"If I'd known some of you would take vacations before returning, I might not have waited for you.

Next time you plan on dying, fill out the paperwork first."It had taken all of Billy's willpower to hold off getting his loot from the Gopher War.

Suzette had mentioned to Layla that waiting for the dead people to return and doing it together could raise morale before the raid on a crypt full of flesh-eating ghouls.

Layla pitched it to Billy as a team-building exercise, and he agreed.

It tested his patience when Ben and Rolly took a week to return.

No one took his complaints seriously as they clustered around the large treasure chest.

Billy had profited from their 'vacations' with a huge amount of intelligence that his courier had gathered while in the Imperial Capital.

When you put several dozen Franklins in one place, sitting and listening to their stories gave a lot of insight into the politics and backstabbing among the nobles.

Ben had added to his knowledge by reading genealogies and history books he found at Franklin House, a few of which were stored in his ring for later reading.

He'd spent a long night with Billy and Layla dissecting the knowledge and using it for future plans.Rolly had returned but stayed in the meadows and forests around Gadobhra for several days before anyone knew he was back.

He'd been visiting the Sphinx, training baby wyverns, and doing other 'shepherd stuff' that he didn't explain.

Several farmers, though, had told a strange story about the underworld, a Shepherd who rescued them, and an army of warriors.

Walking back from Death changed a person, and such was the case here.

The five farmers he had escorted stood taller and were more confident than before.

They considered their horrible deaths at the hands of the gopher army as a mark of pride and an initiation into a society of warriors.

Morale in the hamlets was noticeably increased.Most of Rolly's time had been spent with his fast-growing little wyvern and hatching another clutch of eggs he had found.

Something or someone was stirring up the wyverns that lived in the swamps near Rowan Keep.

The hungry creatures loved certain types of plants and were following trails of mutant horseradish and pepper plants to the construction area.

So far, Rolly had caught six of the saboteurs, and Squirmie scored sixteen.

Wings for aerial surveillance were handy.

Wearing protective gear made by an alchemist, they dug up plants near an abandoned dwarven stronghold and replanted them on the trail to Rowan Keep and along a stream that led to the swamps.

More and more of the vicious reptilian monsters were traveling to where the tasty food was.

Rolly and several workers took time each day to hunt them down and dig up the plants.

It was probably a losing battle, the wyverns were thick around the dwarf hold and here to stay, but they hoped to keep them away from the keep until it was finished.Rolly had started training one baby wyvern he saved, and as she grew and turned into a superb stock herder, he saved every egg he could find.

Each of his new junior shepherds would raise their own baby wyvern, carefully training them to herd the flocks around the hamlets.

Luckily, they could train them with sedge beast calves.

A wyvern that got too aggressive and tried to eat one of the calves got a quick lesson in why that wasn't allowed.

A hoof to the face went a long way in teaching lessons to intelligent reptiles.

Rolly fed them on leftovers from the nightly butchering sessions, with fish for treats.As soon as both his errant workers were back, Billy had insisted on the seven of them visiting the very large loot chest sitting in a muddy field next to a foul-smelling hole in the ground filled with bones and gopher dung.

"Let's start this looting party and then kill some ghouls." He bowed to Layla.

"After you, my dear." She stepped up to the chest, touched it, and a splendid red cloak with a mantle of black fur settled onto her shoulders.

Mantle of the ProtectorThe ruling Ladies of Gadobhra wore this cloak for generations, signifying their commitment to protecting their lands and people.

Grants the boons of +3 STR and +20 mitigation.