Regis sat down beside the fire, noticing a small patch of plants growing in an area near it. ‘This must be the result of their growth spell practice.’ He thought as he picked up a handful of berries and other forest plant seeds from a nearby bowl. The dark elf scraped the ground to make space for a couple of seeds, pouring some water over them once they were buried.
‘Let’s see how it goes.’ The spell weaver mused as he began to spam the growth-boosting spell on the plants one by one. Over the next three or so hours, the seeds not only broke through the ground, but they almost grew up to the height of his knees. When he felt that he was too tired to go on, he walked over to Fabien and slightly kicked his feet.
“What?”The infernal youth stirred, noticing the dark elf standing beside him. “My turn?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“I bloody hate camping.” Fabien grumbled as he got up, taking over the guard duty.
Regis lay down on his bedroll, looking up at the surprisingly clear night sky. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, a gentle touch and a slight shake waking him up hours later.
“Rise and shine sleepyhead!” Valerie woke him with a smile, not at all disturbed by the slight grumbling of the dark elf.
“Was everything okay during the night?” He asked after getting to his senses.
“Nothing to worry about besides a couple of squirrels and rabbits,” Letty answered as she took a closer look at the slightly taller plants growing in their campsite. “Did you make these grow?”
“Three hours of switching between meditation and growth-boosting did.” Regis answered as he accepted a bowl of reheated soup.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Cruz asked casually between two spoonfuls.
“Another day-long forced march I guess.” Amanda noted.
“We might as well add in some jogging from time to time,” Fabien said. “Otherwise it will take far too long to get there.”
“You’re kidding, right?” His sister looked at him aghast.
“I hate to agree with him,” Osmond sighed deeply. “But he might be onto something. We managed to cut down the travelling time with the teleportation and the wagon, but we’re still about four days away from the entrance of Thorn Vale and that’s only an estimate.”
“So you want us to throw caution to the wind and just run like hell?” Amanda questioned the pale youth.
“A slight jog from time to time would be manageable,” Quentin noted. “Anyone that gets too tired can get up on the mounts.”
“If I have to pick between running and getting my ass broken by some bony puppet,” Cruz grumbled. “I’d rather choose running.”
“Okay,” Regis finished his breakfast. “Since everything’s decided, let’s break camp and get going.”
“Bathroom break first.” Mary spoke up as she grabbed one of the nearby toilet paper rolls.
“I second that.” Sophie nodded as she too grabbed a roll before accompanying her companion into the woods.
“I’ll go and watch over those two.” Amanda sighed as she grabbed her war hammer and headed towards the shrubbery.
“I guess that leaves us with clearing up this place.” Quentin said as the group stored their camping supplies on the bone puppets Osmond summoned.
The warband was ready to travel once again in about a quarter of an hour so that they could begin their march along the river. Their peaceful hike in the forest was only interrupted by the occasional wildlife in the form of a random wolf or boar that scampered back into the woods once noticing the group. The outlanders broke into jogging once every two hours, trying to cut down their travelling time a bit. By the time the sun was nearing the edge of the forest once again, they managed to travel quite a distance compared to the previous days walking.
“We should start looking for a campsite,” Amanda spoke up. “That spot looks pretty good, don’t you think?”
The others looked at the rocky area with a few trees surrounding it not far ahead.
“I could raise a wall between the trees to form a barrier.” Regis noted as they got closer.
“I guess this is where we’ll sleep tonight then.” Quentin agreed along with the rest of the group.
After they made sure that the area was clear of immediate danger, the dark elf began to clear and flatten the ground, making it suitable for camping. Once the condensed earth walls were up and the campfire was lit, the preparations for dinner could commence.
“Please tell me we’re not eating fish again,” Cruz sighed. “I know we’re travelling by a river, but that’s no excuse.”
“Don’t worry, Fabien reassured her. “Tonight’s menu will be roasted fish with forest plants.”
“That is, if Letty and the others can find anything edible.”
“We found mushrooms,” a happy voice answered as the foraging group returned to the campsite. “And some berries and stuff.”
“I can work with that.” The infernal youth nodded as he accepted the pack of forest plants.
“I vote for setting up a proper source of food once we get to Thorn Vale to be our top priority.” Cruz stated with both Amanda and Valerie nodding approvingly.
“We’ll have plenty to do once we get there,” Regis spoke up. “Our top priority should be clearing out the place and making sure it's well-defendable.”
“Not to mention the place was supposed to be abandoned for centuries, so we’ll have our work cut out for us if we want a roof over our heads.”
“Both of those are important,” Quentin stated. “And we can do both if we manage our workforce well. Letty is a green thumb, so she could deal with the food source issue by setting up a garden or something. The top priority object for Regis would be to set up a gateway.”
“As long as we have the means to fast-travel,” Osmond nodded. “We could get food from any place we visited before.”
“And temporary shelter while our new place is still inhospitable.” Fabien finished the train of thought.
“Sounds like a plan,” Amanda agreed as she stared out into the wilds. “As soon as we fix up the necessary living areas, we can turn call attention towards the workshops.”
“You are itching to work, aren’t you?” Cruz goaded the blacksmith, earning a nod.
“I miss using my hammer for anything else besides crushing heads.”
“We’ll get there soon enough.” Valerie patted the tall woman on the shoulder before laying down on her bedroll.
“Anyone wants to spar?” the tomboyish wood elf asked as she stretched her arms and legs. “It will take a while before dinner is ready.”
“I’ll accompany you.” Osmond offered as his cane turned into its rapier form.
“I should get my inner stuff sorted out,” Regis noted as he sat down. “It’s been a while since I checked up on my skills and all.”
Has he closed his eyes to meditate the Familiar sensation of falling only lasted for a second and then he opened his eyes again he was sitting in his soul-space. The dark elf stood up and walked over to the tome beside the altar to take a quick look at his character sheet before turning to take a look at his skills and spells.
{Name: Regis ???}
{Title: Novice loremaster}
{Race: Dark elf/Sun elf/ Human}
{Age: 19}
{Amaranth: 1610}
{Caste: landless lesser noble}
{Path}
* Novice Loremaster
* Trainee fighter
{Craft}
* Novice enchanter
* Novice alchemist
{Attributes}
•Allure: 16
•Deftness: 20
•Erudition: 23
•Faith: 8
•Luck: 12
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•Might: 20
•Mind: 27
•Physique: 22
•Spirit: 27
•Willpower: 27
Health/Arcana/Stamina
{58/58}{114/114}{56/56}
{Status effects}
* Health regeneration 0,2/1 min
‘Not much changed here.’ He mused as he turned the pages to his skill section, noting that some of his craft skills rose somewhat, but not enough to warrant his attention. When it came to his magic, some of his runic spell masteries increased by a level or two, but it was his 'earth to stone' spell that caught his attention due to it finally reaching full mastery.
{Earth to stone}{Specialization Pending}
{Rank: initiate}
{Spell class: elemental}
{Spell type: verbal}
{Use 10 points of arcana to turn the soil beneath your touch into sandstone and back in a half-square metre area with your hand at its centre in 5 seconds. Each level of mastery increases the size of the transformed area by 0, 5 m².}
{Arcana cost: 10}
{Area of effect: 3 m²}
{Cast time: 5 seconds}
{Range: touch}
{Spell mastery: 5/5}
{Mastery progression: 50/50}
As he focused on the spell, the ink shifted to reveal the three possible choices he could pick from.
{Efficient earth to stone}
{Through your practice and increasing mastery over the spell, you have learned to cast the spell efficiently. You can cast the spell for 25% less arcana than others of the same rank of spell mastery.}
{Enlarged Earth to stone}
{Through your practice and increasing mastery over the spell, you have learned to efficiently stretch its area of effect further. You can turn a 25% larger area into stone compared to others of the same rank of spell mastery.}
{Greater earth to stone}
{Through your practice and increasing mastery over the spell as well as your personal experience, you have learned to turn the earth into different kinds of stones besides the ordinary sandstone you used before. You can now cast the spell to turn a patch of earth into granite, or lower-quality marble for an increased arcana cost.}
‘I guess there’s only one choice to pick from.’ Regis smiled as he chose ‘Greater earth to stone’ without hesitation, evolving his spell to the next tier. The ink of the page shifted once again, revealing the changed description.
{Greater earth to stone}
{Rank: novice}
{Spell class: elemental}
{Spell type: verbal}
{Use 20-35 points of arcana to turn the soil beneath your touch into granite, marble or sandstone and back in a three square metre area with your hand at its centre in 5 seconds. Each level of mastery increases the size of the transformed area by 0, 5 m².}
{Arcana cost: 20-35}
{Area of effect: 3 m²}
{Cast time: 5 seconds}
{Range: touch}
{Spell mastery: 0/5}
{Mastery progression: 0/50}
‘Looks good. Granite is a tough son of a bitch and it makes for a good defensive wall. Marble on the other hand is a bit of a ‘show off ‘stuff. I guess we could use it for decorative purposes or something.’ He thought to himself as he checked the rest of his current spells, but none of them was close to reaching full mastery, not to mention that the runic spells couldn’t be upgraded anyway.
Despite fighting lesser demons and the undead, his Amaranth reserves only increased by twelve hundred, making him unable to gain any pathway traits. Letting out a sigh, the dark elf sat down to meditate, leaving his soul space. When he opened his eyes it was already getting dark, the campfire releasing pleasant cracking sounds along with the smell of roasted fish and vegetables.
“Is everything okay?” Quentin asked from his companion as the spell weaver stood up.
“Yes,” Regis took a deep breath to savour the smell of the cooked fish. “I managed to sort out what little change happened and I even got to evolve one of my spells.”
“Which one?” Osmond turned towards the dark elf.
“Earth to stone. I can now turn the earth I touch into low-quality marble or granite.”
“Not bad,” Fabien whistled. “Granite could be useful when building the outer walls of our new place.”
“And marble can be used as a fancy crafting material.” Valerie added.
“How’s dinner coming along?” The dark elf looked at the campfire and the makeshift kitchen.
“It needs another quarter of an hour at most.” Mary answered as she stirred the vegetables in the pan.
“I’ll practice that growth-boost spell until then.” Regis said as Letty handed him a couple of seeds she foraged earlier.
Time passed by quickly as the small seeds grew into thumb-sized plants and soon enough dinner was ready. The warband set around a campfire handing out wooden plates to each other as Fabien and Mary walked around, portioning out the roasted fish and vegetables.
“Smells delicious.” Sophie praised their cooking.
“It tastes even better.” Amanda mumbled after taking a bite.
“I’m glad you like it,” Mary smiled as she sat down with her share in hand. “Because we’ll most likely eat stuff like this for the next couple of days.”
“We can always try to catch a few birds or rabbits.” Cruz noted.
“That could work too.” Fabien and Osmond nodded as one while stuffing down their dinner.
“How far do you think we are?” Letty asked as she looked at the rough terrain along the river.
“At least two days away,” Osmond noted. “Maybe three.”
“Do you guys think that lord what’s his name sent someone after us?”
“Not likely,” Quentin sighed. “I mean Regis took down that outpost’s gate on his own while giving quite a scare to the locals. His message to that lord had likely made him hesitant.”
“The guy is probably busy finding a place to hide in fear of royal retribution.” Cruz noted as she finished her meal.
“Even so,” Fabien spoke up. “We definitely made an enemy. Nobles don’t take stuff like that lying down. It’ll be better for us to prepare for that.”
“A pre-emptive strike?” Valerie looked at her brother with a knowing smirk.
“Not until we settled down,” Quentin stated. “We need a place where we can feel safe and the last thing we want right now is some angry nobleman on our heels.”
“It’s getting late,” Osmond yawned after putting down his plate. “We can talk about this tomorrow. Are you taking the first shift again?”
“Yes.” The paladin nodded.
“I’ll go second.” Regis said as he grabbed his travelling scribe’s set.
“You want to make scrolls, now?” Amanda looked at the dark elf somewhat puzzled.
“I need to increase my skill if I want to be able to make anything actually useable and we can always find a place for the excess scrolls.”
“I’m sure someone’s willing to take it off our hands for some money or exchange it for supplies. “The pale youth noted as he lay down on his bedroll.
Regis opened the box, taking out the blank scrolls, ink vial and quill before folding it into a writing surface He then spread a parchment on top of the smooth surface of the box. The campfire was bright enough to let him work, the quill dipping into the alchemic ink before he began to channel his arcana through it. Line after line was drawn on the scroll, runes of different shapes and sizes finding their places.
“So this is how magic scrolls are made.” Quentin hummed as he watched his companion work beside the campfire.
“The runic ones at least,” Regis noted. “The regular ones only need the sealing part and then I would need to cast the spell on it to seal it into the scroll. I’m making some of both to get accustomed to the stuff.”
“How good are they?”
“They are just ordinary quality common scrolls, so I wouldn’t call them good, but they could be worse.” “We could still get a few coins for them.”
“We will really need to shore up our economy once things settle down a bit. We’ve been pocketing coins left and right, but I don’t know what they’re actually worth.”
“From what I was told,” Fabien spoke up, making it apparent that he was still awake. “Before all this war and undead mess, you could buy a whole loaf of bread for two bronze coins. An ordinary dock worker would earn between four and six bronze rye a day.”
“Bronze rye?” The dark elf asked puzzled.
“You never examined the local bronze coins before? They have a rye spike minted on them.”
“Never really looked at it,” Regis shrugged. “Still, that’s not a lot of money.”
“What did you expect?” The infernal sighed. “The commoners will always be underpaid to keep them poor and powerless. Either way; I was told that the exchange rate between silver and bronze was officially one to fifty-five. Of course, that was only regulated in towns where the royal faction’s presence was strong. The nobles always asked for a couple of extra bronze coins if someone wanted to exchange.”
“Profiteering bastards.”
“Nothing unexpected,” Quentin sighed. “How much money do you think we have?”
“I don’t know about you,” the storm knight turned to his other side. “But I collected quite a lot since our arrival to the Shardlands. Of course, I had to leave most of it behind in hidden caches in Hunor and East Fork.”
“Most of us left it behind with sir Derris, along with the rest of the stuff we couldn’t carry.” Quentin admitted.
“I left most of mine in that Qadir fellow’s chest back in East Fork,” Regis admitted. “I didn’t get to count it, but it took up the bottom fourth of my knapsack, so I decided to leave it behind and seal the chest with a barrier.”
“Even if you had a knapsack full of bronze coins, it would only amount to a pouch worth of silver. That gold crown elder Jonah gave us is worth pretty much the same as the rest of your money counted together.”
“It’s best if we exchange our bronze coinage as soon as possible. If nothing else, it’s easier to carry the silver.”
“We should also decide on our prices,” Cruz grumbled, tossing and turning on her bedroll as she woke up listening to their conversation. “If we’re going to risk our necks for other people, then we better charge an arm and leg for it.”
“We’re not mercenaries.” Quentin noted as he tossed a few twigs on the fire.
“Aren’t we?” the wood elf argued. “Just because you’re a paladin now, that doesn’t mean you won’t need money for supplies and such.”
“Not to mention that people don’t always trust those that work for free,” Regis claimed. “If you name a price right at the beginning they will know your intention. If you act out of altruism, they will expect a hidden agenda behind it.”
“True enough,” Fabien sighed as he closed his eyes. “Now try to shut up and let me sleep.”
Both Regis and Quentin let out a slight chuckle after hearing the infernal youths ranting, silence taking hold of the campfire once again.