When they had made it back into the Bastion Jes was dragging her feet, or what Davin would call dragging her feet, with as much she had insisted about being able to sleep in her own bed. Now that they were back she seemed to stop at every single stall and talk with everyone that she knew, admittedly, it wasn't very late, but Davin found the contrast of her attitude amusing. Davin was just happy to not have anything immediate that he was rushing to do, with everything that they had been through over the last few weeks Davin was struggling to wrap his mind around everything, fighting monsters, bandits, nearly dying from a festering bite from some kind of cursed two-headed beast, the Troll that was somehow bonded to a movie projector that could summon beasts that would do its bidding… Truck… Cadence… and even the stronger bond that he felt with Hugh, a lot has happened. As his mind ran through some of the things that happened, a thought struck him, pulling out the stone that was linked to Hugh and now Cadence.

"Hugh!" Davin felt himself almost yelling into the stone. "I have an Idea!" Davin felt the energy in his energy climbing.

"Davin? What's going on?" Hugh sounded drowsy, as if he was about to sleep or if he was woken from a nap.

"The lens! I think I know how it might work." Davin was nearly hopping in place.

"The lens? Oh, that glass bobble from the troll?"

"Yes, and the 'film cells', we just need a dark room and some light!" Davin had an image clear in his mind.

"Oh? We have one of those here in the towers, we can run a test or two tomorrow." Hugh was also beginning to sound excited about the plan.

"Sounds good! I need to talk with you bout some parts that your alchemists should have." Davin said as he was pacing in excitement.

"First thing?" Hugh asked.

"Nah, if anything let's meet up after lunch," Davin said in response.

"Can I come too?" Cadence's voice was just above a whisper when they asked.

Davin almost Dropped the stone as he heard their voice. "Oh yeah! More the merrier." Davin felt the smile widen on his face.

"Oh! Okay!" Davin could hear the joy in Cadence's voice.

When Jes had walked up to Davin holding out some candied fruits on a stick he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Gah!" Davin yelped and again nearly dropped the stone he just now realized he was clenching far tighter than he thought that he needed to.

"What has you so jumpy?" Jes asked as she looked at him in confusion.

"I think I figured out how one of the items that we got works." Taking the offered treat.

"Oh yeah?" Jes asked through a mouthful of the crunchy fruits.

"Yeah, if it works out, did you want to come?" Davin asked, a part of her wanting to tag along.

"Nah, I still have a day job, so you go on, just let me know how it goes?" She smiled as she took another bite of her treat.

They made their way back to Jes's place, both of them tired from the long day out, they poured themselves into bed, snuggling together, falling asleep quickly.

Hugh was looking over the notes that would be part of the now extended mission that he would be partaking in, luckily it wasn't anything that Davin would object to, since from what he could find, he was a man of curiosity and his new mission easily fell into that. The fact that he was not to discuss his mission with his companions is what he didn't like, even Cadence had proved themselves a valuable ally… finding and claiming new dungeons isn't something that he thought would be his goal, there were so many things that he would rather do, but based on the experiences in the 'movie theater' that Davin insisted what it was called, and he had no reason to doubt him, he knew far too much about everything to not be true. And then there were the creatures that may be leaking into the world, yes, Truck is amazing, but he had seen it in Davin's eyes, Truck is the exception to what could come from his world and he wasn’t sure how well that could go.

The new map that Hugh was given was far more than anything that he was prepared for, it covered more of the wilds in one go than he was prepared for, having a list and marked locations for what were referred to as dead dungeons, but the mages all suspect that they may be the first places to be influenced by Davin's world since the first place that they "opened" was adjacent to one of these "dead" dungeons, he was surprised to learn this as he was submitting all of his notes on their adventures. There was also a new pile of notes that he was given that specifically referenced something that was called the guided lines of the afterlife. A part of Hugh was excited to learn more about the world that they had come to know, but he still felt that there was a huge amount of things that were being left off the table, and that feeling made him more nervous than anything else.

Cadence was still adjusting to being back around so many "Bards" as many of them still liked to call themselves, even though they were far more than just entertainers. Cadence knew the truth, they were the spies that no one knew were there, taking advantage of what Davin had called sleight of hand, there were so many things that they were learning from this strange 'human' as he had called himself. Coming from a strange world that they couldn’t even imagine, having said that their world knew not of monsters, Truck was something that they would have easily put in the monster category, had Cadence been alone they doubted anything would have stopped them from attempting to slay the sweet beast. Davin was why they were on the way to the meeting, luckily, Cadence doubted that there would be anything bad since they had a good pile of adventures to talk about that would help fend off the darkness that comes with the belief, some call them nightmares after the 'bad dreams' that would fuel these things that exist at the edges of belief.

Bard wasn't a common profession, and knowing that they were the primary protégé to the entity that held the title as the patron of the celestials… this was a fact that wasn't widely known, as one of the oldest patrons they have always been one of those that has wanted to watch out for those that have come to call the afterlife home. While not a common class, they needed to be where the people were, they needed to be the voices that pierced the darkness that could ebb into the minds of the people of this world. This was the real reason that Cadence had taken up the mantle so readily, that they were some of the strongest protectors for the afterlife. The only thing about being a bard was purely that those who normally took the mantle tended to do so in song, and cadence could not sing…

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Hmmmm, there is more to this multi-classing than I expected, it isn't a common practice, so I hadn't had a chance to look into it. Ah well, are you ready to choose which way you want to go this time?" The deep voice of Compass and the change of scenery were jarring.

"So… once I bring my friends home, that’s when you decide to clean up the place?" Davin found himself sitting in the chair that he had been in previously, but rather than the cookies and tea that were there before, it was piles of comics, manga, and a variety of other books.

"Well now that I've made it I might as well make use of it, plus it is really nice to read here, also, how have you read so many books?" The patron gestured around himself at the piles.

"I liked to read…. It was mostly for the escapism, but as to your question, can I look at the classes first, or is it a have to choose first?" Davin asked.

"I can actually let you look, but unfortunately, I can only give the basics." The patron replied with a somber tone.

"Then let's take a look." The tone in Davin's voice rang in excitement.

With that two small pop-up windows formed in the space in front of Davin.

Ranger

Rogue

Fighting style, spell casting

Cunning action

Davin immediately attempted to read more into the abilities that were presented to him, but sadly the trick didn’t work.

"I can't expand them."

"Unfortunately you cannot, since they haven't opened to you yet, this is the best I can glean from you since everyone is affected by the belief differently. It is still better than going in completely blind, most don't have as much involvement from their patrons once they get started on their paths." Compass thumbed through the manga that he had picked up when Davin got his pop-ups.

"Oh, okay." Davin sat and stewed, trying to weigh his options for what he wanted to do.

After a bit of time passed compass let out a grunt of frustration.

"Gah, why does none of his make any sense?!"Slamming the manga on the table.

This pulled Davin hard from his stewing. "What?" Shaking his head as he tried to gather his senses.

"This book of yours, none of it makes any sense." Sliding the book across the table.

Davin looked at the cover and chuckled to himself, which seemed to frustrate the patron even further.

"What do you find so amusing about this?" The patron nearly yelled.

Davin simply reached out his hand and tapped the cover, right where it said that this book reads from right to left. "That one I read in its native format, so it's backward by comparison."

"Backwards?!" The patron asked incredulously.

"Yup, it's from another country, so everything is backward. A little bit of a learning curve, but it was some of my favorite things to read." Davin chuckled again.

To which the patron picked up the graphic novel and began thumbing through it once again. "Ah, yes… this does seem to make more sense."

Davin settled back into his own thoughts, thinking about what would help him more at the moment, since he couldn’t get more details he was purely going to go off of instinct….

"Ranger." Stating it clearly, and loudly, startling the patron from his musings.

"Huh? Oh, right, the whole reason that you're here, sorry, I was caught up in my own… never mind… Ranger? Sounds good, now go back to your break, you had plenty that you wanted to do."

With that felt the space melt away to darkness, settling back into a deep sleep.

When Davin woke up it was with a chuckle as he remembered the interactions from the night before, Jes had slept pressed hard to his side, a welcome warmth that he didn’t realize it was something that he would miss as much as he did. He followed suit and moved his arm around her, rubbing her bare back as he pulled up his status.

You have selected ranger as you next level

Are you ready to make selections now?

[yes] [no]

Davin was expecting this, knowing that he would have to pick his spells, thinking about having magic made his skin tingle in anticipation, and he mentally mashed the button to see what he was going to get.

Archery

Blind fighting

Defense

Druidic warrior

Dueling

Thrown weapon fighting

Two-weapon fighting

Close quarters shooter

Interception

Mariner

Tunnel fighter

Unarmed fighting

There were several options to look at, and he was surprised by that, there were a few that he could knock off the list, any that leaned too heavily into any specific terrain. Some of the fighting styles didn’t really support the way he wanted to 'play' thinking that Hugh held down their long range, and Cadence held the close combat so he wanted to fill in that mix, as a mid-ranged righter, being able to switch between melee and ranged in an instant…. Not wanting to step on anyone's toes meant that there were a few options that wouldn’t work. He found himself staring heavily at the Druidic Warrior, it would let him add a few druid spells to what he could do, and that was pretty appealing. Following his gut he picked druidic warrior and that instantly popped up the available list of druid cantrips that he could choose from.

He spent a good chunk of time just picking out his spells, wanting to make sure that he could have a good feel for spells. Picking up his druid spells first, learning his lesson in the theater, he picked up produce flame, which he could use in a number of ways, mainly as his own light source, but he could also throw it as a ranged attack. Then he got thorn whip which was a damaging spell that would let him move around targets for better tactics. His ranger spells were a little more in need of thought since at his current level he only knew two spells and could only use two of them a day. Goodberry was a spell that turned normal berries into potent healing and survival items. His last spell took some planning, there was a lot to consider with Truck in the party food wasn’t going to stretch as far, and being able to find food easier would be helpful.

With the last of his choices made he looked over his stats.

Davin O'wild

Human Rogue (1)

Ranger (2)

Patron: Compass

AC: 15

HP: 18/18

Experience

1235/2700

Condition: well rested

Unarmored AC: 13

Temporary HP:9

Currently: Unarmored

Bonus: well rested

Looking at them and seeing the newly updated numbers, smiling as he saw the well-rested buff that he so far had only seen when he'd woken up in bed with Jes.