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.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">Gun:</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Tools of the Magister]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 1 (10%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Rotary Gun]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Might</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 1 (15%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Eye of the Infantryman]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Knowledge</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Perception Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (0%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%"> </td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">Fire:</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Dry the Tinder]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack/Spell</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (71%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Alacrity''s Reward]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Swiftness</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (90%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Wreathed in Flames]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Knife</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron (0%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%"> </td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">Magic:</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Dragon Wings]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 1 (57%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Eternal Moment]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Lightning</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 1 (11%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Dragon''s Treasure Chest]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Adventure</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 1 (49%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%"> </td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">Onslaught:</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Dive Bomb]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (43%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Rune Trap]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Rune</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack/Spell</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (91%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Exploding Fist]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Ruin</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (8%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">[Limit Breaker]</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%">Defiance</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">Iron 0 (0%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 28.7141%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 21.4659%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.8112%">0%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
[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.
<hr>
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.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Guardian:</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Mantle of Frenzy]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability/Spell</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Iron 1 (8%)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Rune Tortoise]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Rune</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Familiar Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (1%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Spoils of Victory]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Sacrifice</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Aura Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 1 (6%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Peek under the Counter]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Knowledge</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Perception Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (1%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Void:</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Spike of Void]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (73%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Blood Harvest]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Sacrifice</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (90%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Bait and Switch]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Swarm</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (0%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Heretical Helix]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Knife</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Attack</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (0%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Shield:</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Reflective Barrier]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability/Spell</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Iron 0 (26%)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">[Crystallize Mana]</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Iron 0 (9%)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">(unused)</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
(unused)
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Renewal:
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
[Regenerate]
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability/Spell</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Iron 1 (39%)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
[Lay on Hands]
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Hand</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Iron 0 (0%)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
[Grand Renewal]
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Knowledge</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">Special Ability</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
Iron 0 (0%)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
(unused)
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
(unused)
</td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%"> </td>
<td style="width: 24.9506%">
0%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>