The books had no distinctive markings on their cover and the scroll was obviously a magical one that would activate if he broke the seal on it. As for the rolled up leather; it turned out to be at tool holder that was filled with wood carving awls, knives and the like. Not wanting to damage anything with unnecessary prying, he cast charlatan’s wisdom on everything.

{Apprentice Scribe’s Tome}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Skill book}

{Use: 2/3}

{Apprentice Woodcarver’s Tome}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Skill book}

{Use: 2/3}

{Woodcarver’s Toolset}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Greater enchantments: 1}

{Durability: 87/100}

{Imbue Object}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Spell Scroll}

{When used, any ordinary object touched by the scroll will gain the ‘radiant’ trait.}

“I think we hit the jackpot,” Regis said loud enough for his companion to hear. “I just found a pair of actual skill books.”

“Are you serious?” Fabien hurried over to see what was all the fuss about. “What are they for?”

“One’s supposed to be a novice scribe book while the other one is a novice woodworker tome. There’s even a set of tools for woodworking.”

“I’m not sure about the woodworking stuff, but that scribe skill book is definitely going to come in handy.”

“We’ll see if anyone wants to learn either of these once the gang is back together.”

“What’s the scroll for?” The infernal youth questioned his companion while grabbing the rolled up parchment.

“It’s supposed to imbue an item with the ‘radiant’ trait.”

“Interesting,” Fabien hummed. “I guess the shop owner wanted to use it in order to make one of his carvings more expensive by adding a faint glowing effect to it. Either way; it’s ours now. Wanna take a look at the crates? There might be something in there you could use.”

Regis nodded as he stuffed the books and the tool set into his knapsack, leaving the scroll for Fabien as the infernal young man seemed to be quite fond of it. His friend seemed to have been right about the crates. When the dark elf stepped next to the first one to take a look, he found several organised stacks of empty parchments inside. He picked up one to have a closer look at it, finding both its colour and texture pleasant. Knowing that looks can be deceiving, he cast charlatan’s wisdom on it to get the better understanding of the item.

{Treated Parchment}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Scribe/Spell-scribe component}

“These can be used to make spell scrolls.” He claimed before checking out the other crates.

Most of them had lower quality parchment and orderly packed cheap ink filling them with one of the smaller boxes holding dozens of brass tipped quills. A cursory check later he identified them with charlatan’s wisdom, letting out a somewhat content sigh as the floating words appeared above the ink vial and quill he held.

{All-purpose Alchemical Ink}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Scribe/Spell-scribe component}

{Bronze Tipped Quill}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Scribe/Spell-scribe tool}

“These aren’t too bad either,” he said. “Although I haven’t unlocked the scribe branch of my class yet, I’m pretty sure I’m going to need these. If for nothing else, then to practice or as an ingredient for something.”

“Are we going to take these with us then?” Fabien drew the obvious conclusion.

“I’m not sure,” Regis admitted. “We aren’t supposed to loot, remember? And besides; my knapsack is pretty much already full.”

“Mine is half empty,” the young storm knight offered. “And there are also a couple of small mill sacks laying around. I’m sure the others would understand.”

“I sure hope so too.” The spell weaver shrugged as he unceremoniously began to fill a sack with stacks of parchment and a few quills while Fabien stashed a box of ink vials in his knapsack.

“We should head back upstairs,” Fabien noted as he pulled his knapsack on his back. “The others should have finished searching the upper floor by now.”

The two of them headed up the main floor where they found the rest of the group already waiting for them.

“Took you long enough,” Cruz grumbled. “We were just about to head down to check up on you two.”

“I see you couldn’t stop yourself from collecting a few mementos.” Osmond nodded toward the mill sack.

“Says the guy holding an even larger sack.” Regis rolled his eyes after hearing the slight accusation.

“There were some quality supplies upstairs that were too good to be left behind.”

“The same downstairs,” the spell weaver agreed. “Along with a pair of skill books.”

“Hold on,” the pale youth and the wood elves stammered back slightly. “There are actual skill-books in this world?”

“So it would seem,” Fabien smiled smugly. “But don’t get your hopes up too much. One is for scribes and the other is for woodcarvers.”

“Are they single use items?” Letty asked with an obvious curiosity.

“Judging by their descriptions, they were supposed to be useable three times, but one charge is already spent.”

“It’s still an awesome find.” Cruz gave a fist bump to the two.

“What about your loot?” The storm knight inquired as the group slowly headed outside.

“We’ll show it to you guys when we get back to the guild,” Letty sighed. “Os said that it’s best to keep them out of sight.”

“That good, huh?”

“Let’s just finish off what we’re supposed to do and we can head back to the guild.” The pale youth mumbled before leaving with hurried steps.

Sadly, the rest of the buildings only held corpses, some still walking about. A quarter of an hour later the two groups finally met up once again, this time ready to check back on elder Derris and Mary.

“What part of no looting didn’t you guys understand?” Quentin asked as he looked at the mill sacks they were carrying.

“Office supplies.” Fabien answered with a shameless smirk that earned him a stern stare from the paladin.

“Come on now grumbles,” Valerie patted Quentin’s shoulder gently. “It’s not like we didn’t take a few you things along the way too.”

“Is that a musket on your shoulder?” Regis asked from his companion, receiving a slight nod from the man.

“We found it in one of the abandoned shops,” Amanda answered. “Well, Quentin found it. He said he could smell something similar to gunpowder and he somehow sniffed out a hidden storage with these two gun like things and some other supplies.”

“And a bunch of undead that were trapped inside.” Valerie added.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle, but we barely found any survivors.” The blacksmith noted as she looked at Sophie’s downcast expression.

“Let’s just bring these back to old Derris and Mary.” Cruz diverted the conversation before it could become too awkward.

“We’ll put down the extra luggage,” the paladin let out tense breath. “Then we’ll head back to the inner town to report. Once we’re done with that we’ll have plenty of time to prepare for leaving East Fork.”

The rest of the warband agreed and they headed back to the guild house where they were greeted by Mary at the door.

“Is everyone alright?” She asked immediately. “We heard a commotion and saw that bear thing attack you through the window.”

“We’re alright,” Fabien answered with a reassuring tone. “Osmond even managed the get himself a new bone puppet.”

His exclamation earned a slight shudder from the young woman as she looked at the pale youth.

“Sorry for making you worry,” Valerie apologised. “We just came back to check up on you two and to drop down a couple of things before we head over to the inner town. Do you need anything?”

“Nothing really comes to mind,” Mary shook her head slightly. “We should have plenty of food and water for now.”

“If it’s not much of a trouble,” the aged voice of Derris resounded from the stairs. “Could you ask Jonah if the apprentices Qadir left with him are doing alright?”

“Of course,” the paladin nodded. “We’ll do that as…. what the hell?”

Their conversation got interrupted by the sound of a horn along with a bell being struck several times.

“What’s going on?” Everyone turned towards the elderly scholar.

“I haven’t heard the church bell in weeks, nor the guard horn. Something important must have happened,” the grey haired elder said with his wrinkles creased. “It’s best if you hurry back to the inner town.”

“You heard him,” Quentin unceremoniously dropped the loot he was caring. “Prepare to run.”

“Can’t we get a damn break?” Amanda grumbled as the rest of the group put down any surplus they were caring before they hurriedly left.

“What do you think happened?” Valerie asked while running.

“I don’t know,” her brother answered between two shallow breaths. “But the old man said it must be something important if they rang the bell.”

“Less talking and more running.” Cruz reminded the two as the warband rushed through the empty streets.

When they reached the gates or the inner town, the guards opened it for them without even asking, allowing the group to hurry on without wasting a moment. The people that found refuge in the inner town now crowded the market square, making it hard for the warband to reach it without having to push their way through.

“Are those horses?” Letty asked as she heard the familiar sound of the animals.

When they finally managed to push through the crowd, an unexpected sight greeted them. Captain Hyord and elder Jonah stood on the middle of the square along with the rest of the leaders of all the different guard and mercenary squads. Opposite to them stood several well equipped soldiers, some of whom had horses of their own.

“I am glad to see that we have not arrived too late, elder Jonah.” A man wearing highly decorated armour said as he reached out to shake the old man’s hand.

“You did,” Jonah sighed as he reached out in kind to grasp the offered hand. “We lost many people in the past weeks. If it weren’t for the reinforcements from Hunor, you might have come to find a corpse filled town.”

“That bad, huh?” The man shook his head with the flight frown.

“Stop exaggerating old man,” one of the soldiers spoke up. “We haven’t seen a single fallen in East Fork.”

“That’s because we took care of them you prick!” Marcus growled with his hand already on his sword hilt.

“What did you...”

“Enough,” the fancily armoured man raised his hand. “We’ve seen the burning corpse piles along the way on the streets. It’s obvious that there were many casualties. I apologise for not being able to come sooner, but you must understand that the entire eastern region had been devastated and our forces had been stretched thin.”

“I understand Edmund and I’m not blaming anyone. And besides; there are plenty of monsters around the town still needing to be taken care of.”

“Leave that to us,” the commander banged his fist into his chest before continuing on with his voice raised. “Under the order of his majesty, Samson the ninth, we are here to eradicate any monstrosities and aid the surrounding settlements in any way necessary. In three days’ time a newly appointed governor will arrive. Until then, the local law will be enforced by us under the guidance of elder Jonah. We will do everything in our power to help you you settle back into your lives without having to fear another attack.”

“How bloody convenient,” another mercenary leader spoke up with his voice bordering between hatred and rage. “East Fork was left to rot by the nobles, and now that we shed blood and sweat to clear it out, now you show up with your fancy armour and your prancing ponies. Are you hoping to reap the merit of our work just by throwing your weight around?”

“You...” The soldiers of the royal army growled as they drew their blades, but Edmund waved them to a halt once again.

“I’m only here to fulfil my duty to my home town and to my king,” he said. “Whatever was promised to your people for their aid in retaking East Fork is rightfully theirs. We do not have jurisdiction over this matter. We were however appointed to enforce the law and anyone caught in breaking it will be punished.”

While the leaders of the different groups conversed with each other under the heavy atmosphere, Regis inched closer to Quentin with his voice lowered.

“This is all too convenient. I hate to sound paranoid, but they showed up right at the moment when the town got secured.”

“Do you think they are...”

“I don’t know,” the dark elf shook his head. “But it doesn’t make me feel any safer to see them here. I know we should lay low, but we might need your domain to do its work here.”

“Time to make our entrance then.” The paladin said with the others nodding in agreement.

The warband began to walk closer to the arguing leaders, immediately drawing the attention hope the royal forces.

“Halt,” one of the soldiers beside Edmund ordered with his blade drawn. “Don’t take another step further mercenary!”

“Watch your tone soldier,” the head priest beside elder Jonah raised his voice. “You are talking to a paladin of Saintess Elora.”

The priest’s words raised quite a few eyebrows as Edmund and Jonah both turned towards the outlanders. The leader of the royal soldiers eyed up the group, his gaze lingering on their heavily enchanted equipment and their straight stance. He looked back at the elder, receiving a firm nod of acknowledgement before he spoke up in a surprisingly formal and respectful tone.

“I, Edmund Shawn greet you paladin!”

“And I, Quentin greet to you as well!” The paladin said in turn as he gave a slight nod out of courtesy to the soldier’s formal greeting.

“Seeing you and your companions here explains how East Fork managed to get through this ordeal with so many survivors.”

“Our part in its retaking was only a minor one,” Quentin stated. “If anything, it was the local guards and the reinforcements from Hunor who did the heavy lifting.”

“I see,” the commander gazed back at the rest of the leaders. “I take it that you stepped out for a reason.”

“I did, and for an important one at that. I do not wish to sound accusative, but your appearance here at this moment is quite suspicious.”

“What...” Edmund’s second in command growled, but his commander waved him silent.

“There had been troublesome events in the past days that makes people fear anyone who comes with opened arms. My companion reminded me of said events and although I don’t want to act rude, I hope you can understand what I’m about to do do and that you will co-operate with us.”

“What happened?” Edmund asked from elder Jonah immediately as he felt the atmosphere turn heavy when the paladin mentioned the events of the previous day.