Gamers eight – Day three

Day 3

The next morning, Hellen left and Marie took over. Everyone was up early, Marie had been more than happy to receive the ten gold that they had given her.

The palace was abuzz with the king departing for one of the holdings in the south. The commander showed up, while they ate. A guardsman was with him.

“This is Deakon, he’s in charge of the palace while I am out with the king.” The dark haired man was clean shaven, and the tunic he wore was immaculate, he wore a chain shirt that gave off a slight metallic smell. He had a sword at his side.

“I understand some of you wish to go into the city,” he asked.

“Me, Amethyst and Eve need to talk to some merchants and alchemists” Bloodstone replied.

Enna showed up, and greeted everyone. Kuya, sighed, “Really, you have more spells you want scribed.”

“Well you did say you wanted to get a copy of every spell, you said some of them would take longer to copy, We got two more spell books from the archive. The spell books have some high level spells, if we could all get copies, we could try and level.”, She beamed.

“Really,” She said a bit sarcastically. Kuya grumbled the whole time Enna was there, and they headed over to the mages quarters and workshop a wing over and two floors up.

“I leveled that spell you scribed for me I finally figured it out once I had more time to study it.” Enna said as they walked.

“Why would you even have a spell like that, it seems kind of a waste of magic” Kuya said tapping her staff on the rug as they walked.

“It’s important to have a broad set of spells, the call bugs spell isn’t one I really want to use, but it’s the only tier three I can get my hands on.” Enna said making a face.

“I don’t see why you all don’t have the scribe spell ability, it’s not like it’s very hard to do.”

“Uh that’s too much work; I just want to learn magic not scribe spells all day, no offense. This way.” Enna said going up a flight of steps.

The tap of Kuyas staff echoed on the stone that was exposed.  “Well if you don’t let me make a spell book, I am going to get all cranky.” A soft orb of light floated off her staff and landed on her head.

Enna looked at the light, “What is that?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kuya said continuing to walk.

“That’s so weird,” she said looking at Kuya.

They arrived in the mages workshop; It was tidy, but cluttered. Along the one were books, in the center on a raise dais was a lectern with a very large spell book, a large stool with a big fluffy cushion had been placed in front of it with a tall desk. It was a small desk and had enough room for a second spell book, which stood open with a partially copied spell.

Enna grabbed a small step stool and put it in front of the larger stool, “Does scribbling spells make it easier to understand magic?” She asked.

“Not really.” Kuya said climbing up onto the taller stool. There was a snap and her staff vanished, in her hand was a wooden quill with a metal tip.

“How did you do that?” She asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” Kuya said resuming where she had left off scribing the spell from one book to the other.

“Did your mother let you look at her spell book?” Enna asked hopefully.

“Yup,” Kuya replied.

“And can you copy spells from it?” Enna pressed.

Kuya stopped, and looked at Enna, “If I had a spell book to copy them into. Did you get the spell books yet?” She asked.

“It takes a couple of days to make one, you said you wanted, six books. They are not cheap either.” She said defensively.

“How much is it for a blank book?” Kuya asked.

“Twenty eight gold coins, will get you a blank spell book.” Enna said somewhat bored, she had taken a seat close by to watch Kuya scribe. Her spell book was open and she was studying.

There was a pause as Kuya looked up at her, and said. “Any discounts if we get six?”

“First off you don’t have twenty eight gold coins for one book let alone six, second I have no idea if they would have a discount, and there is a shop in town that sells things like that.” Enna said

“Oh really, what’s the name of the shop?” Kuya asked returning to scribing.

“Helpherians magic emporium, he’s a merchant, buys spell books and mage supplies, I have only been in there twice, too expensive, and I was bought a spell book that was used. The first ten pages are all crappy notes. I can’t wait till I can get a real spell book.”, She sighed.

Eve, walked with Bloodstone and Lady Amethyst, no one had said much since they had the singe guardsman walking with them.

“Scuse me, can we stop in at Helpherians,” Bloodstone asked.

The guardsman nodded, “Yeah we can do that, not the best shop on the Mages Street through, where else did you want to go?”

“At least a couple of alchemist shops, to see if any are interesting in doing some research, the big Blacksmith shop that sold armor. Oh and where can we find out about buying or renting a space.”

“Oh you mean Travis’s shop, the one with the blind girl”, he said.

“Her name is Isabel,” Bloodstone said.

“Really, I don’t really like that shop, word is that he’s the one who blinded her. Are you looking for an inn? There’s a few over by the adventurers guild.”

“Eve, you seem a bit upset, everything all right?” Lady Amethyst asked.

“Huh, no I just wonder what ever happened to Miguel; you don’t think they killed him do you?” She asked.

“Who’s that?” The guardsman asked.

“She is talking about the man who attacked the king, when we first arrived. I personally don’t give a crap about him. Your face is looking better after they gave you that healing potion.” Bloodstone said to no one I particular.

“Oh him, he’s locked up in the dungeon, never heard whatever language he was using before, guy has a mouth on him.”

“si parece el,” Eve said.

“Spanish?”, Bloodstone asked. “Si” , she replied. “It makes sense now, is Spanish your first language?” He asked. “Yes, I learned English when I had to go to school. Miguel was one of the people who helped me. We dated for a bit, I was crashing at his place, when all this happened.”, She gestured to the street. “I don’t want to pry, but did he hit you?”, Lady Amethyst asked. “It was my fault, I stepped on his phone.” She said looking down. “Stop right there, the two things are not inclusive. Anyone who hits a woman, well I have a very low opinion of them. “Bloodstone said getting a little heated. “He’s not a bad person, he just has a temper.” She said softly. “We don’t take kindly to women being roughed up, if it’s a bar fight that’s one thing, married couples fight sometimes, usually if it comes to blows someone usually dies.” The guardsman said chiming in.  They continued down the street following the guardsman.

The first shop they entered was the Helpherians magic emporium; it was a small shop, with a clear glass window, showing a number of items on display. The display itself was a suit of armor, with a shield and a bow and sword were placed in such a manner to draw the eye.   A small chime rang when the door was opened. “Welcome, to Helpherians we have magic if you have the coin.” The voice came from a skinny man, whose hair seems to be spotty, in places, he grinned at them as they came in, a tooth missing just off center.  “I think we came to the wrong place,” Bloodstone said stopping.  “You buying or selling?” the man asked.  “We are looking for spell books,” Bloodstone said. “Ahh I have a few in at the moment, some tier three and one tier four spell.” The man said, walking over to them.  “Well, she doesn’t need one, me and my associate do.” He gestured first to Amethyst and secondly to Eve. Eve eyed at the man, “I think we should find another shop.” “Nonsense, you will not find a better price on a spell book used or otherwise.” He said rummaging in a box. He pulled out three books, one looked like it had seen better days. The cover was hanging on by threads, as if someone had tried to sew it back on.  The second book he put on the table looked like it had been soaked in water. The last book was slightly smaller than the other two and had a bright green cover. “These are the best books in my shop.” “Yea, we are leaving,” Bloodstone said turning to leave. Eve grabbed the door and started opening it.  “Wait, Wait, I have more books, you can’t judge a book by its cover.” He said rummaging behind the counter.  Bloodstone turned back to him, “Look I don’t want to waste your time, or mine. I need six empty spell books, and even a few spells in a single book would be helpful.”“Six?” he squeaked. “Six empty books, why would you need six empty books, are there new mages?” He said composing himself. “Yes, I have that many empty spell books” He said as he rummaged behind the counter again. He put a single book on the counter. “Now where did I put the rest. Oh that’s right.”  He stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to a shelf, there were a dozen books he pulled five of them off the shelf and dropped them on the counter. A small cloud of dust puffed off of them. Bloodstone sneezed, “How much?” “Fifty gold each, for the blank ones, the green one is two fifty and the water spells are three hundred, and the last one is five hundred.” The merchant said returning behind the counter.

Eve still holding the door asked, “Fifty gold for an empty book? nos estaba robando claramente.” She said a little annoyed.

Everyone looked at her, Bloodstone said, “The lady here thinks your books are very overpriced, I agree. Is there another shop we can go to?”

The guardsman shrugged, “Sure, there is that woman’s shop a block over, never been there myself.”

Bloodstone turned back towards the door.  Eve was watching the man behind the counter. He seemed torn, “I suppose I can make a deal, say fifteen hundred for all of them.”

“Not interested, and that’s more than they are all worth. I was going to ask about magic items, this place is a rip off.” Bloodstone said covering the few steps towards the door.

Seeing the sale walking out, the man behind the counter, said, “I’m sure we can make a deal, what do you have to spend?”

Bloodstone stopped and turned at the door, “This is not how this works, I came here expecting someone having fair value, for goods. I’m pretty sure you have no idea who you’re dealing with, my wife [Lady] Amethyst, has a spell book already.”

There was a slight flicker of magic around Lady Amethyst. Lady Amethyst spoke, “Summon spell book” And the large tomb materialized in her hand.

The shop keeper froze, licked his lips, “Uh, um er..” He coughed. “I had no idea! How much would you be willing to sell that book for.”

Lady Amethyst laughed, “I can’t sell it even if I wanted to, go ahead pick it up” she walked past Bloodstone and set the book on the counter.

The shop keeper reached out to pick up the book and his hands passed right through it as if it was smoke. “Wow, anti-theft magic never seen anything like it before. Really how much, would you be willing to sell it for.”

Lady Amethyst sighed, “You’re not getting it, it’s my book, mine alone. My daughter wanted to copy some of the spells out of the book, we can’t find anyone willing to sell spell books.”

“Oh, well the spell books here are fifty gold each. I can reduce the price down to say half off, since they have been in my shop so long. Would this be your daughter?” He asked looking at Eve.

“No, this is Eve she is someone we are recruiting. My daughter is working with the Kings Mages, coping some spells out of some larger book they have, she needs her own spell book.” She replied.

Lady Amethyst leaned over the counter slightly, “I really would like to make some purchases here, I am a [Lady] after all, at least that’s what your king called me.”

Several emotions flickered across his face, fear, greed, fascination. Greed won out, “What else are you looking for [Lady] Amethyst,” his eyes glued to hers.

“Well we are looking for a few trinkets, or a bag of holding, perhaps an appraisal of the two we have and perhaps some custom work?” She said batting her eyes.

“I have a small selection of items, I think I have a bag around here somewhere,” He broke eye contact to look for the bag. “Though I don’t do any custom work, I am a [trader] not an [enchanter].” He paused, “What the heck is a [raid enchanter]?”

Bloodstone and Lady Amethyst stared at him, Eve said,” Don’t ask me I don’t have that class.”

Lady Amethyst sighed and broke the tension by saying,” It’s a [enchanter], I know a bunch of tricks and spells that can be using to take down raid level monsters and crowd control. There’s more to it but I can’t memorize the higher tier spells now, they are in my book, just need to get some experience to be able to cast them.”

“I never heard of a class having a weird spell book like that. You mentioned copying spell books, would you be willing to sell me a copy?” He asked.

“I think we can arrange something, we need to get some items appraised, as well as pick up some blank spell books. Though I am interested in the three books you have they are out of the price range I was thinking.” Bloodstone said.

The shopkeeper turned back to Lady Amethyst, “I see, so what were you thinking for the spell books, and what kind of items are you looking for?” He asked.

“Do you know an [enchanter] we can talk to? And I see many items in your display cases, we are looking for a bag of holding, and some examples of simple magics on an item.” She said glancing at Bloodstone.

He pulled a very weather worn sack, out of one of the display cases, and set it on the counter. “It’s very noisy, or so I am told. It can be repaired, just not by me. Jaslene is the best [enchanter] on the continent, she can tell you more about any items you might need appraised, I can give you a reference if you want. This bag I can sell for say two hundred fifty gold.”

“The reference is thoughtful, if you can have that written up, so one fifty for the spell books, and two fifty for the bag, for four hundred, coins. If we buy the other three books right now can we make it an even thousand coins? Though it looks like you have some other blank books, would you be willing to make a deal, considering my daughter can fill the books and make them more sellable” Amethyst said looking at the bag.

The shop keeper paused and thought about it for a moment. “Ok, and I can throw in two extra books, with the condition that you return one of them with spells to sell.”

“I think we have an agreement,” She pulled another bag out and started stacking coins.

“We don’t do it that way, let me get the scale.” The shop keeper said pulling up a small balancing scale. It took a bit of time to complete the transaction as well as get the letter of reference from the shopkeeper, whom they found out his name was Cecile.

They left the shop and as the door closed, Bloodstone turned to Amethyst,” You were brilliant, he never stood a chance.”

He turned to Eve, and glanced at the guardsman, “Eve, there’s something I have been meaning to ask, I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.”  “What?” She asked somewhat indifferent.  “You seem a little down, I realize that the situation we are in sucks. We need to stick together, though I get the feeling you don’t trust us.” He said.

“How do I explain, I had a bad life, were I was. People always took advantage of me; you haven’t given me any reason to really trust you. This place is just like home, just no electricity and more problems. It’s nothing personal, you and your wife have tried to look out for me. I’m not a kid.” She said somewhat bitterly.

Bloodstone looked at the guard, “can you show us to this enchanter Jaslene’s shop?” The guard nodded and started walking; bloodstone followed, and as Eve took a step, Amethyst said, “hold on a moment, can we talk woman to woman?” Eve paused and then shrugged, “I supposed”

“There’s something you need to know, it’s kind of a secret. It’s about one of the classes my husband has, can you keep the secret?” She asked.

“What is the class, it’s not something bad is it?” She asked.

“No, it’s actually a very special class, one that if we keep secret might let us all survive, make a life here. It’s up to you, I’m going to trust you. the last class he has is [psion]” She said.

“What class is that?” Eve asked.

“It allows him to read minds, and broadcast his thoughts. The others know he told them, and can communicate with them over distance.” Amethyst replied.

“He’s been reading everyone’s minds, including mine.” She said angrily. “It’s not like that, at least the way he explained it. He has to concentrate on someone to hear surface thoughts, or send a message or listen for one. You can see why he kept it a secret” She said.

“He has trouble reading you sometimes, since he doesn’t know Spanish very well. We do want to help, if you let us.” Amethyst said.

“Or you’ll mind control me,” She asked a little more upset.

It’s not like that Eve, and I understand how you might be afraid of me reading your mind. Was broadcast into her head

“Stay out of my head” She said a little loudly.  “Well you know now, we need to catch up”, She said walking after Bloodstone.

Eve stood on the street watching them, a bit of fear sat in the pit of her stomach. “How do I know you’re not manipulating me.”

There was no answer, she stood on the street for a few more minutes until they were out of sight. Something about this felt wrong, she wasn’t sure how or why she felt that way, she just did.

The guard, Bloodstone and Lady Amethyst had turned a corner, and traveled eight blocks down. The residence they arrived at, and it was a residence with a high metal gate, and a green lawn. The residence stood out, it screamed wealth. The four-story stone building had a gate than on the corner. The building looked like it was more defensive than aesthetic. The guard opened the gate and let them enter, “Hey where the other woman run off to?” He asked realizing Eve was absent.

Bloodstone sighed, “She needed some time to think, she should be all right.” He glanced at Lady Amethyst.

At least I hope so, he sent to Amethyst.

“Do you want to go get her, I can talk with this enchantress, maybe get some tips, or suggestions.” Lady Amethyst asked.

“No if she can’t trust us, then chasing her down will just freak her out more.”, He said.

“You two wait here, I’ll go find her.” The guardsman said.

“Sure thing”, Bloodstone replied.

The guardsman closed the gate with them inside and jogged down the street back to the other shop.

“Do you know where she is?”, Amethyst asked.

“No, I broke contact, she’s a bit skittish, the others have a way to get my attention, even while I am not actively scanning. How do you want to handle this” He said pointing towards the door.

“I wouldn’t read her mind, Let us see if she home” she said.

Bloodstone offered his arm and she looped hers through his, and they walked to the door. There was a large brass knocker on the door. Lady Amethyst raised it and knocked twice.

A young man answered the door, “Can I help you?” the teen asked.

Bloodstone handed him the letter, from Cecile. “Let me see if my aunt will see you.” He closed the door.

The young man returned, a few minutes later, “Please come in” He said gesturing into the open doorway. The foyer was immense and a staircase could be seen going to the second floor, and it seems to wind around overhead.  There were paintings on the walls of people and scenes.

“This way please,” He said heading under the stairs to a large double door. They followed him to a sitting room, that had been done in a very tasteful manner, it was elegant, and cozy. There was a wooden table set in the center of the room with decretive chairs. The older woman sat facing the door, the letter on the table visible. She had gray hair, and it was tied more in a bun, than loose. There were a few strands that seems to have gotten loose. She wore glasses, and her blouse, and long dress were elegant, as well and appeared to be rich cloth, possibly silk.

“Good afternoon, Cecile must be losing his touch, if you got him to write this letter. Please have a seat, and tell me what kind of magic you’re looking for.  Percival, can you bring tea.”

“Yes Ma’am”, the boy said leaving the room.

They sat down at the offered chairs. “I heard the king had given out titles recently, to some of those he summoned, you must have made an impression.”

“There’s one of our group who uncovered a plot, the king decided that he needed us to stay close.” Bloodstone replied.

“You’re an [enchanter], Cecil says, could you tell me your levels?” She asked.

“I am a level two [Illusionist], and a level two [raid enchanter] and a [hero] level.” Lady amethyst replied.

“How fascinating, I have never heard of that kind of enchanter.”, she turned to Bloodstone, “So what classes do you have.”

“[Wizard], [hero], [engineer] [psion] and [swordsman]”, He replied, and then froze. “How did you make me say that?” He asked.

She smiled, “At least you’re not being deceptive. I suspect, that you’re here, about those very noise bags you have as well and to see if I have anything I am willing to sell you.”

“Noisy bags?” Bloodstone asked.

She gestured and the three bags of holding floated to the table.” These, I have seen them all before. The one you bought from Cecile is a total loss, it’s probably beyond repair. The other two are older, but are still noisy, looking at them, I don’t think they are worth repairing.”

“Meaning it would be cheaper to have a new one made?” Bloodstone asked.

“Precisely, oh they will function for a few years or decades but one day one of the spell bindings on the bag will break and all the contents inside will burst out. Now if you’re interested in replacing them, I can have new ones made in about a months’ time, and they will cost about eight hundred gold each, I would also need a deposit of five hundred gold. Now if there is something else you’re looking for we can discuss the fees and time”

“I see, it takes time to make a bag, I would like to see one being made if that’s possible. We both would like to know how magic items are created, from both a practical or philosophical stand point.” He said gesturing to the bags.

She moved her glasses off her nose slightly and looked at him,” You’re a strange individual, how is it you don’t know how magic items are made?”

“We come from a place where technology, is common, and there is no magic.” Bloodstone replied.

“You’re one of those summoned individuals, that the king has been pulling from the dirt place.” She said, pushing her glasses back in place.

“Earth or Terra, is the name of the place. From what we have read, we will need magic, both in spell and gear. I have many items that I think could help us, if they can be made that is. Or if we can make them ourselves, the problem with that is we don’t have working knowledge of how to make items.”

The woman laughed, “Of course not, no enchanter would willingly give up that information, never mind write it down. Look around you, this is the fruits of my talents, I am the best [Enchanter] on the continent, I only know of a few enchanters who are higher level.”

Bloodstone looked down, “I get it, I really do, you have a good thing, you have no idea what we might be able to do. I am guessing just to teach us the basics would require us being an apprentice or some exorbitant fee.”

The woman looked him over and rested her head on the outside of her hands,” You need to get some experience with magic, maybe I will help you, just a little.” She got up from her table she picked up a cane and hobbled over to a large glass case with doors on it. “The problem with young people today is that they don’t listen to their elders, Magic isn’t something you can teach really well, at least not to everyone. When I was younger, I bought and sold magic, on another continent. Took me years to master the craft, and I still have not found how to open this box.” She took a simple box down off the top shelf. She carried it back over and put in in the middle of the table. “I bought this box, from a group of gold adventurers, it is magical, what’s in it or how to open it I have no idea. It’s given me a lot of ideas on making magic items, and yet it still will not open.”

“I don’t understand.” Bloodstone said looking at the box. It was a wooden box, there were no symbols, or accents or even a lock, there was a small seam that looked like a lid.  It didn’t even appear to have been stained, though the workmanship on just the box made it to be one piece of wood. The grains lined up across the small seam that appeared to be the lid.

“I have tried everything I know, disenchantments, brute force, spells that would melt stone to liquid, and this dam box would not open. You tell me what is inside and I will think about it.”

“How would I know how to open this box?” He asked.

She sighed, “It is one of the few things that has frustrated me, not knowing if I made a good deal.”

He stared at the box, focusing his will directly on its surface. The box was a hard surface, and he pushed slightly with his will against the box. The box slid two millimeters on the table.

“How did you get it to move?” She asked

“Focus of will, it is hard, like steel. Let me try something.” He stared at the box, feeling its hard structure. He focused on the table, it was hard as well though there was some give to the material. He returned his focus to the box, and made it into a fine point, the box stopped this as well. Running it along the longest length there did not seem to be any change, he ran it down top to bottom, this fine point of will. Beads of sweat began to form as he continued to concentrate on the box. There was a slight indent were the lid was, it too resisted. He stopped for a moment, “Its solid, I need a moment.” He relaxed, his body cooling from the exertion.

“I didn’t expect, you to be able to open the box, or see inside.” She said returning to her chair.

“Then why have me try, I think I can try a different approach, though it may not work.” Bloodstone said returning his gaze to the box.

“Maybe these will help you” She said removing her glasses and setting them on the table.

“Uh not sure how,” He said gently picking them up.

“Put them on,” He chided.

He put them on and looked at the box, it glowed, with a soft light, looking closer he could see bands of silver light gently wrapping the box. Thousands of strands like spider silk only more delicate. “Is this the enchantment on the box”, He asked.

“I believe so, if you look at your bags you will see the difference.”, she said smiling.

He glanced at her and sway that her clothes had the same shimmer, not as delicate. He pulled out one of the bags and looked at it. The bag he had glowed, the strands were course, and had knots, and there were loose strands then hung off the bag or were tucked into other strands. It looked like a tangled mess.

“How much for “, He started to say.

“Oh no, they are not for sale, not now, probably never. Use your trick see if you can find a thread. “She suggested.

Bloodstone gazed at the threads and focused his will again and pulled gently on a single loose thread on the bag. It pulled free and was a much longer string. He could see where it belonged, and pulled it to the matching end. “How do you get the threads to stick together?”  He asked.

“I have no idea, usually you just weave the spell as one continuous thread through the object, as it wears or the threads fray, the magic becomes more unstable until it just falls apart.” She replied.

T here was a small gap between the ends, it appeared that something had damaged the threads. He removed the glasses, and set them back on the table. Still holding the ends he pulled them together. “They don’t want to bind. And they don’t want to tie, how strange.” He then tried to splice the ends together, and there was a spark that flashed around the bag as the two ends joined.

“My word, what was that.” She said picking up the glasses.

Amethyst had been watching the bag and had channeled mana into the bag itself.

“That’s fascinating, that you two can fix magic threads, very unusual.” She said.

There was a loud knocking, and a few minutes later the young man returned, “There is a [guardsman] here asking if the [Lord] and [Lady] are still here”

The guardsman stepped around the boy, “My apologies, I could not find Eve, she seems to have wandered off into the city.”

The woman looked at the guardsman, glanced at the box on the table then back to Bloodstone. “I believe you have what you need, for now, I would love to have you and her over for tea. Until then I have things I need to attend to.” She picked up the box and moved it out of sight.

“Of course, tomorrow or the day after how does that sound?” He asked.

“Noon tomorrow is fine”, she had hobbled back over to the cabinet and replaced the box back on the top shelf. “it seems you have a missing companion, bring them along tomorrow as well.”

Amethyst had not yet moved, she asked, “May I speak with you alone on a personal matter”

“Sure my dear, please show them out.” She said to the boy.

Bloodstone nodded and followed the boy and the [guardsman] back to the front door. The door closed to the small room.

They waited at the entrance for about ten minutes for Amethyst to finish her conversation.  She came out and was thanking the woman, “I really appreciate it, I will have to stop in on that shop.”

Bloodstone and the [guardsman] walked out with Amethyst to the street.

“Where to now,” Amethyst asked.

“Well if she had a shop you needed to visit, there would be the next stop.” Bloodstone said.

She nodded, “She said there is a shop that has what I and the others need, it is on Feather way near the Grand road.”

The [guardsman] said, “I think I know the shop you are talking about, deals in clothing, and specializes in women undergarments.”

“That’s the one, lead on.” She said with a slight reddening of the face.

It was a twenty minute walk, to the shop. She went inside and came out almost twenty minutes later.

Bloodstone waited outside, however his face turned a bright red, relaying a conversation between Beth his daughter and Amethyst.

She came out, and chided Bloodstone, “you would think you of all people wouldn’t get embarrassed about those kinds of things.”

“It is not that, It’s the way the three of you were, never mind can we drop the subject?” He asked slightly red.

“Any luck finding Eve,” She asked.

“I haven’t really had a chance to look for her, give me a minute.” He said.

The [guardsman] who had been standing outside with bloodstone looked a little confused. “We have been standing out here. I am not sure where to look for her.”

“This shouldn’t take that long,” He said sighing. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He send out a mental pulse, a call to Eve. He still didn’t know what his range was to make a connection. Though have a connection with someone already made it easier to make the connection he had found, and familiarity with the person. Eve he had only made the once contact earlier today,a and his lack of familiarity was making it harder to find her.

“I think I found her, this way.” He said, taking off into a slight jog.

The guardsman looked very confused.

Three minutes later they turned onto a side street, they had passed people in the street , no one paid them any real attention. As they turned down the street, a small crowd had gathered. They waded through the crowd, to the center where two guardsmen held a man down, and a third stood over Eve.

There was a pool of blood that was slowly spreading out from Eve. The guardsman they were with froze for just a moment and then took charge. “What is going on here” He asked.

Several people that had been watching turned and went about their business, and left the scene.

Bloodstone knelt down next to Eve, she had been slashed by a dagger, there were deep cuts on her hands, and a stab wound on her chest. The blood was coming from her neck and the guard was trying to put pressure on it. “Bloody mess, where is that runner!” he said seeing Bloodstone for the first time.

“You, put pressure here, if we don’t get this wound closed she’s going to die. Where is that runner?”

Bloodstone did as the guardsman asked. He could feel Eve, and he made the mental connection. The fear almost over whelmed him, as the connection was made.

Eve, stay with me. He broadcasted to her mind.

Her eyes snapped open and she tried to get up, “Don’t move this is bad, real bad. You have been slashed in the throat, it hit one the arteries.” He said and he could feel the bloods oozing under his hands.

I don’t want to die, not here. Was the though he picked up from her.

“Shhh, you need to trust me, I won’t let that happen.” He said trying to reassure her.

Bloodstone analyzed the situation, what he needed, what could he do, what was available. The wound on her neck needed to be fixed, even modern medicine, would have requires a surgeon, of at least some skill. He wasn’t a surgeon, but he had seen something today that he might be able to use. What did he have to lose, just Eve’s life.

He sent a mental message to Amethyst, who began casting, a flicker of energy enveloped Eve, him and Amethyst. He felt her begin to channel mana into Eve.

“Spider web, thinner that hair. He could feel the mana forming into a thread, as he focused it. Bead of sweat started to form immediately as he started to push the mana through the two ends of the flesh that had been split. It wasn’t working, the threads we not sticking or staying they just passed through her flesh as if they were ghosts.

Then a suggestion from his daughter solidified the problem for him, different mana frequencies, if that was a thing. He took a deep breath, centered his mind and cut all the other connections, except Eve’s.

He felt her blood and the wounds she had received; he took the mana and willed the wounds closed, and nothing happened. He tried to will them to heal, and use the mana the energies around him, and her. There was a shift, as her own body began to heal itself, as he focused on the small area around her neck the wound closed ever so slowly. There was another problem she had lost a lot of blood, she was starting loose consciences, the connection was fading, and with it his sense of her.

He was racing the clock, and there was not enough time. She needed blood. The bloods that had pooled was already sticky, and dying. Where could he get more, if it were a modern situation, a transfusion would be needed. The problem is that you cant just transfuse blood from one person to another unless they are compatible.

Bloodstone knew his blood type was O negative, O was a universal donor, meaning anyone could receive it. Would that help in this situation? How could he giver her blood? He had to try.

The on lookers didn’t see her wound heal on her neck, or the weird connection Bloodstones wrist made to her neck. Most just wanted to see what would happen.

A runner arrived with several healing potions, the guardsman tried to move bloodstone hands, and stared at the weird purple tubes that came off his wrist and went into her neck.

“Potions, use the potions” Bloodstone rasped.

The guardsman put a full potion down her throat, she coughed. The guard saw the purple thing from the man’s wrist dissolve.

“She should be fine now.” He stood up took a single stop and started to fall. The [guardsman] who had been with them all day caught him before he hit the cobblestone road.

There were some murmurs from the crowd, wanting to know what had happened and who the man was.  Bloodstone passed out.

Gamers Eight – Day two

Day 2

It was well into the night before Bloodstone could get settled enough to sleep. A lit candle burned by the table, the only illumination, it was a luxury, he knew, there were no electric lights, the building they were in felt cool. A small fire was burning in the main room, another luxury. The king had explained several hours ago that Newton had uncovered a monumental theft from the kingdom.

The Steward had been diverting funds to build the fifth wall, the project was years behind schedule, and now the king knew why. His steward had diverted thousands of gold, to something else. That something else was still being investigated, as well as how far back this had started.

Bloodstone, had scared the steward with fear, he had used the man’s fear as a tool against him. He had a lot of things to think about before he went to sleep.

The maid stood at the door, she was skinny, and had a uniform on her hair was neat, and only a few dark locks could be seen out of place. “Do you need anything else my lord?”

“No, it’s Hellen, right?” He asked politely.

“Yes, my lord, it’s my responsibility to see to your needs, a lit candle makes me nervous.” She said nervously.

“I see, I will put it out shortly, and thank you for keeping this suite in shape. Let me know if we are causing you any issues.” Bloodstone said seriously.

She seemed confused by the comment, “It’s my class, I’m a servant or the [maid] class, though I’m only level twelve.” She seemed a little sad by the admission.

“Nonsense, you can be whatever you want to be. What would you want to be if you could choose?” He asked.

The question seemed to startle her, “I’m a [maid], a servant. There’s no way I could be anything else.” She had turned red from ear to ear.

“Out with it, what do you want to be?” He coaxed.

“It’s impossible, I’m just a [maid], but if I could I would want to be someone who can protect people like you did, a Knight or a Lady.”, The blush got redder.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to protect others.” He paused thinking, “I can talk to the commander, if you wish.”

“No, no, no” she bolted from the door, he heard her scuffling about in the main room.

Bloodstone stood and snuffed out the candle, he sat back on the bed. He kicked his sneakers off, and then leaned back. He sighed, and closed his eye trying to decide what class would fit with him, he had a few ideas, but until he heard that strange voice in his head, he wouldn’t really know.

The King awoke, early and was very happy, he had leveled, not once, but twice. He was even happier that he had gotten a new skill, one of the rare ones that kings sometimes get.

[skill – Know Class]

He could tell what class or classes someone had by talking with them, it wouldn’t tell him the levels they were, but knowing a class, that was valuable, and since there were records of known classes, at least to the aristocracy.

Today he was going to take his kingdom back from whatever his steward of coin had done. He had some heroes in the capital and others in the field, things were better than they were yesterday.

—-

Amethyst or as the maid had called her [Lady] Amethyst, awoke, she was a little upset at the situation. They were in a strange place, and she wasn’t sure how long her parents would be able to watch the cats back home. It was a surreal, this weird world, that seemed to have levels like a role-playing game, or video game. She also had gotten a class when she fell asleep yesterday after having her brain scrambled, by the weird colors. She was very sure that the spell book she had was a very similar book she had had from her raid days.  She lived and breathed being an enchanter, now she supposedly was one for real.

“Summon spell book” She said, the book appeared.  The mage from the day before was both right and wrong, the spell book had been filled, already, just it had been on a page that was blank. She was already a level one [Hero], whatever that ment. She also had picked up two more levels, in the [Raid Enchanter] class. Also, two levels in the [illusionist] class, the other skill she got was,

[skill – summon visage] 

She hadn’t used it yet, however there seemed to be many visages she could use she just had to name it.

She had turned over in the bed starting at the wall, it was still early, so she got up and got dressed. The alarm on her phone would most likely go off shortly.  She didn’t really feel like dealing with the situation, she heard voices and a knock on the door.

Eve, sat on the corner of the bed, still trying to figure out if it was a dream or real or bad acid trip. Miguel had been dragged off yesterday; it wasn’t that she wanted to see him. She sighed, and looked out the door, no one had gotten up yet so she sneacked out into the main room, the main door was locked, the servants entrance was slightly open. She wandered down the servant’s hall listening. A small flight of stairs led down, and she caught a scent of baked bread. It didn’t take her long to find the bustling kitchen. She grabbed an apron and wandered around.

A large man was shouting, something about butter and rolls. “Who are you, why are you in my kitchen? Well!?”

“Sorry, I wanted to get something to eat, and the bread smelled wonderful.” She said meekly.

“Ah new help, then go with the others you serve then you eat after.” He turned and started yelling orders to two other women who were gossiping. “Gossip later, the king will be up soon, as will his new guests.”

He put her to work taking out the bread from the oven trays and putting it into baskets covered with a cloth. The bread itself was small like rolls, and the woman who was separating it took great care in placing them on the tray. She sat on a small stool sorting the bread.

“Not too bad, I did not catch your name.”, The large man said.

“Eve, this reminds of my parents shop back in,” and she choked, and the tears started.

The large man stopped, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, “It is ok, many people I know have lost loved ones in the blight. We are safe here, behind the king’s walls.”

She sniffled, “I can’t go home, I…” the thought of the situation she was in came crashing down.

The cook, knelt, it was a little awkward him staring her in the eyes. “I too have lost my parents, to demons. its ok, Here.” He handed her a roll from off the baking sheet. He stood and returned to work, mixing tasting, and barking orders.

The warm roll in her hand smelled great, she took a bite, and found she was mentally comparing it to her mother’s cooking, it was different.

No one said anything when she slipped out of the kitchen, leaving the apron behind.

The cook watched her leave, he was a cook, and yet he wanted to help the small woman who had visited his kitchen.

Beth or BB, as she was sometimes called, only her mother used her full name. She was still in shock from what had happened. The older guy, had helped insulate them from the situation at least to a smaller extent. His heart was in the right place, sort of. Another world and summoned, no way back, at least not that anyone seemed to know about. She wondered what would happen back home, would she be listed as a missing person, she had been traveling and stopped in the rest stop and then was here. She still had her car keys, not that they would do her any good here. The other keys on the ring reminded her of the things she had just lost.

Her boyfriend would probably lose his mind, trying to figure out what had happened. Would he get blamed, she wondered?

She pinched herself again to see if she was dreaming, “Nope.”

She also had heard a strange voice when she woke up.

[Hero Level 1]

[Mage Level 1]

[Engineer Level 1]

[Skill Perfect recall]

It was kind of odd, she had all the books she read about statistics and probability tables in her head, they were just very clear now.

The bedrooms were very well kept, and had a Victorian feel to it, there was one small window, the glass was frosted, at least, it wasn’t very clear. It looked like it had been in that location for a very long time, as it appeared that the glass was a little thicker on the bottom, than the top. She did the math in her head, and figured it had been put in there about sixty years prior.

She opened the door, and looked out the other maid was busy straitening the room, Hellen was the night maid. The day maid was, Marie. So, this was Marie, she was taking care of the main common room. There were two other main rooms here in this side of the palace on the third floor. One side was taken by the guys and the girls had taken the larger of the two side areas. There were four bedrooms off of each of the common rooms and each had a second doorway to the main hallway.  The rooms were lavishing, but not modern. She reflexively kept looking for the light switch.

Marie looked over, at Beth, “Morning miss, do you want me to bring some food, the others are still sleeping.”

Beth nodded, “Please, the king mentioned you’re a maid, is that a class?”

“Yes, miss, I am a level twelve [maid], I don’t have any other classes, been in the service of the king since I was little. My mum passed and the head maid said I could stay. Enough about me miss, I will go see about breakfast, do you have any requests, and the cook prides himself on being good at making anything.” She said waiting.

“That’s fine, Eggs and toast. Coffee would be nice.” Beth said yawning and stretching.

“I don’t know what coffee is miss, I’ll ask the cook, I will be back shortly”, she opened the small door for the servants and went into the small back hall, and closed the door behind her.

She had changed into the clothes she had worn when she arrived, at some point she needed to get a proper wardrobe.

Looking over the room, it was decorated in a manner to cover the stone walls, the ceiling was high, and there were rafters. There were also two large tapestries on the wall opposite the hallway. It depicted a woman in armor, attacking what looked like demons or beasts. She found the workmanship was impressive, considering what she had seen so far. The maid returned with several trays and saw her staring at the tapestry.

“Tis the Princess Beledara, she saved the kingdom two hundred years ago from being overrun. Took the fight to the Blight lands. Though she died fighting, she saved the Kingdom. I have breakfast for you, some sweet rolls and bread, eggs and some bacon. Cook didn’t know what coffee was, I have tea, and a lite ale, and I can get some wine if you want”

“Wine? At this hour? Tea should be fine, eggs and bacon sound wonderful.” There was enough for a dozen people.

“I don’t know when they are going to wake up, they were up talking till late last night. There a few things I want to know, well lots of things, it’s too bad there is no internet here.” She took the plate with the eggs and bacon on it. The maid poured a tea out into small cups.

“It’s hot miss,” she stepped back and waited while Beth started eating.

“Uh, you can have some, I don’t think they will mind, and really if they do I will give them a piece of my mind.” She said noticing the maid was hovering.

“I’m um just a maid miss. You’re a hero.” She said not moving.

“Nonsense, if you’re going to hover, I insist you eat and talk with me, though not at the same time.” Beth smiled.

The maid tentatively sat down, and made a small helping for herself. She munched on a slice of bacon.

“So where are we?’ She asked.

“Pardon miss?” the maid asked.

“This Kingdom does it have a name?”

“It’s the Kingdom of Rhir, I think.” The maid said.

“You’re not sure,” Beth asked her.

“I’m just a maid miss, that’s the only name I have ever heard it called if it’s called something else I wouldn’t know, “she took a small bite of the over easy egg and chewed.

“Is there a library, where I could check out the books?” Beth asked.

“The King has a library, though I have never seen it. There is telling that it houses knowledge.” She shrugged.

“Books, that’s a start. Where is this library? “Beth asked.

“Um, I think it’s in the south wing, I can ask if you want to go there,” She said setting down the partially eaten egg and bacon.

“Finish first then we can go find the Library.” Beth said shaking her head slightly.

Beth finished the meal and the tea, the meal filled her up, she was anxious to find out more about this place.

Marie, covered the serving trays and lead her out the main door. Outside two soldiers stood guard.

The two guards stood opposite the door, the bold had swords and chain armor, there faces were serious when the two of them came out.

“Miss, um”, She look at Beth.

“Bell.” She replied.

“Miss Bell would like to go to the library, can you help her?” Marie asked.

The guards looked at Beth and at the maid, the one on the right spoke,” We cannot, sorry we have orders not to leave this post.”

Marie frowned, “No one has thought to assign a page to your group it seems.”

“I’ll figure it out, thanks Marie,” She turned and went down the corridor. The two guards watched her go.

One nodded to the other and called out, “Miss, go left, not right”

She replied, “Thanks!” and took a left.

Xach woke up to a banging, his first reaction was to yell “What!?”

He heard a voice in his head at about the same time.

[Hero Level one]

[Mage Level one]

[Warrior Level one]

He got up and stumbled to the door, it took him a few moments fiddling with the weird handle to open the door.

Newton heard someone knock on the door. He had been up for about an hour, still trying to figure out the meaning of the voice that had spoken as he awoke.

 

[Hero Level one]

[Knight Level one]

[Mage Level one]

[Arithmagi Level one]

He was a little confused about the last one, and was not sure what that was, it sounded like he was a math mage. The knight title annoyed him a little, he wasn’t a knight at least he didn’t feel like one. It was something the king had given him.

He got up to see who was knocking.

There was a knock on the door, and Marie answered, The [commander] of the royal guards stood at the door.

“Morning, sir may I help you”, Marie said

“I’m here to see the um, knight Newton and Bloodstone and his son.” He replied.

“I believe they are still asleep”, she said.

He strode past her and went to the first room, and knocked loudly.

Newton opened the door, “Oh hi, something up?”

The commander, knocked on the second door, a voice inside said,” What!?”

“Get up we have things to do.” He replied.

The last door opened and Bloodstone looked out, “Morning.”

The commander waited while Newton and Bloodstone ate, and looked a little more awake, Xach stumbled out of his room, saw there was food and started stuffing his face.

“What are we doing today?” Bloodstone asked.

“You asked for more information about the kingdom, The Library seems the ideal place to start, Miss Bell is already there, I met her on the way here. Whom else is going to join us?”

“I think I should be good with the Library, Xach, Newton?” He asked.

Newton looked up from chewing, he said a few words that were completely incoherent, as he chewed.

Xach said, ”Nah, where can I practice?”

“Perhaps you could assist me on my rounds, Xach”, Commander Ferald said.

“Sure.” Was the reply

Bloodstone knocked on the door for Amethyst, she opened the door. “Were going to the library, feel like tagging along”

“I’m busy” was the non-committal reply.

“With what?” with a serious tone of confusion.

“Visages, I uh found that I have a bunch to look through.”

“Oh!”, he replied, “Let me know if you find the Siren one”

The four of them left, Marie began cleaning the mess that they had made.

Bloodstone yawned, as they walked down the corridor. It was covered in a thick carpet, the air in the space was cool but not cold. There were a few guards it seemed in key locations, they were also in pairs, or in groups of four.

There were two double doors that entered into a foyer, from there, the library could be seen. Or at least part of it could be.

They were on the third floor of what appeared to be a five story open layout, there were books and shelves with books, with stairs and high ceilings.

An older woman with gray hair, walked down a flight of steps. She was wearing a dark long dress that had an apron with several pockets in the front of it. Two books were visible in each of the pockets. As she approached them the commander said, “This is Ferella, she is the [Librarian] here, and the [historian] in charge of this place, she also is the kings aunt.

 “First before you lot get the book here dirty, you will wear gloves, and you will respect the books here. That means no tearing out pages or getting ink on them. Also you will not leave with a book without my permission, is that clear.” She said looking each of them in the eye.

“Yes,” Was the response as she reached into one of the pockets and handed them white gloves.

Xach and the [commander] left before she could get to them with the gloves

“Your friend Mrs Bell has already made a number of suggestions. She mentioned something about a decimal system. She said you might know more about it than she did.”

Newton smiled, “Yeah it’s a way of cataloging books, by author, title and subject. Each subject has its own prefix number like 100 would be, I think psychology and philosophy, then by a subtype in that field,  the title of the books are arranged alphabetically by the authors name, then each book ends up with two numbers on the spine to track them as well as some letters of the author’s name.”

Ferella smiled, ”how are they attached to the spine of the book?”

“Oh that’s easy they use a clear tape. Oh um, humm not sure how you might be able to do that here glue most likely. Sorry“

“What are you gentlemen interested in?” She asked.

There were four answers, and she took them up a flight of stairs, past rows and rows of books, into a small sitting area. Beth, was reading a book, and didn’t see them enter.

“You may read here, no one will disturb you, I also ask you do not disturb any of the mages reading here.” She gestured to the side of the room. There was a younger boy at a desk reading a book. His legs dangled a few inches from the floor.

“Othius, have you finished reading the treaties,” Ferella asked.

The boy turned and looked over, “Auntie, it’s so boring,” he whined.

The woman glared at him, “Those treaties are important, for you to know by heart.”

“Treaties?” Bloodstone asked.

“Rhir has treaties with several nations’ states on Izril and Terandria to defend the kingdom if it falls, and to restore the rightful heir to the throne.” The boy said.

“Can you name them,” Ferella asked quizzing him.

“Uh, I Forget.” he replied.

“The five houses, can you name one of the current monarchs in charge of one of those houses?” She asked.

“The flower lady, um Magnolia, Lady Magnolia?”, He didn’t seem very sure of himself.

“And what is her crest,” She asked.

“I haven’t gotten that far”, he said someone embarrassed.

“Good go back to reading.” She said turning back to the people standing there listening.

“Lots to learn it seems how old is he?” He asked.

“He turned eight last snowfall” She said.

“Ok I have a bunch of questions,” Bloodstone said.

“Um well I have other duties, perhaps you could write them down, and then we can find books on any of the topics your interested in.”

“Sure, that could work; I just hope the language is the same.” Bloodstone said.

“It should be, some of the others from your world had issues with the written script, it appears they are similar enough for understanding.” She replied, setting out several sheets and a quill and ink.

She left them, and they talked for a bit about what was important.  Beth chimed in occasionally, with a request.

“Ok so let’s see, we want to know the following, history of this Kingdom since its founding, maps or charts of the region, what the king meant by demons. Anything on this Leveling thing the king mentioned.” Newton said after the discussion.

It was also determined that Beth had the best hand writing, since Kuya wasn’t there. She helped them write the topics.

Recent history of the Kingdom of Rhir.

History of the Kingdom and the walls.

Level information, how it works, and a list of known classes.

People locally who are influential.

Maps of the Kingdom and the rest of the area.

After they had finished the requests, they looked at the book Beth was reading. It was titled War with the Antinium, the Rhir conflict. 

“It’s really weird, they were fighting them and only them about forty-two years ago, and then they just stopped. Why would you break off a conflict if you’re winning?” Beth asked.

“I could think of a few reasons, though loss of forces is a big one, the cost is too high” Newton said.

“Are they a problem still?” Bloodstone asked.

The Prince chimed in, “No they all left, went to Isril, no one knows why they left. I think my aunt has a book about them when they got there. Its um..” He said thinking. His aunt had at that moment came into the room.

“It’s the Antinium Wars of Isstysil, you should read that once they are finished with it.” She said.

“Ah we will have to read at it.” Bloodstone said, holding out the sheet with the requests.

“I can find something on these subjects, I will be right back.” She said leaving the reading area.

She brought twelve books and placed them on the table, “If you need anything I will be around”

Each of them grabbed a book and started reading.

Hours later they had eaten lunch, the books were removed, and then lunch was brought in. There was an ongoing discussion, about the class system.

“What I am saying is that numerically it doesn’t make much sense.” Newton said.

“Sure it does, it’s just that we don’t know what the underlying criteria are, we can infer some of it though evidence, and observation.” Beth countered.

“So what you’re saying is that if someone wants to be an [empty] class, and they strive to be an [empty] class they will be an [empty] class?” Bloodstone said.

“What is an [empty] class”, the prince asked.

 “Oh sorry, it’s a computer programming term, one way to think of it, fruits are a class, and vegetables are a class. So if you have those two classes, where would a dog fit?” Bloodstone asked.

“You’re confusing him, what he means is what if someone wants to be a class that doesn’t exist.” He asked.

“How can they be a class that doesn’t exist? “, The prince looked really confused.

“It’s would be a null class, something that you can add to, if it’s a set list and its finite, then once you know all the classes you can figure things out, If however its constantly updated, then you can figure out the mechanics behind it. What defines a class, the individual or society? Or is it something else entirely?” Bloodstone asked.

“You’re making my head hurt,” the prince said.

“What if I told you that I reject the class system, and substitute my own class?, “ Bloodstone asked.

“Ok, so what is your class?” The prince asked.

Bloodstone smiled, “I am an [empty] class, I level up, by having you reject my class, tell me it’s impossible.”

“That’s a class doesn’t exist. You’re just making it up.” The prince chided.

“Of course, but my [empty] class can be anything I want it to be.” He teased.

“There is no class like that.” The prince said.

“Not that we have been able to find, that doesn’t make it so.”

“So what does an [empty] class do?” The prince asked.

“Told you he wouldn’t get it”, Newton said.

“It’s not what the class does, it’s what it defines. Really hard to explain”, Bloodstone said. “So what classes do you have?”

The prince turned a little red, “Uh I’m a level 2 [prince]”

“Ok, so that means you’re in the monarchy class hierarchy, you can level up as a prince, but can you level as a princess?” He asked jokingly.

“I’m not a girl! That’s a girl’s class.” He said a little louder than necessary.

“So there’s a distinction between male and female classes in the monarchy hierarchy, so you can become a [King] but not a [Queen]. It appears there are many classes that don’t have a gender bias, are there any classes that have a race bias? So we know a class can be tied to male female or either or both. A prince can level up another class say as a [cook], or a [sailor], or a [fighter]. You could stay a level two [prince] but gain other classes, [mage] as an example.” He said lecturing

“So how does that explain the [empty] class you mentioned?” The prince asked.

“What would you call someone who, knew every class, or could be any class,” He asked.

“That’s impossible, you can’t be every class,“ The prince said.

“Ahh but that’s not what I asked, I asked what would you call it.” Bloodstone fired back

“I have no idea, but calling it [empty] doesn’t make any sense,” he said thinking about it.

“Neither does the leveling system at least the way we understand it, think of it as an experiment.” Bloodstone said.

“I was right, you are crazy” Beth said.  Everyone laughed at her statement.

“Seriously though, how do new classes get added, or found. Take for example the profession of space flight, would that be a class? So if we define each class in a hierarchy, from low to high and the types we would get a class tree. So name three different classes that most likely are not in the same family of classes.” Bloodstone asked the group

“Well what about [blacksmith] where would that fall.” Beth asked.

“Manufacturing, most likely, anyone making something like a [cook], [brewer], or maybe even a [farmer].” Bloodstone said thinking.

“So why have this weird class system?” Newton asked.

“Well from what we know they had gods at one point, not that we know what they represented or if they had a favorite race. At some point in the past they fought, and apparently died. Was this leveling system a way to level the field for the different races?” Bloodstone replied.

“What is your idea on the wall?”, Newton asked.

Beth smiled, I think I know what we can make to speed up the wall, and they have the knowledge at least the basics, just need to see if they have the right materials.

“Now you are just messing with us, I can’t think of a technology that would make a wall faster.” Newton said

“Concrete, a little lime stone and a few chemical processes and you have concrete.” , she relied.

Newton just stared at her, “Holy crap!, your right”

“What is con crete,” The prince asked.

“Its liquid stone, add water to a special mix and once it dries its hard as stone, you can even mix in real stone to get more structure, or rebar, that’s metal rods. You know how to make concrete?” Bloodstone said catching on.

Beth laughed, “Yes, took an internship at a concrete plant, you know to learn the tools you need to make buildings. It would take a few months to get a working plant, it is doable with the tech they have, give them a couple of years at it and I can pretty much see them getting it up to our modern standards.”

“Here I thought you were talking bull dozers, or dynamite.” Bloodstone said.

“Sleeping bulls, what is that other thing you just said?” The prince asked.

“Dynamite, is an explosive, nitroglycerin, with a stabilizer. I don’t recall how it’s made. A bull dozer is a piece of machinery, a big tool that can push and move dirt.” Bloodstone replied.

“Oh yeah, that’s not too hard to make, just need to not go crazy and make big batches in a populated area, I bet an [alchemist] could make it” Beth said.

“Yeah, then you would get [explosive engineers] as a new class,” Newton joked.

“The leveling of that class would be dangerous, one mistake and you go to pieces” Bloodstone said deadpan.

They cleaned up the food, and when it was gone, the prince left shortly after. The books were brought back out as well as new books were retrieved. The group was fairly silent as they continued to read through the different tomes.

Newton was the first to get up, “It’s weird, there seems to be a pattern here, I just can’t figure it out”

“A pattern of attacks, can you chart them?” Bloodstone asked.

“Maybe, if I have enough data to make a chart. They don’t have a good way of organizing things,” Newton said gesturing, “Its maddening they don’t use a standard notation, This book is a log book of the attacks on Valantius keep on the fourth wall, it’s pretty accurate, however if you were to put it on a time line, I wouldn’t have any clue what the length of time was from start to finish. The book also seems to have had at least three authors, its maddening.” He said throwing up his hands.

“At least they have records we can sort, and view. Are you going to ask about the ripped out pages that one book had?”

“Yeah it looks like there were about four pages, torn out. There is no mention of them in the text.” Newton said shaking his head.

“it’s late, I am heading back to the rooms, if you two are going to continue reading I’ll see you later.” Bloodstone said getting up and putting the book he had been reading back on the table.

“So did you find the class you were looking for in that list?”, Beth asked.

“Nope, I didn’t expect to either.” Bloodstone said smiling.

“You’re still not going to tell us what your classes are?” Newton asked, putting the book back into a large pile.

“Well I have a [Wizard] class, the [hero] class, and [engineer] class; I’m not sure why I got that one. The [Lord] class, from the king. One [swordsman] level, and one other class, I know what it is but I want to keep it a secret for a bit.” He said ticking them off on one hand.

“It’s not that stupid class you were telling the prince is it.” Newton asked.

“No, that was me speculating. I’ll tell you two if you promise not to say anything.” Bloodstone said seriously.

“We told you our classes,” Beth said.

“Fine its   ….” He said.” Happy now?”
They both jumped, “How the did you do that!?” Newton said.

Bloodstone grinned, “Concentration and practice, amongst other things.”

“What else can you do?”, Newton asked.

“Let us talk about this later,” Bloodstone replied still grinning, as he started walking back to the room.

He heard both of them groan, “That’s not funny.” Beth said getting up to follow him out with Newton.

The three of them went back to the rooms.  They walked in silence down the hallway.

When they arrived back in the suite, the day maid had left and the night maid was in attendance.

“Evening, would it be too much trouble to get something to eat?” Bloodstone asked the maid.

“No my [lord], I can go get something from the kitchen. I have already gotten food for the others”, she said pointing to a tray of used dishes.

“No rush, Xach is still training with the [commander] and he says he’s sore all over, they should be back shortly”, Bloodstone said winking at Newton.

The maid left with the dishes and then returned shortly with full dishes. She left one covered, for Xach when he returned.

“Well that’s interesting.” Bloodstone said.

“What?” Newton asked.

“King sent some items to us, should be interesting they should be here in a minute or so.” Bloodstone said.

“Now you’re just showing off,” Beth said.

The door opened and the commander and Xach walked in, he headed straight for the covered dish and started digging into the chicken and potatoes that were covered in gravy.

The commander looked at Xach, questioningly.

“What I’m hungry”, he said.

“The king asked me to drop these off to your group,” He said and dropped onto the table, two worn looking bags, a ring, and pendant. “The bags have some funds to get your project started; the prince really took a liking to you. He is the one who convinced the king to fund your con treat. The bags have coin in them, the ring is a signet ring, until you can get a personal one made, it’s from an old house that doesn’t exist anymore, so it should be fine to use. The amulet is a truth stone; it will glow if someone lies. 

“It is concrete.” Beth said.

“Ahh, well I have further duties to attend to, I will see you in the morning.” With that the commander left.

They gathered around the table to see what was in the bags, dumping the contents out revealed thousands of gold coins.

“Is that real gold,” Eve asked.

There was a gasp as the maid watched them pour out the gold onto the table.

“Humm, let us see how much we are being given here, Newton you want to track the expenses, There are some papers here, they got buried.” He picked up the packet of papers.

“Newton, Eve, Beth, Kuya, Xach, mine and Amethyst, It looks like this is his way of saying thanks, It’s a letter to us.”, Bloodstone started reading it.“To the Lord and lady and the hero associates, I have decided to give you seed money to start your project, the two bags here contain twenty thousand gold, you should be able to do what is needed with this. I am heading north on the morrow, to deal with some issues that you have uncovered, until then feel free to use the room until you find better accommodations. I should be back in a week or so, my sister will answer any questions until then. ” He signed it seal and everything. ” He set the letter down.

“That’s a lot of gold, not sure I feel safe with that much just here.” Eve said.

“considering, that it’s a good amount to get started, tomorrow we should see about getting things moving, Newton and BB library duty, Xach I guess with the commander. Kuya, with the mages, see about getting us a spell book or two. Eve, tag along with me and Lady A. I think we should split up the gold amongst us, or at least have some so its not all in one place. One more thing,” He turned to the maid.

“How much do you get paid?” He asked.

“Paid, I don’t get paid, I’m a [maid] I work for the crown”, As if that explained it.

“We want to hire you, when we leave here, what is a fair wage.” He asked.

“I wouldn’t know, I have been in the service to the crown all my life. I have everything I want at least, Let me think about it”, She said.

“Sure no pressure and I really don’t like the fact that you don’t get paid,” he counted out ten gold coins and offered them to her.

“I can’t accept that” she said backing away.

“No this is for you and Marie will get ten as well, where I come from people get paid for work, otherwise it’s just wrong.”, He said.

“One, I’ll take one” she said, taking the coin.

“Well you are due nine more, for all the work you and Marie it’s the least we can do.” He handed her the one coin and set the rest on the table in a stack. He pulled a second stack of ten and put them next to the first stack.

Coins were divided up and most of them were returned to the bags.

“I guess I am elected to get us all something to hold coins with tomorrow.” Bloodstone said.

Bloodstone took one of the bags and the signet ring to his room and Amethyst took the other bag and amulet to her room. 

Gamers Eight – Day one

Gamers – The Eight

-Bloodstone

You ever have one of those days, where nothing seems to go your way? It all started with this king..

The King sat listening to the proposal, summon more heroes to help hold back the tide of the demons enough for the fifth wall to be completed. The ones who had survived so far seemed to be holding the tide back in the areas they had been assigned to. It also appeared to be least costly option than raising an army of thousands for little to no return on the investment.

“Your majesty so do we have permission to continue with this experiment?”

One of the Mages asked eagerly. “Yes, continue, some of the summoned heroes are proving the project viability.”

“We shall begin then”

They twelve mages began casting the complex spell, the king had been informed that it would summon heroes from another world, it had taken them a few tries to get it working properly. The large ball room where they had set up the summoning, for the heroes was situated in the palace. The ball room that had been used in the past to facilitate a more social time, when there were more royal houses. It was ornate, but seemed to be in disrepair. The king sat on a cushioned oak chair observing the ritual. Two men stood just in front and off to each side, they had swords drawn, and were observing ready for anything.

The mages began to summon people, first was a young man in jogging shorts short  with cropped back hair. He stopped and stared, blinked a few times and if he were dreaming.  The backpack he wore was large and looked like it had been overstuffed.

A few seconds passed and a young woman with an olive complexion, and curly dull blond hair  wearing worn shorts a tanktop and bra appeared.  She was of average height, of average weight, and dressed for warmer weather. “What the hell?” she said.

Another young woman appeared, and dropped to her knees, her long black hair covered her face. She was sobbing softly.  She was wearing tight blue jeans and a blue and white flowered shirt.

A man appeared a moment later, he was muscular, and had a neatly trimmed black beard, his shirt was off and he walked over to the crying woman. “Shut the …” and stopped, looking around.

There was a loud pop as four people appeared in the middle of the mages and the other four people. Two men and two women. It was unusual to have more than one person appear at a time, it was possible to get two people if they were near when they were summoned, four was unusual.  The summoning ritual stopped suddenly as one of the mages fell over. Two of the other robed mages ran over to the man as he crumpled to the ground. “He’s dead your majesty” One of the other mages said.

The king looked a bit upset, “I thought you said we would get a good batch of heroes this time, not like the last group you summoned.”

“I’m sorry your majesty, it appears that there was some instability in the summoning spell.” The female mage pointed at the corpse, “We will need another to replace him, and I don’t know of anyone qualified.”

The king did not get a good look at the newcomers as the muscular man had turned towards the king, “You!” and he charged the king. The two guards who stood next to him reacted blocked him from approaching the king.

“If you will calm down I can explain the situation.” The king said looking the man in the eyes,

“You seem to be a fighter, we need people like you, don’t kill him.”

The man pushed against the guards, for just a moment and then tried to push past them.

“Your in charge, where the hell am I,“ he turned and yelled at the sobbing woman, “You should be so lucky I don’t break your neck..”

The girl raised her head up and there were visible bruises, around her face. “Fuck off!”, and then she looked around.

The younger red-haired woman who had arrived with the last group was somewhat thin, but tall her complexion was pale. “Oh hell no I’m not going to listen to this…” She was cut off by the older man.

“Hold on let me figure out what’s going on, before you go off on a tirade.” He said.

The King was about to say something, when the older man looked over at him and said

“Can you give me a few minutes, to get this sorted, and then you can give your explanation and the world-shattering implications.”

The king stared at the older looking man, at least he was the oldest those his mages had summoned to date. He was balding, and had a ponytail. He had a scruffy white beard. The clothes he wore were clean but seemed to be as if it was an afterthought, jeans and a t-shirt, with a ghostly apparition of death.

The older woman was a bit plump, but not in a bad way. She had long blond hair, and was looking around not really paying attention to what the older man was saying to the younger man and woman.  The thing that the king noted was that they were older, much older than the normal Heroes that got summoned. The other two seemed to be as young as everyone else that the spell had brought to his kingdom. The four of them were talking amongst themselves for a minute or so, when the older man then turned and addressed the king, “I apologize your majesty, it’s one thing to think about being pulled to another world it’s quite a different story when it happens. What can we do for you?” he asked.

The king blinked a couple of times, this was a far different reaction than some of the others his mages had summoned.

“Whom am I addressing”, the king asked.

“Ahh sorry, I uhh, you can call me Bloodstone, this is my wife

My daughter” He paused and looked at the woman he gestured towards. He then sighed, “and my son.”

The king had given this speech, already and had gotten it down, “I am Othius the Fourth, the eight, yes eight of you have been summoned here to help drive out the scourge of demons who are attacking my kingdom. We will equip you and see if you have magic, that can be awakened.”

And he was cut off by the red-haired girl, “Magic? Sweet!”

Bloodstone rolled his eyes and shushed her.

The kings smile twitched for a moment, and he resumed. “We will make sure you are armed, and ready to help push back the demon tide. Do you have any questions?”

The bare-chested muscular man said, “Well if this is a dream, then fuck it.” He grabbed the guard and pulled the sword out of his hand and got cut as he closed his hand on the blade. “Feels real, a good simulation, rehab program maybe.”, He punched the guard in the face, breaking his nose. The other guard had moved around and struck him across the back with the edge of the blade, blood spilled everywhere.

Panic ensued, the mages, backed away, and there were other soldiers who moved in weapons ready.

“Enough! Take him away. The rest of you, I will deal with you later.”

Bloodstone cleared his throat, “Are we to assume we are prisoners?”

The king stood up off the chair and walked past the muscular man, “He is, you are not, don’t give me a reason to make you one.”

The seven of them were escorted out by four soldiers and a woman who appeared to be a maid. The muscular man had been dragged away after a very thorough beating by the guards.  They led the seven of them to several small rooms, in the palace. There was not much decoration in the halls, and there were guards who seemed to wander the halls in pairs.

They had been told not to wander, as they were not known to the guards, they would be escorted to the noon meal and talk with the king and his staff.

The rooms were situated along one hallway not too far from where they had been summoned. Each bedroom had a bed and a small simple desk with a chair. Each room also had a small alcove and chamber pot behind a heavy curtain.

Bloodstone had opened the one door and looked back down the hallway, two guards stood not too far from where the door was. The other six people were also looking inside their rooms.

“Listen, I think we need to talk before we have this meeting with the king,” Bloodstone said to the maid.

“I am sorry, but you will have to remain here until noon, appropriate attire will be delivered shortly.” The maid said nervously.

They stayed in the rooms for about a half hour when several maids and footmen, arrived with two tailors with cloth, and the ladies were measured for dresses, and the men were measured for formal attire.

While they waited for the clothes to be finished, they all crowded into one room to talk.

Bloodstone seemed to be the leader as he was the oldest and had everyone there by more than twice the age with the exception of the older woman with him.

“Before we get to crazy here, have you all done an assessment, what do you have on you that might be valuable or useful. Also I’m going to suggest that we use nicknames, not our real names at least for the time being. Here my license,” He said holding out a small plastic card. “If you really need to know, my name it’s here.” He put the card away. “I’m not telling you all what to do, just giving advice. I have about a hundred dollars in American money, some coins, pennies and a good luck dime, made of silver. My cell phone, I shut it off to conserve power, I have a charger and, cables for said charger. My laptop, and everything that’s usually in the case.  Playing cards, a knife, and some personal spiritual items. Ah and call me Bloodstone for now.” He pointed to the olive-skinned woman, “you’re up, oh and I have a number of skills nothing that might help us here.”

“You talk too much,” the woman said. “My name is Bethany Bell, you can call me BB. I am a third-year engineering student, I have a cell phone, as well as my purse, personal effects, and a calculator.

The kid in jogging shorts looked a bit awkward, “Hi, I uh, work for an accounting firm, and was on my way to work, I have most of my personal belongings with me. Laptop, Cell phone, money keys, and a change of clothes for the office, it’s a suit though. I uh also have a bit of weed. Oh yeah, my name er, no real names, call me Newton”

The dark-haired woman said “Um, I’m Eve, the guy who was in the throne room, that’s Miguel. I have my cell phone, but I broke his.”

The older woman said looking at her bruises, “That’s no reason to hit you or threaten you.”

There was a nod of agreement from everyone present.

“Oh I suppose it’s my turn,” She said taking a breath.

“I am Amethyst, I can cook, clean and I also have my purse and cell phone.”

The red-haired girl said, “Kuya, or Sakura either works, I have my phone, a game boy and a 3d advanced some games, for the systems. I also have my art supplies. Pens, pencils and drawing books. I am studying languages.”

“Xach, “The blond guy said, who had arrived the same time Kuya did. “X aye ess h, I have my cell phone, and my game boy advanced and 3ds.”

“I know your all a bit confused and upset, I am as well. Don’t panic though, if we stick together, we can figure this out. Miguel huh, well the king implied there were more people summoned here, so that makes him responsible. We will listen to what he has to say, before deciding what we need to do.”

“Why should we listen to you?” Eve said.

“That’s your choice,” He started to say.

“My dad is pretty smart, crazy sometimes, but he’s never steered me wrong before. Yells sometimes about silly shit. Even yells at my mom sometimes, it can get awkward. Well enough on that topic. This is some crazy shit we are in.” Xach said.

“Um humm, “ Kuya said agreeing.

“What games do you have,” BB asked.

<><><><><>

An hour later the dresses and formal attire were delivered to each of them and they were asked to change.

They were then escorted to a large long table, where a few other guests were seated. The King arrived soon after and sat at the head of the table.

“Please sit, share a meal with me, I will answer your questions,” The king said taking a seat.

“I apologize, that the eighth member of your group could not join us, he is currently in the dungeon. I decided that with such a small group of you this time,that perhaps we can get acquainted.” The king gestured and hot rolls were distributed to each of them.

“I would like to know each of your names, so that we may record them for future generations.” He gestured, to the closest summoned person who happened to be the older man.

The introductions were made. The king nodded and seemed to memorize each person. There was a mage who had been introduced as the Kings magical advisor, [mage] Gallick. It was his group who has summoned the eight of them and others. It would also be there group who tested them for magical aptitude. Another man was introduced as the kings [commander], Ferald who would oversee the training they received.  A leveling system was explained to them, that they could each level in the disciplines, and aptitudes that they focused on.

There were some questions on the nature of this leveling, and how it happened.

“It is usually just as you awaken the next morning.” Gallick indicated.

The next topic turned to why they had been summoned to this place. “We are attempting to build a fifth wall, to protect the people here, and to keep the monsters at bay.” The king said, “Your job will be to help keep the monsters and demons away from the walls and other outposts.

“Now your Majesty, there another issue that needs to be settled, are we prisoners, mercenaries, or something else?”, He asked point blank to the king.

“No, you are my guests, well at least the seven of you here, we will see about the other one.” The king seems to be enjoying the conversation.

“I think your, misunderstanding, let me ask another way.” He started. “Who is the highest authority in this land. For example, if we had a grievance against one of your men, what would be our remedy?” He asked the king.

“It would depend on several factors, for minor issues, the local magistrate would handle the issue. If it involved the nobility or one of my aids it would come to me. Why has someone done something?” He seemed confused.

“You make it sound like you expect us to fight in your war. We are being conscripted, if you’re just looking for bodies to throw at these monsters and demons, then unfortunately you have made a serious error, summoning use here.”

The king looked angry and was about to say something. When Bloodstone cut him off, “Before you throw us out, or make a snap decision, hear me out. I feel that at least you owe us that much.”

“Very well, “The king said his face red.

“Your angry, good. That’s how some of us feel, they won’t say it, but I will. You want respect, you need to earn it. You want us to fight in your war, give us a reason. What kind of King are you a benevolent one or someone who thinks the ends justify the means? Where do you draw the line, here and no further? I’m drawning the line here your majesty, no more summoning people from my world, it stops here. You agree to that and I will do everything I can to see that your kingdom survives and part of that agreement is you give us access to that ritual.”

The [commander] froze, as put a hand on his sword, his [danger sense] started screaming the moment his hand touched the hilt.

The king stared at him, “Are you threatening me?” he asked carefully.

“A threat implies that something might happen. I’m telling you, that if you continue this path it will go very badly for you and your kingdom.”

There was a very tense moment, and the king, “I believe you, I have only felt that kind of danger once before, when I was a child.”, He took a drink from his goblet.

“I, it was never my intention to trap you here, the spell was supposed to summon heroes, perhaps…” He paused for a moment, “I think you are right, I can’t explain how I know, I just do. Ferald, it’s all right.” The king said putting a hand on the commander’s arm.

“Very well,” he said resuming his seat, the [danger sense] vanished the moment his hand came off the sword..

“Your Majesty, I have some questions,” Bloodstone asked.

“About what?”, The king looked at him.

“You mentioned others, how many others? Where are they now?”, He asked.

The king looked concerned, “I would have to ask where they all are now,” A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head.

“I would ask that we be given a chance to meet then, and perhaps share some of what has gone on with them”, “he asked.

“I think we can arrange something, in a day or two.” The king said staring at him, “Lets finish this meal, and get you tested for magic.”

The meal was subdued, and the king left early, and the captain and the mage went with him.

They finished the meal and were escorted to a wing where there were four mages, at a table.

Eve asked him, why they were walking, “What did you do to make the king and his Soldier jump like that, I could feel that whatever it was you did?”

Bloodstone smiled, “Intent, Will and intent that’s what they sensed, and it freaked them out.”

“Intent?” Eve asked.

“It was a trick of sorts, I made them feel the intent, There was no actual substance behind it. In essence I bluffed, they blinked.”

“Tricks what kind of tricks,” she asked.

“Ask me later.” He said as they enetered the room

The king left early, and retired to a side room, “Tell me this wasn’t a mistake.” The king said to the mage and the commander.

“What’s going on?” The mage asked, “Your acting like they are gold rank adventurers.”

“They may very well be, did your danger sense trigger as well your majesty?”, the commander asked.

The king nodded, “The moment I thought about harming him, it came off him and the others in waves, his wife, the look she gave,” he shuttered.

“I didn’t notice her, “the commander said honestly.

“Let us see how they test with magic, before we jump to conclusions.” The mage said hopefully.

“Keep an eye on them”, The king said sighing, “I have a feeling, that that group is more dangerous than they appear.”

After the lunch, they were escorted, back to the room they had appeared in, chairs had been setup, the king was in attendance, as were the mages and guards from before.

“So now that you have eaten, we will see if your proficient with magic”, Gallick said.

“I would like to watch before you test me”, Bloodstone said.

They paired each of the summoned with a mage, the mages sat across from them.

“Just look at the symbol as long, as you can”, were the instructions given to the summoned.

Each mage began weaving a symbol. Bloodstone noticed the symbols were slightly different, blues and red in one and greens and yellows in others. “Why do they look different?” Bloodstone asked.

Gallick looked bored, “Humm, never noticed before, possibly how each one learned how to use the spell. It makes no difference.”

“Are you sure?”, Bloodstone asked skeptically

“How would you determine if there was a difference, it’s not as if you could awaken your magic once it has been awakened”, He said with a slight indignancy.

Eve, sat across from a female mage, who was wearing a deep blue robe and had dark long hair tied back and bound with a black ribbon. The Mage cast her spell, Eve sat and stared at the glowing energies, “Oh how weird ….” And she continued to stare at the pattern of energies the mage had woven. “Oh I get it!” She said, and the mage cut off the spell.

Newton’s mage was male and had a working if somewhat missshapen beard, his beard and hair were a dull brown and both looked unkempt.  The Mage seemed bored with the whole situation and cast his spell, and had it at eye level. Newton stared at it, “Whoa!” he continued to stare after a few minutes the mage stopped the spell. “That’s so trippy, almost like an acid trip, but way more controlled. “

BB, fidgeted in her chair as the mage, a woman, sat in the chair opposite her. The mages robes were a black with a red trim, her blond hair was swept back and loose. She cast her spell, and BB stared at it as instructed, she didn’t say anything but she seems to be trying to figure something out about it.

Xach had been playing with his game system, and sighed and put it away. He looked at the mage, who sat across from him. She was about his age and had a serious look on her face. Her black hair was cut short, and her robe was tidy, and a soft gray color. “Are you ready?” She asked.

“Yeah, “ He replied.

The mage began the spell, and he looked at it for about thirty seconds, “That’s it, boring?”

The Mage turned red, and stopped the spell, “Excuse me, this is important.”

“It’s boring, I get what you’re trying to show me, it’s just too simple”, He said going back to his game.

“Simple!” She fumed standing up,” It took me six months to learn to cast that spell.”

He looked up from his game, “Yes simple,” He cast the same spell, and showed her the same pattern. He let it hang in the air for a good ten seconds, canceled the spell and went back to his game. The mage stood over him, gawking, jaw hanging open, “That’s impossible!” She stammered.

Galick looked over at the king and said to the mage, “Enna, these are heroes we summoned, would you expect any less?” He asked.

“But but, but HOW!?, “she asked, “They said they didn’t have magic where they are from.”

“Enna!”, His voice got louder.

“Fine”, she said deflated, her eyes had never left the guy playing a video game.

Kuya, said to them. “He’s always doing that pisses me off.”

The mage who had been sitting across from her, started his spell.  Kuya stared at the spell, her eyes focusing on something. “Oooo”, she blinked and looked away and started drawing in her drawing book.

Amethyst, watched the rest of the young adults, be awakened. She finally turned her attention to the older scruffy gray-haired mage, that sat across from her. She gazed at the spell, and after a few minutes, the mage dismissed the spell. “Oh that gave me a headache. Would you mind I went to go lie down?” She asked. One of the soldiers escorted her out.

Bloodstone, watched her leave, torn between following and the phenomena that they were showing him. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit hon.” He said as they left.

He turned to Gallick, “Ok so question for you, can you all overlap your spell in one place?”

Gallick paused for a moment in thought, “Not sure why you would want to do that. I think it could be done.”

Several of the other mages, started talking amongst themselves, with Gallick.

The king leaned forward, and asked, “Is there a problem?”

“No, your Majesty, we just never have been asked to do something like that.” Gallick responded

The mages moved the chairs into a semi-circle, with on chair facing it. The mages began casting on by one, and a bright glowing white symbol appeared.

Bloodstone stared into the glowing symbol. “Whoa, it’s like an equation or a fractal, Oh I get it.”

There was a bright flash as the symbol flared and went out.

“Oh, I see what she means about a headache.” Bloodstone said.

Gallick turned towards the king, “We are done here your Majesty. “

There were several of the mages who went to look at what Kuya was doing, “Master Gallick, you may want to look at this.”

He walked over and looked over the girl’s shoulder; she was scribing a spell, right before his eyes. He looked up for a moment at the king, and then back to the spell she was scribing.

“Is that?” He asked.

“It’s the spell I use to awaken someone to magic,” The mage who had awakened her said.

“Can you scribe any other spells?”, Gallick asked her.

She finished, and looked up at him, with a slight frown, “Um, maybe, this was pretty easy, though I am not sure how it got all glowy.”

“Can we borrow her for a bit, your majesty. “Gallick asked.

“The king thought about it for a moment, nodded and said,” If you think it’s important”

The other mages beamed at Gallick, and they lead her out, there was talk of how high of a scribe she might be and that she might be able to copy something. The rest of the conversation was cut off as they left and the doors closed.

The king sat back in the chair, “So I think we will just see what weapons you all feel comfortable with, tomorrow we can try some real combat.”

A table that had been off to one side covered with weapons was now the focus of the group, there were, fifteen swords of various lengths, from a great sword to two short swords. A dozen daggers, of various designs. Morning stars, maces, two falchions, nine spears of various lengths, two javelins, two halberds were leaning against the wall.

Bloodstone looked over at the weapons, then the king. “Your Majesty, I appreciate that you’re willing to help us get situated, and get started. Me and Newton have been talking and we would like to make sure that we have a bit of time to process the situation.”

The king stared at him, “I don’t understand, what this have to do with me.”

Newton walked forward, and said,” It’s like this, you want results, your wiling to front us weapons, time with your mages, feed us and keep us protected. The question is how long do we have? We are literally here at your sufferance, if we don’t perform to your expectations, how fast you would kick us to the curb, and try and get someone else. I would feel a lot better if we have a contract or agreement with you, so we know what to expect, and you know what to expect.”

The king thought about it for a few minutes, “So you want to know, what I want you to do?” He paused for a little longer, “I want you to be Heroes, to help us stop the demons and monsters while we build up the fifth wall”

“Ok,” Newton said, “What kind of time table are we talking here, six months, a year?”

The king looked confused, “It will take decades to complete, I will need heroes until it’s done and even after.”

Newton looked at Bloodstone, “I am sorry you’re Majesty, we cannot agree to something that will take decades. We might be able to help you get going faster, without more information it just isn’t going to happen.”

“Are you refusing to help?” The king seemed a little upset by this prospect.

“For decades, yes. I think we can come to a more reasonable arrangement” , Bloodstone stared at the king.

“We need to get up to speed first, see what needs doing. It’s not that we don’t respect your perspective; none of us know what you know, both about the situation or your kingdom. To do that we need time, and some place to work, and not get in your way.

The king smiled, “You’re a bit shrewder than the others we brought over, they were demanding we send them home, and whining about this and that. Very well, what did you have in mind?”

Bloodstone sighed, “I know it sounds dumb, I would like to know the history of how this got started as far back as you can, what’s happened recently, and I think we should have a formal contract with your Majesty’s kingdom, with both rewards, and what constitutes a breach of contract. There’s a saying, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

“Good, pull up a chair so we can work this out, the others can look at the weapons, while we decide this.” The king said smiling.

“Xach, I don’t think the king will let you take everything there.”, he teased.

“Shut up, I don’t see any Axes, here.”, he fired back. He had put the game system away and was picking up weapons.

“For starters, we need to figure out our status, as of right now we are guests, of your majesties kingdom. Is there a path to become a citizen, or we outsiders?” Bloodstone asked, Newton didn’t look happy with the question.

“Yes, you’re my guests, as for being a citizen, the others never asked about that. Well you would be considered outsiders, until they got used to you around the city.” The king seems to be thinking more out loud than to them. “I don’t see that as much of a problem, if you decided to become a citizen.”

“Ok next question, are we part of your military structure?” Bloodstone asked. “Meaning, whom do we report to, directly to you, or one of your men? Do each of us have a rank, and if so is there a set pay scale for each rank.”

The kings smiled even more, “That’s a very good question, I still haven’t figured out how to deal with all of you since they all wanted my time. To be honest, this is kind of a holiday for me”

Bloodstone nodded, “So pretty much after today, we are not going to talk with you unless it’s super important.”

The king nodded, “I really don’t expect too much from the people of your world, at least since I have seen how, they behave here. There were some that threatened me with their government’s reprisal. I found that very humorous, since they did not know anything about this world.”

Bloodstone nodded, “Well, that is a valid issue, not a high probability one, though. I can’t speak for the people before us. We as a group want to do this right, having at least a way to talk with you if we need to be preference. I am also a realist, we are stuck here, until we find a way home on our own, or we die. Though I really would like to avoid the death part, and I think the best way is to have expectations on both sides in writing, and to know where we stand.”

The king nodded, still listening, “So what did you have in mind?”

Newton started talking, “Well first off we would like to know what rank we would be the pay scale associated with that, as well as the cost of the expense of bringing us here. There is also the matter of being conscripted, since we don’t know what the standard rates are, we are not really able to make an informed decision, as to the value we can add to your kingdom and its construction project. Take BB for example, she’s an engineer, has been taking classes and has a good understanding of how things should be built, and materials. Me, I’m a spreadsheet jockey, and with Bloodstones and my laptop we can figure out the expense vs risk ratios.”

The king looked very confused.

“What we can do is make sure your project, uses the best process to get it done. We want to make a company here that works for the crown. First this would be an initial investment, and we would need time to get up to speed, say a month at the most. After that, if we can produce results we will give you an estimate, and a cost analysis, perhaps hire some of the other people that have been summoned. In this way, you would limit your liability, and cost and we would have time to assess what we can do for you.” Newton said, keeping a straight face.

The king blinked, “What?” He asked.

“Well, what is the initial investment you have made so far?”, Newton asked, pulling out his phone. He started a recording application,” Do I have permission to record this?”

The king just nodded, and Bloodstone smiled.

“So far, with all the summoned, how much have I spent?”, He waved a man over, “Can you get my steward of coin?”

The guard nodded and left the room.

“Now, tell me what this laptop, is and what are these sheets your referring to?

Newton powered up the laptop and quickly showed the king the spread sheets. “Sadly without power we can’t use this for very long.”

“My mages should be able to keep your other worldly devices working.” He said.

“Some of the earlier ones we summoned had eye phones, and ann droids, they were much smaller than this device.”

“Yes this is a laptop, usually people will work with it on their lap, though this particular model gets really to hot underneath to do that. “ Bloodstone said.

An older man arrived with the guard, and seemed a bit annoyed, “You sent for me sir” The older man asked. He was dressed as a butler, but there were differences in the cloth and the cut of the suit he wore.

“Ahh, yes, my guests here were wondering about the current expenses we have used on the summoned, and were asking about the wall expenses.” The king asked.

“Very well I shall fetch the ledgers for you sire.” He left quickly, there was a hard look he gave both Newton and Bloodstone as he left.

The King, Newton and Bloodstone continued to talk as they waited for the steward to return.

The discussion turned to the king himself, as none of them knew each other very well.

Newton sighed, “Is Othius your last name?” He asked.

The king chuckled, “Yes, I think you’re the first person to ask that.”

“I don’t suppose you have a first name?”, Bloodstone asked.

“I do, but like you I don’t think it’s appropriate, to share that information”, the king replied.

Bloodstone was silent, and was about to ask something of the king, when the Steward returned with a large leather-bound book.

“Are you sure you wish them to see your ledger sire?” The Steward asked giving Bloodstone and Newton a very serious scowl.

“It fine, Samuel. They are heroes, heroes help kings do they not?” He asked.

The Steward made no remark, just continued to stare at the two of them.

The king took the ledger from his steward, and began looking through it. “What do you want to see?” He asked.

Newton was the first to respond, “All of it if possible, we can transcribe all the entries into the laptop. Stupid question, is this the public ledger or the private one?”

The king looked confused, “It my ledger, it’s not for the common folk, I don’t usually show this to anyone but lords, or my steward.”

“What I meant, is that the real numbers, or is there another ledger for things you don’t want on the books per say?” Newton asked.

The steward stiffened slightly, at the comment, it was a small motion, but Newton had been looking for the reaction. “The reason I ask, is that back home I had to deal with several clients who were not really on the up and up, they hid funds, and other investments, and payments to less than savory types, they had good reasons to do so, however if those payments or payouts, were not in the ledger there were discrepancies in the bottom line. I found that one of his men had been skimming funds to pay for umm, not important. Let get started.

The King and Bloodstone watched as Newtons fingers danced over the keyboard, entering in numbers in the fields, in rapid succession. “This is going to take a while, might as well look at the weapons, if you’re into that sort of thing”, Newton said to Bloodstone.

“With your permission, “He said to the king, who smiled and waved him off, as he was intent on watching Newton enter in the numbers.

Bloodstone walked over, to the table, and picked up a long sword. The balance was a bit off, and he picked up a second blade. The balance on this blade was off as well, “What kind of cheap crap is he trying to pawn off on us?” Bloodstone asked Xach.

Xach replied, “I don’t see any axes, and look, that mace handle has a crack in it.”

Hearing them talk, BB and Eve had both stopped and were looking at the weapons they had picked up. “I thought something was wrong with this dagger, I see some rust spots. Now that you mention it.” Eve said putting a dagger back on the table.

Bloodstone sighed, “Cheap gear, if he gave the other before us, would they even know? I mean I know because I took metal working in school and studied and watched all kind of you tube videos on working metal. I studied how a blade is made, but these…”

Bloodstone walked back over to the King and Newton. “Your Highness, I hope the weapons on the table are not a good sampling of your finest.” The king looked over at him, then to Ferald who had been standing off to one side.

“It’s my test for you, you seem to know weapons, as does your son?”, he asked.

“Sort of, he’s more a weapons buff than I am, I just know how things are supposed to be made. Those” He pointed to the table, “are inferior junk, and should be forged properly or melted down.”

Ferald smiled, “I told you sire,” he said to the king.

The king nodded, glancing back at newton who was still typing away.

The king seemed a little deflated, “Very well, have them talk to the blacksmith, have whatever they want made, we can’t have real heroes without proper equipment.”

“What are we to do now?” Bloodstone asked.

“We can collect your wife and daughter, “He looked at Newton, “What about you sir?”

Newton never stopped, “Not interested in weapons, I’m an accountant, we fight with numbers.”

Ferald let them out of the ballroom, and had two soldiers go and collect the others.

They followed him to what appeared to be a guard room and each of them were handed a grey cloak. A few minutes later Kuya, who had two mages following her. One of them was Enna the other was not one of those who had been in the summoning room. The two of them seemed excited they were talking with Kuya. Kuya had a large book under one arm.

Amethyst arrived yawning, “Sorry, I just took a nap. There was some weird voice in my head, when I woke up. I thought my phone was messed up.”

The two mages and the soldiers stared at her. Ferald asked, “what did it say?”

She said, “My phone? Or the voice?”

“The voice you heard”, He asked.

“Something about [Hero level one], [Illusionist level one] and [Enchanter level one], oh yeah and something about skills, what were they.” She looked around at them. “What?”

“How unusual, an enchanter class not a mage class.” Enna said.

“Oh yeah the skills were, [skill summon spell book] and [skill Mana channeling]”, she replied. “Not sure what that means though.”

“Are you serious,” Enna asked.

Amethyst shrugged, “That’s what it said.”

“Who are you people! That’s a crazy skill, I don’t even know anyone who’s ever had that.”, Enna said.

“Not sure how it works, do I just say summon spell book?” She said.

A glow appeared in front of her and a spell book materialized hanging in midair.

Everyone stared at her and the book, it was a massive tomb, at least two feet by two feet across and six inches thick.

She reached out for the spell book and it opened at her touch. She looked through the book, it was completely blank, however as she turned the pages spells began to appear on the pages, in cursive script.

“That’s kind of a letdown that its blank,” Enna said, having looked away.

“Do I dismiss it and where does it go?” Amethyst asked. The book vanished, as she said it.

“Handy, doesn’t take up any space, and it’s there when you need it.”

The other mage that was watching stammered, “The book, it started to fill will spells.”

“Uh yeah it’s a magic book”, She said mischievously.

“We need to get going you can look at the woman’s spell book later.” Ferald said getting annoyed.

Without any further delays the cloaks were handed out, and Ferald addressed the group, “You lot, don’t wander off, Im not searching the city for your carcass.”

The mages kept looking at the red haired girl and the blond woman.  Six soldiers went with them out a door and into the rain.

The courtyard was wet and the rain came down in a light drizzle, there was a fait scent of ozone in the air as well as a hint of salt air. They group crossed the courtyard and went through a bailey, where there was both a very large door partially open and portcullis raised up just high enough to walk under and touch the metal tines.

Half dozen guards nodded to the commander and watched as each of the newcomers passed through, one of them called out to the [commander], “Who are these people more of them summoned blokes?” He asked.

The commander just nodded hurrying through.

There were few people on the street or on the raised area around the buildings on each side. The [commander] lead the group across a street turned left then right and walked for four blocks. Made another left. It was then that the sound of metal on metal could be heard. A partially open area were there were several forges, boys and men worked the forges hammering on metal. One of them a massive muscular man saw the commander and stopped hammering. He put the metal he was working on back into the fire and walked over as the group got closer.

“Commander, what’s going on here? Unusual to see you away from the king, what can I do for ya.” He said looking the commander over as well as the guards. He was huge, almost six feet four inches, and built like a body builder, His black hair and piercing gray eyes, accented the scar under his eye. He wore a white shirt with a large leather apron and thick leather pants.  He took off a pair of gloves and put them in his belt as he got closer.

“These six need arms, and armor.” The commander replied.

“Well Lann is sick with a fever, so if you want any leather work it will have to wait till she’s better.  Metal weapons if it’s in stock you can buy it now, or is you want something custom..” He let in the question hang in the air.

“Whatever they want.” He seemed upset by the prospect and sighed, pointing to the six whom he had escorted.

“Let’s go inside see if we have anything you’re interested in, “The large man said leading them into a large shop.  Inside were weapons and armor a barrel of arrows and a barrel of unstrung bows.  There were pole arms higher in the rafters on hooks to hold them in place. There were several display cases with smaller weapons.  There was an entire wall of armor leather, chain and two suits of full plate, which appeared to be more decorative than functional. One of them looked like it had been made for a woman.  As they looked around the soldiers followed them individually and the two mages stuck close to Kuya.

Xack started picking up weapons and looking at them.

Bloodstone asked, “Longswords?” looking around the room.

The large man pointed to one of the walls was where there were dozens of blades. Most had sheaths and the blades were not visible two were not. Bloodstone started going through the swords pulling the blade out looking at it and giving it a heft and testing its balance. He brought two of them back with him to the larger man, “So I have got to ask, how much are these? “He handed them over and the Man pulled one of the blades and looked at a mark on the blade, and then did it with the second one. “They are a hundred and fifty gold each; I can throw in a sharpening stone for each of them for one gold.” He set the blades down on the counter, “So you have the gold?”

A soft female voice came from a fluffy chair behind the counter. “Papa”

The large man turned and looked at the small girl sitting in the chair. “I’m with some customers now, Isabel.”

“Are the foreigners, they smell strange. Weird smells and weird items they carry are they mages?” she asked.

“Humm, no gold but maybe we can trade for it”, Bloodstone asked.

“What does he have to trade papa?” she asked inquisitively

“No gold, but ill humor you; let’s see what you got because my daughter asked.” He replied.

Bloodstone set down a cloth case on the table and started going through the contents. After a moment, he pulled out several black wires and a Block of shiny rough black material between them, and set them to one side.

The blacksmith looked at the material, “how very odd, are these magical. You might be better off talking to an enchanter.”

Bloodstone looked over at the wires, “Uh no, that’s the power pack for my laptop. Though I don’t think I will need it, and no, it’s not magical. “ He pulled out a small blue object with a metal cap, there was a button on one side and he pressed it and a blue light could be seen. He pressed on the metal end cap and a flame shot up. “Not magical, either.”

The commander stepped up next to Bloodstone, “The king said to get you want you wanted, so you can put your things away, once everyone has made a selection we will have someone sent to make your purchases.

Bloodstone shrugged and started to put his stuff away.

The blacksmith considered the strange black cloth bag and looked at the objects that had fallen out of it. “What are those?” He asked seeing a pile of various objects in the top of the bag.

“Oh just my dice.” He said reaching into the laptop case and pulling out a handful of different shaped dice. “I forgot to clean out the bag before I left. You’re not interested in these are you?”

BB and Eve had been talking with the mages, they were asking magic related questions. Eve had already picked up a short sword and a dagger, and handed it to Xach, adding to his pile.

“No just curious, if you decide you want to sell some of them let me know.” He said as Xach walked over with his arms full of weapons.

“Sure,” he said and dropped several of the dice on the counter. One of the icosahedrons shaped dice rolled onto the table with an eighteen showing. “Nice” Bloodstone said as he put the dice away.

“I want these” he said holding them out. The blacksmith retrieved them one by one and started making another pile. After looking at the touch mark on each weapon, he started jotting numbers on a paper he pulled from under the counter.

Kuya was wandering around the store, and found a straight piece of soft white sanded wood that had been wedged between two shelves. It was almost as tall as she was. She brought it over to the blacksmith who was still retrieving weapons from Xach.

The blacksmith looked at the wood, curiously. “Isabel this girl brought me your staff, how much were you going to charge for it.”

“The red haired girl will need that willow staff, let her have it as a gift from me.” She smiled at Bloodstone

Bloodstone looked back at the small girl sitting in the plush gray chair. Her eyes were closed, and there were white scar marks visible on her. The blacksmith stepped in front of his view.  “Blight lands, took my daughters sight. I thought I could help with the wall, you know ply my trade out just beyond the fourth wall. Didn’t believe the monsters or demons would come.  A group of them came, took my first daughter. It was her screams that still haunt me. They almost got Isabel. I make weapons for those who kill them, make them pay, for what they took from me. My Isabel, she sees visions“

“You have magic here, there’s no way to get her healed?” Bloodstone asked.

“I took her to the best healers here in the Kingdom, her being here is enough.” He replied.

Bloodstone could hear the pain in his voice, “What about a cleric or doctor?”

“There are no [clerics], and I don’t know what a [doctor] is. There are no gods here they all died a long time ago.” He said shuffling the weapons.

“Wait how did she know my daughter has red hair?” He asked.

The blacksmith paused, and leaned in close, “She’s a [seer], please don’t tell people, they tend to bother her about their fortunes.”  He stood up straight. “Isabel, are you sure?” he asked skeptically.

“Papa, it’s ok, can I tell you something”, she asked.

He walked over and knelt next to her. She whispered something to him.

The blacksmith looked stunned, he stood up and turned to the commander, “your king needs you.”

Ferald, froze for just a moment, and then hurried towards the door, “Men with me, the mages can escort them back” They all filed out of the shop and ran down the street.

“What did your daughter say?” Bloodstone asked.

“She said the king will die if they stay here, take the weapons if my daughter trusts you then I do as well. If you are heroes like the king says he has called.”

Bloodstone grabbed the two swords, and looped them into his belt. Everyone else was getting ready; Xach sighed and took a sword and a shield from the pile. “I want the rest.”

“What’s the fastest way back? “Bloodstone asked the mages.

“West gate,” Enna said.

The group followed Enna and the other mage to the west gate.

His thoughts were racing as he ran. They arrived at the castles west gate, and saw there were a dozen guardsmen at the gate. The door itself was closed.

“You there, what business do you have here.” One of the guardsmen asked.

“Im here on commander Ferald’s orders. Let me pass.” One of the mages said..

“Who are you?”, another guard said.

“I am Enna of the court mages, let us pass, This is a Hero summoned by the King” Enna said

They laughed, “Yeah right, and you’re mage and a Hero to come and save him.”

“Dam straight, he summoned us here, it’s the least I can do. Now let us pass.” Bloodstone said.

“No one gets in or out,” The guardsman said as he said he dropped to the ground.

Amethyst began casting again, and two more of the [guardsmen] stood still staring into nothing.

It was over before the [guardsmen] could stop them the mages pushed the door open and went through the courtyard.

Everyone else followed them, into the palace proper.

“Where is everyone?” Enna asked.

The group of them entered the ballroom where there were two guardsmen bleeding on the floor. The [commander] was being restrained, by four guardsmen, when they burst into the room.

“Release me,” The commander said, to the guardsmen. On the other side of the ballroom, Newton was standing between the King and the Steward of coin.  It looked as though he had been stabbed, but was still standing. The steward, held a bloody dagger, his back to the group.

Newton caught sight of Bloodstone and the rest entering the room. “It’s a Coup” he shouted.

Bloodstone and Xach rushed at the guardsmen. They had a choice take the rush or let go, two of them chose to let go.  One caught a shield in the stomach, from Xach, and was knocked to the ground. The second one on the commanders left side grabbed Bloodstone. The two of them wrestled, it was apparent that the guardsman had the skill, and got Bloodstone into a choke hold.

In that moment before falling unconscious, several thoughts went through his head, as the blackness started to cover his vision. The first thought was that if there were no gods, and there was magic here perhaps he could find a way to call the nine. The second thought was that he was as close to them as any being could be, they were right next door, they just needed to know he was there and in need. In that moment all his experiences clicked in place, the knowledge of a hundred different things aligned, and he knew the truth.

[Skill – Epiphany]

The voice flashed through his mind, like fire on dry grass, his vision returned. He turned into the hold, put one foot behind the guardsman and fell onto the guardsman. The choke hold was released, and he stood up. The guardsman was on him and hit him twice with his gauntleted fist.  Blood started dripping from the impact to his face where the flesh had been torn.

Pain exploded into his face, he staggered back.  The guard had started his third swing and he grabbed the wrist as it went by and put more momentum into the strike, aiming it at the guardsman holding the commanders right side.

Xach stood over the fallen guardsman, and pointed the Swords point at his chest.

The commander freed on one side drew his weapon, “Surrender now before there is more bloodshed”

He said raising his voice.  The guardsman who held his left arm let go.

The steward of coin snarled in rage, “Kill them now!”

The commander spoke first, “Draw a blade you die.” His words were aimed at the two guardsmen who were trying to get up, and the third who was ready to draw his weapon.

Bloodstone started walk towards the steward, “Drop the blade now, and I will not harm you.”

There was a cadence to his voice, something terrifyingly deadly; his voice was resonating in the space creating an eerie effect. The steward took a step back, “What are you!?”

“I am something new to this world,” and continued walking.

The steward, dropped the blade and ran towards the door, in his path was the red haired girl, Kuya.

She grinned at him. The Steward froze, “Who are you people?” There was a hint of terror in his voice.

The king spoke, “These are the heroes I have been searching for, It seems they have done me a service the first day they are here.” There was a sense of pride in his voice, something that had been missing before. “Commander take these traitors to the dungeons, I will deal with them tomorrow.”

“As you command, I will quell the fighting around the palace as well.” He said.

Enna said “They need potions, can you take us by the mages quarters, and we can get healing potions.”

“Help the commander Xach, no one will harm the king while we are here.” Bloodstone said, the eerie voice echo fading.

The four guardsmen relinquished their swords, and were escorted out by Xach and the commander; more guards came to assist, when the commander started to shout orders.

Bloodstone looked horrible; blood ran down his face, where he had been struck. He also looked exhausted, as if he had done something beyond what he was capable of.  He leaned against a chair, listening to the others. The Epiphany he had gotten was intriguing, to try and explain it would require a lifetime of information to be imparted. He sat and listened feeling the blood run down his face, he was calm. Amethyst had sat next to him, and held his hand.

The king took control of the situation when ten [guardsmen] marched in, and took up an honor guard position at the doors.  The aftermath was there were many guardsmen and soldier’s dead on both sides, the mages, had barricaded themselves in their rooms and refused to open the doors, until Enna had arrived and convinced them that the king needed them. The palace itself was in an uproar, the steward’s misdeeds were becoming known.

The king left them and went to survey the damage; he asked them to remain in the ballroom, until things settled down.

Newton sat on the other side of Bloodstone, “That steward was stealing coin from the crown, not sure what for, but it was a lot of coin. He was skimming funds from the wall being built. The king saw it almost the same time I asked, why there were two payments. The steward attacked the king, I pushed him and took the blade, and luckily it didn’t go in deep.”

Potions were brought for Newton and Bloodstone, the wounds healed but left a silvery scar on Bloodstones face.

It was well towards evening when they were escorted to the throne room. The king had changed, and the commander stood by his side. There were a number of soldiers, in attendances.

As the seven of them entered, there was a hush that fell over the crowd.

“Countrymen, today was a day that will be noted in history as the time the Hero’s came.  I don’t know what deeds they will do in the future, but today they have saved this king, and found a grievous harm to this kingdom, it will be righted this day. A man who was not trained in weapons, protected me, put his own life on the line to protect the crown. This man was not a soldier, he was a knight, a protector of the realm, and today I name him, Sir Newton. Please step forward”

Newton looked very confused and walked towards the king. “Sir Newton, a knight should have a sword, and a shield. For your act of courage, and bravery I present you your sword and shield. Kneel.” The king had a sword and shield brought forward; he took the sword in hand and tapped Newton on each shoulder. “I knight thee sir Newton, and the rank of captain.” He returned the sword to its sheath and handed it to Newton who looked stunned.

“There were others today who stood by the kingdom, penetrated the western gate, and harmed no one in the process. They freed the commander, when he was restrained. Their actions prevented further bloodshed.”

The crowd began to get restless, as the king had not announced who these heroes were, looking at the remaining six standing in the middle of the room.

“Xach,  Kuya, Bloodstone and Amethyst, are hereby granted titles of Lord and Lady. Once we have located a suitable holding to bestow, until then they will remain here in the capital. As for the other two they too shall be granted titles, for service to the crown, once they have decided on the path they wish to follow “The king continued

There was a wave of applause, and the king waved them forward.  “This should alleviate some of your concerns.  I have had better quarters arranged, for a lord and a lady and their retainers. Tomorrow we will build for the future, and I believe with your help it’s brighter than it was before.” The king leaned forward, “What did you do in the ball room? My steward is terrified of you.” He asked softly.

Bloodstone grinned, “Let’s just say I figured something out.”

The king, had the soldiers return to duty and they were escorted to two large state rooms that were next door to each other and had an open. There were plenty of beds and amenities for a group three times their size.

Two maids were introduced by the king who would be serving the two rooms while they were in attendance.

The king retired and went to his personal rooms.