FSE

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I'm standing in the hall in front of the Don and Donna with Sister Lalaine and an anthro rabbit by the title and name of Father Coniglio standing across from me.

Fabrizio says "I think it sounds like a decent proposal.", he looks to me and he says "And you say she accompanied you on your mission?" with a light and curious smile.

I say "Yes mi lord, her skills helped us succeed and accomplish the mission."

Alcalee says "It is your choice good Adam."

I say "I accept." with a welcoming smile.

Lalaine bows her head as she says "I am honored."

The Don says "We'll provide you to quarters close to his, that way you are easy for him to reach." with a light smile.

On that note Lalaine starts to pick up her belongings, I step over to her and hold my hand out with a light smile, Lalaine nods thankfully and hands me some of her stuff.

Coniglio says "I'll leave her in your care your highness.", he looks to me and he says "Thank you for accepting her." with a bow.

I say "She's a friend Father, I welcome her presence." and I give a light bow.

The Father leaves and a guard escorts us to Lalaine's quarters which is just down the hall from mine so I point it out to her. I quickly go to my room and I hand her a pouch of mony, loaded with some aureals and a bunch of denarii.

I say "It's from the mission Lalaine."

Lalaine says "Thank you Adam, it'll make a fine donation to the church." with a light smile as she puts it on her bed.

I say "I'll leave you to get situated, I have to get to my session with Mavra and Serilda." with a smile.

Lalaine says "I'll see you later then Adam, good luck with your lesson." with a smile in return.

I leave the skunk and head to the room Mavra, Serilda and I have been training in with Serilda just off to the side while Mavra stands infront of me.

Mavra says "Now Adam, you have pretty much mastered the use of the basic fire spells, today we're going to go over a journeyman-level spell that'll help you in combat, it's the fireball, a trademark of magic itself. The spell requires a great more focus compared to the spells you have already learned as it is a natural evolution of the ignite fire spell. Observe!"

Mavra looks to a target, with a strong gesture she launches a fire ball at a target which explodes into brief fire and ash, I blink at the sheer display of firepower... literally.

Mavra says "Give it a try then we'll go over it." as she waves me over to a target.

I ready my right arm, I pull on my magic reserves and I struggle greatly as I do my best to focus, fire engulfs my hand, I launch it and it does hit but not cleanly as the ball almost completely burns out before impact and I suddenly feel kind of drained.

Mavra says "Not bad, you did pretty well for a first try. Now we need to refine your skill to make it a potent attack, the fire ball will help counter denser armor and deny cover with it's explosive force able to spread the contained flame over a relatively wide area."

Serilda comes over and she says "Your focus was on point but you wasted a chunk of your reserves in building up the attack, when you do that it strains your focus as the magic your drawing upon is being forced out at a higher rate. This can result in greater attack power provided you have the training and focus to do so." with a light smile towards the end.

Mavra says "Let's go over some basic movements then we'll continue."

....................................

Lalaine is walking down the halls looking for Adam, curious to see him in training, Danica comes into view and she says "Greetings Danica." with a light smile.

Danica says "Sister Lalaine, what a pleasant surprise, I heard about you becoming Adam's personnel priestess. Which is good, I think he needs someone with a more passive attitude." with a light smile.

Lalaine says "Thank you, um, speaking of whom, I was wondering if I could see Adam in training?"

Danica puts on a thinking look and she says "I don't see why not, just please remain quiet, magic training can be a little dangerous."

The two ladies proceed down the hallways until they come to the room Adam is in, the human is looking at a target, his skin having a light coat of sweat.

Mavra says "Alright Adam, let's try the attack once more. Proceed." with a stern gaze.

Adam creates a fire ball in his left hand and launches it, the fire ball is a little better assembled and strikes near dead center, fire engulfs the front-half of the target, rather then engulf the object entirely.

Mavra puts on a proud smile and she says "You're getting quite a good grasp on it. Strike the third target and then we'll take a quick break."

Adam readies his left hand once more, he throws the projectile which strikes the center of target with the flame being a tad smaller and more direct but some plumes of fire do cascade to the back.

Mavra says "Well done, we'll take a short break and then resume."

Lalaine looks to Danica and she says "He's a fast learner."

Danica lightly nods and she says "Indeed, in terms of learning an attack pattern or a spell he has little issue, however it is his method of execution that needs work."

Lalaine says "But he has a group of good teachers." with a humble smile.

Danica motions Lalaine to follow her and the two ladies leave the small group to continue their excercises.

.................................................................

After spending a few hours of on and off practice, Mavra gives the order for me to launch another attack, I focus on the target, I ready another fire ball and throw it, it strikes the target and detonates in swathing flame.

Mavra and Serilda begin to clap and the former says "You did it Adam, well done!" with a proud smile.

Serilda says "Now you have quite a powerful attack at your disposal." with a smile.

I say "So, what's the next spell?" with an excited smile.

Mavra sighs and she says "I'm afraid I can't teach you any more spells, simply because I've taught you all I know when it comes to fire magic, I can teach you how to replenish your reserves of fire magic faster but that's it. We'll go over that in our next lesson." with a light smile.

Serilda says "We're very proud of you Adam, just keep practicing and sooner or later we'll gather some teachers from Dunwasser to help you learn more spells." with a smile.

Danica enters the room and she says "I hate to interrupt but we are requested to report to the main hall, something has come up."

We follow Danica to the main hall where Maeve and Lalaine are also present, near the Don and Donna is the court mage, an elderly weasel by the name of Eleo and his magic is that of thaumaturge.

Fabrizio says "Thank you for gathering here, Eleo has uncovered something very interesting at the cave where you fought the bandits.", he looks to the mage and he motions him to speak.

Eleo says "The cave did have some material possessions from raided territories, but what's more intriguing is that there is a structure within the mound. Based on what we've uncovered, we believe them to be ruins of an ancient mage society, however the traps and gates we've found so far have been disarmed and unlocked... and recently as well."

Fabrizio says "Given that you fought the bandits there and this evidence, we believe there is someone trying to uncover something there. We don't know what may be in such a place, but the fact they hired bandits to guard the location speaks volumes. And so I have a new mission for you, I want all of you to return there with Eleo and see what's going on in that location, maybe you can find something we haven't yet.", he looks to Danica and he says "Danica, you'll lead this operation. This requires a more experienced touch."

Danica says "How soon can we depart?"

Fabrizio says "A carriage is ready to take the seven of you, you should get there by nightfall. We wish all of you luck."

We head to the carriage which is a large passenger carriage pulled what looks two small dinosaurs, we board and the wagon leaves the city. Maeve is to my right and she's looking out the window, not as a look out, she simply looks a little bored and to my left is Lalaine who looks to be praying to herself, as for me and knowing we're at least a few hours out at the rate we're going, I decide to get comfortable and go to sleep.

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Lalaine finishes her prayer, she looks to the human and she sees him sleeping with Maeve giving him a glance as well. Maeve seeing if his sleeping pattern will change to a form of woe or stay normal, which thankfully is slowly getting better, as for the priestess she wonders how he's feeling mentally as well but also wondered if Adam had any questions she could answer. Mavra and Serilda are reflecting on the trail and their imagination goes towards the cave and wondering what it has in store for all of them. Lastly for Danica, her mind wanders as to who is going through the ruins and who may be behind it, she can think of a few names but until proven otherwise it's just speculation. Hours go by as the sun slowly descends, the ride being uneventful each person keeps to their own thoughts with only the human resting, Maeve gently grips Adam's right hand with her left, hoping that her touch can aid what ever dreams are in his mind, she looks to Lalaine and motions her to grab the humans other hand, the skunk nods and she does so, she warmly smiles as she sees a warm smile form on the humans face. The cave comes into view which has a post set up where soldiers affiliated with the Rinaldi armed with not just swords and other close combat weapons, but also muskets, multiple pistols and even a blunderbuss with a quickly made barrack structure.

...............................................................................

I feel myself being lightly shaken, I open my eyes and I see Maeve is the one waking me up and I say "Are we there?" drowsily.

Maeve says "Aye, we'll be gettin out of this carriage shortly." with a light smile.

We exit the carriage with the guards baring their impressive armaments, Danica and Eleo take the lead as we funnel through the entrance with me at the front and Maeve at the rear, torches are placed in the walls that give the tunnel decent light, we soon find ourselves in this chamber where two guards armed with blunderbusses stand and a third with a mighty halberd in a full suit of plate armor. The ruins here look like a very old subterranean temple of some kind with a complex locking mechanism of stone, a door of dense rock as grey as castle stone that looks to be vertically split in two with the lock on the door depicting what looks like a pentagram, on either side of the door is a glass rod the leads to the ceiling and goes into a small chamber on either side.

I stare at the whole thing and think 'Incredible!'

Eleo looks at us "We're trying to figure the mechanism out, from what we can tell it's some kind of vault."

I look between the lock, the glass tubes and the side chambers.

I hear Mavra "What has your attention?"

I say "If I had to guess...", I look to Eleo and I continue "It's a magic lock?"

Eleo nods and he says "Yes, but we aren't sure how to unlock it. The smaller chambers are fully sealed and the tubes seem to be hallow."

Serilda says "Can we force the door open?"

Eleo says "There's a magical barrier in place, the only way those doors are going to open as if we figure out the locking system."

Serilda and Mavra go to the other lock while Lalaine and I look at the one closest to me, the symbols on the stone are a strange eldric-looking script that I can't make out but there maybe something here I can recognize.

Lalaine says "Impressive, I've never seen such a feat." as she looks mesmerized by the glass.

I say "An enclosed system that leads to a complex lock with no key...", I look along the glass and I see something interesting, there's a piece of bronze that shows what looks like fire but it looks like half the plate is missing, on a hunch I look to Mavra and Serilda and I say "Mavra and Serilda, is there a bronze plate over there, where the tube meets the sphere?"

Mavra looks and she says "Yes, it looks like a wave of water."

I think as I look at the entire system once more and then it clicks "Steam!"

Eleo says "Steam?" with a raised eyebrow with Danica looking at me.

I say "It's my best guess, but I think these are meant to hold water and then heated."

Mavra says "It does kind of make sense, but the chambers are sealed and if we break the glass it won't hold any water."

I say "If we look at it from a scientific point of view, the glass can expand provided the heat is carefully applied and we open it to where we can get water into it but it would have to go into the tube and then the chamber needs to be re-sealed, after that it's just heating the water and turning it into steam."

Serilda says "That is quite a combination of magic, but more then do-able." as she crosses her arms with a light smile.

Danica says "It sounds like a good idea, give it a shot."

Mavra says "I'll handle the air magic part, Adam you'll can heat the glass and Serilda we need that water on point." with enthusiasm.

The three of us get ready, Mavra nods, I begin to cast fire to the first glass chamber, carefully trying to apply heat to it's surface area, Mavra does a motion and with alight gust I see air slowly cut into the glass to crate an opening, Serilda, does a gesture to form water which she has carefully flow into the glass, Mavra uses her air once more to re-seal the chamber.

Mavra says "One down, one more to go." with a smirk.

We do the same process on the other chamber, Mavra and I get ready to boil the water, if we have to guess we need to boil the water in both chambers at the same time. Danica gives us the signal and we conjure fire, the water slowly comes to a boil as we up the heat as best we can, the steam reaches into the glass tubes, it becomes more intense, soon the steam roars into the ports to the lock, a green glow ignites on the pentagram and from the background of the tubes, something mechanized moves, the lock spins three times clockwise and with one final harsh glow the door opens, finally the sound of something mechanical breaks which causes Mavra and I to stop. Eleo looks to me, he motions me over, I go over to him, taking glances at the now open door with old dust and stale air coming out, I get a strange feeling, something that tells me we shouldn't have opened this.

Eleo says "Excellent work Adam, I want you to have the honor of going first." with a impressed smile.

I nod and I say "Thank you Eleo." as I head towards the door while drawing my sword.

I hear Danica "Expecting resistance?"

I say "From my experience, every ruin is a death trap, never hurts to be ready." with a smirk as I think of my time playing Oblivion and Skyrim.

.........................................

On the outside however, a figure is looking at the post, a saber emerges from the shadows as it sneaks towards the post, silently it takes out the guards one-by-one, the last guard turns as his attacker closes the distance, the guard goes to yell as the saber goes into his neck, he gags on his own blood until the last trickle of life leaves his eyes, the figure drops him of it's sword, it looks to the cave and goes to enter.

...............................................................

I continue walking until I reach a chamber, it's a room that is smooth with no glyphs of any kind, in front of me however is a chest of stone, I call out to the others with everyone save for Lalaine and the guards coming in.

Eleo says "A chest? It doesn't look locked."

I say "But it is stone, no way we're lifting it at all without magic."

Eleo looks at the lid, he motions me to give him a hand and soon we get it open, revealing a strange item. The Item is about the size of a large thermos, it looks to be made of titanium mostly with bronze and gold parts, on either side it's open with stiff looking sockets and it's engraved with glyphs, the same from the door mechanism. Eleo and Danica look to me, with the latter giving me a nod, I smile with excitement as I put my sword away, I get a firm grip on the item, I pick it up and it's really light, about five pounds and I start to look it over.

I say "It's mechanical, no question about it... other then that I have no idea what it is."

Eleo says "We must bring it back, this requires great investigation." with a light smile.

We begin to head out but a sight instantly catches our attention, the guards are dead and Lalaine is standing in fear, a grey fox has a saber aimed at her throat, his eyes having a sight of gold, his chest and forearms are wrapped in cloth with a backpack, a huge scabbered for his massive saber, the lower half of his pants covered in plate armor and his long hair a very dark grey.

The fox speaks up with a smile "Finally you showed up, I was thinking I'd have to make this skunk scream to get you out."

Danica puts on a snear "Vaslov Jakoba!" with venom in her voice.

I say "You know this guy?!"

Danica says "He was my step brother." keeping her stare of death.

Vaslov says "You overthrew the imposter and restored your brother, but none the less Danica you still haven't beaten us." with a vicious smile, he looks to me and he says "I'll be taking that device, or you'll see this ones blood on the cave floor."

Eleo looks to me as I slowly approach the Fox, he motions me to stop, he brings the sword over to me, it's blade lifting my hair.

Vaslov says "So the gossip I heard was true." with an impressed smile.

I think 'You're not going to smile after I get through with you!'

But before I can do anything Vaslov gives a quick motion and I feel his sword go through my flesh, I loudly gasp, Vaslov takes the device with his left hand, the pain floods my senses as he keeps giving me this smile.

Vaslov says "Just in case you were thinking of trying anything.", he slips the device in his backpack as he has the sword at my neck, he pulls out a pistol with his left hand, he points the barrel at me and he says "It would be easy to pull the trigger, but I think I wouldn't mind fighting you. If you draw your sword I'll happily fight you though."

I hear Danica "Adam, stand down, your no match for him!"

Vaslov says "Come on, I just threatened your maiden, I think you want some retribution." with that smile again.

I snap, I draw my sword as I say "Valor against the odds!" as I bare my teeth.

Vaslov says "Come at me when your ready!"

I go on the offensive, our blades scratch into eachother with my sword hitting his left arm, he looks to his arm, he slowly looks to me as if I had just messed up, he quickly comes at me with his saber, I go to block but his sword goes past it and just barely glances off my armor, I take aim, he dodges before my sword even connects, he swings his sword which cleaves into my chest, I scream so loud I pop my ear drums, feeling my rib cage breaking, he smiles at me as he yanks it out. I drop my sword as I fall onto the floor, he points the pistol at me as he slowly backs towards the caves entrance.

Vaslov says "I must be going now, I do hope you survive though, I wouldn't mind a rematch." he starts to laugh and dashes into the cave.

Danica says "Serilda and Mavra your with me, everyone else stay with Adam!" as she runs past me with Mavra and Serilda in tow.

Maeve rolls me onto my back as I struggle to breath, I start to cough up blood, Lalaine is instantly at my side, she begins to use her white magic, I can feel my bones go back into place, but the sheer pain I can't even describe.

Maeve takes my left hand and she says "Adam, it's okay! We're goin ta get ya patched up!" with a worried look.

Lalaine says "Try to stay with us, I know it hurts! Stay awake!"

I continue to cough up blood, but the pain is starting to go away and I can feel my rib cage fully reforming.

Lalaine says "That's the best I can do, his life isn't in danger but we need to get him back to Triskellian!"

Maeve nods, she looks to me and she says "Adam, we're goin ta pick you up! You'll be uncomfortable but you'll be fine!"

Lalaine takes my legs while Maeve picks me up by my shoulders, they bring me out to the carriage where Mavra, Serilda and Danica are waiting with the carriage doors open, the looks on their faces showing that they are annoyed, more then likely because they lost sight of Vaslov, they look to me with concerned looks as Lalaine and Maeve load me into the carriage, Danica and Eleo get upfront as the others get in back with me, I can feel the carriage rumble and turn as Maeve and Lalaine hold my hands, Mavra holds my head with her hands so it's upright, Serilda quickly uses a water spell to remove any blood in my throat and I lightly cough.

Lalaine says "Adam, we'll be back at the city soon, please hang in there." as tears leave her eyes.

I look to the skunk, I try to talk but my vocal cords are too strained.

Lalaine says "I-I'm okay, please conserve your strength." with a tearful smile.

I give her a light nod, but I can feel my eyes closing, not from dying but because I'm tired and soon everything goes black.

............................................................

Mavra says "He's lost a lot of blood!"

Serilda looks towards the front and cries "Adam just passed out!"

Danica hears the commotion, she has the dinosaurs move even faster, the carriage comes roaring into the city and moves into New Town, waking up the sleepy residents. The carriage stops in front of a hospital, earning some scared doctors and nurses, Serilda and Mavra lift the human as Danica leaps off.

Danica says "He's low on blood and he's in danger of having an infection!" a she runs towards the staff.

A doctor says "Please follow me!"

Serilda and Mavra quickly follow the staff, Lalaine sits on the side of the carriage, she starts to cry in her hands, Maeve pulls her into a light hug, Danica pants as she rests against the building and Eleo starts running towards the Don's estate.

Hours tick by as the five ladies sit in the waiting room, Lalaine giving prayers to Helliose with Maeve still holding her, Danica thinking in rage over Vaslov and his involvement and Serilda and Mavra angry and upset over the whole ordeal. The Don and Donna soon enter the hospital with Eleo, they look to the ladies and just their looks gives them all the information they need.

Fabrizio looks to his sister and he says "Are you okay?" as he gives her a light hug.

Danica returns the hug and she says "We're fine, but Adam got hurt."

Alcalee says "Is he okay?" with concern.

Danica says "Lalaine healed him as best she could, but we haven't heard anything yet."

Fabrizio looks to the skunk and he says "Is his life in danger Sister?"

Lalaine says "I healed his fatal injury, but he lost a lot of blood.", she closes her eyes as she says "He was trying to protect me."

Maeve says "It's alright dear, Adam's strong, he'll make it.", she looks to the Don and she says "Mi lord, Adam did give that Vaslov fella ah good cut and he got first blood."

Fabrizio says "Vaslov likes to toy with his prey, wether they wound him or not.", he puts a hand on the priestesses shoulder and he says "I'm sure you did your best Sister, thank you for being there for him." with a warm smile.

A nurse comes out, her outfit having blood on the front of it, she sees the Don and Donna and she bows.

Fabrizio notices her and he says "Is our boy alright?"

The nurse looks to him and she says "His injuries were manageable and thankfully he got here in time. He needs to stay here for a few days so that his blood can replenish."

Fabrizio says "May we see him?"

The nurse says "Yes mi lord, but please be quiet."

The group follows the nurse to the humans room, Adam is all bandaged up and a light snore is escaping his lungs. Alcalee moves over to him, she takes his right hand in both of hers, she gently rubs his pale hands and warmly smiles towards him.

The nurse says "You've got quite a fighter, he was struggling but he fought the whole time to stay alive."

Alcalee looks to Adam's chest, the intense bruising has bled to most of his torso, his breathing is a stiff, struggling weez and his skin is extremely pale, she says "His heart is strong, he'll pull through." with a warm smile.

Lalaine looks to the human, she thinks 'I'm responsible for this, I must do something.', she looks to the nurse and she says "I'm an almoner, I'm also Adam's confessor, may I stay with him so that I may heal him?"

The nurse says "The doctors and I won't see an issue with it, but it's up to the patient."

Lalaine lightly nods, she goes over to Adam's left, she kneels as she gently takes his hand to where everyone can see, she says "Adam, if you can hear me it's Lalaine. Do you want me to stay here with you? Squeeze my hands two times for no and three times for yes.", she starts to feel Adam's light grasp but it's barely noticeable, she looks to the others and she says "He wishes to have me here."

Fabrizio moves towards the human "We'll find Vaslov, just focus on getting your strength back."

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Over the next few days, Lalaine stays with me, I just feel like I got ran over by a train, her spells heal up my body and slowly I'm getting my strength back. But sleeping is rough because I just have these nightmares of re-living the sword cutting into my chest to where I just wake up in a cold sweat and it takes a few moments for my mind to kick in. Getting cleared was easy with Danica coming to get me with long sword and leather armor in hand to give to me, the walk back earned quite a few looks, soldiers and guards giving me respectful nods with some even giving salutes, I guess squaring off against Vaslov earned me some points with them.

Danica looks to me and she says "You've earned some pretty good respect from the guards and your show of chivalry was most prominent."

I say "Lalaine was in danger and Vaslov was likely going to hurt her if I didn't step in."

Lalaine says "I'm just happy that you lived." with a light smile.

I nod to her with a smile of my own and I say "Any idea where he went?"

Danica shakes her head and she says "He got away, some kind of teleportation or camouflage spell."

I say "He'll strike again, he just seems to be that type." as I think back to the fight.

Danica says "He is, I remember fighting him to help restore my brother to the throne. He ended up killing most of those who helped me but in the end we won, that was a year ago.", she looks to me and she says "And his mother Amalsand is even worse, through magic she murdered our father and older brother."

I put on a thinking expression and I say "So if they wanted that artifact it can't be good. Are there any clues to go on?"

Danica says "Eleo's been searching every text in the residence and college, so far he hasn't found anything."

I sigh and I say "There must be a way to track him."

Danica says "We've been trying to track Vaslov for the past year, he seems to come and go as he pleases."

Lalaine says "What about his blood? Eleo can use that to find him."

Danica says "We tried but by the time we returned there his blood had been cleaned up."

I sigh and a thought comes to me and I say "We maybe going about this the wrong way, we need to go back to that dungeon. If we found part of something, there may be a clue that leads us to it."

Danica smiles as she says "Way ahead of you, we looked all over that cave and we did find what looked like a map after glancing at the ceiling. From what we can tell, there are three parts in total and the other parts are scattered, the map itself however has erroded and mostly turned to dust."

I say "So we're at square one." with a sigh.

Danica says "Not entirely, there were jewels embedded in the stone, one marked the place we were in when it came to the artifact and there was one marked on one of the faded spots. Eleo is trying to figure out what location it's on."

Lalaine says "At least it's something." with a light smile.

I think 'A scavenger hunt? It really is like Skyrim... but if it turns out to be like that unusual gem quest I'm gonna lose it!'

The week goes on with me recovering but I do get back into my routine, despite being a magic user, I'm thinking of adding a shield to my arsenal and to go a step further switch out leather for plate, an investment that would cost me 1,230 denari or even more... one heck of a tall order, maybe I'll get lucky and loot the armor down the road. But my custom sword will be ready soon based on a letter received from the blacksmith, which in theory will not just help me but should make fighting easier while also leaving an impression on those who see me. I've also been going around Triskellian on my own and my attention commonly goes to the wandering of the shipyard and Dock Town, mostly because I think it's because I've lived near water my whole life, the salt water reminding me of the northern coast along with the creaking sound of boats and the sight of the sun shining off the water like a mirrior, the familiarity of it is just a comfort I guess. A flute comes into view, it slowly makes port and begins to unload it's goods, from here I can see dressings, furniture, wine and bear barrels, boxes of raw materials from wood to metal and glass, the few cannons I can see are 20 pounders and are of used iron plugged by wood. Such a ship is a delicate vessel, but she looks like she can handle a fight if she had to and with a great crew I imagine she could rival a warship in fighting spirit.

The sun is slowly starting to set, which means it'll be night time soon so I decide to start heading back to the estate, sailors and escorts eye me, some of the sailors stare but some of the escorts try to get my attention with flirty poses... honestly I'm tempted with how some of them look and I think they know it. Their dresses are a mix of pastel and black or more traditional colors with tones of black and velvet, with the right amount of make up to sharpen their features. But I have socialized with them and they all seem to be pretty friendly as they all can focus on conversation, with all of them not expecting anything to happen outside of that, though many have also pointed out how... 'restless' I eventually get. I find it frustrating, I want to, I really really want to...

I cross into old town and the sun is almost gone, I can hear running around in the alleyways, snickers in the darkness and even the scraping of rusted iron... that's when it dawns on me, I'm surrounded!

I ready my long sword as I think 'Alright you fierfek's, come and get me!'

Within minutes they emerge, about ten in total, some rats, some raccoons and the rest manged foxes, one is talking of taking my skull, another thinking he can gain my strength from drinking the blood from my heart, one comes at me and I block and counter him but our blades don't hit our flesh.

I yell "VALOR AGAINST THE ODDS!!!"

I strike against him with such a vicious strike I practically cleave the raccoon in half, his guts spill out as the lower part of his ribs become visible from the force and he isntantly collapses. I look to all of them, they all stare at me in fear and shock as my eyes scan all of them, I open my left hand, it becomes engulfed in fire as I give them a smile.

I say "All... is... DUST!!!" as I launch the fire ball.

The fire ball strikes and lights one of my attackers on fire, he starts to scream as the fire consumes his cloth armor and fur, he runs away as he drops his sword. Finally they break as they run for it, I burn the blood off my sword, I put it away and I resume my way back to the estate. The others who are in the shadows I can hear them scurrying like rats away from an apex predator, now they know I can not only handle them... but I'll obliterate them given the option. I soon find myself in the halls and I soon get into my quarters with Maeve reading a book.

Maeve looks to me and she says "Welcome back Adam." with a light smile.

I sigh and I say "Greetings Maeve."

Maeve says "What happened?" as she curiously blinks.

I say "I got jumped but I handled them pretty good." as I lay next to her and I can feel my legs lightly shaking.

Maeve looks me over and she says "I'm sure ya did, you are gettin good at clearing out the gutter trash, that's fer sure. But it looks like yer havin some trouble with somethin else." with a witty smile towards the end.

I sigh and I say "Yeah, I am." as I blush "I feel a little restless."

Maeve blinks and she says "So, you've never had..."

I say "No, I-I haven't." as I glance to her.

Maeve blinks and she says "Hmm, well I am your comfort woman." with a warm smile.

I say "Maeve, I know and appreciate that, but your my friend and I don't want to make anything awkward."

Maeve says "There are the escorts in Dock Town, if your instincts are becoming that strong."

I sigh and I say "I want to don't get me wrong, I just get too nervous."

Maeve blinks, she says "You humans are quite ah puzzle." with a giggle, she puts on a half-serious, half-loose look and she says "But at the end of the day, it's up to you."

I say "It's something I'm going to have to think about." with a curious sigh.

The fruit bat gives me a warm smile and she says "Just take yer time."

As Maeve embraces me and we get ready to fall asleep, I can't shake the notion and fact that Vaslov is still out there and now I know things are about to get rough. Not to mention if he is that capable of a fighter, I can only imagine what his mother is capable of... and that's really what terrifies me.

.........................................................

Eleo is looking at a map of of the island, with a hand drawn schematic of the map when it comes to the two jewels, the second jewel is hovering over a body of water, but that can't be right, he looks over the map, and he decides to flip the map around, landing the second jewel into any one of the other major factions territory, something that could spark a war if armed forces are sent in. He thinks and wonders of this is indeed the case, but that is a lot of political red tape and who knows what demands the other powers would be if information was shared. The it comes to him, Adam seems eager to accomplish what it takes, he maybe reckless but his heart may be in the right place, maybe he could be sent as a form of errant? He'll run it by the Don and Donna for authorization.

........................................................

In a forest, Valso is slowly stalking around the trees, he glances to his pack, feeling great pride in this action will lead the goal of destroying the city of Triskellian and the Rinaldi.

To be continued...