A few minutes later, everyone is in position. I check in with the distant biped; everything seems clear on that end. I set it near a road, so we can resume our journey. I bring the scroll out to the road and unfurl it with telekinesis.
Back at camp, I have Sentral get out another scroll and unfurl it too. Sentral reaches out its weird hand, and touches the scroll. The Gate opens.
My biped golem steps over the bottom carefully, and it's on the other side. Sentral lifts itself, and repeats the maneuver from before. It's slow, but it reaches the other side just fine. It wheels itself around to the side of the Gate, maintaining its grasp, but getting out of the way.
The horses.. Actually, they're stupid, so I lift them and deposit them on the other side too. No need to risk damaging the scroll.
I lead the way across the Gate. Nothing unusual happens, but I exaggerate my step a bit to not step on the scroll. Everyone follows my lead once I'm across, taking similar care.
I roll the carts over, and lift them one by one through the Gate. All that's left in the clearing now is a single bird. Sentral moves its far finger across the Gate. I leave the Gate open though.
I connect to Sentral, and then reach across the 10 bird chain, and finally the bird I'm staring at. I order Sentral to let go, and grab the far scroll with telekinesis. Rolling it up, I order Sentral to have it maintain position above the bird, and take off flying towards us. For the bird, I order it to fly to this location, then to Sentral. I take the deactivated scroll and roll it up myself, before handing it off to Sentral's telekinesis.
I look around. "Looks like we all made it. Let's move."
Sentral leads the way, followed by the 3 habitation carts, and lastly the food cart. Confirming that the people are following, I set us down the road southward.
I invite Rin to sit at the front with me. "You're getting two rings today. What hand and fingers would you like? You can do both on one hand, or one on each."
Rin, "Oh, like Hana has? Hers are both in her left hand... Let me have both on the right."
I nod. "We'll have to switch places then." We do, then I make her an armrest pulled from the seat. I have her put her arm in it, make a few adjustments for her comfort, then size a Jet ring shell around two of her fingers, pointer and ring. I leave the top open again, so I can pour in Amethyst and some second gem once we begin.
I lay my hand over hers. "I'll need to touch the rings to enchant them, so I'll be keeping my hand here for a few hours. Let me know if you want a break.
"These rings will be specific to you, and can't be used by others. One will be for CON, the other AGI. You will be more durable, more resistant to disease and poison, and you will be able to run faster. They will work while you wear them, and wear off over time after you remove them."
Rin, "Geez, on top of everything else, you're an enchanter too. You're too much. But thank you."
Me, "Travel time is good for things like this. There are some things I can only do in town. Still, this task is pretty important, so I had planned to take care of it tonight."
Rin, "Hmm. What else are you planning for this leg of our journey??"
I consider. "First, I need to consider a method to hide the true nature of my carts. Unless and until I can confidently take on an entire military, I don't want to risk being discovered due to the unusual nature of my golems. We will be flying under the radar for a little while." For some reason, Rin gives me a confused look.
Me, "Next, I should think about learning the language of Al Ruheibi. If we're going to be staying there, then it's a must. I want to ask you, or if you'd rather not, someone from our new entourage might know it."
Rin, "I don't mind. We can get started now if you'd like?"
Me, "That would need too much focus while I'm doing rings. Let's wait until after dinner."
Rin nods. "Then I'd like to ask about our new entourage. I gather they were former criminals? Or was Hanamaya joking?"
Me, "They were organized crime of some sort. I'm sure Hana knows the details if you want to hear more." She nods.
I open a connection. ¬Hana hey if you're free can you come explain to Rin how evil our new crime gang friends are£)¬
¬yeah# I'll bring him over and he can tell you himself# I've vetted them and the few people who are actually horrible recently got arrested# wow they had some real bad luck these last few days let me tell ya)¬
¬I'm sure you had nothing to do with it and it was just their evil deeds catching up to them at long last)¬
¬exactly=)¬
Wed and Hana mosey their way over.
Wed, "Good afternoon, Lady Ringara. I'm told you wish to know about our group's dark past."
Rin, "Yes, if you don't mind. My two companions seem willing to overlook this, but I'm a little cornered. I'm grateful for your group's role in the termination of my slavery, but I'd like to know that my traveling companions aren't planning to rob us blind or harm us."
Wed, "Completely understandable. Allow me to summarize. Our group mostly ran 'guard duty'. By that, I mean that we would often patrol certain commercial streets, and solicit donations from stores for 'protection'. Any store who paid was safe. Any store who did not pay... Had accidents occur. This was our main source of income. Paid murder was a service provided by a few of our members. We also dug for secrets of powerful people and blackmailed or extorted them.
"Some horrible things happened under my watch, I won't lie. It's an unfortunate fact, and it took me years to harden myself enough to tolerate it. Very recently, a powerful telepath helped me get my superior arrested, and I rose to leadership. She made me very glad that, years ago, I swore never to touch an unwilling woman. My boss had no such qualms. A certain member of nobility we'd blackmailed for years finally caught him in a strangely-timed ambush. I believe he is scheduled to be executed tomorrow."
Um. Damn, Hana. You're scary. I resolve never to piss her off.
Me, "Out of curiosity, were you blackmailing the Magistrate, um," I try to remember the name, "Magistrate Thean? The guy who freed slaves for us."
Wed, "Yes, though he was corrupt as they come. We simply paid him off. I doubt you read her slave contract, but Rin was sold as a criminal slave, so the Magistrate shouldn't have been allowed to free her under the law. In my estimation, it is very unlikely that most of the so-called criminal slaves have actually done any lawbreaking. I haven't personally looked into the details of Getten's slavery, my subordinate handled Getten's paperwork.
"As for your safety, Grey has demonstrated the power to rip apart a stone building with telekinesis. I wish to impress upon you that
telekinesis should not be able to do that.
He also has some sort of way to prevent harm from falling upon those close to him that I have not investigated and do not wish to know about.
"As for theft,
perhaps
I could get away with stealing your valuables, but it would be foolish of me in the extreme to try."
