Ruth flinched when Nihere’s head suddenly shot up. Had she startled him? He tried to explain why he had spoken about making it through the night, comparing it to trying to remember a dream. Apparently it was just something that popped into his head. Maybe he was just stressed. Perhaps Nihere was just lost in thought, thinking about the Conglomerate, when he spoke about surviving the night.
“Well, as long as you’re alright…” Ruth said, not entirely convinced that nothing was wrong.
Her attention was then drawn toward the two other members of their party: Astra and Emme. They appeared to have been talking. Which, Ruth guessed, was a good thing, considering the hostility between them. It did give her some hope that they will be able to get along, at least a little bit, while they were busy adventuring. Maybe Nihere’s words had gotten to her.
Nihere seemed eager to get moving, and Ruth wanted to start the expedition too. But then she remembered something that the Captain said. “Didn’t the Captain say that Blag would be joining us?” Ruth said.
It was then that she noticed someone approaching the lift. They didn’t appear to be the goblin who would be joining them. The figure was rather tall, and was covered in a cloak. Maybe they going to the Conglomerate too.
Although the walk to the lift was fairly long, it was nice to see the parts of the city that Ruth rarely, if ever, saw. She saw the wall of the High Shelf, which was interesting to see, despite the fact that it could use some attention from a local mason. She saw the, largely ceremonial, gatehouse and the Death’s Drink tavern. The scenery slowly morphed, becoming steadily more rural as she continued to the lift. The shops and more densely packed buildings of the town gave way to farms and orchards where crops and trees grew.
The walk helped to clear Ruth’s mind of the various worries she had about the expedition. At least for now, she could just ignore them. Astra seemed practically giddy with excitement. Was she looking forward to the trip to the Conglomerate? Perhaps. Ruth was lost in thought when Astra spoke, so it took her a moment to register what she said.
“I’m not sure, but even if they aren’t there when we arrive I doubt we will have to wait very long for them” she replied.
It wasn’t much longer before Astra spoke again, this time she spoke about trying to get to know each other. She offered an outstretched hand. “Hello… I guess. As you already know, I’m Ruth, summoner of spirits” she said, shaking Astra’s hand, “and I study the arcane.”
Soon the lift was in sight, and Ruth could see Nihere standing there. She waved as she approached. It all seemed a little surreal now, now that it was almost time for them to go to the Conglomerate. Nihere seemed to be fairly cheerful, but he did say something that concerned Ruth. She heard something about ‘making it through the night’. Had she misheard? Or was something wrong?
Astra was clearly ecstatic about her broom, Ruth could easily see that. It was the only thing that she wanted to talk about, Astra had said that herself. Ruth didn’t really mind, she was a little curious about the broom after all. Also, it would pass the time while they made their way to the lift.
“Go ahead and talk about the broom” Ruth said, with that Ruth began to walk in the direction of the lift once more. She glanced behind her occasionally to check if Astra was following.
The expedition was about to begin, it almost didn’t seem like it was really happening. Ruth was nervously excited, while journeying in the Conglomerate would be an unforgettable experience it would also be a dangerous one. Not to mention their mission, which was vitally important. It did add a little extra stress to the whole expedition, Ruth tried to be optimistic about it. Although, she was never very good at optimism.
Ruth had been thinking about the Conglomerate a lot today, she had begun to wonder what the others thought of the expedition. Were they nervous? Were they excited? Or did they go there all the time and this was normal for them? She couldn’t read minds so she would have to ask them about it. It might also be helpful to know if they had been in the Conglomerate before.
Astra, though damp, appeared to be in a good mood. In fact she seemed positively ecstatic about something. Maybe she had recovered from the events that took place. Ruth thought that it was good that she was feeling better now, but she hoped that she and Emme could get along while they were in a highly dangerous place like the Conglomerate.
Ruth did also find out a little more about the incident between the two teammates. Apparently, Astra was pushing her to become her friend and Emme had pushed her off a bridge. It was a relief that she was alright.
Astra went on to exclaim that she had received her broom. While it was a fine broom, Ruth doubted that anyone would be so excited to be able to sweep the floor. So the broom likely had another purpose. Magic came to mind, Ruth did vaguely recall that Nihere had said something about a magic shop when he told her about the incident between Astra and Emme.
“It’s a nice broom” Ruth said, “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Ruth momentarily glanced behind her, toward the barracks. Nihere had decided to search for Emme there, although she did not know if he would find her there or not. Even if he didn’t, they would probably be all reunited when they got to the lift. The group did have a bit of a rocky start, so they would have to try not to let the team fall apart while they were in the Conglomerate.
“We should probably head to the lift” Ruth said, “Nihere said that he was looking for Emme at the barracks, so we’ll probably meet them there.”
At last Ruth knew what happened at the bridge, her eyes widened as she heard what Nihere had to say. Astra had been pushed off the bridge by Emme. Though her exact reasons behind such an act was still unknown, Ruth was not happy about this. Not only had one of their teammates been put in danger, the act had also caused a rift in the team. Nihere was clearly angry about this, and he said that he wanted to talk to Emme.
“She was there before I left” Ruth answered.
It was clear now that there were hostilities between Emme and Astra, which could create great difficulties when they in the Conglomerate. Ruth thought that if they could talk to her they might be able to get her to try to get along with Astra. But they needed to find her first.
That was when Ruth remembered, they were planning to meet up at the lift. Emme could have left already, or if she was still at the barracks then it would save them from having to search the whole place. They could get Emme to explain her actions there. Then their vital mission could begin.
“Nihere,” Ruth said, raising her voice so he could hear, “We need to leave, we can meet up with Emme at the lift and talk to her there.”
Ruth stayed put for a few moments while she waited to see if Nihere would be coming or not. She then turned around and began walking to the lift. It wasn’t too long after she started walking that she ran into none other than Astra herself. The young witch seemed cheerful despite what had happened and appeared to be carrying a broomstick.
“Astra!” Ruth said, “I was just on my way to the lift. I heard about what happened, are you alright?”
Ruth left a bit after Nihere did, she intended to stop by the bridge on her way to the lift. That was where Emme had said Astra was. They needed to find her, they party couldn’t start the expedition while it was incomplete. She wondered about what might have happened at the bridge, why Astra might have gone into the water like Emme said.
What if they couldn’t find her though? Ruth supposed that they would need to search or hope that she would go to the lift. If she wasn’t at the bridge, the lift would be the next place she would check. She could ask the spirits for help in getting the party together, perhaps they could direct them to the lift. Although that would take some time when she could only call two spirits at once.
By the time she neared the bridge, She looked around for Astra, but if she was here before, she wasn’t now. However she did see Nihere. Curiously Ruth could see what appeared to be the ashes left from a campfire, she looked at the ashes for a few moments before turning her attention to her ally. She waved to him, hoping to get his attention, before walking up to him.
“Nihere!” she said, “Did you find Astra?”
Nihere had left before her, perhaps he had run into her. So there was a chance that she might be able to find out what had happened to their ally. Ruth hoped he had found her, else they would need to search for her. Ruth did trust that Astra could take care of herself, but she was uncertain about what had happened to her. They were a team, or at least they were going to be a team very soon, and they needed to be together before they could being their all-important mission.
When the door swung open, Ruth had expected to see both of her absent teammates standing there. However, there was only one person standing there. It was the tall knight called Emme. Ruth craned her neck to try to see if Astra was coming, but she did not see her. Did she decide to return before Astra had a chance to find her and they somehow missed each other on her way back? This is what Ruth thought, or it was until Emme was questioned about it.
Emme had said, rather nonchalantly, that Astra had gone for a swim. Ruth was, unsurprisingly, confused. Why would she do that when she knew that they were waiting for her and that they needed to leave soon? It seemed like quite a strange thing to do when they needed to be getting ready for their trip. She was unsure about this, despite having no other reason to not believe the knight.
“A swim…” she said, the confusion evident in her voice, “We should get her before we leave.”
With that Ruth began walking toward the door, looked behind her to check if the others were going to come with her. She planned to go to the bridge, where Emme had said they might still be able to see Astra, on the way to the lift. Hopefully they would be able to catch up with her. They had done enough preparations for the trip, so the last thing they needed to do was to get the whole group together again.
“Let’s go find Astra and get ready to leave” she said.
“What about me?” Ruth said, parroting the question that Nihere had posed “Well, I’m a summoner of sorts.”
She paused for a moment before continuing, “I also use magic to provide support, such as weakening the enemy. This would probably put me somewhere toward the back of the group, but I can send the spirits to the front.”
She didn’t go into specifics about her magic, there would be time to discuss it all later while they were in the Conglomerate. She was a medium, her magic was connected to the spirit world. Sometimes people found her magic unnerving, she would try to convince them that it wasn’t something to be nervous about. She hoped that her new allies wouldn’t find it unnerving.
A fairly basic strategy had been made and Ruth could not think of anything else they needed to do before they left. They already had supplies figured out so they shouldn’t starve whilst journeying. They just needed to meet up before they could leave on their quest. Astra had already left, so they just needed to wait for her and Emme to return.
“Now that we have food, water and a sort of grouping strategy, I think we are almost ready to go. We just need to catch up with Emme and Astra” Ruth said, “Unless you can think of anything else we need?”
The expedition seemed exciting, exciting but dangerous. They would be working to find supplies and the Branded that stole from the mayor. They would need to be wary on their journey and learn how each other fought, then they would best work as a team.
Ruth recalled her first days in the city and what adjusting to her new surroundings was like, so she understood how newcomer, who the Captain had called Kahente, felt when she decided to stay. It would give her time to get used to her new home. Meanwhile, the group would go on the mission accompanied by the still-absent goblin, Blag. They had been told that Blag would be the one who would bring the supplies of water and gram.
Ruth hadn't eaten the doughy substance called gram before, but she had heard enough guards complain about it in the tavern to know that it was hardly gourmet food. It had been described as 'utterly tasteless and very chewy', however it was better than nothing. Perhaps they could bring some other food, like pickled vegetables or salted meat, to make it a bit more palatable, although it would just be another thing they would need to carry around with them.
There were a few more preparations to make, like catching Emme up on the part of the meeting she missed and organising where they should meet up before going on the expedition. Initially Nihere had volunteered to collect the knight. But Astra wanted to go instead, she had summoned her hat out of thin air and already had her hand on the doorknob. Before she left, Ruth wanted to mention where she thought they could meet up again.
"We could meet up at the lift, where we are supposed to meet up with Blag" Ruth said.
There was one last preparation that Ruth could think of: strategy. Considering the fact they needed to leave as soon as possible, it might be best for them to just decide on some basic strategy like where in the party they should be to best use their abilities.
"As for the strategy, we should just think of some basic strategy due to the limited time. We could organise the party based on the ranges of our attacks." Ruth said, "Those who are melee fighters should be at the front where they can best use their skills and those who use ranged attacks and lend support should stand further back. We should talk about this when we are all together though."
She had expected that they would all introduce themselves at some point, but maybe not as soon as they did. Three of her soon-to-be allies had already introduced themselves as Nihere, Emme Von Kuroe and Astra Du'Vaire. But soon after Emme introduced herself, she left to pick up her shield from the blacksmith's. While they would be unable to discuss tactics and other important matters with her at the moment, they could sometime between now and when they left.
Tactics and strategy were things they would need to talk about before they began their adventure. The unknown dangers and the three Branded were waiting for them in the Conglomerate after all. Apparently the three consisted of a burly man named 'Dien', a clergyman and someone wearing the garb of an old doctor with a beaked mask. Beyond that Ruth knew very little about them, except that one of them was likely to be very nimble.
For now they had up to two days to prepare, though Ruth wouldn't mind leaving earlier than that. She thought for a few moments, thinking up a somewhat rushed list of things to organise before they left on their expedition. Tactics and strategy made the list, along with supplies and preparing their weapons. In terms of supplies, they would clearly need food and water, potions and such for healing, even some tents so that they would have a place to stay. With this on her mind, Ruth turned to the Captain.
"Will supplies such as food rations and water be provided?" she asked.
Now that she had asked the question on her mind, she could begin to think about when they should leave. While it might be best to leave sooner rather than later, especially considering how Nihere said that he wanted to leave as soon as possible, they would need time for final preparations. The expedition loomed ahead, and while she was excited to go on such an adventure she did also believe that preparedness would be their key to success.
""I think we should leave once all the necessary preparations have been made. We should have some sort of plan before running into the Conglomerate." Ruth said.
For future reference, I'll allow adjustments to characters until they either leave the town or use a given ability/weapon/etc. (E.g. Ultracraft could modify any of his abilities or attributes of his character except for his lightning spell because he used it in the bar fight).
While I can still make changes to my character's abilities, I just want to clarify something. The summon cap (WIL / 5) mentioned in the ability Lesser Spectre will apply to all of Ruth's summons. So when Ruth can summon something else she could summon 2 lesser spectres, 1 lesser spectre and some other summon or two other summons. More powerful summons could take up multiple summon slots for balance.
I also have a question: how would an attack by a lesser spectre work? What dice roll would it need?
Ruth found herself being led inside the barracks to a room which contained the Captain of the Guard. There were several others here too, a variety of people who appeared to be the ones that she would go on the expedition with. Once inside the room, she was met with not one, but two surprising faces. One belonged to the mayor, who was accompanied by his guards. The other belonged to the woman she had seen being hurried out of the inn. Why was she here? Was she going to join them on their mission?
There was a short overview of what the mission was, the Captain mentioned a goblin named Blag who would be helping them. Basically, they needed to collect weapons. Ruth knew this much already, having heard about it during the announcement of the mission yesterday. It seemed straightforward enough, go and collect the weapons they mentioned and be paid for their efforts. However, there was another surprise awaiting them. When asked if they could keep a secret, Ruth responded.
"Yes" she said, "I can keep a secret."
What the mayor said next confirmed the rumour that Ruth had heard about the whereabouts of three of the four new Branded. They really were missing and if they could find them they would be rewarded handsomely. But it came with the condition that they keep this information secret, hence the reason why they had been asked if they could keep it. It was a little concerning that the three could just vanish overnight, hopefully they would be found.
A late arrival entered the room, an armoured figure who was much taller than Ruth was. She could not see their face, but judging by the voice the person under that armour was a woman. The group was fairly large now, Ruth made a mental note to talk to her new allies and find out about them, including the armoured woman.
In order to make sure that they were loyal, they were scrutinised by the mayor's guards. The gaze of the guards was unnerving, and gave a very unusual sense of dread. It was almost as if they were staring directly into her soul. The feeling faded when their gaze moved to the next person.
Following this came more details of the three missing people. It appeared that there was more to the story of their disappearance than she initially thought, there was aggression and thievery. It occurred to her that if they encountered the three that they could be violent. What had caused them to act so strangely?
Ruth also had questions about the item they stole, a scimitar that belonged to the mayor. She had been told that it was of great importance and had been kept in the security of the mayor's manor. What was so important about this scimitar? Did it have some sort of magical power? She did not know and it appeared that the mayor would not tell them. Ruth did not like being kept in the dark.
"Were there any clues as to how this scimitar was stolen?" she asked.
Any conversation between Ruth and the nurse that exited the inn was over before Ruth could say anything. Instead the nurse, accompanied by a guard, whisked their patient away to the barracks. The woman they were leading seemed to resemble the description she had heard from the potion shop owner, who had heard about it from one of his customers.
It appeared that Ruth was not going to get any information from them, she would just have to wait. She could ask the Captain of the guard about it when she signed up for the expedition. Ruth looked over to the barracks as the nurse, guard and woman vanished inside. However, it did not appear to be open to the public yet. For a while Ruth just waited in the town centre, thinking over the rumour she had heard from the shop owner.
She did wonder why they went to the barracks, there did appear to be a bit of an air of secrecy around the fates of the four that appeared in the well yesterday. If the rumour she heard was to be believed, then three of them had vanished. Where did they go? They couldn't of just vanished into thin air... could they? Ruth looked over to the barracks to see a young guard emerge and open the gates. It appeared that it was finally open and a crowd had begun to gather. Were they all here to join the expedition? Ruth wasn't sure, she did have some doubts about that.
She moved through the crowd, aiming to get to the barracks. She managed to weave her way to the gate. There were a pair of guards at the gate holding spears. Ruth looked toward the building then to the guards at the gate. The gate was open, maybe the Captain was ready to receive applicants for the upcoming expedition.
"Are we able to sign up for the expedition now?" she asked the guards at the gate.
"The adventure starts tomorrow, we should get some sleep" Clay said.
Iris and Clay wandered away from the place where they had met the others. The meeting had ended a few moments ago. Both Iris and Clay were feeling a little nervous about the upcoming mission. It was quite a dangerous task they were undertaking, dangerous but important. And for that mission they would need a good night's sleep. However the inn was full, so they would have to sleep out under the stars that night.
After a little while, the two found a good spot to camp just outside the village. It was a place next to an old tree which had clearly been standing there for many years. They ate some of their rations that were left over from the journey here. They discussed who would keep watch first, and it was decided through a coin toss that Clay would keep watch first. He grumbled about that but resigned to his job.
"It's times like this that I miss the caravans" Iris said as she stared up at the stars, "They made travelling much nicer. They may have not been as comfortable as an inn, but they were better than the cold, hard ground"
"We should catch up with them after the mission" Clay replied.
There was a moment of silence as Iris wondered about what life would be like after the mission. Would they be able to go back to their lives as merchants after contacting an Entity? Maybe, but maybe not. This thought continued to float around inside her head until Clay spoke.
"Try to get some sleep, neither of us will be very helpful to the mission if we can't stay awake."
Iris nodded, then closed her eyes and welcomed the comforting darkness of sleep. Tomorrow they could collect some supplies, properly introduce themselves to the others and begin their quest. But for now, the only thing they needed was rest.
Ruth reached into her pockets and produced a handful of silver coins. She smiled slightly when the shop's owner gave a small discount on the potions. As she counted out the coins needed to pay for the supplies she listened to the shop keeper talk about something that he had heard earlier that day. Apparently, some of the new Branded were missing. This made her stop counting and pay more attention to what he had to say.
"Three of them are missing?" she said, surprise evident in her voice.
"That's what I heard" he replied
"Did anyone talk to the nurse?" Ruth asked
"I don't know" he said.
With that Ruth finished counting out the coins and handed them over. She picked up the two vials of red liquid. She watched the iridescent bubbles float up to the surface of the liquid for a moment before putting them away. She waved to the store's owner as she left, he smiled before disappearing back into the stockroom. She thought over what might have happened to the three newcomers. Where had they gone? What happened to them?
She could think of only two people that might know: the nurse and the only newcomer who hadn't vanished. Although she knew that she had to go see the Captain of the Guard, perhaps she could spend five minutes asking about what had happened. After all, they would probably be taking recruits for quite a while. There would be enough time for a quick visit to the inn.
She walked quickly to the town centre, hopefully she might be able to talk to someone there. While she did not want to waste too much time, this latest development in the story of the new Branded was something she wanted to know more about. Ruth walked up to the door of the inn and knocked, hopefully she would be able to ask whoever opened the door about the newcomers.
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Ruth flinched when Nihere’s head suddenly shot up. Had she startled him? He tried to explain why he had spoken about making it through the night, comparing it to trying to remember a dream. Apparently it was just something that popped into his head. Maybe he was just stressed. Perhaps Nihere was just lost in thought, thinking about the Conglomerate, when he spoke about surviving the night.
“Well, as long as you’re alright…” Ruth said, not entirely convinced that nothing was wrong.
Her attention was then drawn toward the two other members of their party: Astra and Emme. They appeared to have been talking. Which, Ruth guessed, was a good thing, considering the hostility between them. It did give her some hope that they will be able to get along, at least a little bit, while they were busy adventuring. Maybe Nihere’s words had gotten to her.
Nihere seemed eager to get moving, and Ruth wanted to start the expedition too. But then she remembered something that the Captain said. “Didn’t the Captain say that Blag would be joining us?” Ruth said.
It was then that she noticed someone approaching the lift. They didn’t appear to be the goblin who would be joining them. The figure was rather tall, and was covered in a cloak. Maybe they going to the Conglomerate too.
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((Sorry for taking so long))
Although the walk to the lift was fairly long, it was nice to see the parts of the city that Ruth rarely, if ever, saw. She saw the wall of the High Shelf, which was interesting to see, despite the fact that it could use some attention from a local mason. She saw the, largely ceremonial, gatehouse and the Death’s Drink tavern. The scenery slowly morphed, becoming steadily more rural as she continued to the lift. The shops and more densely packed buildings of the town gave way to farms and orchards where crops and trees grew.
The walk helped to clear Ruth’s mind of the various worries she had about the expedition. At least for now, she could just ignore them. Astra seemed practically giddy with excitement. Was she looking forward to the trip to the Conglomerate? Perhaps. Ruth was lost in thought when Astra spoke, so it took her a moment to register what she said.
“I’m not sure, but even if they aren’t there when we arrive I doubt we will have to wait very long for them” she replied.
It wasn’t much longer before Astra spoke again, this time she spoke about trying to get to know each other. She offered an outstretched hand. “Hello… I guess. As you already know, I’m Ruth, summoner of spirits” she said, shaking Astra’s hand, “and I study the arcane.”
Soon the lift was in sight, and Ruth could see Nihere standing there. She waved as she approached. It all seemed a little surreal now, now that it was almost time for them to go to the Conglomerate. Nihere seemed to be fairly cheerful, but he did say something that concerned Ruth. She heard something about ‘making it through the night’. Had she misheard? Or was something wrong?
“What did you say?” She asked, “Are you alright?”
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Astra was clearly ecstatic about her broom, Ruth could easily see that. It was the only thing that she wanted to talk about, Astra had said that herself. Ruth didn’t really mind, she was a little curious about the broom after all. Also, it would pass the time while they made their way to the lift.
“Go ahead and talk about the broom” Ruth said, with that Ruth began to walk in the direction of the lift once more. She glanced behind her occasionally to check if Astra was following.
The expedition was about to begin, it almost didn’t seem like it was really happening. Ruth was nervously excited, while journeying in the Conglomerate would be an unforgettable experience it would also be a dangerous one. Not to mention their mission, which was vitally important. It did add a little extra stress to the whole expedition, Ruth tried to be optimistic about it. Although, she was never very good at optimism.
Ruth had been thinking about the Conglomerate a lot today, she had begun to wonder what the others thought of the expedition. Were they nervous? Were they excited? Or did they go there all the time and this was normal for them? She couldn’t read minds so she would have to ask them about it. It might also be helpful to know if they had been in the Conglomerate before.
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Astra, though damp, appeared to be in a good mood. In fact she seemed positively ecstatic about something. Maybe she had recovered from the events that took place. Ruth thought that it was good that she was feeling better now, but she hoped that she and Emme could get along while they were in a highly dangerous place like the Conglomerate.
Ruth did also find out a little more about the incident between the two teammates. Apparently, Astra was pushing her to become her friend and Emme had pushed her off a bridge. It was a relief that she was alright.
Astra went on to exclaim that she had received her broom. While it was a fine broom, Ruth doubted that anyone would be so excited to be able to sweep the floor. So the broom likely had another purpose. Magic came to mind, Ruth did vaguely recall that Nihere had said something about a magic shop when he told her about the incident between Astra and Emme.
“It’s a nice broom” Ruth said, “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Ruth momentarily glanced behind her, toward the barracks. Nihere had decided to search for Emme there, although she did not know if he would find her there or not. Even if he didn’t, they would probably be all reunited when they got to the lift. The group did have a bit of a rocky start, so they would have to try not to let the team fall apart while they were in the Conglomerate.
“We should probably head to the lift” Ruth said, “Nihere said that he was looking for Emme at the barracks, so we’ll probably meet them there.”
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At last Ruth knew what happened at the bridge, her eyes widened as she heard what Nihere had to say. Astra had been pushed off the bridge by Emme. Though her exact reasons behind such an act was still unknown, Ruth was not happy about this. Not only had one of their teammates been put in danger, the act had also caused a rift in the team. Nihere was clearly angry about this, and he said that he wanted to talk to Emme.
“She was there before I left” Ruth answered.
It was clear now that there were hostilities between Emme and Astra, which could create great difficulties when they in the Conglomerate. Ruth thought that if they could talk to her they might be able to get her to try to get along with Astra. But they needed to find her first.
That was when Ruth remembered, they were planning to meet up at the lift. Emme could have left already, or if she was still at the barracks then it would save them from having to search the whole place. They could get Emme to explain her actions there. Then their vital mission could begin.
“Nihere,” Ruth said, raising her voice so he could hear, “We need to leave, we can meet up with Emme at the lift and talk to her there.”
Ruth stayed put for a few moments while she waited to see if Nihere would be coming or not. She then turned around and began walking to the lift. It wasn’t too long after she started walking that she ran into none other than Astra herself. The young witch seemed cheerful despite what had happened and appeared to be carrying a broomstick.
“Astra!” Ruth said, “I was just on my way to the lift. I heard about what happened, are you alright?”
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Ruth left a bit after Nihere did, she intended to stop by the bridge on her way to the lift. That was where Emme had said Astra was. They needed to find her, they party couldn’t start the expedition while it was incomplete. She wondered about what might have happened at the bridge, why Astra might have gone into the water like Emme said.
What if they couldn’t find her though? Ruth supposed that they would need to search or hope that she would go to the lift. If she wasn’t at the bridge, the lift would be the next place she would check. She could ask the spirits for help in getting the party together, perhaps they could direct them to the lift. Although that would take some time when she could only call two spirits at once.
By the time she neared the bridge, She looked around for Astra, but if she was here before, she wasn’t now. However she did see Nihere. Curiously Ruth could see what appeared to be the ashes left from a campfire, she looked at the ashes for a few moments before turning her attention to her ally. She waved to him, hoping to get his attention, before walking up to him.
“Nihere!” she said, “Did you find Astra?”
Nihere had left before her, perhaps he had run into her. So there was a chance that she might be able to find out what had happened to their ally. Ruth hoped he had found her, else they would need to search for her. Ruth did trust that Astra could take care of herself, but she was uncertain about what had happened to her. They were a team, or at least they were going to be a team very soon, and they needed to be together before they could being their all-important mission.
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When the door swung open, Ruth had expected to see both of her absent teammates standing there. However, there was only one person standing there. It was the tall knight called Emme. Ruth craned her neck to try to see if Astra was coming, but she did not see her. Did she decide to return before Astra had a chance to find her and they somehow missed each other on her way back? This is what Ruth thought, or it was until Emme was questioned about it.
Emme had said, rather nonchalantly, that Astra had gone for a swim. Ruth was, unsurprisingly, confused. Why would she do that when she knew that they were waiting for her and that they needed to leave soon? It seemed like quite a strange thing to do when they needed to be getting ready for their trip. She was unsure about this, despite having no other reason to not believe the knight.
“A swim…” she said, the confusion evident in her voice, “We should get her before we leave.”
With that Ruth began walking toward the door, looked behind her to check if the others were going to come with her. She planned to go to the bridge, where Emme had said they might still be able to see Astra, on the way to the lift. Hopefully they would be able to catch up with her. They had done enough preparations for the trip, so the last thing they needed to do was to get the whole group together again.
“Let’s go find Astra and get ready to leave” she said.
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“What about me?” Ruth said, parroting the question that Nihere had posed “Well, I’m a summoner of sorts.”
She paused for a moment before continuing, “I also use magic to provide support, such as weakening the enemy. This would probably put me somewhere toward the back of the group, but I can send the spirits to the front.”
She didn’t go into specifics about her magic, there would be time to discuss it all later while they were in the Conglomerate. She was a medium, her magic was connected to the spirit world. Sometimes people found her magic unnerving, she would try to convince them that it wasn’t something to be nervous about. She hoped that her new allies wouldn’t find it unnerving.
A fairly basic strategy had been made and Ruth could not think of anything else they needed to do before they left. They already had supplies figured out so they shouldn’t starve whilst journeying. They just needed to meet up before they could leave on their quest. Astra had already left, so they just needed to wait for her and Emme to return.
“Now that we have food, water and a sort of grouping strategy, I think we are almost ready to go. We just need to catch up with Emme and Astra” Ruth said, “Unless you can think of anything else we need?”
The expedition seemed exciting, exciting but dangerous. They would be working to find supplies and the Branded that stole from the mayor. They would need to be wary on their journey and learn how each other fought, then they would best work as a team.
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Ruth recalled her first days in the city and what adjusting to her new surroundings was like, so she understood how newcomer, who the Captain had called Kahente, felt when she decided to stay. It would give her time to get used to her new home. Meanwhile, the group would go on the mission accompanied by the still-absent goblin, Blag. They had been told that Blag would be the one who would bring the supplies of water and gram.
Ruth hadn't eaten the doughy substance called gram before, but she had heard enough guards complain about it in the tavern to know that it was hardly gourmet food. It had been described as 'utterly tasteless and very chewy', however it was better than nothing. Perhaps they could bring some other food, like pickled vegetables or salted meat, to make it a bit more palatable, although it would just be another thing they would need to carry around with them.
There were a few more preparations to make, like catching Emme up on the part of the meeting she missed and organising where they should meet up before going on the expedition. Initially Nihere had volunteered to collect the knight. But Astra wanted to go instead, she had summoned her hat out of thin air and already had her hand on the doorknob. Before she left, Ruth wanted to mention where she thought they could meet up again.
"We could meet up at the lift, where we are supposed to meet up with Blag" Ruth said.
There was one last preparation that Ruth could think of: strategy. Considering the fact they needed to leave as soon as possible, it might be best for them to just decide on some basic strategy like where in the party they should be to best use their abilities.
"As for the strategy, we should just think of some basic strategy due to the limited time. We could organise the party based on the ranges of our attacks." Ruth said, "Those who are melee fighters should be at the front where they can best use their skills and those who use ranged attacks and lend support should stand further back. We should talk about this when we are all together though."
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"I'm Ruth, Ruth Le Paige" she replied.
She had expected that they would all introduce themselves at some point, but maybe not as soon as they did. Three of her soon-to-be allies had already introduced themselves as Nihere, Emme Von Kuroe and Astra Du'Vaire. But soon after Emme introduced herself, she left to pick up her shield from the blacksmith's. While they would be unable to discuss tactics and other important matters with her at the moment, they could sometime between now and when they left.
Tactics and strategy were things they would need to talk about before they began their adventure. The unknown dangers and the three Branded were waiting for them in the Conglomerate after all. Apparently the three consisted of a burly man named 'Dien', a clergyman and someone wearing the garb of an old doctor with a beaked mask. Beyond that Ruth knew very little about them, except that one of them was likely to be very nimble.
For now they had up to two days to prepare, though Ruth wouldn't mind leaving earlier than that. She thought for a few moments, thinking up a somewhat rushed list of things to organise before they left on their expedition. Tactics and strategy made the list, along with supplies and preparing their weapons. In terms of supplies, they would clearly need food and water, potions and such for healing, even some tents so that they would have a place to stay. With this on her mind, Ruth turned to the Captain.
"Will supplies such as food rations and water be provided?" she asked.
Now that she had asked the question on her mind, she could begin to think about when they should leave. While it might be best to leave sooner rather than later, especially considering how Nihere said that he wanted to leave as soon as possible, they would need time for final preparations. The expedition loomed ahead, and while she was excited to go on such an adventure she did also believe that preparedness would be their key to success.
""I think we should leave once all the necessary preparations have been made. We should have some sort of plan before running into the Conglomerate." Ruth said.
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While I can still make changes to my character's abilities, I just want to clarify something. The summon cap (WIL / 5) mentioned in the ability Lesser Spectre will apply to all of Ruth's summons. So when Ruth can summon something else she could summon 2 lesser spectres, 1 lesser spectre and some other summon or two other summons. More powerful summons could take up multiple summon slots for balance.
I also have a question: how would an attack by a lesser spectre work? What dice roll would it need?
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Ruth found herself being led inside the barracks to a room which contained the Captain of the Guard. There were several others here too, a variety of people who appeared to be the ones that she would go on the expedition with. Once inside the room, she was met with not one, but two surprising faces. One belonged to the mayor, who was accompanied by his guards. The other belonged to the woman she had seen being hurried out of the inn. Why was she here? Was she going to join them on their mission?
There was a short overview of what the mission was, the Captain mentioned a goblin named Blag who would be helping them. Basically, they needed to collect weapons. Ruth knew this much already, having heard about it during the announcement of the mission yesterday. It seemed straightforward enough, go and collect the weapons they mentioned and be paid for their efforts. However, there was another surprise awaiting them. When asked if they could keep a secret, Ruth responded.
"Yes" she said, "I can keep a secret."
What the mayor said next confirmed the rumour that Ruth had heard about the whereabouts of three of the four new Branded. They really were missing and if they could find them they would be rewarded handsomely. But it came with the condition that they keep this information secret, hence the reason why they had been asked if they could keep it. It was a little concerning that the three could just vanish overnight, hopefully they would be found.
A late arrival entered the room, an armoured figure who was much taller than Ruth was. She could not see their face, but judging by the voice the person under that armour was a woman. The group was fairly large now, Ruth made a mental note to talk to her new allies and find out about them, including the armoured woman.
In order to make sure that they were loyal, they were scrutinised by the mayor's guards. The gaze of the guards was unnerving, and gave a very unusual sense of dread. It was almost as if they were staring directly into her soul. The feeling faded when their gaze moved to the next person.
Following this came more details of the three missing people. It appeared that there was more to the story of their disappearance than she initially thought, there was aggression and thievery. It occurred to her that if they encountered the three that they could be violent. What had caused them to act so strangely?
Ruth also had questions about the item they stole, a scimitar that belonged to the mayor. She had been told that it was of great importance and had been kept in the security of the mayor's manor. What was so important about this scimitar? Did it have some sort of magical power? She did not know and it appeared that the mayor would not tell them. Ruth did not like being kept in the dark.
"Were there any clues as to how this scimitar was stolen?" she asked.
0
Any conversation between Ruth and the nurse that exited the inn was over before Ruth could say anything. Instead the nurse, accompanied by a guard, whisked their patient away to the barracks. The woman they were leading seemed to resemble the description she had heard from the potion shop owner, who had heard about it from one of his customers.
It appeared that Ruth was not going to get any information from them, she would just have to wait. She could ask the Captain of the guard about it when she signed up for the expedition. Ruth looked over to the barracks as the nurse, guard and woman vanished inside. However, it did not appear to be open to the public yet. For a while Ruth just waited in the town centre, thinking over the rumour she had heard from the shop owner.
She did wonder why they went to the barracks, there did appear to be a bit of an air of secrecy around the fates of the four that appeared in the well yesterday. If the rumour she heard was to be believed, then three of them had vanished. Where did they go? They couldn't of just vanished into thin air... could they? Ruth looked over to the barracks to see a young guard emerge and open the gates. It appeared that it was finally open and a crowd had begun to gather. Were they all here to join the expedition? Ruth wasn't sure, she did have some doubts about that.
She moved through the crowd, aiming to get to the barracks. She managed to weave her way to the gate. There were a pair of guards at the gate holding spears. Ruth looked toward the building then to the guards at the gate. The gate was open, maybe the Captain was ready to receive applicants for the upcoming expedition.
"Are we able to sign up for the expedition now?" she asked the guards at the gate.
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"The adventure starts tomorrow, we should get some sleep" Clay said.
Iris and Clay wandered away from the place where they had met the others. The meeting had ended a few moments ago. Both Iris and Clay were feeling a little nervous about the upcoming mission. It was quite a dangerous task they were undertaking, dangerous but important. And for that mission they would need a good night's sleep. However the inn was full, so they would have to sleep out under the stars that night.
After a little while, the two found a good spot to camp just outside the village. It was a place next to an old tree which had clearly been standing there for many years. They ate some of their rations that were left over from the journey here. They discussed who would keep watch first, and it was decided through a coin toss that Clay would keep watch first. He grumbled about that but resigned to his job.
"It's times like this that I miss the caravans" Iris said as she stared up at the stars, "They made travelling much nicer. They may have not been as comfortable as an inn, but they were better than the cold, hard ground"
"We should catch up with them after the mission" Clay replied.
There was a moment of silence as Iris wondered about what life would be like after the mission. Would they be able to go back to their lives as merchants after contacting an Entity? Maybe, but maybe not. This thought continued to float around inside her head until Clay spoke.
"Try to get some sleep, neither of us will be very helpful to the mission if we can't stay awake."
Iris nodded, then closed her eyes and welcomed the comforting darkness of sleep. Tomorrow they could collect some supplies, properly introduce themselves to the others and begin their quest. But for now, the only thing they needed was rest.
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Ruth reached into her pockets and produced a handful of silver coins. She smiled slightly when the shop's owner gave a small discount on the potions. As she counted out the coins needed to pay for the supplies she listened to the shop keeper talk about something that he had heard earlier that day. Apparently, some of the new Branded were missing. This made her stop counting and pay more attention to what he had to say.
"Three of them are missing?" she said, surprise evident in her voice.
"That's what I heard" he replied
"Did anyone talk to the nurse?" Ruth asked
"I don't know" he said.
With that Ruth finished counting out the coins and handed them over. She picked up the two vials of red liquid. She watched the iridescent bubbles float up to the surface of the liquid for a moment before putting them away. She waved to the store's owner as she left, he smiled before disappearing back into the stockroom. She thought over what might have happened to the three newcomers. Where had they gone? What happened to them?
She could think of only two people that might know: the nurse and the only newcomer who hadn't vanished. Although she knew that she had to go see the Captain of the Guard, perhaps she could spend five minutes asking about what had happened. After all, they would probably be taking recruits for quite a while. There would be enough time for a quick visit to the inn.
She walked quickly to the town centre, hopefully she might be able to talk to someone there. While she did not want to waste too much time, this latest development in the story of the new Branded was something she wanted to know more about. Ruth walked up to the door of the inn and knocked, hopefully she would be able to ask whoever opened the door about the newcomers.