As my mind got transported back to my body I returned to see Greg and Hannah watching both me and the door. I explained what happened and we tried to think of a way past the barrier. It wasn't looking like we were able to tonight so we went back to the inn I rented a room at earlier. Everything was peaceful that night as I woke up pretty late to see our guardian for the night, a little screeching mouse sniffing around some ingredients I left out.
"Get away from that it's not good for your stomach" I told it before taking the ingredient to a different table. It let out a little gibberish screech that woke up Greg who grabbed his axe and split the bed's frame near his feet. A tear in the mattress let some fluff out but it was mostly fine.
I chuckle "Quick Greg, on your left" to see him turn and almost slash his own image through a mirror before stopping.
"I would never slash such a handsome face" he said, moving his hand from under his jaw to scratch across his face.
The bed frame splitting woke Hannah up who now had Flas at her side. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to prank very powerful adventurers inside a normal building.
"Now that you're both awake I can show you what I got. First I need a volunteer" I performed, bowing slightly as I gestured between them.
Greg happily volunteered and took off his workout shirt. His stone body perfect for the testing. I took out a mixing bowl from my inventory, since liquids couldn't be directly stored, and threw in some concrete powder I had purchased for this specific recipe. Mixing it a big more I covered up his back and tried to form a more protruded spine with it. It hardened fully before I finished but looked fine as a jagged red spine hung on his back.
He walked around a bit and tried shaking a bit to make it fall off but it stuck pretty well "It's weird, it feels like it fits nicely but when I move it also feels rough."
"We could really use something like this but how about a thin layer over more of the body, try to get Greg to look like a wolfkin" Hannah suggested.
After dabbing a finger on my tongue and then peeling off the dough I tried again, it was reusable but only in the same color. Greg shook a bit as it came off, "It feels like my skin's coming off there, again weird."
"That's probably going to be limited to you there bud. Not all of us are as tough as you" I said as I finished collecting the dough I separated some of it into a smaller bowl before adding concrete powder. I spread the dough a lot more and was careful to leave Greg's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth unclogged. It took a while, almost a full hour but he looked like a pretty dirpy purple wolfkin with sharp grey ears and nose but none of the sharp teeth, tail, or fur.
"Maybe we should choose easier races to change into like elves although I am probably fine by just dying my fur" Hannah said, brushing her tail after finishing with her hair. I could change my face pretty easily with a bit of dough there but Greg was a real problem. He had a really rare race and it would be pretty identifying, and that was why I was spending so much time on this. We could leave him behind but then we'd be leaving a real fighter with nothing to do but sit alone for many hours on his own. There was a good chance they would begin to see him and start questioning him on what he is doing.
"That won't work, I ain't never seen an elf as big as I am. There aren't even that many in this kingdom except the ones who split from the ones over in the Red Empire. And they're usually pretty spry and slim and even the bulkier ones aren't this muscular" Greg flexed.
"You have a point but what else are we going to do, we can't just leave you on your own" I told him. Maybe I'm worrying a bit too much over this but after Denny and what happened I don't like the idea of splitting us up further.
He looks goofy when he then goes on to proclaim "I can just join a temporary party and level up a bit more like I used to do. You have been catching up as of late and we'll need the firepower when we find Denny."
I catch myself before I say anything and think it over. Greg did do solo adventuring a lot and made temporary parties often. A lone stone man wouldn't be as eye-catching in a city of this size but one in a composition such as ours would. It could work but I kind of still wanted him around.
Greg convinced Hannah by mentioning that he could learn about recent news about the frontlines and they then worked together to get me to agree to the plan. Doing me in by having Hannah leave the screeching mouse with Greg in case we needed to find him.
"As long as we can find him I'll accept it. I can still be a human since there's a lot of us and I'll apply as a baker. What will you be Hannah, if we are applying separately of course" I said.
"I can pass as a wolfkin if I slim my tail up a bit and I think I'll try working as a cashier with the experience from our bakery" she replied, mixing some conditioner thing into her tail, it held its shape but some more brushing lengthened and flattened it. She seemed displeased with this, her pride as a foxkin influencing this mood.
I tried to fix it by complimenting her "You will look great as a wolfkin Hannah, and keep in mind that it's for Denny."
Her pride was apparently not worth much when compared to Denny and she then went to sit in front of the mirror Greg almost broke to fix her ears and hair a bit more. I didn't understand it myself much but Hannah explained to me that the different beastkin had various grudges or friendships over history stemming from system differentiation and tribal wars instilling their instinct skills with a dislike for certain other races. It wasn't usually that strong but some leaned into it and enslaved others because of it.
They also argued over which traits looked better and more physically attractive, particularly women but I'd rather not touch that with a 10-foot baguette.
Greg helped me change my own face with a dough more my skin tone so it wouldn't look too out of place. There were human's with the entire spectrum of color out there but it was easier to just stick with what I had. I also dyed my hair to change from brown to blonde with the same dye left over from mixing into the dough just used.
I had to edit some of the artistic liberties Greg had employed when Hannah had moved over to share the mirror but I looked pretty good albeit with a slightly thicker right cheek.
Hannah looked nice, really nice as she as she had changed her red fur to match her brown eyes. She stood up and twirled around before asking if it would work.
"Yes it will. I promise that you look beautiful as always Hannah so quit rubbing the brown out of your fur" I said.
She seemed satisfied when Greg also told her she looked really elegant. I don't know when he started using that word but had stopped fidgeting with her fur and recalled Flas, apologizing for having to leave him in the summoning space for a while longer.
With that we headed out to pickup some new clothes and rent some for an interview. I bumped into a human couple our age with sharp eyes and black hair on my way out, apologizing before moving on. They looked at me for a bit, then to each other for some reason before heading up to their room. Kids these days, can't even accept an apology.
