I have spotted them return while hacking at a cloud. It turns out that with a conjured pickaxe I can shape a cloud. The material hacked loose stays pliable for a view minutes. So I decide to spin down in the manner of an acorn seed.
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KN: Going by the symptoms I am pretty sure it is the plague or something closely related. But that does not tell me how it is spread. I have been assured that fortress towns are aware of problems of hygine and will not tolerate fleas inside their walls. I must conclude that this region has an animal other than fleas than can spread the disease.
PN: Then we cannot just walk into the town, even if we wear N95 masks and be sure not to be infected.
She wishes to object. Once again anybody who can look at a face does not need an aura sense, though her struggle is reflected in her aura.
KN: No. There are no such guarantees. A mask does not protect you against insect stings anyway. If that disease has a pneumonic form, however, masks will protect you.
L: On a more positive note, I have awakened a very strong healing ability. If anybody of us needs healing I think I can provide it. I think I should test it.
RG: I appreciate your willingness to help, but it am afraid I have to insist that we heed the basic rules of this situation. A quarantine comes with its own set of rules.
KN: People in there are dieing.
RG: Yes. But they are comparatively few. If we have the choice between a smaller number now versus a larger number later, we are bound by the strictures of the Adventure Society. We have taken this contract.
Karolína, whatever her other failures might be, is a strict rationalist. She knows math. Her nod is pained, but real.
Z: Perhaps we can do some good while strictly staying safe.
P: How?
Z: I know you want to keep enough medication to keep us safe. I do agree. But we need to clarify two issue. First, do they work against this disease at all? Second, do they safely work on us? We are not human and we are essence users?
RC: In general drugs that work on normal rank people also work on essence users, but with a shorter duration and only in higher doses. Whether they work on you, however, is a different issue. You react abnormally to teleportation.
L: OK, so what do you propose?
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Z: I fly over the fortress at a safe height and drop doses for a few people together with written instructions.
RG: That is an acceptable solution. In fact, I heard from Deam that you have a looting power. Usually I would not impose on civilians, but as you are outright eager to help, do your powers yield potions?
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We are going even further. Lidija is preparing her ritual circle for Zora to go through right after landing.
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The new guy from the Adventure Society is approaching me with a mixture of determination, embarrasment, talkativeness and urgency on his aura, which he intentionally leaves out for detection.
P: Mr. Geller, I think you feel it is time we clarify some fundamental questions.
RG: Young master Geller, actually, but this is not a time for formalities.
P: My apologies. I didn’t know your family.
RG: You don’t know our family?
P: No.
You looks outright puzzeled. This may have been a faux pas. But he must know that I am serious. I am not even trying to withdraw my aura. His aura feels … sharp, for lack of a better wording.
P: I am sure this does not reflect on your reputation. We fled from a very distant region. In fact so distant I have no idea where it is or how to return. We ended up here by teleporting out of an astral space into the void.
His eyes widen.
RG: That explains the scholar and the priestess. Wait, when the scholar mentioned reaction to teleportation, he meant you teleporting your people, not the priestess?
P: Yes. But I can take you nowhere important, especially not to the city you are expecting help from. I have no known locations here.
RG: Greenstone. I understand completely. I was a bit unsure. I sensed no cores in your auras. I tentatively deemed you visiting foreign adventurers.
P: We have no idea about our status. I am personally am ready to help you, but I cannot speak for the group. In fact I don’t want to. We came together in an emergency and I turned out to be the strongest essence user among us. I feel responsible for them.
He is rubbing his very square chin while looking down on me. Purely physical I mean. This man is built like Schwarzenegger without bodybuilding.
RG: I was thinking about my team mates. And … and their corpses. Would it be possible for you to retrieve Chodhen’s body or at least his badge, when I show you the place on a map?
P: Badge?
I get another incredulous look.
He shows me a rather pretty medaillion.
RG: Adventurers, members of the Adventure Society, are issued such badges by the society. They are linked to one’s aura.
P: Of course. I’ll depart immediately.
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This is turning out ugly. I see the wreck. I see scorched patches of ground. I see some gouges in the ground. I also see a pack a vaguely humanoid dwarves on an extreme diet fighting over something on the ground, which has to be a corpse.
Fearing a trap my plan was to send in Dalek-3UH with a coffin. This looks like he would need a rake in addition to that. And am I sure this is not a trap? I dare a low pass that allows me to pick up auras. Yes, those are real monsters, if I can trust my aura sense.
I land and start action as a sharpshooter, while sending in Dalek-3UH without any additional equipment. I end up retching a lot while I telekinetically scoop corpse parts and indeed a badge into a conjured coffin. I can’t put it into my storage space, but that way I don’t need to touch the gore.
In fact I need a break and fresh air. I teleport up. And there I see traces heading away from the site of the battle beginning a few hundred meters away.