Chapter III: Early Morning Planning

Coming down the staircase, Selene felt a warm excitement fill her chest. She was clean, she was packed, and she was ready for whatever may come.

She leapt the last few steps and landed on the bottom floor with a flourish. Everyone else was already seated at the table.

Argent and Ari were seated facing towards the staircase. Argent looked confused by her flourish, while Ari smiled warmly.

"Good morning, everyone!" Selene shouted a little louder than she intended.

Hamish's ears perked up as he turned to her, mouth full of porridge. He swallowed quickly and yelled back, "Good morning, my friend! Please sit here and get some breakfast. Porridge is good." He said while gesturing to the open chair beside him, which she happily accepted.

Argent raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure I'd call it good, but at least it's fresh, and hot."

Jezran, seated at the head of the table, laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry about that, I don't usually make food for other people. And I just like something quick and easy."

"That's fine, I don't mind," Selene said. As she took a seat, a cooking pot floated over and poured her a bowl.

The group ate in relative silence. Like Argent said, the food was bland, but the warmth filled their bellies and prepared them for the long road ahead.

As everyone was finishing up, Jezran rose from his seat.

"So," Jezran said, standing beside a crude, but relatively detailed map of the area around Lendrig's Hollow, "Getting to the business at hand. I already used the Orb this morning and was able to determine a course based on the flows of magic in this city."

He pulled a piece of charcoal from his robes, "We will need to travel westward, along the coast," and marked an arrow pointing left beside the Tower's location, northwest of Lendrig's Hollow.

"Unfortunately, the Orb's detection abilities only sense flows of magic. Not their source. Meaning we don't know how far we might be travelling. It could theoretically be a mile away from town, or several hundred, deep in the heart of Lendrigol. I doubt I will know for certain until we are nearly on top of it. When I planned to set out on my own, I prepared for a long trip. A few weeks, at least. Since more of us are going, that will mean we have less food for travel, so we will need to plan accordingly."

Argent spoke up, "How many rations did you prepare?"

Jezran swallowed, "Over a month, give or take a day. If we include the amount you all brought with you, I'm guessing forty days worth for one person. Split between five of us, we have enough to last us each eight days."

Hamish, who was the only one still eating, spoke up at this point, "That means we can only travel about 4 days into city before turning back."

Jezran nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. There is, however, a chance whatever is causing this may actually be approaching the city rather than just getting stronger. If that's the case, we may run into it before long."

"Or both, it's growing stronger and coming closer," Ari said.

"Regardless, we'll need to make the most of each day of travel. We'll need to keep moving with only short breaks from dawn till dusk." Argent stated matter of factly.

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Selene internally groaned, she knew that Argent was not kidding. Still, she could not deny his reasoning.

Everyone reluctantly agreed.

The conversation regarding packing and carrying the food continued, mostly between Argent and Jezran. Selene zoned out, spinning her spoon in lazy circles in an empty bowl. I know food is important, but do we really need to discuss it this long?

Selene glanced around the table and noticed she was not the only one uninvested in this conversation, though they hid it far better.

Ari was playing with her hair, occasionally nodding, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.

Hamish was helping himself to either a second or third bowl of porridge since she sat down. She had lost track.

Finally, the topic changed to more pressing matters.

"How are we going to deal with nights out there?" Argent asked.

Jezran nodded, "Right. Luckily for you, I happen to be quite skilled in crafting negation circles."

"Negation circles?" Selene asked, confused.

"It's arcane fields that can prevent magecraft, detection, and interfere with phenomena from arcane origins," Jezran answered.

Selene stared at him blankly, "What?"

Jezran sighed.

Ari jumped in here, "...it blocks magic and other things from entering or exiting, keeping us safe. For the most part."

Jezran smiled appreciatively, "Yes, precisely. It will even somewhat mitigate the dreams everyone in Lendrig's Hollow suffers, similar to the one I drew around this tower. However, I suspect they will not be as effective."

"Why is that?" Hamish asked.

"Two reasons. Firstly, I carved the symbols for the circle directly into the stone, which increases the permanence field and reduces the risk of decay. Unfortunately, that took me several days of channeling magic directly into the cobblestones. We will not have that luxury, so instead I will draw them with charcoal mixed with an alchemic compound I've created. Theoretically, this should give us enough protection each night."

"And the second reason?" Argent asked.

Jezran thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Lendrigol is just...full of magic."

Awkward silence. Jezran gives a weak cough, then continues.

"What I mean is...it's an ancient ruin. An ancient ruin with magic that predates the College, or any modern study of magic, really. From what I saw using the Orb, it is hard to say what might affect the field. Also, as I mentioned last night, the dreams are piercing even my tower's protection. If this field is affected, it is reasonable to assume a weaker field may not protect us. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to this issue save the potion I made for Lendrig's Hollow. That should keep us in a deep enough sleep that we won't dream."

"The only problem is if everyone took that, we would be in danger if any creature stumbled upon us in the night." Argent said.

"Precisely. So we would need to take turns each night taking a watch, where one person remains awake all night." Jezran concluded.

A silence fell over them as they mulled over that idea.

Selene was the first to speak up, "Wait, wouldn't that mean the one person awake would have to deal with the problem themselves?"

"No, we can still wake if this is burned." Jezran said, holding up a small pouch, "It's my own recipe as a counter to the potion and it should be strong enough to wake you from even the deepest sleep. If there is a threat, we simply throw this into the fire and we should all wake quite quickly."

Argent thought for a moment, then said, "...I don't like the idea, but it will be worse if we don't get rest. Is everyone okay with this plan?"

A moment of silence. Everyone reluctantly nods.

Argent sighed, "Then that is what we will need to do."

"Perfect. I've prepared enough to last us the whole journey," Jezran said as he grabbed up a significantly larger bag of the compound, then added, somewhat uncertain, "I think."

Selene chuckled, which seemed to only confuse the wizard.

"Good enough," Argent rose from his seat, "I believe we've covered everything necessary. Dawn is nearly here, I suggest we get the supplies together and make ready to depart as soon as the fog begins to lift."