I am a man to quickly develop a routine. So I absorb my fifth book. „Way of the Hermit“ is certainly a colourful name. The book actually tells me that it is the last one. That is odd. Have I accidentally picked the last book last? Or do all books carry the number and it is only conditionally activated? I need to check the titles on the bronze rank books. I wonder why I did not get silver rank books. But first things first and tea is definitely more important.
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Dean is standing straight in the morning sun that now is providing good illumination.
DT: And you are sure that you need to record the crystal first and only then adapt the language?
RP: Yes, I am. In fact I will have to fiddle with our projector to get it to pick up a language setting.
DT: Very well, hand me the text.
Dear visitors, I am hoping that this way I can inform you about our current situation. We are here on contract of the Adventure Society. Our mission is to hunt bandits plundering and murdering the local population. A part of our team has departed to follow the track of these bandits back to their base. They have not returned and we must assume that they are dead. That is dire news and we need to call for reinforcements. We have little hope to prevail against an enemy the larger part of our team has failed against. You are in danger. You are far from helpless, as we have observed, but you are now wealthy and you are travelling with civillians and even children. You are no match for a team of the Geller family. It is our duty to protect and escort you. So I would like to urge you in the strongest terms to join us in our retreat towards Greenstone, while one of our number is going for reinforcements. We intend to use the closest fortress town as a forward base. In that case we are ready for all eventualities.
The cutting motion turns out to be interuniversal.
DT: You got a copy of that to go with Olutha?
RP: Yes.
DT: Very good. Olutha, you have the authority the commandeer a Heidel in the fortress town. I will just claim that authority. Just swing around your badge and be loud and confident.
OL: There is an issue before I leave.
DT: Yes?
OL: Among the loot I have gotten has been an awakening stone.
RP: Before you ask, I am kind of busy and better at aritifice than rituals. I can do a looting ritual and open a door, but that’s it.
OL: Can I ask the visitors?
Dean nods.
DT: But make it quick.
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We are an exceedingly happy premature breakfast table. Stjepan has awoken. And he is famished. That means that inhalation of food keeps under control the number of times he can say „wow“ and „cool“.
S: We are in an alternate universe? Like in Marvel?
Z: How often do you want to ask that?
S: Wow
Our visitors are coming for breakfast. I would like to explain to them why we have been so impolite to start breakfast without them, but they smile at Stjepan and his appetite.
S: Wow, a pretty elf lady!
I would have said elf girl. I suppose it is a matter of perspective. Though I have to talk to him and I guess our normal rankers about the social implications of aura senses. All members of the group that attacked me were male. That does not mean anything. I can imagine a lot of reasons, chief among them the perception Stjepan and I share, why you would not mix the sexes in a combat team. Olutha obviously is female, while the rest of her team is male. She is also an elf. Is there a connection? How do people think about mixing in certain regards? If they still have distinct races, can you assume that if „mixing“ does occur, we cannot interbreed or does it result in mules? I am glad Olutha has no aura power as I ponder these things.
Habing had a cup of tea she approaches me. She presents me with an awakening stone and points at herself. Stjepan swallows his sandwich at a speed that warrants investigating whether he has found a way to do superluminal movements.
S: Can I do the ritual?
Zora sighs and nods.
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It looked like we could not signify to a woman not understanding our language that she should trust a life changing ritual to a preteen, so I’ve gone with them to my car, configured as a ritual room. Stjepan has been pouring salt for the ritual while I have been doing my best to appear to be supervising while actually thinking about our battle tactics from yesterday. In hindsight we screwed up.
Those monsters were advancing towards threats, so we should have hit them from the flank and then used Zora and Lidija as a team to lure them in a different direction away from the non-combatants and then taken them into crossfire. Both women can fly. We made no use of that. Did Dean see this differently or did he just recognize that if you have no language in common, any tactics that may require communication is a very bad idea?
I did not make use of my ability to use poisonous orbs. I moved monsters telekinetically instead of a blade for killing them. That is much harder. I did not use my ability to accelerate time. I sucked. We sucked. We squandered our synergies. Worse, I may not even understand how much I sucked.
I am resisting to give in to my urge to discuss this with the others. The issue is systematic. We are not trained. We have never given systematic thoughts to such issues. Yet we may have to fight people who have done exactly that. I was shot on sight. This frightens me.
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The ritual circles look very good. After a spectacular show I suddenly feel a different aura on me. She has gained an aura ability. In fact her aura makes me feel spry. She grins very widely.
Then she bows, both to me and Stjepan, and leaves in a jog. Where is she going?
It doesn’t matter right now. I turn the car into armour again.
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As we return to the others I see our guests showing a recording of our battle while the younger man is fiddling with the playback device’s internals and gestures Zora to put her hand onto a plate he has connected to the device. She follows his directions with the air of somebody humoring somebody in a familiar way.
P: I would leave now for this next camp site so that I can get a teleport destination. But there is one thing more. I got two awakening stones yesterday. Do you want Stjepan to do them?
He is practically dancing from foot to foot.
Z: Yep.
L: I also got one.
Z: It is your turn. So you keep yours and we throw a coin and who gets which stone of the two others.
L: Deal.
L: Stjepane, could we do another ritual first?
S: I’d love to.
I hand them the stones and teleport upwards.