Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Chapter 25: Personal Enrichment

(Original Chapter title: n/a)

This chapter didn't exist in the original draft. I wanted to build on Ranthia's struggle with reading (a few months does not a skilled reader make) and I wanted to... well, not SHOW her second date with Hexara, but bring it up tastefully. So this chapter was born!

When Ranthia got bruised, it was obvious that it'd cause her problems. Her allergy to guards isn't just personal indiscretion, it's practically an aura skill. Plus, it provided a great segue into some flirting with Hexara that resulted in their anticipated second date.

And no, I have no interest in writing what happened between the end of this chapter and the start of the next. Sorry!

I'd actually kind of left out any trace of Ranthia's gambling habits in the OG draft. She grows out of it (sort of), but I'd always intended her to be a gambler when she was a young Adventurer... I just never actually showed it anywhere.

I knew ancient Rome had dice of bone (THOSE got mentioned a couple of places) but I'd never really dug into it much, so I did. And what I found was Tali! Hilariously, a game that was supposedly beloved by General Augustus (AKA our Emperor), how perfect is that? I had a lot of fun revising the game's rules a bit (so wild we actually have records of the game's rules in the modern day) to feel more Remus-y (and, hopefully, balance it a bit better).

I've been REALLY tempted to try to see if I can get Reman Tali sets made. I'd even found a supplier that claims they can make customized bone dice of the right shape. I just also really don't want to deal with trying to stock and ship physical merchandise, let alone spend a full month's Patreon revenue on something that might never sell.

Maybe someday.