The next morning saw James up before the sun. He was already halfway putting on his armour when Jones entered, carrying some more armour.

"I found this suit of iron chain mail in the basement. It doesn't look like much, but it should restore fine with some oil and some kindness. It is in a long coat style so that you won't need Tassets or 'pants,'" Jones growled.

"I could not find any Greaves, but here are a pair of decent boots." Jones dropped the boots on the floor. Without anything to add, Jones turned and walked out.

"Looks like I will have to buy him some flowers and have make-up sex." James laughed.

"What's this now?" he heard from his parlour.

James chuckled as Veronika walked in, a night coat wrapped around her.

"Just commenting on the fact that I will have to make to Jones. I may have upset him a little by saying 'pants.'" James shared.

"True, I heard him grumbling from my room." Veronika came over to him and kissed him on the cheek. Her grey hair was pulled back in a bun, pinned in place with two wooden hairpins. The hairpins were rather fancy in design and intricately carved with a gold chain with red gems connected to the two pins.

"I love your hairpins," James said, "Are those rubies?".

"Thank you. Yes, they are. It is a garrot my father gave me a few years ago. I decided to use it to decorate my hair and had the rubies added."

"Doesn't seem strong enough to be a garrot," James mused. It did not strike him as an odd item for her to have in her hair for some reason.

"It is Enchanted for strength. Very unlikely to break. But I would never use it for killing someone. It is far too pretty."

"How practical," James laughed.

Grabbing the chainmail, he poured it into his backpack. He wrapped the Sword of Flames in a sheet and stuffed that down the side of the pack. The Wand of Flame Bolts went into a side pocket. He searched for the Bracers of the Shield but could not find them, figuring that Jones had sent them off for repairs.

"Are you going to be gone long?" Veronika asked from the bed. She sat with her legs tucked under her and her hands on her lap.

"Now that I know where I am going and what to expect, a day or two. If I can, I will be back tonight." James replied, looking through the armoire.

"What is with the extra armour?" Veronika asked as James took the Leather Jerkin he wore when stabbed with the dagger.

"The other adventures I am with don't have the best gear. I am hoping I can prop them up a bit. Betters my odds." James said with a smile.

"That makes sense. Don't get too carried away. Adventures can be worse than beggars in the street. Give money to one, and then you are surrounded by the needy with their hands out the next thing you know."

"Uhmm. Okay." James wasn't sure what to say to that.

Seeing that James was ready to go, Veronika got out of the bed and kissed James again before heading out of the room, "Be safe, James."

"See you soon." With that, James checked to make sure he had everything he needed. He cast Augment Ability I, increased his Intelligence and Augment Skill I, and increased his Astral Navigation by 5. With those two powers running, he stepped forward and into Astral Space.

&&&&& ASTRAL SPACE &&&&&

James stepped from his room into Astral Space with practiced ease. Looking around to make sure there were no surprises, James breathed a sigh of relief. He was aware that the Astral Anchor protected this location, but he was unsure how, how large of a space, or if there were ways to fool it. But he was relieved that there were no surprises ready to greet him. Focusing on the clearing outside of Milgarden, James started moving in that direction. James wanted to figure out how long it would take him to get to Milgarden, but he had no natural way of telling the time. The trip had just started when James thought to count the upticks to his PSI since they increased every minute. Thinking on it more, he wasn't sure if the upticks were every minute or every whole number. Deciding to count the seconds between uptick, James realized they were every forty-five seconds. Since the two Augmentation Powers now cost 20 PSI each, he would recover the spent PSI in thirty minutes. Unless he wanted to keep spending PSI, he decided to get to his destination as quickly as possible.

&&&&& REAL SPACE &&&&&

The clearing was the same as before, and James could see the smoke over the trees again. It was earlier in the day than when he arrived yesterday, but even that was hard to tell. James missed a watch.

Jame summoned Rocko, and they began their journey to town.

"How was your evening?" Rocko asked.

"It was nice. I am not used to those kinds of meals. I am more of a pork and beans kind of guy," James mused.

"I think it is more to do with the company than the meal," Rocko countered. "However, a beautiful setting can only help with the romance."

"Speaking from experience?" James asked.

"Yes, the first restaurant I took my second wife to was a place called the Hard Rock Cafe. A nice, quiet place, with an impressive menu."

James chuckled, "Did you share a scotch on the rocks?"

Rocko frowned, "I know you are trying to be funny, but please don't. You are just embarrassing yourself."

James and Rocko walked past the watchtower and noticed that the watch commander was leaning over the tower's edge, watching him. James waved to her, but she pulled her head back and out of sight. Shrugging, he continued to the tavern.

The tavern was the same as the day before. He was confident the same people occupied it and were seated at the same tables. James walked over and sat in the same chair he did the day before. The three young women were sitting at the same table in the same chairs. It was an extraordinary experience.

"I come bearing gifts," he said as he sat down. Doris gave a start as James approached the table from behind her.

"I didn't think you would show," Barbara said.

"Why not?" James asked.

"Doris thought we may have scared you off." Connie clarified.

"Na, I'm good." James held out the Leather Jerkin to Barbara. "Not sure if this is better than what you currently have, but it is my old armour, so you're welcome to it."

Barbara took the armour and looked at it, "Thanks." She stuck a finger the whole where the dagger had punctured and had not been repaired.

"Hence the reason I now wear scale mail," James grinned.

Grabbing the wand from a side pocket, James slid it across to Connie, who placed her hand over it and slid it over to herself. "This is a loan, but I figured you could get more use of it than I would."

"Thank you," Connie said, looking around to ensure no one noticed.

Lastly, he poured the chainmail of the backpack onto the floor. It made a god awful racket, but in the end, a large pile of rusty iron chainmail sat on the floor. James had analyzed it earlier and realized that the rust was pretty new, and it was still Fair quality. "This should be back in shape with a little TLC. Don't let the rust full you. It is in good condition and well over half durability."

Doris looked at the pile of armour as expressions warred across her face. "Just say thank you, Doris," Barbara encouraged her.

"What does TLC mean," Doris said instead.

"Tender Loving Care," James explained with a smile.

Doris nodded, "I can do that. Thank you. This should be worth about twenty gold. I can give you eighteen for it. Since I have to clean it up."

James agreed, "Sure, and you pay for my breakfast."

Doris smiled, "Done."

Barbara and Doris went to another room to put on their armour. When they came out, James noticed that Barbara was wearing the same armour and that Doris was wearing both.

Barbara sat down and shrugged, "The armour doesn't fit me. And Doris found that the chain was a bit bulky. So, we figured that the Leather Jerkin under the Iron chain mail would work."

James looked to Doris, "And does it?"

"Still a bit loose, but it should suffice. I may have to have it altered to fit properly," she concluded.

The walk to the caves was a bit slower than the previous day. James had to loosen the scale mail armour quite a bit since he had three plates worth of food. He even used the Power Augment Attribute I to increase his Endurance to help digest the food faster. Or, at least, ward off the discomfort.

"Oh," he groaned.

"That will teach you to eat three silver worth of food!" Doris snapped.

"But it was sooo good," James said, holding his stomach. "Who can say no to bacon."

Connie just laughed and poked James in his extended stomach with her finger. Of course, it didn't do much, considering he was wearing scale mail, but the pressure was enough to cause James to flinch.

"If I vomit, I am aiming your way," warned her. Barbara just laughed as Connie moved away from him.

Now that they were out of town, James reached into his backpack and pulled out the Sword of Flames. It was still wrapped in the sheet, and James was careful not to touch the handle as he handed it to Doris, "Here, try this."

Doris unwrapped the blade. As soon as the sheet fell off, a blue flame ran down the blade's edge and ignited the sword.

"Oh, flamey," Connie observed.

"Nice," Barbara chimed in.

"Not sure about this, James. Won't it mess with our Darkvision?" Doris asked.

James looked to Rocko for the answer to that. He remembered when he was fighting the skeleton. The sword lit up the area, but he didn't remember affecting his Darkvision.

"There may be a momentary loss of Darkvision when the blade is first to lite up, but it will work fine after that. The issue is that everyone will notice you." Rocko stated, trudging alone beside James.

"Your Darkvision should be fine. The issue is that you will be a target because of it." James passed on Rocko's information.

"Good," Doris said, "If they are focused on me, they are not focused on my sisters." Doris removed her sword and put it in her backpack and the sheet. The new blade went on her hip.

James nodded like that made perfect sense.

"James," Connie started, "Now that we are alone, I wanted to ask. Where did you go when you left yesterday? And how?"

"Careful, James," Rocko warned.

"It's ... complicated." James failed to explain. The question did get Doris and Barbara to look up.

"Still don't trust us?" Barbara asked with a grin.

James paused before answering, "No. Sorry. But knowing you for one day will not have me reveal all my secrets."

"Good," Doris grunted from the edge of the conversation.

Connie grimaced at Doris, "My sister means that it is good that you are cautious. We have stories and legends about how Champions treat others. Especially other Champions."

James looked over at Connie, "I have heard some stories too. I am surprised you even want to still be in a Party with me."

"That was a topic for debate last night," Connie conceded. "Doris was against, but Barbara and I were fore."

Doris turned her head sharply at Connie and scowled. Connie looked back at her and shrugged. James was sure they were talking in their way.

"I am glad you didn't decide to kill me," James groaned, his stomach protesting.

"The day is still young," Rocko mumbled.

The rest of the trip to the caves was uneventful. James took a moment to step into the Astral Space and summon his Glrick Sword, which cost him a 100 Mana. When he returned, Barbara and Doris were interested in checking out his sword. James was pretty much ready to go using the Powers Augment Attribute I for Strength and Augment Skill I to increase Melee - Glrick Sword.

"We agreed that we will skip the first six caves?" Connie asked as she invited everyone to the Party. Everyone nodded as they focused on accepting the invitation.

"Good, same plan as yesterday. And no dying." Barbara chirped.