Afterword - Book 4 - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Chapter 29: A Strategic Withdrawal

(Original Chapter Title: Strategic Withdraw)

The plot thickensers! (This amused me when I first wrote it, at least.)

The answer to how Ranthia survived has been revealed! Surprising no one, [Healers] heal.

There's some fun character moments in this chapter from the side characters—this might just be my favorite chapter so far, at least in terms of dwarven personalities. The entire ordeal with the arrow and testing the poison was a rare act of brilliance from the OG draft that I largely kept unaltered. In the end, Ranthia is left with answers... and more questions stemming from those answers.

Also, yes, there's one (obvious) test that they never did: neither Glorine nor Gailla were jumping up to test their limited vitality against the (previously described as potent) poison, even with a [Healer] on hand. I don't think I need to explain why? But I'm half expecting some comment on RR complaining about it.

And we also learn that, every now and then, accidentally saying things out loud can save your life! ...Wait, is that a valid lesson to teach people?

After learning quite a few new things, Ranthia has a long and hard think—only to realize that she doesn't have to resolve the situation by herself. Sure, there's a real question of how to reach the other Sentinels if the base commander has truly turned traitor, but Avyna has a plan (of course)!

And thus, Ranthia plays party to bribes made to two very powerful (by her standards) classers.

I still giggle at Ranthia moodily noting neither elf had given their name. As if that would have mattered.

Who are they and what did Avyna and Caelillia figure out? Let's just say there'll probably be a hint in a later chapter within this book! (...Unless I ended up splitting book 3 and 4 into three different books, in which case it might be the next book.)