some it ended in a failure. But they didn’t lose hope. In late evening the alchemists came back from the body pile with an entire crate full of venom. They had well over 500 doses of the venom, so their supply wouldn’t be running out anytime soon.

  After their 7th failed attempted Skarit called it. “Alright, that is enough failures for me for one day. Tomorrow we should try this again. I am hungry so I think I will go and get something to eat. You are welcome to join me if you wish.”

  “No, thank you for your offer, but I think I am going to head back to my party, I am tired and want some rest.”

  “Very well. When you are ready tomorrow I will be here.” Skarit took his leave walking over towards the mess.

  Bjorn stood and stretched, throughout the entire day of brewing many of the alchemists would switch out. By the end of the day the alchemists were not the same who were there when he entered. It was impressive to see as throughout the day when one alchemist would leave another would take his place completely picking up where they left off.

  Bjorn also learned a lot about Skarit. He was an alchemist who is higher up in the guild, but he didn’t let that change who he was. He spent a lot of his time and effort sewing into those who knew less than he did. Which is why he was down at the registration hall when Bjorn went to try and join. He was also the only one who was a leader of the alchemist guild who took it upon himself to join the eradication expedition. He was a very down to earth and friendly guy.

  Slowly and wearily Bjorn made his way back to their tent. As he drew near he found Tayla and Rickie playing some sort of card game with some of their neighbors. Based on the piles of coins arrayed in front of each person it was some kind of gambling game. Bjorn just nodded to his friends as he made his way past them and into their tent. Once inside he saw Meira where she lay sprawled out on her cot. Smiling to himself he took off all of his gear he normally carried with himself as well as his portable pocket, storing them inside the trunk next to his cot and lay down and soon was fast asleep.

  When he next awoke the tent had one other occupant, it was Rickie. He lay just opposite to where Bjorn’s cot was and he was snoring loudly. Sitting up he stretched and stood. Retrieving his items he stepped out of the tent and saw the same two that Tayla and Rickie were playing with. They sat around a low table and talked in hushed voices, which stopped when they saw Bjorn.

  “Morning.” Bjorn said and started to make his way to the mess. Gathering a bowl of steaming stew and a heel of stale bread Bjorn sat down at one of the long tables to eat. All around him conversations whirled.

  “Did you hear? We are to rest for a few days before we push on.”

  “Do you think I should get this wart looked at?”

  “You are letting one of your heads do all of the thinking.”

  Bjorn just sat there for a long time eating his food slowly and eavesdropping on every conversation he was able to. Over a span of half an hour he learned more about the happenings in camp, and the rumors that spread like wildfire in a camp such as this, than he ever wanted to. He continued to sit there and listen long after he was done eating.

  “Well what do we have here?” A familiar female voice cut through the voices. Upon opening his eyes he saw Meira standing there with a similar bowl to what he just finished.

  “Good morning, good looking.” Bjorn said as she sat across from where he sat.

  A slight blush came to her cheeks as she looked down at her bowl. “Did you sleep well?”

  “I did. Had a bit of a weird dream though.”

  They talked back and forth about many small things.

  “Hey last night before you went to sleep you talked about a choice. What is that choice?”

  “It wasn’t so much of a choice. It was between doing something and not doing it.”

  “So did you decide to do it?”

  “I did.”

  “Will you tell me what it was?”

  “I won’t but you can see for yourself.”

  “... What do you mean by that?”

  “You have an ability, use it.”

  “Ah.” Bjorn took her up on what she was talking about and used his identity on her.

  “You are now a professed mage!” Bjorn exclaimed excitedly.

  Meira’s eyes darted around the mess around them. “Shush, keep your voice down.”

  Bjorn got a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry. Still, that is exciting news. Is this the choice that you were deciding on?”

  “Yeah, it was. I was trying to decide if I was going to get a profession or not. On one hand it will be a big boon and help keep us alive. On the other hand if people in camp find out that I am a professed mage it might be problematic for all of us. There is a reason why professed mages are feared. And on top of that they might try to separate us. No, it is better if I go unnoticed.”

  “Why are professed mages to be feared?”

  Meira gave Bjorn a questioning look for a brief moment before it disappeared nearly as quickly as it appeared. “Sometimes I forget that you aren’t from this world. Professed mages are generally feared because of how powerful magic really is. For example you got a taste of how powerful a single spell can be in a small confined space. In the right conditions my single spell killed over a hundred spiders. The mage profession makes that easier to do. They have talents that decrease mana cost, cooldown times, strengthen spells, and learn new schools just to name a few of their talents. All of it adds up to make professed mages one of the strongest forces in this world.”

  “That is fair. But at the same time you are frail and weak. All it takes is one person with a knife or a dagger to slit your throat and that is the end of you.”

  “Although that is a good point, you're an ass. I am not weak and frail.” She said as she swatted at him.

  Laughing Bjorn dodged, “I take it back. My point does stand though. In a straight up fight you will still lose to someone like Rickie.”

  Meira settled down. “Yeah, true. It will be rare for you to ever come across a professed mage who doesn’t have some sort of protection around them. And currently the only reason I would lose in a straight up fight against Rickie is because I lack the correct spell that would invalidate his advantages.”

  “Alright, I see your point, it is still impressive though, that you got your profession. What talents did you get?”

  A rye smile crossed her face. “That is for me to know and for you to maybe find out.” She said with a wink. Her face grew more serious and she leaned in. “I will tell you, but not here. The talents that people have are generally a closely guarded secret. If you know what talents someone has it is easier to get around them and to the person.” She told him in a whisper.

  “Ah. It’s the same thing as being rude to ask what Abilities people have, and what Skills people have. Mums the word.” He said putting a finger to his lips.

  “What does mums mean?”

  That afternoon Bjorn found himself back in the alchemy area working on his project with Skarit. After his morning meal Bjorn had wandered over there, while Meira headed towards the field hospital to keep practicing with her life magic. When he arrived he had shown up before Skarit did. By the second day most of the alchemists were at least familiar with Bjorn’s face after he and Skarit spent the entire day working together. As such no one questioned him when he showed up and just jumped in helping brew potions.

  The entire morning he was equal parts student and teacher. There were 5 other skilled alchemists who were working and 3 more beginner alchemists. Together the 9 of them were working on brewing 4 different batches of potion. 3 of the potions were health potions while the last one was a mana potion. But they were brewing on a scale Bjorn had never seen before.

  His current best recipe for brewing health potion usually made anywhere between 2 and 4 doses per successful brew. Currently the recipe that they were brewing would make slightly weaker potions but in larger quantities. Each successful brewing process would make anywhere from 18 to 25 doses. There were some trade offs though, making it so that the larger recipe wasn’t always the better one. One of which is that it did take roughly twice as long, but that didn’t matter as much in this scenario, as they had so many hands to help. Another was that it did cost more in potion ingredients. The bulk recipe would take 3 times the amount of herbs as it would to brew his smaller batch. The last trade off was that it had a higher chance to fail.

  In the setting they found themselves in, with limited time, and high demand, the more expensive, longer brewing, and slightly weaker potions was well worth it. With the entire city of Blackrock Bay supplying the expedition the cost wasn’t an issue, and they never ran out of herbs for their brewing. They actually had crates and crates of dried herbs that they needed to brew their potions, and with every supply wagon that rolled into camp they brought even more.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  As they worked Bjorn would see one of the novice alchemists about to slice up a herb when it needed to be crushed with the flat of the blade and he would stop them. While explaining the reasoning for the crushing Bjorn would actually get interrupted and one of the more experienced alchemists would actually explain that it needed to be lightly crushed and then it needed to be sliced, and then he would explain why. That exact scene played itself out over and over throughout the entire morning. It was actually quite great and informative, and Bjorn was enjoying himself thoroughly.

  But as all good things go, it must come to an end. Right as the day moved into afternoon Skarit made his way through the alchemists. As he did so he greeted each one he passed by name, until he stopped in front of Bjorn. “Well shall we?” Was all he said before he turned and started to make his way over to his and Bjorn’s special little area was. Bjorn quickly finished grinding up the herb in his pestle and mortar and stood stretching and then followed after Skarit.

  “You know I have an idea that might prove useful.” Skarit said. “I didn’t say anything yesterday because I had to wait for the proper ingredient. But I think it should be here. Let’s see what did I do with it last night?” His eyes quickly darted around their work area. It looked almost the exact same as it had when they left off the night before. There was only one difference, which the runic quickly saw.

  “Ah there it is.” He walked over and picked up the item. It was a small pouch. He walked back over to where Bjorn was standing and he opened the pouch as he walked. Inside were several small bean shaped items the color of dark brown. Skarit reached into the pouch and pulled one out to see. The items were the size of a thumbnail and had a lumpy skin.

  “What is it?” Bjorn asked. Not even waiting for a response he used Identify on it.

  “It is called a Hill giant’s kidney stone, but don’t worry it isn’t actually a kidney stone.” Skarit said. “I am not entirely sure as to why it got the name though. I can assure you this is an alchemical compound that can be used to increase the effects of various alchemical components during any alchemy.”

  Bjorn just stood there dumbfounded at the blatant lie that he just caught Skarit in. Not entirely sure what the runic was up to Bjorn decided to play along.

  “We have never been able to find out the uses for this stone outside of strengthening random parts of our brewing process. But I have theorized that it in fact does have to have its own uses in brewing.”

  Bjorn started to get a sinking feeling in his gut, he thinks he knows where this is going.

  “As it happens you told me about a very handy perk that you got from her herblore skill. So I was wondering if you would be willing to eat this to help me unravel the secrets of this wondrous ingredient?”

  Bjorn was about to flat out refuse but then he realized that if he did so he would be tipping his hand. He has his W.A.I.L.A. which told him that it was in fact actually a kidney stone. If he refused in just the wrong way he would almost be screaming to Skarit that he had some sort of ability that let him identify items.

  “I am not sure I want to use my perk.” Bjorn said. “The last time I did so was rather excruciating. If not for my party member I likely would have died right then and there. That experience left me weary to use it again.” Deciding it was safe to use a half lie, after all Skarit bold faced lied to Bjorn. Why shouldn’t he return the favor?

  “Ah but I assure you this will be harmless, we use it all the time in our brewing process. There are never any negative side effects that show up in our end product. If there were over the years of use we would have noticed at least one. No, I can assure you that it is perfectly safe.”

  Bjorn mentally cried out. “I don’t want to eat a fucking kidney stone you bastard.” Verbally he said. “I appreciate your reassurances but something about the name just doesn’t sit right with me. Why call it a hill giant’s kidney stone if that isn’t exactly what it is? Besides, we don’t know that it is perfectly safe to eat by itself.”

  Skarit shook his head slowly with a smile on his face. “I honestly don’t know why they call it that, but I can assure you it is not a kidney stone. As to why we know that it is perfectly safe to eat by itself, we actually do. There are written accounts of alchemists who have eaten these stones before and had no adverse effects.” He finished his declaration by holding out the stone for Bjorn to grab it.

  “Nuh uh. I am not taking that from you.”

  “Fine, what if I prove it to you right here and now? Will that help you with your fear?” When Bjorn nodded in reply Skarit took the bean and popped it into his mouth. After a few moments of chewing he swallowed. Opening his mouth to show to Bjorn that the item was well and truly gone.

  They stood there and watched each other for a second, then 5, then a minute, then 2. When there were no apparent adverse effects on Skarit Bjorn was both amazed and internally cringing at the idea that the runic just ate a kidney stone. Then the cringe turned into disgust as he realized the implications. If Skarit would eat one just to prove a point then Bjorn had no right to deny it. He had to eat one too.

  With apprehension he nodded his head. Skarit closed his mouth and smiled, holding out the bag for Bjorn to grab one. Reaching into the bag he grabbed a hold of the small brown bean. It was an odd mix of solid and almost liquid. Its external shell was hard and felt like a rough stone in his hand. When he squeezed it lightly in between his fingers the small bean distorted as the liquid inside was pushed to the other side of the bean. That side of the bean grew larger, distorting the shape. When Bjorn let off the pressure the stone returned to its original shape.

  “Alright, I will do this, keep in mind I don’t like it one bit.” Skarit just nodded excitedly and his eyes gleamed as he stared at Bjorn. Bjorn sighed and opened his mouth slowly moving the bean towards it, all the while thinking. “Gross, gross, yuck, yuck. I can’t believe I am doing this.”

  Apparently Bjorn was taking too long because Skarit made a shooing motion with his hands, obviously saying ‘Get on with it.’ Finally deciding to man up, Bjorn popped the bean into his mouth and closed it. Once inside the bean was oddly tasteless. It was weird feeling the lump in his mouth but having no taste to it. Bjorn quickly moved it in between his teeth and bit down.

  The rough skin on the exterior ruptured and the thick viscous liquid spilled over his tongue. A sickenly sweet flavor coated his mouth. The liquid had the viscosity of honey, but the flavor of a sweet rosé wine. Startled by the flavor Bjorn kept the bean in his mouth longer than he intended. It didn’t take him long to get back to his senses and rapidly chewed before swallowing.

  “Ugh. How can you handle the sweet taste? You took it like a champ.” Bjorn said as he reached for a cup filled with water that he brought over with him. He quickly drank some of the water and used some of it to wash the inside of his mouth and swallowed it as well.

  Skarit then opened his mouth and spit the un-eaten kidney bean back into his hand. Skarit quickly dried the bean on his shirt before returning it to the sack.

  Bjorn stood there frozen in stunned silence, mouth agape.

  “What? It is a rare and expensive alchemy material, and we only have so many. Why would I waste one on eating it?” Skarit said.

  “You tricked me, you bastard. You just tricked me into eating a kidney stone. And the worst part of it, it wasn’t even that bad.” Bjorn’s shock turned to anger and he narrowed his eyes. “I hate you.”

  “Yes yes. I did trick you, but it was for your own good. Now stop wasting time. What did your perk tell you? What are the uses of the stone? And yes, it was actually a kidney stone, so what? As you said it wasn’t that bad, and now we got vital information. So stop hogging it and share, what did you learn?”

  Some part of Bjorn wanted to rebel and not share the newfound knowledge with Skarit. But the louder and more pragmatic part of Bjorn understood why he had fooled him. So even if he didn’t like what was done Bjorn pulled up his prompt that was waiting for him.

  You have ingested a hill giant’s kidney stone. For the next 2 hours the next alchemical ingredient you ingest will have its effectiveness boosted by 500% for the duration of its effect. You get the feeling that this could be used to brew an elixir of strength. You also get the feeling that this could be used to brew a potion of absorption.

  “It can be used to brew potions of absorption and elixirs of strength. What is an elixir?”

  Skarit zoned out and started muttering. After a bit Bjorn grew impatient and cleared his throat. “What? Oh, sorry. Elixir is a term that is used to describe any potion that increases your raw base stats. Sometimes elixirs can even give you a boost permanently to increase your stats, but usually they are only temporary. They are both rare and difficult to brew, which now that I think about it they are probably rare because they are difficult to brew. Funny how that works.”

  “Alright, and what is a potion of absorption?”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea, and that is exciting.”

  By then Bjorn’s anger was starting to burn itself out. “Getting back on task, how are these kidney stones supposed to help us with making this poison?”

  “I would think that would be quite explanatory. As you no doubt learned while eating these stones, they increase the effect of different alchemical ingredients. I was thinking we could test it with various parts of our brewing attempts to see if anything provides any useful information. But first they are entirely way too strong in their current form and would quite frankly be a waste to use as is. So let me show you have to reduce the strength of each of these without losing any of its efficacy.”

  Over the next few hours Skarit spent it showing Bjorn how to break down each of the stones into different strengths. He also showed Bjorn how to determine the strength and efficacy of each stone without having to eat it. As it turned out the stone Bjorn ate was actually one of the weaker ones that they had. He learned how to cut the strength of each stone into the desired strength. Each time they cut the strength their total amount of reagent produced almost doubled. Making it so that each stone could last for dozens if not hundreds of alchemical brewings and tests, all depending on what they needed and how strong they wanted its effects to be.

  After he learned what to do they then spent the rest of the day doing experiments and started to draw closer to what they thought would be a solution. At the end of the day they were both tired and weary from their minds constantly whirring trying to solve this puzzle they set out for themselves. It was easy to forget about the industry of alchemy that was going on around them at all times, but when they were done they just sat there watching all the other alchemists work on their various tasks.

  Bjorn was the first to excuse himself and he got up from his seat. In an almost drunken daze he made his way to first the mess and got something to eat, and then made his way through the tent city to their assigned tent. As he traveled he just listened to the comings and goings of the battle encampment. As a general rule the sounds he was hearing were light and almost happy. Which stood out against the purpose of this camp, and what this army had seen. The rest and relaxation was apparently needed and good for the men.

  Making it to their shared area he found Rickie, Alaric, Meira, and Tayla all sitting around the same short table as yesterday. “Hello.” Bjorn called as he approached causing everyone to look over to his approaching form.

  “Bjorn, come sit with us.” Tayla called out. She and Meira scooted over making room around the table. Bjorn grabbed a small wooden log that doubled as a seat and moved it over sitting down in between the two women.

  “We were just discussing what will happen next.” Alaric said.

  “Oh?” Bjorn asked.

  “We got reassigned today.” Meira said. “We are to be under the command of sergeant Tommin.”

  “Hey wasn’t Jenkins sycophant named Tommin as well?”

  Alaric let out a laugh. “Yes, it was. It’s a pretty common name. But anyways we are ordered to show up near the cave entrance to the battlefield tomorrow morning at 8am sharp to join up with the rest of our squad.”

  “I can’t wait for us to finish off these spiders.” Rickie said. “There is a reason why I never actually joined up with the armies of Escar. I hate these chains of commands. I would much rather go do my own thing.”

  “Yeah we aren’t too happy about it either, but unfortunately we don’t have much of a choice here.”

  “Tayla’s right, we didn’t have a choice at all. Now that we are down here it is kill or be killed. I am not confident that I would be able to successfully navigate us out of here without running into either patrols, supply wagons, or pockets of monsters. Apparently the spiders aren’t the only monsters that were found down here.” Meira said.

  “Well I sure hope that this sergeant Tommin is a better leader than Jenkins was. I still have work to do, today Skarit and I got closer to what we think will be actual usable spider poison.”

  One benefit about Tayla’s profession was that it made her more observant. In most cases it was good, in this case not so much. “Hey, why did your jaw clench and your eyes narrowed when you said Skarit’s name? Did something happen?”

  “No, nothing happened.” Bjorn lied. He did not want to admit to his friends that he had been tricked into eating a kidney stone.

  “That was a lie.” Meira said. “You always look slightly to your right when you are about to tell a lie.”

  “Guys, I am serious, nothing happened today.” Bjorn tried again.

  “There it was again.” Rickie said. “You don’t move your head to your right but your eyes definitely flicked to the right before you spoke.”

  “It’s alright Bjorn, this is a safe place. We won’t judge you for whatever happened.” Alaric said placatingly.

  “Did he do something to you? We will go pay that runic a visit if that is the case. Why aren’t you telling us? You know you don’t have to hide anything from us.” Meira entranced the obvious concern in her voice.

  Bjorn looked from her to Alaric to Rickie and finally to Tayla and saw the exact same determination on their faces. They were willing to go to war with Skarit for him. Upon finding out how much his friends cared something inside of Bjorn that he hadn’t realized he had been feeling evaporated. His anger, guilt, worry, and sadness started to just disappear. In its place happiness, joy, and gratitude.

  It was a little hard for Bjorn to reply. “Fine.” He said past the lump in his throat that was forming. “I will tell you.”

  All 4 of his ‘friend’s’ laughter could be heard from rows of tents away. As Bjorn began to tell his story he saw their faces turn from concern to amusement, to mirth, to joy, and finally to laughter. Those feelings of happiness, joy, and gratitude quickly faded as they all laughed at the fact that Bjorn was tricked into eating a kidney stone.

  Their laughter was contagious, and it was never ending. Every time it was about to die down someone would make some sort of comment, or a pun about Bjorn and the entire round of laughter would start up again. It never seemed like it was going to end so Bjorn began to time it. Once he started counting it lasted for 15 minutes. It felt like they had been laughing for at least double that though.

  When it finally died down Bjorn couldn’t help himself. “Are you done?”

  “I haven’t laughed that hard in years, thank you Bjorn.” Came Rickie's rumbling voice.

  “Look lad. I promised you that we wouldn’t judge you, but come on. You can’t blame us, if it had been any one of us you wouldn’t have been able to keep it in.”

  “Yeah, you can’t blame us.” Tayla said. “ It’s not every day you get to hear how one of your friends ‘accidently’ ate a kidney stone. The story was just too good. It doesn’t sound that app-pee-tizing.” Her last sentence was thick with laughter as she tried to contain it and failed miserably.

  “Funny.” Bjorn said in a deadpan voice. The combination of Tayla’s pun and Bjorn’s dry response was enough to set off a new bout of laughter. “I am never going to live this down am I?” He looked around and almost unanimously they all shook their heads. “Fine if that is how it is going to be, I am going to bed.” He moved to stand up but Meira put her hand out to stop him.

  She was the first one to reign in her laughter. “Alright, alright. You win, a truce for now. We do need to talk about what we are going to do.”

  But Bjorn wasn’t done yet. “And what about you? Have you told them about your choice yet?” His voice was louder than was intended.

  Meira put out her hand again to try and get Bjorn to lower his voice. “Yes I did. They all know, and please, keep your voice down. By now anyone who is nearby has either moved away or is trying to eavesdrop so they can find out what we found so funny.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What can we do?” Alaric said, trying to get back on track. “Whether we like it or not, we are a part of this army. Our only choice is to follow orders, and as of today our orders are to march and fight. So tomorrow morning we will go and help out the best we can so this nightmare ends.”

  “That isn’t what I meant. We are here. That is true. But do we give our best effort to help out, or do we stay back in an effort to stay alive? I could go either way. I want this to end probably as much as any of you do, but at the rate we are dropping I don’t think many, or even any of us will survive.”

  “Well that is a sobering thought.” Rickie said. “And I think that it is a true statement. There is a risk to either course of action. But my instincts are telling me that our best chance at survival would be to go all in, hold nothing back.”

  “I am with Rickie. We saw what we are up against. We don’t stand a chance versus the number of spiders that we are facing. Our small band had killed several hundred spiders, granted that was with the help of Jenkins and his men, but still hundreds. There are close to a thousand, or even 1500 people down here all fighting against these spiders. How many do you think they have been able to kill?” Tayla thought out loud.

  “My guess is several tens of thousands.” Alaric said. “I am thinking that we are easily killing 10 spiders for every one of ours who falls. We are making headway into the spider camp, but we still haven’t reached the motherload yet. I am willing to bet that we will come in contact with at least 1 type of spider we haven’t encountered yet. I am willing to bet that it will be one larger and tougher than we have come across yet. Rickie and Tayla are right, we don’t stand a chance versus those odds on our own.”

  Everyone’s eyes fell on Bjorn. “Yeah, like it or not, we are in this. We were forced into this army, and now we need this army to stay alive. Our best chances are if everyone survives. I think we give it our all.”

  “Alright, that's settled then. We give our total support to the army.”

  Bjorn stood from where he had been seated. “Now, unless there is anything else that you want to discuss. I am tired from brewing all day, and I am in great need of sleep. I will see you all in the morning.” He turned to go and then had a thought. “Oh did anyone retrieve my armor from the blacksmiths?”

  “Aye, I did. I stored it in your trunk. It should be good as new.”

  “Thank you, night everyone.” Bjorn’s retreating back was followed by a chorus of people wishing him a good night. Bjorn collapsed into his bed and very quickly fell asleep.

  The next morning they all awoke early and got suited up. Collectively the 5 friends moved through the camp heading to the mess as they still had a few minutes before they were required to assemble. Besides, it was on the way to their meeting point anyways. They each took a pair of biscuits that were piled high on a tray and began to eat the dry bread on their way to the gathering point.

  They gathered at the entrance to the cave the last battle was in. When they got there a large number of people had already gathered and started to form ranks of soldiers waiting for orders. Each line was composed of 10 people. With 8 completed lines already formed Bjorn and his companions made their way to the 9th mostly full line and filled up the last slots before starting a 10th. With a few minutes left before the designated meeting time they stood silently with everyone. To Bjorn’s left stood a female dwarf, and to his right Meira. To her right was Rickie, and directly behind them stood Alaric and Tayla.

  With roughly 4 feet in between each line one man and one woman walked up and down the rows slowly. The woman was an elf and she carried a clipboard. The man was a human and he was checking each person's name. When the elf found their name on the list they would nod and then move on to the next person in line. They were starting on the 8th line when their required meeting came up. By then another 6 people made their way into formation. Bringing their entire number to 100.

  The man stopped in front of Bjorn and said. “Name.” As he was looking at a scroll in his hands.

  “Bjorn Ward.” He replied. He added a sir after a few moments.

  Upon hearing the name he looked up at the man standing in front of him. Bjorn was slightly taller than Tommin but there was something about Tommin’s gaze. His gaze just bore right through Bjorn and he gave off an air of no nonsense. The gaze quickly faded as he took in the other 4 newcomers.

  “Ah you are the new ones assigned to my unit. Rest assured, we aren’t doing anything too rough today. We got assigned a watch detail today, so we will be watching over one of the two entrances further into this maze. It should be easy for today. It should give us time to get acquainted. Let me finish roll call and then we will be off.”

  True to his word it didn’t take long for him and his second to finish their rounds. Once they were and everyone was accounted for they took off heading down the tunnel that most of his friends had to be carried down the last time they passed it. Today was oddly gratifying as everyone was able to pass under their own power this time.