Karolína and Pavol have requested a council. Not that I think that they are wrong. We have problems. If I need to order my on robot to fry myself, something is wrong. If one of us ends up with a broken pelvis, something is wrong. I just doubt that that is something we can solve by a simple change we might discuss.
On the other hand a discussion is a good idea nevertheless. We are the only people from our world. Breaking apart the group does not look like a good idea to me. Nobody of us really wants to live in some village alone. Realistically we’ll end up in Greenstone or book a passage thence.
But frankly that does not look attractive to me, as we’ll look alien and being aliens arriving just before an epidemic is not a good long term strategy. But I do not want to be the one spreading doom and gloom all the time.
I get an unexpected visitor.
Z: Good morning.
P: You are improving it.
Z: Thank you. I wanted to ask whether you are still handing out awakening stones.
P: Yes. They were stored in crates of five each. Do you want me to call the ritualist?
Z: Nope. I gave capitulated, but not that far.
We are stepping to the ritual disks.
N: Mommy!
S: Mommy! We were worried about you.
A group hugging session starts. I carry Natalija.
Z: I got the tablet. She really can read minds. This is horrible.
P: Not to make too fine a point, but isn’t omniscience a big thing in theology?
Z: That stuff was supposed to be confined to baptisms and weddings.
She left out funerals.
Stjepan and I draw in tandem. We are getting good at that. Zora produces another awakening stone.
Z: Lidija looted that.
P: Cool.
We are getting spectators. Our meeting is starting out to be even less formal than our meetings usually are.
KN: This will simplify things. We will be waiting in the shade.
Nice from her.
Z: When I fired my gun. I could claim that I needed to protect the children. But no, I didn’t want to be alone.
P: So we are forming a team.
Z: No, we are not forming anything. We are standing together. But we cannot go on doing this. I don’t want to go on.
P: It sure wasn’t fun.
Gun: [Tools of the Magister] Special Ability Iron 1 (10%) [Rotary Gun] Might Special Attack Iron 1 (15%) [Eye of the Infantryman] Knowledge Perception Ability Iron 0 (0%) (unused) 0% (unused) 0% Fire: [Dry the Tinder] Special Attack/Spell Iron 0 (71%) [Alacrity's Reward] Swiftness Special Ability Iron 0 (90%) [Wreathed in Flames] Knife Special Attack Iron (0%) (unused) 0% (unused) 0% Magic: [Dragon Wings] Special Ability Iron 1 (57%) [Eternal Moment] Lightning Special Ability Iron 1 (11%) [Dragon's Treasure Chest] Adventure Special Ability Iron 1 (49%) (unused) 0% (unused) 0% Onslaught: [Dive Bomb] Special Attack Iron 0 (43%) [Rune Trap] Rune Special Attack/Spell Iron 0 (91%) [Exploding Fist] Ruin Special Attack Iron 0 (8%) [Limit Breaker] Defiance Special Ability Iron 0 (0%) (unused) 0%
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[Eye of the Infantryman]
See when people aim at you.
[Wreathed in Flames]
Cost: Moderate ongoing
Cooldown: None
Wreath a melee weapon in flames. It then inflicts additional heat damage.
----------------------------------------
Gabrielle is nice enough to stand a virtual watch, so that we all can gather.
PN: I think we must stop reacting and start planning. That must start with an honest assesment of our status.
DT: Right. I am at a loss. Most of our team mates are captured. We have no idea, where they are held. The trail is cold now and would lead us anywhere but to them.
GP: Before you ask, no, I am sorry.
KN: Won’t they send a message with their demands?
OL: We have a pretty much global agreement. Prisoners are acceptable; hostages are not. At least among noble families. You cannot give in to blackmail, but you better give your opponents an incentive to return prisoners alive.
PN: That seems designed to prolong wars.
P: Adventurers are not soldiers. I had this discussion with a superior. You cannot win against the monsters. There will always be new monsters.
PN: But this is not against monsters.
P: Essences also mean that adventurers are necessarily mostly members of the upper class.
RC: Fascinating. In your …
GP: No.
A few seconds of silence.
DT: Maybe it would be more effective to talk about the epidemic.
Z: Will we get help?
DT: Good healers are always busy.
L: But you have healing potions.
RP: Yes, but they are a finite resource. We can cure anybody, but not everybody. Nor do we know what this disease is.
GP: No.
RP: Hence one of the strategies is is to allow this to burn itself out and cure the people who are going to die, as long as the potions last.
Z: Do you think somebody is using this disease as a weapon?
OL: That really gets the Adventure Society to hunt you down. Besides, bandits rarely have good access to potions.
KN: Nevertheless we ought to do something.
L: Can you heal infectious disease? I cannot. Infected wounds, other diseases and poisons, but not systemic infections.
KN: No. I also cannot do that. How many people are we talking about?
DT: Hundreds, perhaps in the low thousands. Provided it is limited to the fortress town.
PN: How much antibiotics do you have.
P: Not nearly enough. Besides, it may just as well be viral.
RC: Antibiotics?
GP: Later.
RC: I’ll get an explanation?
She nods.
P: May I propose a compromise?
DT: By all means.
P: We could send you, Russell, Karolína and Pavol to the walls and let you talk to them. Maybe the symptoms are distinct.
PN: Good idea. And you?
P: I could apply awakening stones to Lidija.
L: Sure, I’ll take those.
RC: Purgation, Life, Knowlede or Light have good chances.
Guardian: [Mantle of Frenzy] Special Ability/Spell
Iron 1 (8%)
[Rune Tortoise] Rune Familiar Ability Iron 0 (1%) [Spoils of Victory] Sacrifice Aura Ability Iron 1 (6%) [Peek under the Counter] Knowledge Perception Ability Iron 0 (1%) (unused) 0% Void: [Spike of Void] Special Attack Iron 0 (73%) [Blood Harvest] Sacrifice Special Ability Iron 0 (90%) [Bait and Switch] Swarm Special Ability Iron 0 (0%) [Heretical Helix] Knife Special Attack Iron 0 (0%) (unused) 0% Shield: [Reflective Barrier] Special Ability/Spell
Iron 0 (26%)
[Crystallize Mana] Special Ability Iron 0 (9%) (unused)
0%
(unused)
0%
(unused)
0%
Renewal:
[Regenerate]
Special Ability/Spell
Iron 1 (39%)
[Lay on Hands]
Hand Special Ability
Iron 0 (0%)
[Grand Renewal]
Knowledge Special Ability
Iron 0 (0%)
(unused)
0%
(unused)
0%