The next three days passed in a blur. Their time was split in between assignments, getting familiar with their new unit, and working on their own personal projects. They each had their own skills and were able to help out where they were needed in camp. Bjorn worked with Skarit to make a poison that would work on the spiders. Meira spent her free time in the hospital learning more about healing. Alaric was a passable smith so he spent his time with the blacksmiths helping out. Rickie was still a surprisingly good cook, so he spent his time in the mess helping provide food. Which left Tayla, she was actually hired by Gram and he used her skills to scout in camp and find out what the general mood of the army was.

  Two days after they were assigned to their unit the army had made a move again. The army was divided into a 70% and a 30% split. During the assault the 30% was left behind to protect their claimed ground and make sure that the spiders weren’t able to reclaim. The remaining 70% attacked into another cavern.

  The party's new unit was sent in with the 70% and it was rather uneventful. The chamber they attacked seemed to be a birthing chamber and as such there were thousands of eggs that needed to be squished. The spiders didn’t give up easily though, they met with one of the most fierce defenses that they had to put up with so far. With the majority of the spell casters, one of which was actually Duke Dornan himself. It didn’t take them long to make short work of the defensive force and push into the room.

  On that day Bjorn learned why professed mages were to be feared. Duke Dornan was a force of nature. The magic he wielded was something to behold on their own. The Duke cast spells from two different schools that Bjorn could tell. One of which was light magic, the other was earth magic. He cast multiple wide area spells that both buffed his forces and debuffed the spiders. After everyone had insane buffs Dornan went to work with his earth magic. He cast stone shaping spells that swallowed dozens of spiders whole, he cast spells that flung boulders like an earth bended, and he created walls, sectioning off whole areas of the cavern for them to fight later.

  Needless to say it didn’t take them long to make it to the other side of the cavern and set up a defensive area to stop the spiders from taking back the room. During the entire combat Bjorn and his cohort was positioned in one of the wings of the army and didn’t see the fiercest part of the battle.

  The true fun began after they killed off most of the spiders. As the majority of the army pushed straight through the room they didn’t worry about truly clearing the chamber. They cut off the reinforcements that the spiders would send. Then they sent out parties to sweep and clear the various small rooms that branched off of the main chamber. The entire chamber was once a small underground settlement which had been abandoned for who knows how long.

  Each of the small chambers was usually filled to the brim with spider eggs. What made it fun was that the spiders had tons of areas for them to hide and ambush the attackers. And as they found out, most of the chamber had been booby trapped. Anyone with the trap find skill had their work cut out for them, Bjorn included. He had been tasked with not fighting at all but to keep his eyes open and look for traps as they did sweep and clears.

  Bjorn would travel near the front of his group and then stop everyone when he spotted a trap. His task from there would be to disarm it the best he could. Sometimes it was quick and easy to disarm the trap without setting it off, other times it took hours. Even when it took hours his squad never lost patients with him, as they had come to learn to trust him. Over the last day he had never failed to disarm or spot a trap so far.

  Oftentimes when he was in the middle of disarming the traps small groups of spiders would attack, usually with little success. They would strike like lightning and try to retreat back into the shadows. It was the type of attack that they learned not to follow. They learned thanks to Bjorn that most of the time the spider's retreat was there to try and lure them directly into a trap. Oftentimes one that Bjorn hadn’t noticed yet.

  Bjorn’s secret to his success wasn’t actually his trap finding skill, it was actually his alchemy. When they found out they would have to be doing sweep and clear missions Rickie had pulled Bjorn aside and handed him two potions. Upon closer inspection it was actually the danger sense potion he had brewed for Rickie, and the other one was the one he brewed for Chase.

  He tried to thank Rickie for the potion but the monster of a chocolate drop raised his hands. “You will make better use out of them than I ever could.” And he was right. With Rickie’s potion Bjorn had spotted and disarmed close to 15 traps over the last 8 hours.

  The real satisfying part of their job was whenever they came upon a room full of spider eggs. The small round clear eggs were often held in place on the wall or ceiling or ground by thick strands of spider silk. Each time they came upon the room the party had a field day stomping or smashing the eggs. Thick mucus-like liquid came pouring out of each egg that they popped but the entire process was just so satisfying, they didn’t care when they got covered in it. Each time they destroyed an egg the embryo inside would often die as well. There were a few times where the small spider escaped and didn’t get crushed when the egg popped. They then would try to bite the nearest thing to it .

  After the most recent room they got replaced by a new squad and they made their way back to the main army. “Thank the gods for Duke Dornan.” Tommin said, his voice carried over the low din of those talking. Most of the army was talking in a low whisper, not Tommin. “That assault would have been costly without him. Did you see that buff? Plus 20% to our armor, plus 15% to all damage sources. It is easy to see how he got his position watching over Blackrock Bay. He is one powerful mother.”

  Bjorn and his 14 other squad members made their way over to Tommin’s voice. It had been Alaric and him in the squad with 13 others of Tommin’s 99. Tayla and Rickie and 13 others were the squad that relieved Bjorn and his squad. Meira had Tommin’s leave to go back to the field hospital and help heal the wounded from the battle. Although Tayla was a rogue, she wasn’t really any good at trap disarming. So they found someone who had the skill and paired them with her. Together she was skilled at spotting traps, then she would point it out to the gnome and then she would disable them.

  Their squad had been positioned near the back of the defensive line leading back to their camp. With the sheer numbers in the army something bad would have had to happen for them to be needed, so everyone was at ease sitting around in small groups. When they approached Tommin saw the sweep and clear squad and got to his feet and met them in the middle.

  “Jamison, report.” Tommin said to one of his corporals who had been in charge of the entire group.

  “Sir, we were quite effective. Our squad was able to clear a total of 9 rooms, we were sneak attacked a total of 11 times and outright attacked 3. No casualties or even major injuries to report. That was all thanks to Bjorn sir, he was surprisingly adept at spotting traps and disarming them. If it wasn’t for his efforts I have no doubts that we would have met with some troubles or even had casualties, sir.”

  Tommin gave Bjorn an assessing look. “Good job today Bjorn. From the reports that I have been getting it, your unit was the only one to not have any losses. Is what Jamison said true?”

  “I am not entirely sure if I am the reason for our success, but I do know for a fact that I have been fortunate and have developed a set of skills which have been very useful in keeping everyone alive today. Sir.” Bjorn added that last bit almost as if it was an afterthought.

  “Very well, you are dismissed. You all look like you could use a rest and I think you all have earned it.” Tommin’s words brought a smile to many faces and they all started to turn heading back to camp for a rest. All of his unit except for Bjorn he stayed directly in front of Tommin.

  Tommin paused and looked Bjorn up and down. “That includes you, you may head back to camp to rest.” When Bjorn didn’t make a move he got a puzzled look. “What is it?”

  “I don’t need a rest, I can stay and help out. I would rather do so.”

  A slight frown crossed Tommin’s face. “You need rest just like the rest, you have done well today. There is no need for you to push yourself and potentially endanger yourself.”

  Bjorn just shook his head. “That is not it, sergeant. During my travels I was fortunate enough to come across a magical item.” He pointed to where his belt sat on his waist. “This is what is known as a belt of sustenance and as such I need less food, water, and sleep to survive. I don’t need to rest because of this belt. I still can help out and I think my skills will help keep some of our troops alive. So I would like to stay and help out the best I can.” Bjorn didn’t tell him the other reason why he wanted to stay. During the exploration it was actually doing wonders for his skill growth, he was training skills that he hadn't had much chance to train since he came to the Eld. He didn’t want to let all of that nice skill growth go to waste.

  Tommin once again gave Bjorn an accessing look. “Very well. You may stay and help. After all you know your own capabilities and limits better than anyone. But I don’t want you to take any chances that might lead to your injury or death, or anyone else's for that matter. I will assign another exploration group to be under your watch, you won’t be in charge, but they should listen to you. Make us all proud.”

  Bjorn nodded while Tommin gathered up another cohort of soldiers under his command and began assigning roles in the expedition. As he watched Alaric walked up slowly to him. “You can go take a rest.” Bjorn said.

  “Like hell I am going to sit around while I let a little pipsqueak like yourself risk your life. Someone has to watch your back. Besides, if I let you go out on your own, Meira would kill me for leaving you alone.” Before Meira had left for the field hospital she told the other 4 that if she heard of any one of them doing anything stupid like going on a mission without one of the others in their group, she would personally see that they ended up dead.

  Bjorn let out a little chuckle. “You know she said that mainly to get us to take care of ourselves.”

  “No, she said that for your sake. What she meant was if any of us let you go on a mission by yourself she would hang us by our intestines. She was telling us to not let you out of our sight.”

  Bjorn gave Alaric a sidelong glance. “You exaggerate.”

  “If only I was. Look sharp, Tommin is coming back.”

  Tommin walked over with 14 men in tow. “Alaric, you were dismissed, you can go back to camp.”

  “I'm sorry, but I have higher orders to keep Bjorn here safe, besides I’ll just stick to him like a bodyguard and let the others do the fighting. It won't hurt to have an extra set of hands on this mission regardless.”

  After a moment of deliberation. Tommin nodded. “I commend you watching out for one of your own. Be careful out there, both of you. I have grown rather fond of your surprising competence. I am used to having the people that they draft being next to useless.”

  Bjorn and Alaric both gave a half hearted salute. “Thank you sir.”

  With that the pair joined up with the rest of their little squad and returned to the job of clearing out the remaining spiders and securing the room their army just conquered. It took the rest of the day to clear out the remaining spiders. As the afternoon turned to evening the attacks by the spider menace slowly stopped, and by evening they had a claim to wiping out the spiders and securing the large chamber they just took.

  In the second to last chamber they cleared something caught Bjorn’s eye but he let it slide. There was a small alcove set into the stone that didn’t look quite right. After a quick inspection he realized it likely had a false bottom. Instead of calling attention to it he made a mental note to come back and see what it was all about. Not that he didn’t trust his new allies, just that if there was some spoils then he wanted to see if he could keep it for himself. He knew that they all agreed to give their full devotion to the army, but there wasn’t anything that they agreed to on loot.

  Once they finished clearing the last room their task was done. They and many other teams had cleared out the small ruins of the town that had once been here. Their unit was done and was going to head back to report.

  “You guys go on ahead, I will be right behind you. My boot lace broke and I’m just going to replace it real quick.” Bjorn told them. He could see on their faces that they didn’t like leaving one of their own behind, especially one who had done such a good job keeping everyone safe.

  Alaric apparently could see it too. “Don’t worry, I'll keep an eye on him. We will be fine, go on ahead, we will catch up.” Alaric’s words were enough to sway the majority and they all set out leaving Bjorn and Alaric behind.

  “Stand up you look like a fool down there fumbling with your perfectly fine bootlace. What was that all about?”

  Bjorn stood with a smile. “I noticed something I want you to look at, come on.” Bjorn led him back to the room they had just cleared and then pointed out the possible false bottom to Alaric.

  Alaric took one look at the false bottom and smiled. “Good eye. It’s a little hidey hole. Let’s see what is hidden inside.” Alaric took a pair of small metal hooks from a pouch on his waist and put the hooks against the wall so that the metal was laying flat against it. He slowly pushed the hooks down until they came in contact with the bottom of the stone. Carefully he continued to apply pressure and the hooks began to slide downwards, sliding into a barely visible gab.

  Once the hooks had sunk half of their length they stopped moving. He then slowly carefully began to twist them. Once the hooks had rotated a solid 90 degrees he stopped and gestured for Bjorn to grab one of the two hooks. Carefully both of the men pulled upwards with the stone hooks and the stone slab that covered the bottom of the alcove began to slide free.

  Inside there were a few different items. There were two rings, a bracelet, a couple leather pouches, and finally a rolled up scroll. Not wanting to chance their finding being found, Bjorn quickly scooped up both the rings and the bracelet and stored it in his portable pocket. Alaric then started to hand Bjorn the leather pouches without opening them. Finally he handed over the scroll.

  Right before they were going to drop the stone back into place Bjorn frowned and made Alaric pause. With a frown he looked at something else that didn’t look quite right. Taking his index finger he pushed a small stone that looked like it just didn’t quite belong. The stone sank briefly and there was an audible click. When the click sounded a small poof of dust became airborne as another false bottom popped open. Grabbing it with two hands he pried it upward and the bottom hinged upwards.

  Inside there were 5 items. Two books, two vials, and a small bag with a small gemstone on top of it. Bjorn began to quickly add the items to his portable pocket. When he tried to add the bag though, a force stopped him. Confused, he tried again and again an invisible force stopped him from adding the bag. Confused, he used Identify on the bag.

  Ho-ly sh-it. It finally happened. They got an upgrade to their portable pocket. And to top it off it was sweet. Bjorn’s back ached at the thought of reducing the weight of his carried items by 80%. Even though his carry limit was significantly higher than what he did carry in the portable pocket. He recently learned that he had to be careful with what he stored in it. Currently it was only 2/3rds full because it was starting to become uncomfortable to wear. This new bag solved every single one of his current issues with the portable pocket.

  “What is it?” Alaric asked.

  “A bag of holding. And a high quality one by the looks of it.”

  Alaric’s jaw dropped as he stared at the nondescript bag in his hand. He had heard of the usefulness and utility of a bag of holding but he had never seen one in person. A bag of holding is the type of item that is talked about in legends but never actually obtained. Everyone knows of someone who is related to someone who talked to someone who owned a bag of holding once. But rarely has someone actually been the one to hold it.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “What do we do with it?”

  “I don’t know. We have to do something with it though.”

  “What was the gem that was on the bag?”

  “I think it is how you soul bind the bag to yourself. When I soul bound my portable pocket to myself the lady who sold it to me somehow pulled a white gem that looked almost the same from her arm. When I absorbed the stone the portable pocket became soul bound to me and no one else could use it.”

  “Alright, we need to catch up. So I will keep the bag of holding on my belt for now, and you take the gem. When we meet back up with the group we can discuss what we want to do.” Alaric turned to walk away. “Oh, don’t say anything about it to Rickie, I trust the man, but he is still new to the group.”

  Bjorn gave him a slightly judgmental look.

  “Oh don’t give me that. I think you don’t understand how valuable this item is. Wars have been fought over items less magical than this bag.”

  “Alright, I will follow your lead. Let's get going.”

  The pair took off at a speed just below a sprint. Bjorn marveled at the capabilities of his magically enhanced body. Before back on earth he hadn’t even been able to sprint as fast as he and Alaric were traveling. Yet they both were able to run without issue, through semi complex terrain.

  It didn’t take them long to catch up with the rest of their squad. They fell in step with them and blended seamlessly in with the group, them none the wiser to the pilfering that just happened. Nor were they aware of the unbound powerful magical item that found its way amongst them.

  After they regrouped with Tommin, Bjorn and Alaric decided to finally take Tommin's orders and go rest at the camp. The area that they were assigned was fully cleared anyways, and the rest of the army was almost done with their assigned areas. The entire way back to their tent Bjorn and Alaric were both giddy like little school boys. It was hard to hide their excitement.

  As they drew near to the tent they had to hide their excitement and visibly calm down. When they entered they found Tayla and Rickie both sitting on their cots talking easily. “We found some loot.” Was the first thing Bjorn said when they entered in a hushed tone.

  Tayla looked up with greed in her eyes, while Rickie turned around looking nonplussed. “What is it?” Tayla asked.

  Bjorn was just about to start talking about it when Alaric cut him off. “I think it would be best if we had Meira here as well when we show it off. Any idea when she will come back from the field hospital?”

  “Not a clue. I can go see if I can find her.” Tayla said excitedly.

  Rickie shook his head. “No, let her do her work, she will come back eventually. She is currently saving lives, we can’t take her away from that just because we are greedy. No, it is better for us to wait for her to come back on her own.”

  Tayla’s excitement visibly faded, and faded fast. “I hate waiting. Spoil sport.”

  Alaric just shrugged his shoulders. Tayla stood from where she sat and glumly walked out of their tent.

  “Good job. I think I would have had a hard time telling her no.” Bjorn said.

  “Eh, it's good for her.” Rickie said with a yawn. “Man clearing out those spiders sure got me tired. I think I am going to head to bed.” He started to lay down. “A word of advice to the both of you. You should go clean up before you go to bed. You both are covered in gunk. I don't even want to know what it is, and it smells.”

  In his excitement Bjorn forgot his gore covered state. Taking Rickie up on his advice he and Alaric went to a rough communal bath that had been set up and started to strip out of their armor. As the layers came off the true foulness of their stench was revealed. Thankful for the reminded Bjorn and Alaric unabashedly stripped out of their dirty clothes leaving them in a pile and started to clean themselves from a large basin of water.

  The bath was unisex, and with the battle that just took place there were dozens of people of both sexes who were unabashedly stripping down and washing their naked bodies. In a testament to the stresses of the day no one looked around, stared, or even flirted with the opposite sex.

  They had set up the bath in a patch of gravel that they found in the middle of the cave. The bathers would take water from one of three large stone basins that had been set up around the patch of gravel. They would then use the water from the basin and scrub down their bodies with large bars of soap. The soap was provided by the army, as they wanted everyone to be clean and less prone to disease. The soapy dirty water would fall down the bodies and land on the gravel where it would quickly sink away leaving the area surprisingly dry. Once they were finished washing themselves they used the water to clean the grime off of their armor.

  Once clean Bjorn and Alaric got dressed in a set of spare clothes and took their dirty ones to the launders to be washed, folded, and then ready for anyone who needed to come and take them. After dropping off their clothes they had one final task to do. They took their weapons and armor to the blacksmiths to have them worked on and fixed up.

  After finishing all of their mundane tasks they headed back to the tent. The entire process took surprisingly long, and it was getting late. Inside the tent they found Rickie and Tayla both asleep on a cot. With no Meira yet they decided to go to sleep. After they exchanged knowing glances Bjorn pulled out the small white gemstone and cupped it in his hand clenching it tight he laid down. Alaric took the bag of holding and clutched it tight using it as a pillow.

  In the morning Bjorn awoke groggily to the sound of hushed tones. Blearily he opened his eyes and looked around. Tayla, Meira, and Alaric sat in a huddled circle with their heads together, Rickie was nowhere in sight.

  “Good morning.” Bjorn said in a dry scratchy tone. All three heads turned towards him as he sat up. “Did I miss anything good?”

  “It’s about damn time you woke up. Why did you have to be so tired? Never mind that. What is the loot?” Tayla said excitedly. “Alaric wouldn’t tell us.”

  “First off, where is Rickie?” Bjorn said through a yawn.

  “He is at the mess. He got tired of waiting for you to wake up, and I wouldn’t let him wake you up. So he went there to do a little cooking. He asked us to come and get him when you wake up so we can go over everything.” Meira said.

  Tayla started to stand up as if she was going to sprint out to get Rickie. Her behavior reminded Bjorn of his nieces and nephews on Christmas morning. Alaric put out his hand motioning her to stop. “We can go get him in a minute, but we have something important we need to discuss first.”

  Grumbling, Tayla sat back down. Bjorn joined them in their small circle. Alaric had the bag of holding clutched under one arm. Grabbing it with his left hand he held it out for one of the girls to take. Confused, Meira gingerly took it out of Alaric’s hands. “What’s this? She asked.

  “That.” Alaric said. “Is a bag of holding.”

  The silence was deafening as the words that Alaric spoke sunk into the girls. “I am sorry. What?” Tayla was the first one to break the silence.

  “When we were searching yesterday I noticed a small alcove that didn’t look quite right. When we had a little alone time Alaric and I went back and we found a grouping of items that we are going to discuss soon. When we were about to leave I got an odd feeling and pushed a stone. Inside were 4 items. Two books, a vial, and the bag of holding.”

  “Are you sure it is a bag of holding?” Meira asked.

  “Yes, we are sure.” Alaric replied. “Bjorn used his identify ability on it, and so far he hasn’t been wrong yet. So the question is, who do we bind it to?"

  “The obvious answer is Bjorn. He was the one to find it, it should be his.” Tayla said immediately.

  Bjorn shook his head. “I already have a portable pocket, I don’t need the bag of holding.”

  “You’re right Tayla, it should go to Bjorn. He is already our pack mule, why not make him carry more. By the way, do you know how much it reduces the weight?”

  “80%.”

  “80?!” Tayla and Meira both exclaimed simultaneously. “What was its rarity?”

  “Legendary.” Alaric said.

  “I think you made the right choice to not include Rickie in this.” Meira said solemnly. “I like him, and I think we can trust him. But there are many people out there who would kill us for such an item.”

  “Hell I am thinking about killing you all for this item.” Tayla cut in.

  Meira gave Tayla a rather rude stare. “As I was saying. There have been wars fought over a magic item such as this. Although I trust Rickie, there is no need to put such a strain on our friendship so early.”

  “That was our thinking as well. I am with both of you. I think we should give it to Bjorn. He is the entire reason we are having this conversation right now anyways.”

  Bjorn was about to protest when Meira cut him off. “Just shut up and accept it, you dault. You should be the one to soul bind it to yourself. You are the one who deserves it.”

  Her words stopped the objection in its tracks. “Fine, if you guys agree I should have it then I will take it, but I think one of you should have the portable pocket in my stead.”

  “That's fair. I vote it should be Tayla who gets it. She has the stickiest fingers, and having a way for her to quickly and discreetly hide what she takes would be a boon.” Alaric said.

  “Um excuse you mister. I might be a professed rogue but I am not a thief. When have you ever seen me steal something?”

  “That apple in Vanta.” Meira said.

  “I-”

  “That extra deck of cards that you then used to cheat in your game with Rickie and our neighbors.”

  “Hey, that's not fair.” Tayla exclaimed weakly.

  “What about that extra bottle of ink when we were talking to the administration right before we were assigned this tent,” Bjorn finished. With him being the final one to point something out Tayla got a defeated look on her face.

  She was quiet for a few moments before softly she said. “But I don’t trust myself with such an expensive item.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Alaric asked.

  “I mean, I haven’t had much my entire life. That bag.” Tayla pointed at the portable pocket attached to Bjorn’s waist. “Is worth more than I have probably touched in my entire life. I don’t trust myself with something like that. I don’t want it. I won’t take it.”

  “Alright, then that leaves me and Alaric.” Meira looked at Alaric. “You should have it.” She said without hesitation.

  “And why do you think that?”

  “Because besides Bjorn you carry most of our gear. If you were able to store more because of the portable pocket, you should be able to respond faster to a fight. We want you to be free anyways as you are our main frontline tank. This is purely selfish. If you have the bag it will make it easier for you to keep all of us alive. And to top it off you have the greatest strength stat out of all of us. Except for Rickie of course, but I don’t think it should be him. If we give him the portable pocket, it will bring up some difficult conversations as to why. No it should be you.”

  Alaric sighed. “Fine, I will take the portable pocket. How do we go about doing this transfer?”

  “Well when we were down in the sewer the trader focused for a moment and a white gem materialized out of her forearm. So I assume I have to do something specific. But before I do anything, I don’t know what happens to the items that are within the bag when ownership is transferred.”

  Tayla thought for a second. “Better safe than sorry, you should take everything out. It would rather suck if all of your worldly possessions disappeared because we didn’t know how the magic worked.”

  “Alright.” Bjorn stood up from where he sat and walked over to his trunk and opened the lid, and he began to empty the sack. And then he kept going. And then it just kept coming. For the first time since he got the portable pocket it was empty. Before him stood a small mound of items that he had collected over the last year since he got the pocket. It was an impressive hall, and it almost made him look like a hoarder. The pile was large enough that it didn’t fit fully into the trunk. The interior was completely filled, and then it mounded up over the trunk, and then it spilled over the sides and onto the floor.

  “Think you have enough shit?” Alaric asked.

  “Shut it.”

  Once the bag was completely empty he walked back over to where Alaric sat and started digging through his menus. After a few minutes he had no clue where to go or what to do. In frustration he closed all of them, and sat there with an annoyed look on his face.

  In a last ditch effort he placed one hand on the portable pocket and just willed it. A prompted appeared in front of his vision.

  You are about to relinquish ownership over the item: Portable Pocket. Would you like to do so? Yes/No.

  Mentally he clicked no and then tried again this time focusing on Alaric.

  Would you like to transfer ownership over your item: Portable Pocket? Ownership of said item will transfer to Alaric Stonefist. Would you like to do so? Yes/No.

  This time he mentally clicked ‘Yes’ and a tingling sensation engulfed his left forearm. As he watched, a thin layer of white material pushed its way through his skin. The layer started to condense into a similar small white gemstone. Once it finished forming the gemstone shot from his arm and slammed into Alaric’s where the stone then sank into his forearm. Once the gemstone left Bjorn’s body the small inventory icon that he had become all too familiar with disappeared leaving nothing in its stead.

  After the gemstone sank fully into Alaric’s arm he gleefully began to take items and put them into the bag, and then retrieve them. Doing the exact same thing that Bjorn did when he first claimed ownership over the portable pocket.

  Taking the gemstone in his hand that was the ownership gem for the bag of holding Bjorn made a mental command similar to the one he just finished doing. Another prompt appeared.

  You are about to claim ownership over: bag of holding. Would you like to do so? Yes/No.

  He would have to be a fool to click no. So of course he clicked yes. When he clicked yes another prompt appeared and he immediately started to second guess his decision.

  Are you sure? Yes/No.

  Well he had come this far. Yes. The gemstone in his palm sank into his skin and after a few seconds had disappeared completely. And yet again another prompt appeared.

  Know this. You have created a greater soul binding with a magical soul bound item: Bag of holding. While this item is soul bound to you no one else is able to use it or access its contents. This binding is stronger than most soul bindings, as such even after you die, if you haven’t relinquished ownership over this item its contents shall remain inaccessible.

  Well the new prompt answered a question that had been sitting at the back of Bjorn’s mind for a while now. That question was, what would happen to the contents of his portable pocket when he died. It was good to know that if he had died his party would still be able to access the contents of his bag. Not the case anymore.

  With the new bag soul bound to him, his all too familiar inventory icon appeared in the corner of his vision again. He opened it and his jaw dropped. Previously his portable pocket had an inventory space of 20 by 7. His new bag had a space of 60 by 60. By his calculations the bag of holding was over 25 times larger in its ability to store and preserve items.

  Another major change was at the top of the inventory there were 4 slots. Each slot was marked by a coin of different metals. Each coin was a perfect match for the copper, silver, and gold coins. The last coin was one he hadn’t ever seen before, but if d&d had ever taught him something it was a platinum coin. Fuck electrum.

  The last major thing that surprised Bjorn was that the bag wasn’t entirely empty. Inside the bag there were 7 more books each taking up a 2 by 1 slot. A small chest that took up a 2 by 2 slot. And finally another book that was marked by a less ornate icon, and was in the corner away from all the rest.

  Curious Bjorn pulled that book out of his inventory. It was a small worn leather bound book with worn fingerprints on multiple spots running down the spine. It was made out of a soft black leather. Opening up to the first page there was writing scrawled in elegant penmanship.

  “The 13th of Idas. 19532

  Today my small company and I stumbled upon a gargantuan black stone with rivers running through the middle of it. We decided to investigate the barren rock. We found down near the water line, a cave entrance. As it was getting dark we decided to use the cave as shelter for the night.”

  Not entirely sure, but it seemed like a journal of how Blackrock Bay was founded. Tucking it away Bjorn swore he would read more into it later, but for now he had a job to do. Namely it was to sort his acquired worldly possessions. He started throwing items into the bag as fast as he could with little care as to sorting what he put away. Bjorn marveled at the weight reducing properties of the bag. Before when he had everything stored in the portable pocket he still had to feel the over 50 lbs. weighing down on his hip. Even though it was well within his carrying capacity it was still enough to affect his movements.

  After everything was stored he sat back down. Alaric appeared to have done the same thing as Bjorn and stored everything that he had been carrying in his pack.

  “Alright, is it finally time we go through the rest of the items we found?” Alaric asked.

  “I think so.” Bjorn replied.

  Giddy with excitement Tayla stood. “I will go retrieve Rickie. Don’t start without me.” Then she shot away from where she stood rocketing out of the tent.

  “Don’t worry we won't!” Meira called after her fleeing back.

  After she was well and truly gone Bjorn turned to the other two. “So I found out that items can be stored in the bag of holding when ownership is transferred. I assume it is the same with the portable pocket.”

  “Oh?” Meira asked. “And how exactly did you find that out?”

  “There were 7 books that filled slots inside the bag of holding when I got ownership of it. 6 of which have rather ornate covers, and one that looks to be a journal of sorts. There was also a small chest.” Bjorn emphasized it by pulling out the small lockbox.

  It was made out of a tough and sturdy wood that Bjorn didn’t recognize, it had a smoky color to its wood. The metal banding holding the wood in place was made out of a milky white metal. There was a simple lock on the front made out of the same milky white metal.

  Alaric let out a low whistle. “Even though I don’t recognize the wood, that metal is moonstone. It is a somewhat rare metal and is tougher than high steel. It is quite valuable in and of itself. I wonder what is inside. If you don’t mind.” He held out his hands.

  Bjorn passed the chest over. Alaric gently set it down and brought his eye level with the lock on the front of the chest. After a few seconds of looking he nodded his head and sat up. “Well it isn’t locked, so should we see what is inside?”

  Meira and Bjorn crowded around and peered over Alaric's shoulder. The dwarf placed one hand on the bottom of the chest and one on the lid. With little effort the lid slid open and a glint of light caught their eye. Inside the chest sat 5 gemstones. Each one the size of Bjorn’s fingernail. There were two green ones, one blue, one red, one clear, and one purple stone.

  Not letting the others take a chance to properly inspect it Alaric snapped the lid to the lockbox closed and handed it to Bjorn. “Put that away, we can inspect it later, but for now let's wait for Rickie and Tayla to get back.”

  Nodding at the wisdom he put the lockbox away and then took a seat, deciding it was best to wait for Rickie to join them. They didn’t have to wait long for Tayla to make it back rather excitedly dragging Rickie along behind her. He was loudly complaining the entire time.

  “Look you little twerp. I know you are excited but it waited last night, it can wait a little longer. Oh hey everyone, good morning Bjorn. Alright let’s see what we got.” Rickie finally let Tayla pull him and he took a seat on one of the cots right across from where Bjorn and Meira were sitting. Tayla and Rickie right across from them and Alaric sitting in a chair.

  Bjorn slowly and carefully started to pull the Items out one by one and lay them out before everyone.