The next day, Jarret decided that it would be a good idea to introduce Tom to the council since he was a Traveler and could be a valuable asset and member of the community. He also needed some place to stay and some way to pay for his meals and home. So, after a quick breakfast Jarret took Tom to the Administration building to get him registered as a citizen.
They were greeted by a bored looking clerk who was writing something on some papers, “How may I help you today? Do you wish to register a complain, build some housing or have an audience with the council?” Jarret, who had too good of a mood for this early in the morning, answered “Moring Jim! We need an audience with the council. We would also like to register my friend Tom here as a citizen. He is a traveler.” The last remark was whispered in a conspiratorial tone of voice and made Jim look up for the first time since they had entered.
“Um, sure let me just get the form.” Jim opened and closed a few drawers at his desk before pulling out a sheet of paper from one of them. “I’ll need your name, age, species and medical impairments if applicable. As well as combat experience and any noteworthy skills such as engineering or magic capabilities. Only name and species are mandatory, but the rest might help us find a suitable position for you.”
Tom looked sideways at Jarret, who nodded encouragingly, before replying “My name is Tom Chapman. I am mostly human but have a mixed ancestry. Nothing major though, except an expanded lifespan. I do not have any medical impairments. As for combat experience, I did serve in my countries army for a few years and have some experience in dungeon combat. My magical capabilities are rather broad, but include healing, scrying and enchanting as well as a few combat spells.”
Jim noted down Tom’s answers before getting up from his chair “I will bring this to the council, I’m sure we can find something for a man of your talents. Wait here I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
After Jim disappeared through a side door Jarret turned to Tom, “I didn’t know you had military experience. What rank did you obtain? When I was younger, I served for a while, never made it past corporal though.” Tom looked sheepishly at Jarret “Well, you never asked, and it just didn’t come up in conversation. I was field promoted to sub-lieutenant during my deployment. My predecessor was blasted apart during bombardment by an enemy pyromancer, and I had the tactical expertise necessary to lead and guide the men under me. Of course, being able to scry the future helped. A few months later I was transferred to a different division though and my rank was changed to squad leader.”
They sat in silence for a few moments before Jim returned, beckoning them over to him. “The council will see you know.”
They we’re led through a corridor into a medium sized office. Before them five people sat at a few desks, which were arranged in a semi-circle.
The right most person was an older looking gentleman with gray hair and a military uniform, to his left sat a middle-aged woman with dark skin and a gray business suit as well as obviously dyed red hair, she appeared to be in charge of administration as her desk was littered with important looking folders and files.
In the middle sat young looking Asian with black hair and a Mark of Power™ on his forehead which displayed a crossed wrench and screwdriver and denoted him to be of tier 3. He wore an apron stained with grease which had a few tools and a welding mask affixed to it.
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The people to his left we’re a handsome looking man with blond hair and brown eyes, who wore a faded red robe as well as a white glove on his left hand, next to him sat a muscular looking woman with pale skin, white hair and red eyes who had a large axe glowing with brown runes leaning against the wall behind her. She wore a black lather jacket and had a bandolier strapped across her chest which held an assortment of vials and flasks.
The woman in the business suit spoke first, “We of course welcome you into our community, if you wish to stay that is. We can currently not spare any space for you to build, or hire someone to build, a home. We do have a spare room in the barracks if you would like, but that would obviously cost rent. Seeing as that you don’t have any currency, we could arrange for a job which would pay for your rent and your meal-”
The handsome man in the robe impatiently interrupted her “You said that you have a rather broad magic education. What fields might be you’re specialty?”
Tom thought for a moment before replying “My strongest affinities are blood magic and time magic. Although I am quite well versed in death, shadow and barrier magic. I must admit though, that most of the combat spells, that I know, are either obsolete or support focused. My chosen profession was teacher after all and not soldier.” He infused mana into his eyes for a moment, checking the aura of the robed individual before making an educated guess. “I could teach you some entry level fire and lightning spells like chain-lightning, crackling detonation and field of glass. They are quite affective against goblins, gnolls and similar but are quite easily suppressed and counter spelled by experienced defense mages.”
The eyes of the obvious mage had an excited glint in them “I would be very grateful for any of your teachings. As to defense mages, there really aren’t any around as far as I know. The only thing similar to a dedicated defender I have seen are the Defender Mark or the Mark of the Shield Mage, neither of which focus on counter spelling.”
“If we could come back to the original topic.” The woman in the business suit looked quite annoyed at being ignored so thoroughly. “We do have other matters to attend to besides this meeting.”
In the end it was decided that for the time being, Tom would help out where he could, teaching magic, enchanting or clearing out monsters. In exchange he would get a room in the barracks and free food in the public cantina, in addition to a modest salary , which depended on the jobs he took.
Inspecting the room, he was assigned, he found it rather more spacious then he expected, but still not very large. It contained a simple bed, an empty wardrobe, a footlocker without a key, a filing cabinet, a desk without writing utensils, a wooden chair and a nightstand which contained a religious book and a small mirror someone must have forgotten.
Since he didn’t have anything to do and the kitchen wouldn’t open for another hour he flicked through the book. It wasn’t really anything interesting or remotely true, when it came to the gods at least, so he whipped the writing of its pages with a simple spell and separated them from the book. Neatly stacking the freshly acquired paper on the desk he looked through it’s drawers. They we’re mostly empty containing either dust or just a bit of trash.
“This really wont due. Oh well I’m just going to have to improvise.” Tom sat down in the chair and placed his right arm on the desk with his palm pointing towards the ceiling. Collecting mana in his left hand, he placed it on his right upper arm. The nerves in his right arm shut down, removing all sensation from the appendage. Next the bones in his lower arm started to reform, out of them grew a dip pen, and a small ink well. They separated from the original bones, slid upwards through his flesh and out of his arm. Not a single drop of blood escaped his arm and the wound closed, the damage to his arm simply disappearing. He filled the inkwell with some of his blood, which he changed with a quick spell to be more useful as ink, placed a sheet of paper in front of him and started writing.