Adam rolled his eyes at James' jokes; that really wasn't his sense of humor. Still, it seemed like at least the resident teleporter laughed at them, so it wasn't a waste. Something to get their mind off of the recent tragedies, he supposed. The Druid did agree with the Cleric about moving forward though. Even if he got kicked off the team, the red-eyed man knew he would continue to do whatever was right. Then the battle leader asked everyone if they gained anything after the crystal shined purple. It was something to consider-
Or, it would have been, if MacKensie's arrival and Lillianna subsequent bursting into tears didn't distract the man. One more thing I failed at, he thought, she needs support right away and all I can do is awkwardly offer water. Adam picked up her staff, at least wanting to be able to be of some help to the woman. When she was done crying and ready to move, he would return it to her, along with offering to be there to talk if she wanted. That would be a good way of being supportive, yes.
Unless she needed anything, Adam intended on walking in silence for the rest of the way to their destination. That is, he intended on walking in silence until he heard Zell's question.
"Do me a favour. Could you jump in that in that river over there and start drowning? Don't worry, I'll save you... I think... I just need a little motivation."
The Druid raised his eyebrows at this, quite restrained compared to what he was actually thinking. Is he an idiot? Looking at the river to see an old man with gray skin and pointy ears swimming in it, there seemed to be little risk of drowning, even if the man wanted to risk his life that way. The swordsman seemed to prudently change his mind before Adam could say no to his idea, instead asking how to activate his powers.
Ah, the teleportation. Yes, that was quite relevant. Adam took a moment to think about how to best answer the question, then spoke. "My ability is pretty straightforward. I think about what I want to happen in my head, and I apply…magical energy? For lack of a better phrase, to the place I want it to happen at. Then it happens. Take a look." The man pointed to a nearby windowsill; there was a small potted plant on it, one that looked almost dead. He used his magic on it, pretty effortlessly compared to what he had done in the Hillocks, and it returned to life, now looking like a silver and gold pinwheel if they had green vines to hold them. What an interesting plant. I'll have to look into other plants native to this world, the man thought.
Returning to the question at hand though, Adam resumed speaking. "Of course, there's a lot we don't know about magic here; our magics could work in completely different ways from each other. Maybe you have to be in the state of mind you were in when it happened, or maybe you can only teleport once a day, I don't know." The Druid shrugged his arms, as if to emphasize that last point. More cheerfully, he added "but look where we are! If you can't figure out how to teleport on your own, someone in the Adventurer's Guild probably knows how."
Fenna watched Zell trying to teleport as they walked and it was amusing, but it also made her think... it seemed the man had as surprised to learn about his own ability as Fenna had been when she heard he could do that. It made her wonder, did she have any hidden abilities that were obvious to others, but not to her? She glanced up to see her feathered companion soar through the sky, staying close to them. It was reassuring to see her in the air, she felt closer to the bird since the last battle. The falcon had fought bravely and had understood what to do with the cube.
The Bazaar was busy, but it was a sight to be seen. All the wares, all the different people. Her eyes caught a group that was inspecting some swords; their attire gave the impression of travellers. Some shops caught her attention and she decided to have a look at them later. She'd be able to enjoy this area better if she wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder to see if there wasn't any ninja following them to steal the cube.
Once they cleared the busy area and they were heading for the bridge, she turned to MacKensie when she spoke to her. "I felt that, yes. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but yes, that was odd." She watched MacKensie display some of her new magic, her jaw dropping at the sight of magic in her hand. "That's impressive," she said and fell silent for a moment. "I can't show you anything. I do feel something changed, but it's not something I can summon here and now." Maybe like Zell's teleportation, it would come when needed. She glanced over her shoulder once again, luckily no-one was following them.
He walked slightly behind the others with a single thought in his head.
"How embarassing"
He barely resisted the temptation of jumping in the river (though he would probably end up doing that eventually) and let the current carry him to somewhere where nobody recognized him. He, well he had made a fool of himself no other way around it, trying to distract everybody was perhaps not his wisest choice even though it mostly worked, the only silver lining was that Lily appeared to be -while not necessarily better- at least calmer, he supposed that maybe letting out all her feelings was what she needed and he kicked himself for trying to prevent it.
Ah well, no use crying over spilled milk, looking around at his party members he saw their interactions, Adam and Zell bonding over powers with the latter falling hilariously to proc his teleporting abilities and Maz and Fenna discussing the power-up the party had seemingly gone through.
He didn't want to interrupt so he looked to his other two companions. He grimaced.
...The safe option was Joji, he had talked with the giant before and knew the man was easy to talk to, surprisingly chatty once you got him talking about something he was well versed on and he couldn't imagine the guy reacting badly to some inane conversation. On the other hand his two interactions with Lilliana could be summarised to "Bleed out freak out" and "Foot-met-mouth" respectively. Still, Mama didn't raise no quitter and if they were going to be traveling together for the foreseeable future then he could at least put in the effort to get along.
Walking to her side he cleared his throat to get her attention once he was sure she was focused o him he started "Hey Lily, how you doin'?" Better to specify, the other aspect was pretty self-evident "Physically I mean, your injuries were pretty bad when we entered the hospital and for you to be walking already they must have done something short of miraculous" Shit what else could he talk about? "Ah right, you okay with me calling you 'Lily'? Last time I asked you were pretty-" Fucked up "-delirious"
When The Heroes from the Sky arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, they would either go up the stairs to the meet one of the Guildmasters, or be directed there by anyone who they asked. The bartender would be unfamiliar with their faces and eventually point them up the stairs too, once he realised that they were not registered with the guild.
However it happened they would eventually be upstairs at the grand desk, speaking to Lucinda Bottrill, one of the two guildmasters in the Adventurer Guild's Valhiem Chapter.
"Hello there," she greeted as they approached. The north-easterner Elf never forgot a face, so when she saw them, she immediately knew that they introductions were necessary. Getting up from her chair and walking behind the desk, her little pet dog, Scribble, jumped off her shoulder ran past the party down the stairs. "Lucinda Bottrill. Call me Lucy. How can I help you?" After realising that they were greener than leaves in the spring season, she informed them that before she could offer the guild's services, they would have to register their party. "I'll be needing you all to scan your crystals, if you please. And I'll need your party name and your chosen leader, thank you. Then I'll be able to help you with whatever you need."
Built into the well-polished wood desk was a golden metal plate with a wide slit that glowed the same blue as their crystals. As they passed their left hand over the scanner, both the blue glow and their crystal would briefly go purple to signify a connection. Then Lucy would peer at her magi-tech screen and look at translated Source Code provided.
Magical energy? Zell scratched his head as he listened intently to Adam. His expression was not one of optimism. When Adam pointed at the windowsill over the road and worked his magic, Zell was amazed as the plant grew in vibrance and vigour. Then Adam continued his lesson and Zell's eyes returned to the Druid. As the gang went north through the city, they continued onto the Big Bridge.
"But look where we are!" Adam said. Zell looked around the quaint city, smiling, his eyes eventually drawn up the huge mountain ahead, it's top crowned with beautiful buildings and statues. It was quite a wonder. "If you can't figure out how to teleport on your own, someone in the Adventurer's Guild probably knows how."
Zell nodded. "True enough. Ppreciate your help, my mate."
And with that, he continued the rest of the way in silence. Well...
"TELEPORT!"
Silence after one last fail.
...
Being at the front of the group, Zell was the first to walk into the impressive-looking building that was The Adventurer's Guild. With his hands on his hips and his chin raised, he strutted further into the room like he owned the place. That trademark one-sided grin appeared as he sighted the beer barrels and bottles along the back wall. "Sweet." He hit the bar. "Alright mate," he greeted. The bartender gave a curt reverse-nod. "We were told adventurers can get some answers about how things work around here."
"Up them stairs," was the brief but not impolite response. Zell nodded a thank you, then turned to his friends, repeating the bartenders words if any of them weren't in earshot. And so, up the stairs they went to be recieved with a hearty greeting from a woman who went behind the desk. "Afternoon to ya," Zell offered as he walked over and leaned on the counter. As always, his first instinct was to flirt, but he managed to supress this. It helped that this woman had the strangest looking ears he'd ever seen, second to the red-skinned devil-doctor from earlier. "Pleased to meet you, Lucy. Me and my friends are new in town... new in the universe actually, and we have no idea why we're here or why we've been given these Source crystals. We heard through the grapevine that you might be able to clear up any queries we might have."
When she informed them of all they'd need to do to register, Zell, who was stood side-on at the counter, looked from her to the gang and smiled. "Team name guys," he grinned. "This should be fun. As for the leader; you don't need two guesses as to who gets my vote. My Mexican brother from another mother, the healin wheelin dealin light-beamin, James 'The Brain...' what is your surname?" Zell didn't care, he'd made his point. "As for team name, what about - and I know you guys'll love this -" he paused for suspense, then drew a line up across the air.
"The Zell Squad."
Nodding a few times, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "Eh? Eh? Gotta nice ring to it, don't ya think." No positive reinforcemrnt came so he thought quickly. "Or maybe, The Zellionaires." No takers. "Zell's Angels. Vroom vroom."
Well, it was a long shot. He got bored and turned to scan his crystal. "Just here," he checked before waving his hand over the scanner. "Can you at least tell me my class? And maybe how the hell I use my teleport?"
Fenna walked into the Adventure's Guild and took in the interior of the bar, politely nodding to the customers that glanced in their direction. When they were directed up the stairs she followed behind Zell and let him do the introductions, although she wasn't sure that was the best idea. Just in case she stayed close to gently correct him with an elbow in his ribs if he'd say something stupid.
As Zell began suggesting Team Names, Fenna turned to the counter to have her crystal scanned. "Ignore all the team-name suggestions with the name "Zell" in them, please," she said to Lucy. She had to admit that "Zell's Angles" was funny, but she definitely didn't want to be called that.
Zell was gracious and seemed to pay attention to Adam's explanation; smart one moment and dumb the next, the swordsman was a mystery to the Druid. Still, the red-eyed man felt grateful for his presence. "No problem, sorry I can't be more helpful," he responded. More impressive than his explanation, he felt, was the Adventurer's Guild and its surroundings. It was all so civilized compared to what he had seen so far in Mytheria. Of course, what he had seen earlier was the death of Arthur and Clive, so that might have influenced his opinion at that time. Upstairs though, what the Druid saw was quite a lovely sight.
And what a cute dog she was! As Scribble ran out of the room, the man took a moment to pet the creature, earning a wagging tail from the happy canine in return. He couldn't help smiling at this; he had always liked dogs. After Lucy, Zell and Fenna spoke, Adam was next. "Hello Lucy, I'm Adam, nice to meet you." And speaking of dumb, Zell's team name ideas certainly fit that category, but not his suggestion for who would be in charge. "James would be a good leader and I support it, but…I agree with Fenna."
No need to dwell on that. As Adam scanned his crystal, he noticed it turned purple. "Just like after the giant centaur was killed," he said fairly quietly to himself, but loud enough for Lucy and anyone else nearby to hear. Now facing the elf directly, he decided it would be good to learn about these things on each of their hands. "Excuse me Lucy, why did the crystal turn purple just now? Actually, how do they work in general? As Zell said, we're extremely new to this world and there's a ton we don't know."
Lucy patiently watched everyone talk it out. When Fenna informed her to ignore everything Zell was suggesting, she nodded knowingly.
"Party idiot," she said to the woman. "Got it. Most parties have one of those. My condolences to you... Fenna," she added the woman's name as it came up on the screen.
The idiot was next, with a couple of questions for her. "Oh we don't need the scanner to tell what class you are," she said with a cheeky smile. "I'd peg you for a low-intelligence Bard, but seeing as you're carrying two swords... plain old fighter." She checked the screen. "Yep. Fighter. No brains required." She'd dealt with every type of adventurer in her time. Zell was the kind she loved to deal with. She enjoyed the banter. "As for your teleport. It's an ability rather than a spell, so there's no real way to say it other than; you just do it. Sorry. You'll have to figure it out for yourself, Zell."
Adam stepped up next and for a second, Lucy's smile disappeared. Did he just say; giant centaur? "The crystal turns purple when it's interfacing with the Source Code - The Source Code being 'the language of existence and creation.' So when you scan your crystals, our magi-tech computers are creating a link to your crystals via the Source Code, giving us your information. And when your party wins a fight, you will gain power through your crystals absorbing a portion of the life force of your enemies - to do so also requires interfacing with the Source Code, which is why your crystal turned purple."
Lucy suddenly got distracted with her screen, filing through the data as she searched out-
No use, she wouldn't be able to tell until the party was registered with the Guild. Still, there was no way Adam could be talking about the infamous Aurok the Maneater. No way.
Joji walked back from the tailor, feeling good that he had gotten a good price for the suit he wanted. Although he felt a little creeped out by her trying to hit on him. Never the less he had gotten what he wanted. Being amazed by how large and vibrant the city was, it reminded him of Tokyo. Which in turn made him sad that he will probably never see it again. Feeling weird out seeing all the different non-humans walking around the city, he felt like he was at some sort of nerdy convention.
Walking towards the hospital to check up on Zell. “Hello, I am here to see one of your patients named Zell Brooks. Do you know which room he is in?” His questions were met by her shaking her head and pointing towards the waiting room. “Thank you miss.” He bowed toward the nurse and headed toward the waiting room.
“How are you doing Zell and Lilianna?” He hoped Zell would be able to accompany them, he felt guilty for not being able to protect the two of them. Not noticing or knowing what Mackensie said to Lilianna. He wondered what had been said by the two women. Zell seemed well enough that he was able to join the others in the marketplace. He was glad at the very least that Zell was able to walk without incident. Smiling at Zell trying to teleport, feeling quite different after killing that minotaur. He could not put his finger on it, but he felt stronger than he did before.
The tall man finally turned his attention towards Mackensie. “Yeah, I think I found what I was looking for.” Smiling and walking along with the group. Having done all of his shopping before he joined up with the others. "Wait you guys joined an adventurer's guild? Don't you think we should be going after the witch queen? Or at least investigating why we are here?"
Following them towards the adventure’s guild, he wondered what kind of jobs they would get. Walking over towards the desk with the others, presenting his crystal for the elf woman to scan. He didn’t know what the name of the party would be, but he felt that James would be a good leader for the group. “What do you guys think we should call our group?” His suggestion would be Sky Warriors, but that sounded a little corny to him.
Laughing at the many name pitches Zell was giving. “How about Sky Heroes?”
To say things had been disorienting was certinaly something, not to mention increeibly awkward had she been observing herself from afar. And yet? At the same time, the cry felt like it had taken some kind of weight off of her shoulders. Shoulders? Hmm. More like a weight off of her chest, her head, or her...soul? Actually it felt like something had happened to her beyond simply almost dying and everything else she'd known before, because new spells were floating around in her mind and ready for use. New. Spells. Like she was some character in a game who had just earned enough exp and-...had...oh by the Quinity. Not only was she apparently using local phrases in her head now, or at least in this moment, but more than that she'd just leveled up. Gained more power. Killed enough monsters, or perhaps in this case been alive enough for a kill to happen, and by proxy been granted just enough exp to power up. Or something? Certinaly it wouldn't be because...ah. A chill ran down her spine as the thought of getting EXP from the party deaths crossed her mind, before the mage shook her head back and forth and took a deep breath. No. That couldn't be it, it didn't even work like that in video games much less in the crazy video-game-type isekai stories for that matter.
Though with the others also discussing the topic, she probably wasn't the only on-...ah.
As much as there perhaps was a change, some thing apparently did not based on what little time she'd been here with this group of people. Zell especially, if this was any indication. Him and James talking about the matter of the former apparently teleporting at some point, however, seemed to break the mage out of her deep thinking at the very least as the strange idea raced through her head. Teleportation? With a non-magic individual? Now that was certianly something interesting to ponder. Had it been something he perhaps was given when arriv-
"TELEPORT!"
Oh. Oooooooh no.
The group's path took them through a huge marketplace. All the while down the road, Zell had been trying to activate his Teleport.
Squinting.
Blinking.
Grunting.
Pointing.
"TELEPORT!"
Shouting.
"Pffbpt-!"
The fact Zell could teleport became breifly lost on Lillianna's mind, mostly as the man seemed to put on a show as they walked through the marketplace. A loud show. With all the kind of attention a village idiot would draw by shouting a random word and pointing at people. And then to top it all off? He tried to convince Adam to put himself in danger for the sake of 'testing' things. While thankfully the red-eyed man didn't play along with the preposterous idea, all of this did one thing for her personally.
It made her laugh. Or to be precise, stifle one back as best as she could while the attention was on Zell's antics. Raised eyebrows, hushed whispers, a smaller child laughing at it for some reason, and whatever else just seemed to make her laugh in combination with said antics on Zell's part.
And then James walked over to where she was, moving alongside her. It was enough to get the slightly red-faced mage to suddenly straighten her back up and feel the urge to laugh disappear in a heartbeat. Was it because James was scary? Er, not really. Stern perhaps, but he seemed to be lightening up compared to their first meeting at least. Or, well, hmm...she didn't know him too well, but as he got her attention she would look over with the intent to listen to what he said at least. It was the least she could do after-...well...truth be told she needed to ask about what else had happened back there. Last she'd known were things moving and blurs and the like.
Even so, what did he want to ask-
"Hey Lily, how you doin'?"
"Ah...ahem! Yes, I am doing better than I was before...at least."
Perfect delivery. Totally not socially awkward-sounding and said half-blurted out too quickly because she had been caught off-guard by being called a nickname, one she usually didn't have most people call her at that unless they were close to her, while being asked a pretty standrd thing to ask someone who had nearly died. Nope. Not at aaaaaaaaaaaallllll!
"Physically I mean, your injuries were pretty bad when we entered the hospital and for you to be walking already they must have done something short of miraculous."
Ah. Well, yes, that was certainly something ot talk about she supposed.
"I believe they must have applied some kind of medicine from here...which is fascinating, really. Magic? Technology? It seems both are in play here-"
"Ah right, you okay with me calling you 'Lily'? Last time I asked you were pretty delirious."
Well if she was near death, then it made sense if she-...wait, delirious? Talking in her unconscious state, perhaps?? Wait a second, they needed to back up a bit so she could get the full picture here!
"W-W-Wait! Delirious??? What was I saying? Or, ah, no, wait, I also need to know who carried me here for that matter! How in the world did-?"
James had unleashed one of her secret forms, as her uncle had called it, in this case being: 'Hyper-Ultra-Mega Panicking Lilly'. This was also known as the 'knowing she had the occasioonal time she mumbled or talked in her sleep back home and it was incredibly embarassing' thing. Well, known as that to her personally at least. Not to anyone else...not to anyone else? Was it known to anyone else?! Please someone tell her it wasn't something everyone else in the party had been forced to hear in the middle of a life or death situation! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Perhaps somewhat luckily for the poor man talking to her unfortunately for her desires to ask James everything else she could about the prior situation, what had happened to her, what had happend to the stuff going on there, and so forth, they had arrived at their next destination. The Adventurer's Guild, if she remembered hearing about where they were headed to correctly along the way there. Right? Or maybe she was assuming things based on how it all looked as they'd headed inside, before getting odd looks before being pointed upstairs by a seemingly confused bartender (among others). Not to mention the presence of a few armed perople with various weapons in hand, others in robes akin to her own (but different), and even other species for that matter! Pointy-eared elves! Short and stocky dwarves! She'd seen them in the hospital, but outside of the awkward situation she'd created there it gave her time to notice more of these things on her part.
Even Zell's attempt at the same antics once more was lost on her as her attention was-
-...wait. Wait. WAIT! WAS THAT A FLOATING MAGICAL ORB DISPLAYING MOVING PICTURES ON A WHITE BEDSHEET HUNG FROM A WINDOw IN THAT ROOM JUST NOW?????!!!!!!!
Such was her utter and total fascination with things around her that Lillianna was looking the place over with wide and almost twinlking excited eyes, but a closed mouth admittedly, as she mostly followed the others up the stairs to get to where they were directed. A simple thing for her to do, at least, though as it turned out this was a woman who could sign them up at least according to what she'd said. Indeed Lucinda's words seemed to snap the mage out of her fasination, and she had to admit the woman seemed to have a good choice in outfit. Yes. Outfit. Still, the visage of the elf, with an odd little pet with her at that, seemed to give off 'superior' vibes to the curious mage as well. Like she was used to things, or managed something around here, and they had just been the oddity to walk in the room.
Or perhaps she was just assuming things. Again. For not the first time nor last time in her life.
Built into the well-polished wood desk was a golden metal plate with a wide slit that glowed the same blue as their crystals. As they passed their left hand over the scanner, both the blue glow and their crystal would briefly go purple to signify a connection. Then Lucy would peer at her magi-tech screen and look at translated Source Code provided.
Ah, so they were to simply scan the crystal on their respective hands? Effective. Advanced. Modern, even, but with a fair fantasy-like charm to it. She liked it, but that was more a side note. Perhaps it could tell her why she could see the spirits of the DEAD, among other things about her new..er..self? Status? Existence after being kidnapped to another world after dying in hers like an isekai protagonist? Whatever the case was, she looked forward to it.
However, what she didn't look forward tro was having to make a 'party name'. A name for the group. Certianly it would fulfill the need to identify separate groups of adventurers from each other, but it was not something she frankly favored.
"As for team name, what about - and I know you guys'll love this -" he paused for suspense, then drew a line up across the air.
"The Zell Squad."
Nodding a few times, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "Eh? Eh? Gotta nice ring to it, don't ya think." No positive reinforcemrnt came so he thought quickly. "Or maybe, The Zellionaires." No takers. "Zell's Angels. Vroom vroom."
...No. In fact, not just 'no' but a vehement, all-in 'NO' was in order. The expression on her face, so utterly disappointed and yet somehow not surprised at all, would say it all as she looked Zell back dead in the eyes after he had said all of that. No chance it'd go through, she hoped, but if it did she was going to zap him in a flustered rage.
"Ignore all the team-name suggestions with the name "Zell" in them, please."
"Hello Lucy, I'm Adam, nice to meet you."
"James would be a good leader and I support it, but…I agree with Fenna."
Two people who didn't want the dumb names...praise be to the Quinity for that one, as the locals might say. Or at least kind of things the dead spirit she'd talked to might've said, if she had to take a gues. Oh. Yes, actually, she had no idea what had happend to the unfortunate spirit after all of that mess after saving her skin. Probably was a former adventurer himself, now that she thought about it, but she hadn't even a name to ask about before she'd gone and tried to use the time-honored technique of the 'electrocution double-kill suicide' technique on herself and a water-transforming cyborg ninja. Which, in hindsight, was a fair thing to have taken up all of her attention span at that point in time after having been IMPALED by said cyborg ninja in the torso.
Even so, the elven woman seemed to react well to what Fenna had said at least.
"Party idiot. Got it. Most parties have one of those. My condolences to you..."
He was an idiot, but he was their idiot at least. One who had fought to save their lives back there and so forth. So as much as the mage agreed, she did feel a bit softer toward the big doofus in the aftermath of everything. Attracted to him? No. Like rubbing his head and giving him a scooby-snack for a job well done after lovingly but alsomightily bonking his head with her staff because of his dumb suggestion of a team name? Yes. More like that really.
Hehe.
“How about Sky Heroes?”
Hmm. As the mage walked forward and ran her crystal under the scanner, she heard Joji give his own suggestion for a group name. Not her favorite, but certainly not something bad either. Not as bad as Zell's suggestions to boot. The rather imposingly large Japanese man did seem in good spirits, however, and that did at least help her feel a little more at least about things for the moment. Even so, she was curious.
"I'll concur with Adam and James, James should be the group leader."
Using blessings and healing skills, hmm, yes he'd be at the back and a support already during combat if she had to go by RPG rules. Plus from all she'd heard and seen, he had a level head and had helped the initial party members take care of the invasion back at the village. Certainly not something bad for leadership qualities, no? It was thus logical to choose him in her mind, then, and run with that as her answer.
Even so, she would keep her attention for a moment on Miss Lucinda, well 'Lucy' she supposed, a she stepped aside so another could get their crystal scanned. Or at least she did this before speaking to the beautiful elven woman once more at least.
"Pardon me, Miss Lucy, but I do have a couple questions if that is alright."
If the elven woman let her ask away, then she'd proceed on. Still, it was a bit odd-feeling to her to address someone by a more casual name in this instance though. On a first meeting, really? Hmm. She supposed she wasn't much used it still, even after the bit of time spent living with her Uncle...heh. The silly goofball did, as long as the two had been living out of the same abode, make up quite a few silly nicknames for himself though. Tried to get her to call him them too, like "The Bodacious Beach Bod Extraoadinaire", to get her to 'relax and chill' as her Uncle had also said at the time.
Ah, but she didn't need to get distracted in her thoughts once more. Not yet at least.
"I can unleash lightning and see the spirits of the dead...ah...is this in any fashion normal for one with a class such as mine?
And secondarily, would you happen to remeber a party in the past who had a gambeson-wearing halberdier among them? Bit of an accent, perhaps came from a rural place, maybe died back in the Mazy Hillocks?"
It was certianly something to ask, at least, and while still odd to ask perhaps she did want to know these things. The first thing more so she was interested in, whilst in regards to the latter thing it was just if Ms. Bottrill happened to know anything on the matter or person if interest. It felt like an odd combination of factors when it came to what she could do, at least, unless she was going to become Doctor Frankenstein and make a new body for a dead person and bring it to life comically with lightning. Meanwhile with the second thing it wasn't something she'd press about hard, to be frank, if the elven woman didn't know anything in regards to the second question. Really, the mage didn't even know herself if he'd been dead for a long time, died more recently, or not! But perhaps she could look into the matter later and on the side, if nothing else could be learned or done at this point in time.
"That's impressive," Fenna remarked about MacKensie's show of magic, before falling silent for a moment. MacKensie's concious attention was completely on the other Ranger, so she didn't realise that when her foot was about fall onto a stone in her path, she automatically adjusted her step to avoid it. "I can't show you anything. I do feel something changed, but it's not something I can summon here and now."
"I see." MacKensie put a finger on her lips as she thought. She was glad that Fenna affirmed her beliefs about what happened. MacKensie trusted her judgement just as much as she had come to trust the judgement of the intelligent James or the sensible Adam, if not more so. And so she now dared to assume the conclusion that they were indeed more powerful than before, which meant in turn that she could be hopeful that if they ever came across that steel-armoured ninja again, they'd have a better chance. Not just at survival, but revenge. MacKensie warded off such dark thoughts with a smile at Fenna. "Well, hopefully you will not need to summon anything anymore. The Adventurer's Guild may have the answers we need to get you back to your family, and you can put all of this behind you. If not, we keep searching."
"...Don't you think we should be going after the witch queen? Or at least investigating why we are here?"
MacKensie only caught the end of Joji's questioning, but she sensed the impatience in his voice and so attempted to allay the concerns of her friend. "Remember, that commander from the town where we arrived? He said that we should begin our search for answers there." she reminded him. She still wasn't completely sure of her feelings on the matter of the war against The Witch Queen, so she avoided that subject.
The guildhouse was impressive. A sort of rustic architecture mixed with modern engineering. Grandiose yet homely. MacKensie followed everyone up the stairs, not without noticing the armed and armoured men and women dotted about the place. Her sharp eyes even caught sight of a few Source crystals. Adventurers. She could already feel herself compiling an endless list of questions, and it appeared that they would be happily answered by one Lucinda Bottrill - a gorgeous red-head with big green eyes and ears that gave her away as one of the odd non-human peoples that this world seemed to harbour.
Mac, that is the last time you will be describing anyone as 'one of the odd non-human peoples!' Even in your head, she scolded herself.
MacKensie let it be known that she was happy to have James as the leader. "You would make a fine leader, James." She would've agreed to near-any nomination other than herself, but James was certainly one of the most appropriate. He'd shown himself to be extremely smart, quick thinking under pressure, and pretty mature as far as men her age went. Certainly more mature than his imbecile counterpart.
"Zell's Angels. Vroom vroom."
"Kindly shut up," she cut him off sharply.
Joji's suggestion for team name was the best so far, (although the bar had been low up until that point,) 'Sky Heroes' did suit them quite well, after Hommas. This led MacKensie's thought process down a path that meandered through meaning and attachment, slowed by her desire to hear everything being said at the desk. Eventually her process ended with,
"How about..." she said aloud, without meaning to. After attracting attention, she had no choice but to continue. "Second Chance?" she offered. Unsure of herself, she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear with a nervous motion. "To fight for this is noble, I think. For this to embody our goals, and for those who hear our name, to have hope."
"Oh we don't need the scanner to tell what class you are."
"Oh yeah?" Zell bounced back, mirroring Lucy's smile and moving away from the scanner to lean on the counter again. After hearing her remarks to Fenna, he already liked where this was going. Lucy was clearly as cool as good beer, and Zell got the feeling she'd be fun to talk to, if they were going to be dealing with her in the immediate future. She went on to make her guess. Zell had no idea what the hell a Bard was, but she landed on Fighter anyway, then checked her screen. "Moment of truth."
"Yep. Fighter. No brains required."
"Sounds about right," Zell said casually. "I've got as much brains as a necromancer's birthday guest. Nicely done."
At his lack of an answer regarding the teleportation, he shrugged it off and stuck around to listen to Lucy's answer to Adam's question and took it in, his attention drawn briefly by Joji's suggestion of 'Sky Heroes' as the team name. It wasn't a bad choice. "It's no 'Zellionaires' but it's not terrible," he said with a wink to his fellow swordsman. His mind quickly went back to the idea that the crystals in their hands was in direct contact with the language of existence and creation. If that was true...
What in the actual fuck!?
...the implications were so far-reaching, it was staggering. Was their every action recorded? Was their potential power limitless? Could the flow of information go in reverse? Language of creation and existence... right there in the computer... like some kind of god.
Zell looked at James with a wild expression to communicate the silent question, Are you fucking hearing this!?
If anyone was smart enough to break down the epic proportions of what Lucy was saying, it was him. Some of the others didn't seem understand, or the very casual, customer service tone of Lucy made them mishear the importance of what was being said. Still... even those that had caught all of it - it was a lot to take in. Five hundred questions had appeared over a ten second period for Zell, but at the very top of the list was the first question they'd all had in the beginning.
Why were they here?
One thing Lucy's explanation about the Source crystals helped was hope to get an answer to that golden question. If the Source Code was really all she'd cracked it up to be, then surely that computer had the answers they were looking for.
Lillianna stepped up with questions of her own, so Zell didn't interupt, instead looking back at James who was last in line to get his crystal scanned. "Bruh," he muttered. Hopefully the Cleric would get to the bottom of a few things for them all.
"How about..." Zell's head turned to the frenchwoman. His eyebrows raised a little, expectantly. "Second Chance?" MacKensie looked self-concious about her suggestion. Zell didn't know why because he was in love with it immediately. It was perfect. "To fight for this is noble, I think. For this to embody our goals, and for those who hear our name, to have hope."
"A second chance is what we have - Being here," Zell said, nodding a few times. "A second chance is what we offer - With that cube." He pointed at the Ranger as he looked around at the others. "Not sure there's anything more perfect to define us. I'd say we've found our team name guys."
If everyone agreed with the team name and team leader, that meant that they could finally be registered after James' turn at the desk. His attention would go back to Lucy and her magi-tech screen, eager for more answers.
Well, that was not the reaction he had been expecting, he kept watching as, mhm... meh fuck it, Lily kept stammering half formed questions and sputtering panicked sentences, he was kind of impressed truth be told what with how long could she keep going between breaths. Sadly before he could clear the misunderstanding they had already arrived at the adventurers guild and were gawking at the establishment (himself included). Still, considering how their first two interactions went this last one had ended with top marks and a little sticker on its forehead to show how good it was.
He was great at the whole 'socializing' thing
"Hello there," she greeted as they approached. The north-easterner Elf never forgot a face, so when she saw them, she immediately knew that they introductions were necessary. Getting up from her chair and walking behind the desk, her little pet dog, Scribble, jumped off her shoulder ran past the party down the stairs. "Lucinda Bottrill. Call me Lucy. How can I help you?" After realising that they were greener than leaves in the spring season, she informed them that before she could offer the guild's services, they would have to register their party. "I'll be needing you all to scan your crystals, if you please. And I'll need your party name and your chosen leader, thank you. Then I'll be able to help you with whatever you need."
He remained silent as his party went one by one registering and asking their own questions, laughed at Zell's failed attempts to set a party name (Zell's Angels was kind of rad actually) and perked up in interest when Lily asked about the fallen adventurer, he could guess that was the ghost he had seen aiding her but he was puzzled over how many details she had picked, he just saw silhouettes.
However, his mouth set itself into a thin line when they decided who to pick as the party leader.
"As for the leader; you don't need two guesses as to who gets my vote. My Mexican brother from another mother, the healin wheelin dealin light-beamin, James 'The Brain...' what is your surname?"
"James would be a good leader and I support it"
"I'll concur with Adam and James, James should be the group leader."
"You would make a fine leader, James."
Their enthusiasm and quiet acceptance of him was touching even if he was not sure about it himself, he would have personally voted for any of the others, in his opinion they all had more than enough charisma to fulfill the role and leadership was a skill that anybody could learn. But he wouldn't refuse the role if they all were so on board with it, maybe he would go wrong somewhere or perhaps everything would end fine, either way, he would make his best so no one else died again. It was the least he could do.
"Well now yall made me blush, hope that was what you were going for" He tried to change his grimace into a grin, but failed "Serious talk, I will try to be as good for you guys as you are to me, thanks for the vote of confidence" He stepped towards the Guild Master and registered his crystal, but her explanation about what they were caught his interest, was she being metaphorical or literal because then that would have some pretty strong implications and some of them were slightly uncomfortable, he discreetly looked around and caught Zell look of startled comprehension, his quick look and quiet 'bruh'.
As Mac shared her Party name he agreed with her "I like it" it was really fitting and sounded dramatic enough to not be confused with others,
He waited until the Guild Master finished the process and then choose to talk again, they had been promised this conversation for long enough. Part of him resisted the idea of what he was bout to do, as it would throw all ideas of subtlety out of the window and set the house on fire but he was sick of not knowing anything damnit! so he decide to take a calculated risk.
"Speaking of cubes there is something else we would like to discuss, but I would like to add some context first" He met the eyes of his party member, both to let them interfere in case they had objections and to gather a little more confidance "Aproximately a day ago my friends here, me and two others woke up on a little town I think west from here He gestured with his head towards Adam for confirmation or correction but didn't look away from the GM " Hommas if you know about it, the problem is that we all woke up in what the locals described as 'stone coffins fallen from the sky' with no familiarity with -and I am not exagerating- this world, we asked the locals if they knew what happened to us as we were all disconcerted with what was going on but they were as baffled with it as we were" It was not the exact order of events but she didn't need to know that we were seconds away from coming to blows with the local guards minutes after dropping.
Now that he was recounting the events he realized how outlandish the next part was going to sound "Before long, however, there was a call from the sentries that an army of undead was nearing the walls accompanied by a duo of ogres, we decided to help after the local Commander asked for assistance" He distractedly traced the links of the inert weapon wrapped around him, remembering how its original owner- its TRUE owner singlehandedly dueled one of the ogres "The battle was grueling, the undead were too many and the ogres were too strong but we managed to eke out a win with some loses to the town guards, the thing that helped us win was that when the undead leader was defeated it dropped a cube that made all the others undead flee on fear. The commander told us we needed to bring it to the closes guild branch and sent us in this direction but on the way here we were ambushed by some fuc-!" He paused then took a deep breath, letting out his anger was not going something productive to the conversation "by some person in armor who used water magic and possessed great agility and strength, we managed to fend him off at the cost of severe injuries and two of our friends lives."
He turned towards his party "Hey guys I lost track of who was guarding the cube, could one of you kindly give it to her?" Once the cube was in her possession he let out a breath and directed his next words to her "Please don't take offense but could you kindly explain what the fuck is going on?" He tried to resist cursing but all his frustrations were simply too great right now, all the pain and grief he had accumulated over the last 24+ hours were at the forefront of his mind and he just wanted some answer. "Please?"
Almost all their cards were on the table right now but frankly, any answer would be worth it, anything was better than the uncertainty.
Lucy smiled at Lillianna - partly because the exceptionally pretty woman was so formal and polite, which was adorable, but partly because of the imagery Zell had brought to mind, of a necromancer who needed friends so badly they'd have to raise them from the dead. "Ask away, sweetheart."
The first question was quite the surprise. Lucy rubbed her chin. "That would mean that you have an affinty for both Air and Light Domain magic. It's quite rare for any mage to be specialize in twin elements. Looks like you've been dealt an extraordinary hand. Kudos to you. You should go to the Academy, if you've not been already. I'll bet they'd love to meet a twin-element mage that's just started her journey as an adventurer. I'm guessing you must be highly intelligent for The Source to bless you with two Domains, so if you like books, tomes and scrolls, you should do quite well there."
At her next question, she shook her head apologetically. Although she was good with faces, such a description would be difficult to pinpoint, but she did try for a moment, if only for how polite Lillianna was. "Hmmmmm... died in the Mazy Hillocks, did he? Not a nice place to meet to your end." She leaned folded arms on the counter and looked to the ceiling for answers. "Halberdier fighters aren't commmon..." In the end she blew out a breath of resignation. "Sorry, I can't think. I'd need a little more, I'm afraid."
The fact that Lillianna was talking about the Mazy Hillocks was baffling. Surely that's not how they'd gotten here! That place was a death trap. And Adam had mentioned the giant centaur. Coult it be...? Surely not.
When James stepped up, Lucy met his stern eyes. So he's the one they've chosen as leader. After he scanned his crystal, she glanced at the screen and saw his details. It wasn't everyday you saw Cleric-led parties. But then, it also wasn't everyday you saw a Cleric who wasn't tied to any diety. In fact never in Lucy's life had she ever met a Cleric who wasn't already tied to one or two of the divine. First, a twin-element mage and now this... this party was unique indeed.
Could I be seeing historical greatness in it's seedling form? the long-lived elf thought. A far-fetched prospect, but still - nice to guess about.
When he started talking, Lucy got the feeling this would be serious. "Go ahead."
As he talked, she easily filled out the registration as she listened, keeping her eyes mostly on him. "Hommas? Sounds familiar." But she did have to pause at the mention of stone coffins from the sky. She wanted to interrupt and clarify - stone coffins!? - but thought better to simply listen. He described the battle, which was nothing new, as were the party member deaths, unfortunately. She wanted to get back to these 'stone coffins in the sky,' but the focus had shifted to this cube. Politely, she stayed on topic. When Fenna handed her the cube, she studied it, turning it in her hands.
"Well, what have we here. I've never seen anything like this before." After a moment, she looked at James. "You said it fell out of the undead leader? And then the rest of them fled?" Strange. "Most undead types are pretty stupid. Too stupid to know how to flee a battle."
She let slide the swearing, naturally. He wasn't cursing her out - he'd just been through a lot. By the sounds of things, this party had been in over their head from the start. Ogres with back up? Mazy Hillocks? All in their first day.
"I'll be honest, it's a miracle you're all still alive," she said to them all before looking at the cube again. What in Mytheria is this thing? she wondered. Shaking her head, she handed the cube back to Fenna. "Alright. Alright. This is a lot of information." She'd been a Guildmaster for decades now, but so much of what she'd been told was a complete first. Some of it was so outlandish, it sounded like lies. But when she looked at James and the rest of them, she sensed no deception. "Give me a second."
Finishing the regristration of the party, she now had access to more of the Source Code, so she tried to make sense of it. She could see that their journey began just a day ago, which lined up with their story. As did the battles. But what drew her attention was two HUGE notifications.
"By the Quinity, am I reading this right!?" she exclaimed. "You did kill Aurok." She looked at Adam, who was the one who hinted to it earlier. Then peered around the rest of them. Early, unascended adventurers, all of them. "Aurok the Maneater... How!?"
And after that was explained, she would tell them that that they were the richest Bronze Tier party in Mytheria. "You've just earned a huge bounty. 35,000 Silver coins. Or 350 gold, to make it easier. I'll fetch that for you in a moment. But, first, there's another matter that needs addressing - Crikey, there's a few matters - but one at a time..."
"It says here that you have mail. There's a message in your Source Comm Inventory." She shook her head and shrugged. "You probably don't even know what means, do you? Which makes this even more strange.
Source Comm is a magical messenger service for adventurers who have reached Silver Tier and above. But you guys have a message already, and you've only just registered. That never happens. I don't even know how that could happen.
Listen, I am sorry but I'm just as confused as you lot with all this. I've never heard of stone coffins falling out of the sky, harbouring adventurers with amnesia - or whatever's happened to you. I've never heard of a party having Source Comm messages in their inventory when they don't even have access to the service. And I've never heard of a Bronze Tier party coming in to claim a Platinum Tier Bounty!"
Lucy was stumped. At this point, the strange cube was the least of her concerns and had quickly faded out of focus. "I have a funny feeling whatever's on that message in the Source Comm has some kind of answer for you. I'd like to know myself, to be honest. But to open the message, you'll need to rank up to Silver Tier, as a party. The fastest way to do that would be to complete contracts with the guild."
She looked through data on another screen whilst continuing. "Two silver contracts ought to do it. But you guys must be a lot stronger than your rank suggests, so I'd say, if you want it done a lot quicker, take a single gold contract."
And so, Second Chance - The Heroes from the Sky, would get no information about the cube, but it felt like answers about their inception into this world might be close, with the elusive and mysterious Source Comm message. But to get that message would require going down one of three paths:
1. Go out into the wild and hunt down monsters to kill until they'd gained enough Source to rank up to Silver Tier. Random encounters, random difficulty and random cost in time and resources.
2. Take two silver contracts - which might take weeks but would be relatively easy compared with what they'd already faced.
3. Take a single Gold Contract and rank up in the quickest time, but face a tough challenge.
4. Leave and look and look for answers elsewhere, always with the option to come back if they ever changed their mind.
Adam listened intently to Lucy's answer to his question. The implications of what she said were staggering, with a great many questions appearing in Adam's head, but the main thought he had was "is this Source Code programmable, and if so, how good would Eric be at that?" He missed his brother. This wasn't the time to talk about that though, so he nodded to Lucy instead, thanking her for the information. Zell and James seemed to realize the implications of this also, but the man doubted either of them had computer nerd siblings. If they did, that would be an incredible coincidence. Still, this wasn't the time for that sort of discussion.
The Druid noted Joji's suggestion; it was certainly better than any of Zell's ideas. However, the one he liked best though was "Second Chance." It didn't hurt that it was MacKensie's idea, but like the swordsman said, they all had a second chance being there. He was also happy with the consensus around James as leader as well; even if the red-eyed man was kicked off the team, it felt nice knowing everyone else was in good hands.
After James accepted his new job, he proceeded to start sharing the story of how they all got to the Guild in the first place. Adam was a little surprised the Cleric was sharing so much so quickly, but he also supported it. Calculated risks were necessary in times like these. When the group leader looked at Adam for confirmation about the direction of Hommas, he shook his head, but didn't say anything more. The town was actually south of them, but that wasn't a big deal. What James was swearing about, though; that was the big deal here.
Of course, Lucy responded to the Cleric as best she could. Yes, it was a miracle they were all alive, Adam thought. Despite his attention being on the elven woman, he couldn't help but be a little startled by her sudden change in volume.
"By the Quinity, am I reading this right!?" she exclaimed. "You did kill Aurok." She looked at Adam, who was the one who hinted to it earlier. Then peered around the rest of them. Early, unascended adventurers, all of them. "Aurok the Maneater... How!?"
Adam didn't have anything against this lady, but he did feel there were more important things to discuss, so he only answered her briefly, looking at the anchor on James' back as he did so. "A friend bravely sacrificed himself." It wasn't the whole story, but he felt it was the most important part of it.
Following this, Lucy spoke about the reward; Adam was surprised, but wasn't even sure what they would use the money for. They already had the money from their previous quest and that hadn't even been touched, really. Better to think about that more later. She spoke more; the Source Comm and these contracts were certainly important, but Adam thought there was something more important to discuss first.
"I'm good with whatever you all decide to do next," Adam told the team, thinking that sounded better than 'I don't know if you all want me around so I don't want to influence your decisions.' With his attention back to the Guild Master, the Druid spoke with certainty. "But there is something else that needs to be addressed. That cube is the reason that water ninja attacked us on orders from the Witch Queen. So before we accept any contracts, we need to be sure that thing is somewhere safe. Lucy, is there somewhere it can go so it won't fall into the wrong hands? And maybe someone from that Academy you mentioned could figure out what exactly it does?" The man knew from experience what the team had gone through to defend that death cube once; with any luck, they wouldn't have to do that again.
Just before it was James' turn to talk, Zell's mind had turned randomly to a burning question of his own. The mystery of Fenna's accent. The way the Ranger had pronounced his name was kinda unique, yet familiar all the same. His mind unearthed a memory of last year's weekend trip with the boys to Amsterdam.
Bingo.
Finally, he realised that she was Dutch. He might've gotten it sooner but of all the group, he'd probably heard her talk the least. Well, now he had to thank her for her country's service in inventing his favourite beers! But before he could do that, James started telling the gang's tale of the last 36 hours, hoping Lucy would have some answers. And it seemed as though she didn't, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. This mystery message in their magical email inbox that could not have possibly gotten there unless someone knew they were coming.
"I have a funny feeling whatever's on that message in the Source Comm has some kind of answer for you," Lucy said.
"You and me both," Zell chimed in, in agreement, getting goosebumps just anticipating what he was about to hear next. He was about to eagerly tell her to click on it, or whatever, 'magic' it open, but she continued on.
"I'd like to know myself, to be honest. But to open the message, you'll need to rank up to Silver Tier, as a party. The fastest way to do that would be to complete contracts with the guild."
"Goddammit, more hoops," the swordsman muttered, rolling his eyes. When she gave them the options to rank up, Zell looked at the others, waiting to see if anyone spoke first. Inside he was frustrated. He felt so close to answers right now, stood but a few feet away from a screen that had a message for them that would likely blow this mystery wide open. When Adam started talking about the cube, Zell lost interest. The Academy was already their next stop. While the Druid waited for his answer, Zell addressed the others. "I'd bet my last monkey- err... 100 silver - that our answers are in that message. Let's just cut through the bullshit and get this gold contract outta the way. We're a lot stronger than we were before that last fight."
Once Lucy had finished with Adam, Zell turned to her. "Gold is lower than Platinum right? If we take a gold contract, you won't be sending us anywhere like The Mazy Hillocks?" When she confirmed, he turned back to the group. "Good. I say take the gold, but I'll leave you guys to make a more thought-out decision. I need a beer." And with that, he made for the bar, not before cracking a joke at Fenna. "Shame they won't have Heineken or Amstel in this neck of the woods, huh."
Back at the hospital, after they'd paid the bill, everyone had split the remaining the money so Zell actually had his share on him. When he got to the bar, he took a stool. "Will a hundred silver get me a beer?" he asked the bartender, who obliged. If anyone joined him, he'd pay for their drink too. The bartender gave the swordsman a medieval tankard full of ale with a nice head on it. Zell took big gulp and smacked his lips satisfactorily. It was suprisingly good. "Now, that is not bad at all."
At the mere mention of The Witch Queen, Lucy tensed up a little. James had spoken of an enemy ambush but now Adam was claiming it to be the work of The Witch Queen. Lucy wondered what could have transpired for the him to know Mytheria's greatest threat was behind their attack, but if she tried to question and clarify every tall tale of adventurers, she'd never have a moment's rest, so she let it go.
At his first question, she shrugged. "If I knew what it was, maybe." She could tell it meant a lot to him, so she felt bad. "I'm sorry." His follow-up question sounded like a good idea. "Yeah, I suppose if anyone might be able to help you properly identify it, it would be someone at The Academy." Of all they'd shared with her - the uniqueness of their situation, their cube and the classes - it all told Lucy to try her best to offer them some kind of help, so she stayed on the subject until something came to her.
"I'll tell you what: If you go there, ask for a woman named Clarissa Shields. Tell them you've been sent on Adventurer's Guild's business." She took a small piece of parchment from behind the desk, wrote some words on it, slipped it in an envelope and stamped it with a wax seal and pushed it forward on the counter. "That should get you in the door to someone high enough."
She nodded at Zell. "In ascending order; Bronze, Silver, Gold, then Platinum and finally Diamond." She reassured the others. "I believe, looking at your stats, history and abilities, that you will be able to handle a gold contract. I've been in the Guild for more than while now and seen all kinds of parties. I'm a pretty good judge of these things."
After Zell went downstairs, she addressed the rest. "I warn you though. Ascension and abilities will only get you so far. What seperates the best parties from the rest is teamwork, decision-making and spirit," she lectured them. "Be courageous, be virtuous, be smart. Learn eachother. Trust eachother." She smirked. "Even the idiot."
On the subject of the team name - Zell's encapsulation of her thoughts, along with the agreement of others, made her smile. 'Second Chance' now not only sounded better to her ears, she was certain that it suited them quite perfectly.
"Thank you," she said to all, with a small nod.
She stood in silent audience to James' explanation of their current predicament, only stepping forward to show him support when he was losing his cool.
"...The commander told us we needed to bring it to the closes guild branch and sent us in this direction but on the way here we were ambushed by some fuc-!" As he paused and took a deep breath, MacKensie placed a hand on his shoulder supportively.
Once he was done and Lucy gave her take on the cube, MacKensie's thoughts were drawn back to the bigger picture of this land. The war. The Witch Queen. She and her friends had no idea the territorial battles that must be going on all around them. All she knew was that they were in the central part of the continent. Where the Witch Queen's forces were was unknown - possibly east, if the attack at Hommas' eastern gate was any indication. But this cube... this cube that was unknown to even a staff-member of the worldly Adventurer's Guild... maybe it really could be as revelationary to the war-effort as Commander Vadim had postulated?
One moment, the cube was the most important thing in her mind... the war, the most important thing. But then her priorities were slingshot into the opposite direction upon hearing about the Source Comm service... and the message.
"I have a funny feeling whatever's on that message in the Source Comm has some kind of answer for you." She wide-eyed looked at Lucy.
"You and me both." She wide-eyed looked at Zell.
Answers? Answers about why they here? How they were here? Perhaps a way to go back home? MacKensie's heart-rate doubled as she imagined being able to return home, the day before the flight to Japan. Being able to yell and scream and force her team not to go to the Olympics. Sabotage the entire to trip to save them all from that terrible tragedy. The fantasy was so overwhelmingly ecstatic, it threatened to break her down into tears. Much of everything else was hard to hear, from that point, barely catching the information as she struggled to keep her composure. Adam's questions only added guilt to her mix of emotions, as here she was, willing to throw away her promise to Vadim for a chance to go home - to hell with Mytheria.
Adam: A young man as straight-laced as MacKensie had always been, showing her how she ought to act. What an individual, indeed. His willingness to put aside everything for a solid answer about the cube they'd promise to safeguard, made her already-high respect for him grow another notch. Whether he noticed or not, as Lucy put the envelope down in front of the Druid, MacKensie held a fist to her stomach as she smiled at him in admiration. Adam: trustworthy to a fault.
Her composure regained (after what was perhaps the tenth wild mini emotional rollercoaster she'd been on since arriving in this world) MacKensie recollected what she could of the information that had just been divvied out regarding silver and gold contracts. It seemed Lucy was confident that they could handle a gold contract, and the desire to see that Source Comm message was enough to make her speak up.
"I also think we should take a gold contract," she told her friends (minus Zell and anyone else who'd disappeared in search of alcohol - not that anyone could blame them.) "We have business at the Academy and a promise to keep to the town of Hommas. This must come first. And we must take an evening to - how you say - decompress? Find a hotel or something? Mentally, I think it would help." Then her tone and expression hardened. "But I feel in my bones that this message in that computer is so important for us. And I wish to see it as soon as humanly possible. Zell is right; we are all stronger than before. Much stronger. I know this. And after going through The Mazy Hillocks, I feel I am ready for anything now."
"A second chance is what we offer - With that cube."
"Not sure there's anything more perfect to define us. I'd say we've found our team name guys."
"I like it"
She had to concur, after a breif moment of thinking about it all. Wasn't every day that someone got another chance at life, in another world not less, even if it had all occured so suddenly and out of the blue. Or, well, in her case coming at her like a beach umbrella to the face on a very windy day at the beach. Close enough? Close enough.
"'Second Chance', hmm? It has a nice ring to it, I think. Agreed."
A fitting name indeed, though the conversation was far from over as the elven woman answered the first of her own questions.
"That would mean that you have an affinty for both Air and Light Domain magic. It's quite rare for any mage to be specialize in twin elements. Looks like you've been dealt an extraordinary hand. Kudos to you. You should go to the Academy, if you've not been already. I'll bet they'd love to meet a twin-element mage that's just started her journey as an adventurer. I'm guessing you must be highly intelligent for The Source to bless you with two Domains, so if you like books, tomes and scrolls, you should do quite well there."
Such a pairing elements was that extraordinary? Curious, most curious indeed. This 'Academy' place seemed to be a place of magical learning, as far as she could glean from it all, and in that vein she wished to go visit it as the other woman had reccomended. Yet the promise of books and tomes and even scrolls to read and study was certainly something far more tantalizing. Would she be able to read the material of this world without learning it? They could certainly speak the local lingo somehow, and understand it all in turn, so it was certainly a promising prospect at the very least for someone interested in academic learning and having a bit of a love for fantasy as a genre.
Whew. No. No no no, she didn't need to go nuts here with anticipation...even if she really kind of wanted to right now. Like she could barely contain the geeky energy inside for a moment. Yet while she seemed to visibly get an excited twinkle in her eyes at the mention of the 'Academy', and frankly even more so at the mention of new reading materials, the white haired mage visibly tried to calm herself back down all the same.
It was also around this time the second answer made it to her ears as well.
"Hmmmmm... died in the Mazy Hillocks, did he? Not a nice place to meet to your end."
"Sorry, I can't think. I'd need a little more, I'm afraid."
...Curses. The poor soul who'd helped them back there hadn't even a chance to give his name either, which wasn't helping anything. Though dead, he had managed to save her life at least. Seemed to be a kind person wanting to assist some lost and most woefully outmatched novice adventurers, even after his own horrible death and wandering around that place. Argh! He had mentioned a few things about himself, at least, which perhaps would be something to look into as scant as they were. Maybe if she added those it would help Lucy get a more specific memory? Hmm.
In the meantime, she would listen as James tried to fill Lucy in on their situation and showed her the cube, until the point that-
"By the Quinity, am I reading this right!?" she exclaimed. "You did kill Aurok." She looked at Adam, who was the one who hinted to it earlier. Then peered around the rest of them. Early, unascended adventurers, all of them. "Aurok the Maneater... How!?"
That was what she wanted to know as well, though give the lack of two party members being among the living still...it came at a great cost indeed she imagined. Even so, the elven woman would seem to move on to describe the situation, as well as reveal a message for them that seemed to be currently well out of reach, and it wouldn't be good to leave that unchecked. Couldn't they check it some other way than having to gain silver rank? They'd all just nearly died out there after all of this, and while she had to admit a good cry was more than needed back there at the hospital it didn't mean she wasn't worried about how the others were doing still as well. Concious as they had been back there, she'd no idea fully of what had happened to them back there in the Mazy Hillocks as of yet. It was...vexing!
Heh. She hadn't gotten to use that particular word in a little while.
"A friend bravely sacrificed himself."
...So her theory held some water, it seemed. Though for that matter, Adam hadn't seemed to be doing too well either now that she noticed. Zell's antics had kept her mind occupied outside of some personal thinking along the way, but she felt that she still did care in the end. On the other hand, she hadn't had to watch anyone die out there either. It...hmm...curses.
"I'm good with whatever you all decide to do next."
He wasn't going to pitch in on this? Really? It was important to everyone that they all get a voice in this one, and he was a valuable part of the group! It was enough to get the white haired mage to walk over to the red-eyed man and tug on Adam's sleeve before looking him in the eyes (after he'd had his moment to speak to Lucy too of course). Even if she felt her own idea was perhaps the best one, he had a right to say something too! And in this case she wasn't going to sit silent on that particular thought.
"Adam! You've just as much right as anyone else here to help decide. Besides, if anyone decides to do anything rash we-"
"Gold is lower than Platinum right? If we take a gold contract, you won't be sending us anywhere like The Mazy Hillocks"
"Good. I say take the gold, but I'll leave you guys to make a more thought-out decision. I need a beer."
Wait wait wait, what?! Wasn't it clear that they'd already been in over their heads with all of this so far?! It was enough that, to her at least, it seemed clear that choosing the two silver contracts would be the best call. The safer call, less likely to get them jumped by angry enemy monsters well above their bronze-tier and otherworlder expertise! They had no business running out there suddenly again, not without getting some footing around here, maybe a place to live, and getting an idea of what they could each do better. Or at least taking the time to practice some kind of formation or the like to use out there!
"I'll tell you what: If you go there, ask for a woman named Clarissa Shields. Tell them you've been sent on Adventurer's Guild's business." She took a small piece of parchment from behind the desk, wrote some words on it, slipped it in an envelope and stamped it with a wax seal and pushed it forward on the counter. "That should get you in the door to someone high enough."
Well, she did want to go see the Academy in person now. On top of that, they'd needed to go bring that cube over to the mages of this place anyhow. So it all worked out in that sense. Stupid thing had given them enough trouble, and-...ah! Yes, she had a working theory about the object based on her limited experience with it. Certainly wasn't something she had been given the time to tell everyone, however, but perhaps she could bring it up at the Academy! Certainly it could be a potential boon to figuring it all out, right? Well, if anyone would listen to a peculiar theory coming from the mouth of a novice mage. Maybe. Then again, not everyone was likely not as trusting as this group she had become a part of either.
"In ascending order; Bronze, Silver, Gold, then Platinum and finally Diamond." She reassured the others. "I believe, looking at your stats, history and abilities, that you will be able to handle a gold contract. I've been in the Guild for more than while now and seen all kinds of parties. I'm a pretty good judge of these things."
"I warn you though. Ascension and abilities will only get you so far. What seperates the best parties from the rest is teamwork, decision-making and spirit," she lectured them. "Be courageous, be virtuous, be smart. Learn eachother. Trust eachother." She smirked. "Even the idiot."
To be honest he was a useful idiot, at least, and had been among those who had gotten out of that hellhole that was the Mazy Hillocks at least. Also seemed friendly and brave and kind enough to boot, based on what she'd seen of him thus far. In that vein...yes, she did need to be nicer and give him some slack. But if the name "Zell's Angels" had passed, or he managed to name someting of the group's that inane at a future point, she would be hitting him with a basic lightning bolt. Not that she'd have the first chance, if MacKensie got her hands on him first in such a scenario perhaps. Heh.
Party idiot indeed.
"I also think we should take a gold contract."
"We have business at the Academy and a promise to keep to the town of Hommas. This must come first. And we must take an evening to - how you say - decompress? Find a hotel or something? Mentally, I think it would help."
"But I feel in my bones that this message in that computer is so important for us. And I wish to see it as soon as humanly possible. Zell is right; we are all stronger than before. Much stronger. I know this. And after going through The Mazy Hillocks, I feel I am ready for anything now."
Oh no. Oh no no no no no! They were NOT taking a single dangerous gold contract, just to speed this process up! What in the world was MacKensie thinking?! She was the chosen one! Her ally! She was destined not to suggest bad ideas, but to destroy them! Nooooooooo!!!
...But the purely mild dramatics conjured up by her internal frustrations being set aside, she agreed on most of the other woman's points for the most part. Some rest, some time to mentally let go or relax, etc. She wanted to see what was on that computer message as well, as odd as that seemed to be to acknowledge that existing in the first place in a fantasy-type setting as they had seemingly been pulled into. Yet even, so she would speak once more as she turned around to face the remainder of the group who were still standing there.
"I do agree that...I feel some extent stronger than I was before. At the same time, I feel taking the two silver contracts would be out best and safest choice in this situation. It would allow us to get acclimated with this world better, as well as get more accustomed to this adventuring work and local fauna more before we try to tackle anything more dangerous."
The mage would speak with a somerwhat exasperated tone near the end, though the stoic expression and worried tint in her voice would betray her somewhat perhaps. She didn't want to just jump in on a big, dangerous mission again without preparation! Did they want to end up as all the dead souls wandering around the Mazy Hillocks had become?! Then again, she had no idea if anyone else had seen them other than herself, really...hmm. Maybe James? He seemed to have an affinity for the divine, if his clerical inclinations hadn't been clear enough to her so far, so she needed to ask him.
In the end she would go with whichever choice the group overall decided to take, but she also likewise hoped they would see some kind of sense at least...
Oh! Right, those detials to tell Lucy in one last attempt to trigger some kind of memory in her head about the poor boy back in the Mazy Hillocks. To that end, she would try to get Lucy's attention once more in a more polite and formal manner before speaking once more (if she got the chance to that is).
"I do remember a few more things about the dead man, I believe...perhaps it is worth a shot at least to mention them if nothing else. Just to attempt to get an idea of things.
His torso seemed to be clad in a basic gambeson type of armor, with a shirt of chainmail covering this as well as his torso and upper arms. He wore woolen pants covered his legs, a pair of boots, and a helmet rounded on top with a brim around the outside of it on his head. He had on a pair of leather gloves and pair of metal bracers, used a polearm I believe, and ah...hmm!
He had messy and roughly-cut, as well as short, sandy brown hair. Said he came from a small village as well, and that his sister was trained by the local church in his small village since she could see the dead as well."
Fenna listened as James explained what happened and offered the cube when requested. Once Lucy handed it back, she put it away again, out of sight. It turned out the Guildmaster didn't have the answers either. At the end there were two things to do: get more experience to go up a tier and find out what the Comm Messages were about, and go to the Academy to have the cube figured out.
It seemed Lucy was confident they could take a gold contract and Fenna listened as the debate started. A gold contract sounded dangerous, but Taurok was platinum. Zell was the first to argue for the gold contract, which was no surprise. Rushing into battle suited him. She smiled at his beer-joke; it would probably be a while before drinking either of those.
While the bar sounded tempting, she decided to stay for the discussion about contract and heard Mackensie and Lilliana out.
"Two silver contracts will undoubtedly be safer," she said, deciding it was time to chime in with her thoughts, "but the Guildmaster also said that could take weeks to complete. Whatever is happening here, we may not have weeks. That water ninja has not been defeated." She frowned as she thought back to the Mazy Hillocks. "We faced a platinum-tier enemy and we weren't winning, but keep in mind we first fought that pack of wolves with the two big ones that had special abilities, then that water Ninja came and kicked our already tired asses, so we entered the fight against Aurok fatigued and injured. When we battled Aurok, we weren't fighting at full force either, because that damned ninja was still there as well and our party was split up. All things considering, we did reasonably well and I'm confident we could face a gold contract if we can work together on it."
