"Not," Luzai says firmly, "until we're high enough circle to repeatedly resurrect you; if you just become one kind of ghoul once, that's hardly a worthwhile quantity of data." 

Nenio will briefly push back against this in the name of not slowing down scientific inquiry but that is a pretty persuasive argument.

The guards at the gate challenge them as they approach, but none of them are detectably evil and it's judged that several members of their group would be very difficult to effectively mind control, so it's ultimately not a long wait before they're waived past. There seem to be rather more civilians sheltering here than there were when they set out this morning, including spilling out into the yard, but people were also busy with defenses; the roof of the tavern now sports several improvised spotting towers, there are a number of what look like archers' nests, and someone seems to have set up a forge up against the far wall from the entrance to the inn proper.

HOORAY FOR MORE CIVILIANS SHOWING UP. 

Oh, a forge! That's neat! Luzai will briefly go observe that. 

It's being run by a rather familiar looking dwarf, though a second glance will confirm that it's not actually the same one that was with them in the attack on the Grey Garrison.

"New to Kenabres?"

Luzai really hopes she isn't suffering from they-all-look-alike-to-me syndrome. 

"Yeah. New to Mendev and the Crusades in general, there's a lot I don't know yet." 

"Figures. I'm pretty good with faces, but yours isn't familiar. What brings you to my forge?"

"Well, forging is a skilled craft, and those are interesting, aaand I don't actually know much about actual weapon-smithing--I do jeweling, some, but--anyway, I was just going to watch because it's interesting. ...I'm a wizard," she adds, half-apologetically. 

The dwarf considers it.

"Well, I'm hardly doing anything secret right now; not a lot of call for expensive magical items ready in a few weeks, not compared to cranking out more cold iron arrowheads right this minute. I suppose you're welcome to watch, as long as you don't interrupt - Jhoran Vhane, Torag's."

As he speaks, the dwarf reaches a bare hand into the flames and pulls out an ingot of metal. It's not hot enough to glow, but that doesn't stop him from setting to it with a hammer for most of a minute before returning it to the flames.

OH THAT IS SO COOL!!! 

Luzai doesn't, like, wish she were a cleric? But clerics are really cool! In a different way from how wizards are really cool! And this isn't a way she has ever seen clerics being really cool before. 

She watches for a while, enchanted. 

"Nobody told me forging was beautiful," she says later, a little dreamily. 

That'll get her a smile, albeit a slight one. 

"I expect you'll find most crafts are, when done by someone properly skilled, but the forge has a special place in my heart as well. It requires patience, concentration, a keen eye for detail... but in the end, there's not many things more rewarding than doing a good job on something useful. If you'd like I have some spare tools you could use to try it out, but best to stay away from cold iron for now - it's a very difficult metal to work with, and a lot of smiths who aren't up to the challenge yet think that's an excuse for leaving the job half finished, but I don't tolerate that kind of thing in my forge."

"Oh, wow, really?" 

"If we get another experienced smith here, we need enough arrowheads that I might need you to make room, but until then they're not exactly doing anyone any good lying idle."

"Thank you!!!" 

She has any relevant instincts from jeweling, mostly safety ones, and she is extremely enthusiastic about even repetitive, boring apprentice tasks. 

That's good, because making arrowheads is very repetitive work - particularly when her results are being held to Jhoran's exacting standards, which are more than a little unreasonable for what is fundementally a cheap expendable item. Fortunately the dwarf also knows exactly what he is doing, and whenever she messes up has no issue determining the exact cause of her problems.

...Somehow, despite the fact that he's working on barely warm cold iron he's still faster at making arrowheads than she is.

Well, obviously he's faster. He's an expert! She is the most novice of novices! She's thrilled she's making anything useful, even slowly. 

Then by the time Seelah comes to fetch Luzai to eat, she will have finished 5 arrowheads he deems acceptable and be fairly confident she could do it again without his assistance, if perhaps not without his tools.

"I didnt know you knew how to smith. Should I start going to you for commissions?"

She wipes sweat off her forehead. "I didn't, last time we talked! But I started watching him, and it was really interesting!" 

"I see. Well, I'm glad you enjoy it."

At the table Seelah leads her to, Ember is working her way through a bowl of soup; she looks like she would very much like to be scarfing it down, but is restraining herself. She smiles brightly at Luzai when she arrives, but doesn't stop eating to do it.

Nenio's food, meanwhile, is pretty much untouched; from the look of things, they thought of something once they sat down with it and then immediately forgot they were eating.

Ember is so valid!!! Nenio is not exactly valid but she is relatable. 

"What are you working on?"

"Huh, what was that?"

She stares blankly at Luzai for a moment, before something seems to click.

"Oh, it's you. I was working on improving Mirror Image, but even after I simplified one of the nested loops I can't get it into something that'll stabilize at less than 4th circle."

"Oh, cool." Even if Illusion is...not her strong suit... "What circle are you right now?"