The group settles down to camp in the rib cage of the giant, Alexis looks at Gustav. He adjusts the whip at his hip.
“Gus. I want twenty arrows on you before we go into the pass. And we still need to refill myself and Rask who’ve donated you arrows.”
He shrugs slightly. “Shafts and fletching we can make anywhere. Good heads we can’t. Stone won’t punch through armor. Red and I talked about shaving down coins for arrowheads. Not ideal, but better than stone against chainmail.”
He looks north, then back at the group.
“Sixty-five miles behind us. Call it a hundred and eighty-five ahead, fifteen days if the weather lets us, and it won’t. We lost a day to one storm and there’ll be more.”
He looks at Gustav, then at Ca’armine.
“The two of you made us a powerful grove of Raiden outside Nodden-Torr. I’d like that again coming up. Twice if we can manage it. Food is already scarce and it’s only going to get worse up here. The extra time buys us arrows, keeps us safe from the storms, Red might get his shield finished, we make progress on cleaning the Tear and the crystal ball, and we learn a little more about what’s ahead before we walk into it.”
He looks expectantly between the two of them.
At an appropriate pause after Alexis mentions filing down coins to make arrowheads, Rask quietly says to Ethelred and Gustav,
“I still have the spikey gauntlet if you need steel for arrowheads.”
“And we still don’t have metal working tools. We have a metal file, but that metal file is probably just as hard as the steel in the gauntlet, which won’t work.”
Rask shrugs.
“I reckon we could crack off a spike or three with Gussies little axe, but you all know better than me about filing metal and coins and what-not.”
Ca’armine nods. “I would not want to try a working like that in the ribs of this giant creature, but when we’re on clean earth, and we want a chance to settle down for a few days, a protected space like the grove can be made, Raiden willing.”
“Like I said before, that sort of thing makes sense, too, when you consider that our enemies may be waiting for an opportunity to catch us under-prepared and under-powered, to launch an attack. Staying protected makes sense.”
“A preview of our plans the night before, gives me a chance to consider what the working will entail, and prepare my spells accordingly. My fear that a battle will be joined when least we expect it, makes me want to prepare for combat every morning. Hallowing ground isn’t something I’m always prepared to do, but if I know we’re doing that tomorrow, I can prepare.”
“For materiel I also have the metal shield that is kind of a sad shield. Would be better as arrow heads…
I know I know… I heard you say ‘we do not have metal working tools’, I know. Trust me.
But I have been thinking if there might be a way to use some of my abilities to mend with a metal file, or axe or saw, that was made magical, mixed with and in regards to ‘mending’.
A magic file should file as bit faster, a bit sharper a bit more effective really. Honed with some skillful use and some other magic…
What do you think Alexis?”
Alexis nods along to Ethelred talking. “How much time do you think you’ll need to experiment?”
“When we start gathering the raw material for arrows, I will start experimenting. It will either work, or it won’t. Shouldn’t really to more than a few hours to sort it out.
Not all that complicated really.”