“Yeah, I think that'd be okay,” you say. You briefly consider telling them that you were the one to use the ice, but think that it's better if you keep that quiet for now. You've never met anyone else who can see the bits, so you don't feel like dealing with all of the explanations that would take today. Plus you're not all that sure you trust these two enough for that, even if they did save your life. You have a moment of worry when you think about the bit you left back there, before you sense it. It seems to have stuck itself to you at some point and was dragged along. Lucky.

 

You follow them and come to a large open chamber. As you look out over it you realize that it must be the main hub of this settlement. It's quite lively here compared to your old settlement, but that only makes sense. With how much closer it is to the center of Cage it is a lot safer from horrors than you old settlement was. Though, considering what happened, that hopefully shouldn't be a high bar to clear.

 

“Feel free to pick something up for yourself if you need while we're out,” Ronge says, interrupting your train of thought. ”We're heading to meet a tailor friend who offered to help fix up our backpacks after they got singed from that fire.” Ronge glanced away quickly, “As magnificent as we both are, neither of us is very good at repairing that particular kind of damage.”

 

Jarlin nods, “You don't have a backpack. It would be smart to grab one of their spares while we are there.”

 

“Yes yes, at least until you have time to craft your own backpack! Its a real shame, but yours was already gone when we found you,” Ronge says. “I certainly hope you didn't have anything important in there!”

 

You wince as you remember all the bits that you had collected.

 



 
“Ah, here we are,” Ronge says as the three of you stumble through a curtain into an offshoot room.

 

The tailor Gremlin turns to you, “Ah hello, Ronge, Jarlin, and I see you've brought-” They freeze for a moment as they look you over, their expression unreadable. They let out a small cough and continue, “You've brought company.”