Disclaimer: I do not own any of the races, classes, lore, spells, or mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition from Wizards of the Coast. This is a fanfiction story based in a personal world with original characters. No money is being made from this work. This is for pure amusement due to my fascination with D&D mechanics.

Missteps

Chapter 36 – Forced Downtime

Ander was the first to awaken the next morning. Groggily he rolled out of bed, slipped his shoes on, maneuvered around Jun's legs as they stuck out the end of the bed, and made it to the wash bin. He splashed cold water on his face.

It was still dark outside, and through the window he could make out just the faintest traces of light on the horizon. The icy crystals that clung to the window sparkled in the much more prominent moon light.

With a yawn he left the room and shuffled down the stairs and into the kitchen. The kitchen was smaller, but he'd learned that every kitchen is practically the same. They've all got an oven, a work table covered in weird stains, a bucket that you learn not to peer too closely at, and a small box or tin that's full of a 'family secret' herb that usually ended up being parsley.

Yes, he'd spent his fair time in kitchens.

He took a few minutes to acclimate himself to this one. He identified what he could in the clay jars on the shelves and examined the oven to make sure it worked. After he felt better about being able to maneuver in the unfamiliar space, he set about reupping the fire in the fireplace and getting the oven hot with coals.

As the flames crackled to life, he turned towards the main attraction.

For the past three months in Esterwill, Ander had worked in a bakery. He earned money that was supposed to fund their adventures. Unfortunately Jun's good-hearted nature got the best of him, and instead the money was used to help support the Tieflings of the town. Thankfully Elaine had saved Jun and Ander's portion of the money from the Owlbear pelts. It wasn't much, but it meant the group wasn't starting from nothing.

He pulled a small stool to the work table and got busy. Angrily he combined eggs, flour, water, and a few other spices he'd found in a large bowl.

They were three, almost four months into their new careers and so far all he'd done was hang out with the Tribe (which was a lot of fun), almost get killed by a freaking minotaur (considerably less fun), and bake bread. The first two he understood were perks and dangers of his new profession. The third, well, it wasn't new. He'd been baking bread since he was old enough to form a fist.

He shoved his fists into the dough ball he'd created and started to pour his frustrations out as he kneaded.

Add to all of that the fact that he hadn't heard from Shenir at all since they'd parted ways in Dayur. He was used to not hearing from her for weeks while she traveled, but it'd never been three months before. The rational part of his brain told him that he was overreacting. That it was winter and that made post especially slow. The irrational part told him something was wrong.

Ander set the bread in a bowl, covered it with a cloth, and set it on the floor next to the fire. While that proved, he had a filling to make.

He set some jerky to rehydrate in the pot over the stove. While that boiled, he minced parsley and garlic, cut up a few vegetables fished from a barrel, and grated some cheese. When that was done, he fished out the jerky, cut it into small cubes, and added it to the mixture he'd created. He fished out a pan and quickly heated it all up. He set the mixture aside and returned to his dough that had doubled in size. He punched it down, then set to rolling it thin on the work table.

He smirked as he wondered what his Master would say if he saw Ander now. Out of his Master's three apprentices, Ander was the best potion maker between all of them. It helped that potion making was practically cooking, though it was a lot more stringent on component and measurements.

Not many mages at the Circle were allowed to have three apprentices. Usually a mage was only allowed one, or two if the right argument could be made. Ander had been his Master's first apprentice, but that didn't mean he was the best out of the Apprentices.

His Master was a powerful mage who had a long history with the Circle, but he wasn't the most sociable of people. He had a reputation for ignoring certain rules, and doing whatever suited him. Even so he'd rubbed elbows with enough of the Elite to have serious clout. After all, it wasn't the Elite's rules he'd snubbed.

He'd plucked Ander right out of his parent's store, after having been a regular customer since Ander was eight. A few years later, his Master had shown up in the middle of the night with a boy slung over his shoulder. Derick became the second Apprentice. Ten years ago, Derick and Ander were almost mugged after they'd made a wrong turn in a bad part of Sageburrow. A girl had come to their rescue, and to thank her they'd invited her back to the Tower for a meal. Master didn't let her leave, and Xiladdic became the third.

Each of them excelled at different areas of study, something that Ander strongly believed was what his Master wanted. While Ander was the best at potion-making he also had a flair for the spectacle of evocation magic. Xiladdic was the strongest researcher. Her favorite subject was transmutation and the ability to modify matter and energy. Derick was more skilled in magic that required a gentle touch. He specialized in protection, mostly abjuration or conjuration magic. Out of all the Apprentices, Derick was the furthest along in his studies.

The running joke between the three of them, was that Derick was in charge of protecting everyone from Ander's flashy magic, while Xiladdic was in charge of clean-up.

Ander laughed softly to himself as he carefully pinched the seam of the now mixture-filled dough balls. He lightly scoured the tops, brushed an egg wash on them, and moved them to the oven.

The three Apprentices had been each other's family. Unlike some of the other mages in the Circle, their Master didn't make harsh demands or stipulations of his pupils. He encouraged the three of them to test limits and to try out new magic. The three of them had always chalked it up to their Master's propensity for skirting the rules.

Not that it'd been all fun and games. Ander even had to admit that he might have needed a bit more reining in. At one point, he'd found himself at rock bottom with a gambling addiction that'd cost him his spellbook. It was Shenir who'd found him sitting in the cold outside a club with a bruised lip and no book.

For three months she checked in on him every day. Far too many times she'd physically picked him up and carried him away from whatever he was gambling on that day. Horse races, fighting matches, Apprentice duels, anything that he could put money on. Every time he'd placed another bet, he'd told himself that it was all to buy back his spellbook.

Looking back, he should have just come clean to his Master, but ever since Xiladdic had disappeared a couple of years before then, tensions had run high. Derick took to traveling with different military contingents. He said he was searching, but Ander thought he was just getting away from their Master.

Their Master was an accomplished Diviner. He was The Person you came to if you wanted an accurate reading of the future, or someone's location. Yet, he couldn't find Xiladdic.

For the past few years, their Master had become more focused than Derick or Ander had ever seen him as he searched for Xi.

Finally, Ander choose to leave their Master's side as well. He hated seeing his Master like that. A friend of his had originally been given the Settlement job, but Ander had traded favors and taken it instead.

While his bread baked, Ander cleaned up his mess.

"What are you doing here?"

Startled, Ander nearly dropped the bowl he was holding. Standing in the doorway was their hostess Flyta, hands on hip and mouth agape.

"Just cooking some hand pies."

Flyta huffed. "I could put that together." The heavy-set woman bustled in and moved over to the oven. "You handled the bread well."

"My parents owned a small bakery as part of their store." Ander stood still on his stool. "Not to mention that I worked in a bakery in Esterwill for the past few months."

"Who'd you work for?" Flyta took the bowl from Ander's hand that had held the stuffing mixture. She swiped the inside with her finger and tasted it.

"Beiro."

"Never heard of him." Flyta cast a critical eye over Ander. "Is bread all you can make?"

Ander shook his head. "I know how to make pasta. It's one of my Master's favorite food groups."

Flyta grinned. "Can't say I've had too much pasta in my life. Around here it's mostly soups, stews, and pretty much the gambit of things you can put between two pieces of bread."

"How about this, I'll make you a bowl for lunch, and you comp our rooms from last night." Ander shrugged. "Deal?"

Flyta tapped her chin before she nodded. "It's a deal. The kitchen will be yours after the lunch rush, and you can make the pasta then." The two of them shook hands.

By mid-morning everyone had assembled downstairs. They each munched happily on a hand pie, as did Flyta and her children.

"So, what's the plan?" Iados's voice was muffled as he talked around his pie. "Are we continuing on?"

"I wouldn't advise it." Flyta sat a table close by, a basket of peas in front of her. Her daughters sat close by. "I stopped and talked to a friend of mine this morning, one who specializes in reading the weather. She says we're due for some more fickle weather, probably for the rest of the year. I'd suggest staying in town till the new year."

Ander groaned and dropped his head onto the table. Jun's eyebrow went up at the audible thud it made.

"Something wrong?"

"When I suggested starting an adventuring party, I was not picturing month after month of downtime."

"What did you picture?" Carric asked.

"More dungeon-crawling and fighting I expect." Iados pulled a toothpick out of his vest. "I went through the same thing after I joined up with the pirates." He pointed the thin sliver of wood at the Halfling. "We can't put our lives in danger every day."

Ander sighed heavily. "I know, it's just that I don't have anything exciting to put in my reports to the Recovery Department. I also haven't learned a new spell in months. How am I supposed to grow as a wizard without new spells?"

"What about that scroll we found back at the Settlement? Did you ever figure it out?" Lia took a large bite of the hand pie. It was tasty, but the jerky was a bit chewy.

"It's a Programmed Illusion spell."

"See, put that in that your spellbook." Iados grinned, confident he'd just solved the problem. Ander glowered at him.

"I can't, it's too high-level."

"Spells have levels?" This time it was Kerri. "I knew that some spells were more powerful than others, but I didn't know there were actual levels."

"The 'levels' are what the Circle uses. It's a good system to use when you have a bunch of students and Apprentices running around. The Circle has a nine-level system of categorization. The Programmed Illusion spell would be considered as a level 6, while right now I'm only skilled enough for level 2 spells and below."

Carric whistled. "Wow, the Circle does not mess around."

"So, it's just the Circle that uses that system?" Kerri stuffed the last of her pie into her mouth.

Iados shook his head. "Some of the more prominent magic vendors have adapted it too, at least those that do business with Circle members."

"It's not used in Stonepine." Lia scowled. "You can't just assign arbitrary rankings to magic. We're taught that the strength of a spell is dependent upon the strength of the wielder."

Ander rolled his eyes. "No offense Lia, but you're a Druid. You have a completely different magical base than I do."

"Excuse me," Lia's eyes went wide. "I'm pretty sure that you and I gather our magic from the same source."

"How so?" Ander titled in head in confusion. "You look to nature for your magic."

"And where does your come from?"

"From study. I study magical texts and glean knowledge." He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted.

"You pull your magic from words written on a page?" Lia frowned. "I was taught, that all magic comes from a single source. From the world at large. That magic permeates the air, the earth, even our own bodies."

Kerri nodded. "That's how Xayoe and my father explained it to me. They said that we're surrounded by the power of the oldest and grandest melody." She propped her head on her hand.

Ander drained the last of his drink. "If you'd have let me finish, then I could have explained. When I said 'magical base', I wasn't talking power source. You're right in that we all pull from the magic that surrounds our world. That's the first thing we're taught at the Circle. However, the second thing we're taught, is that there are different ways to actually use and connect to it." He pointed at Kerri. "You look at magic like it's a piece of sheet of music. You called it a melody even. You use sounds and emotion and rhythm to bring life to your magic. Lia, you're a Druid, meaning that you look to nature and how the magic flows through the natural order. As a Wizard, I use my tomes and incantations to access my magic. My magic isn't as ingrained in my being as yours."

He looked around as he tried to figure out a way to explain it better. "It's as if I'm a cook, throwing together different ingredients to create a new spell or recipe. We're always looking for new recipes to try out. Different techniques that we've never seen."

"So Wizards are basically magic junkies chasing after their next fix." Carric summed up.

Ander sighed heavily. "The cook analogy works better. We more or less all want the 'new and shiny' magic."

"What about Elaine?" Kerri pointed the Cleric who'd been silently eating her pie.

"My power comes from my Deity, he's in charge of deciding what kind of spells I'm allowed, and how powerful." Elaine finished off her pie. "If we truly are stuck in Yeabrook for the rest of the month, then we'll need lodging."

"You're welcome to stay here. 5 silver a day for each room. An extra 20 silver a day will get in-house meals for all you." Flyta offered. "I'll let you have one of the rooms for free if Ander will make those hand pies for me."

"That's not too bad." Jun rubbed his chin. "It's going to cost less to board us than it will the horses."

"When we took them to the stables last night, they said it was five silver a day, per horse." Lia explained. "We've got seven horses, that's 35 silver a day." Lia screwed her eyes up in thought. "Actually, stabling the horses will be pretty much the same as us staying here."

"We could just bed down with the horses." Carric suggested.

"If we've got the money, I think we should stick with actual beds." Kerri rolled her eyes. "Besides, I'm sure we could sell one of the horses if we needed to."

"It's only about thirteen days till the end of the year, I'm sure it'll be fine." Jun smiled, though most of the others didn't share his enthusiasm. Just like Ander, they were ready to adventure.

For the next week the group fell into a routine.

Ander made hand pies that were wrapped up and sold to the construction crews. Every couple of days he'd demonstrate a new pasta dish for Flyta, and a couple of time it was served at dinner.

Kerri bought a sketchbook and drew out some of the more memorable scenes from their adventures so far. Some of them included lyrics for eventual use. Everyone was impressed with the skill she showed, and everyone had their own details to add or comments to make. Ander made a point to show that his feet were actually very proportional to his body, not gigantic.

At night she'd perform in the village square.

Elaine focused on filling vials she'd gotten from the Church with Potions of Healing. She'd learned the basics of creating the potion while working with the Church, but she'd never actually attempted to make them herself. After a week of work, she managed to get three that seemed correct, and not just gelatinous goop.

Elaine wasn't the only one who spent a lot of time in their room. Iados also secluded himself away, but for a different reason. He used this time to practice his lock-picking skills with the tools that Peblin had given him. A few times, he'd gone out with Lia who would act as a lookout while he tried to open the locks on some of the closed businesses.

When Lia wasn't acting as lookout for Iados, she was usually found with Jun.

Jun used this downtime to work on group safety. For a few hours every day, he gathered the group for training. This training mostly focused on weapon use. He stressed the importance of making sure that everyone had some skill with using everyone else's weapons. The main person affected by this was Ander.

"These hands are not made for swinging a sword, they're made for slinging spells!" Ander complained loudly one night after a day of literally swinging a sword. "Besides, I can't concentrate on spells if I'm concentrating on not cutting myself."

Jun sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You need more than just a dagger on you, what if the enemy gets in close."

"Then I'll just Fire Bolt them." Ander rolled his eyes. "Jun, my spells are my weapons."

"What if we enter an area where you can't use magic?" Carric sat on the ground watching them, Shomma in his lap. The weasel had nearly doubled in size, and now occupied Carric's entire lap. "Are you going to just hide behind us while we risk our lives?"

Ander bit his lip. "Of course not," He said after a moment's pause. "I guess I could try something ranged, but small."

In the end Ander found himself outfitted with a new sling and a handful of pebbles.

When they weren't training, Jun and Lia tried to come up strategies that could be used in the field, and possible code words, just for fun.

So far they'd come up with four:

'Cut the candle' = dangerous situation that would more than likely end in everyone's untimely deaths.

'Origami Instruction' = someone's off having sex and probably shouldn't be disturbed.

'Cart drop' = run the hell away.

'Body check' = I'm about to set off a spell, get away.

Hopefully the rest of the group would actually use them.

As for Carric, he spent his mornings and afternoons drifting between training with the team and training with Shomma. She'd already mastered the basic commands of 'sit', 'stay', and 'bite the ear', and was now working on more directional based instructions.

On the last night of the week, he went to sleep and woke up in front of the white tree. This time, he passed through the leaves effortlessly. The woman stood there, her arms crossed.

"It's about time you answered."

"Sorry, but I don't exactly have any control over any of this." Carric moved and sat down on a rock next to the spring. The rock wasn't there before.

"You have more control than you think." The woman sat down next to him. "I have a job for you."

Carric held up a hand. "I don't work for you."

She scoffed. "Yes you do."

"I don't even know your name."

She fixed him with an amused look. "Glendaia."

"Alright then, Glendaia, once again, I don't work for you."

"Why do you think you were brought to this place?" She gestured around her. "My father sent you to serve me."

"And you're father is?"

"Silvanus, God of Nature." The way Glendaia said that, one would assume that information was common knowledge.

Carric went silent for a few seconds as he processed that. "You said before that others had been sent before me."

Glendaia nodded. "Yes, and they all failed. You alone passed the test."

"So what, I'm your Champion now?" His mind thought back to what Jun had explained in what being a Champion to a God meant, at least to the Tribe.

Glendaia laughed. "Carric, I have no need of a Champion, or a Cleric, or a Follower." She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are my gopher, my messenger, basically my own personal postal service."

"What!" Carric clambered to his feet. "I'm no one's delivery boy."

The Goddess rose smoothly to her feet. "Carric, calm down. Look into the water." Her voice was soft and gentle and guided Carric's gaze towards the spring.

The water swirled for a moment, before it became smooth as glass. At first, Carric thought he was looking at stars in the sky. Then, the lines started to erupt out of the small pinpricks of light. As each new line collided with a new pinprick, the pinpricks grew in size. The image zoomed out, and new shadowy shapes began to form underneath the light show.

"This is your world." Glendaia explained. "Those lights, are its leylines. They are created by magic as it stretches and crisscrosses the world, bringing it to life." As she spoke, four points in the area Carric recognized as Marblebrooke, and the countries that surrounded it on their side of the Divide, lit up and grew in size larger than the rest. "Most of the time, the leylines are buried deep within the world, inaccessible to anyone. But those points, those are the points where the magic is strongest, and broke through.

"Long ago, these points were protected." The image changed, and the shadowy outline of a monstrously huge winged beast was shown. "Unfortunately, the Protector's grew lax, greedy, and declared themselves Kings and Queens of the world."

The image changed again. This time, it showed figures of all races as they stood upon the leylines. Light rose out of the lines, and into the figures. "Magic, will always find a way to protect itself. It felt threatened by it's own Protector's, so it created its own. For the first time, it allowed the beings that lived on its world to access it."

"So, you're saying that Magic created wizards, druids, and the like, to protect itself from the Protector's." Carric had sat back down on the rock.

Glendaia lowered herself next to him. "In the beginning, there wasn't any distinction like that. Certain individuals felt the pull of magic, and answered its call for protection. They became almost extensions of the leylines that magic itself traveled through.

"All of these individuals gathered together, and worked for one common goal, to destroy the Protector's. However, they were still children when compared with their enemies. So, the gods stepped in."

"You mean you weren't here in the beginning."

Glendaia smiled softly. "We were here, we just weren't that interested. Your world is just one of thousands that we look over. At the time, you honestly weren't worth it."

"So what made us interesting?"

Glendaia waved her hand and the image changed again. Now, the large shadow figure laid on the ground. A pool of red blood spilling out of its guts. "You killed a Protector." She waved her hand again, and the image of a rolled scroll with a golden thread appeared. "After that, we gave the survivors a ritual, one that would banish the Protectors from their world.

"The survivors gathered and performed the ritual. By this point there were maybe forty of so of them."

"That seems like a lot."

"Not when you consider that over half their number had perished trying to defeat that one Protector. No, they were desperate and accepted our help without any discussion. There was one small group, the ones who were the strongest and would lead the ritual, that actually sat and studied it in full."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that that kind of magic involved a sacrifice."

Glendaia nodded solemnly. "To banish the Protectors and to create a seal that would keep them out of the world forever, would mean almost everyone involved in the ritual would die. The seal would be created out of their very magical essences."

Carric leaned back on his rock. "How come no one's ever heard of this?"

"Everyone who was involved except a handful of the most powerful all died, just like they were supposed to. In the years after, those who were left set about erasing the Protector's from history. They were afraid that someone would try to break the seal and bring them back to your world. At the same time, magic flowed more freely in the world than it did before. Without its Protectors, the spots where the leylines broke through gushed like geysers. It wasn't just those chosen few who could wield magic anymore."

Glendaia guided Carric's gaze back to the water. The image cleared itself, and was replaced. Now, a rainbow fountain that seemed to be all the colors of the spectrum, even colors he'd never seen before, gushed out of the ground. Around it stood people who bathed in its 'waters'. The more he watched, he saw these people change in shape and form. Some became ethereal with pointed ears and the sharp features of the Elves. Others turned grotesque and monstrous.

"Magic is not inherently good or evil. It is the hearts of man that forces it one direction or the other. After the banishment of the Protectors, your world changed. Now it overflowed in magic, and the gods swooped in and collected followers like candy." Glendaia scowled and the image changed again. Badges with different symbols etched upon them bubbled into existence one by one. "Gods who were close to losing their power and disappearing into the ether, all of a sudden found themselves being renewed. A gods power is directly linked to their Followers, and the people of this world were all blank canvases. They didn't know the history of the gods, they didn't know the relationships. The gods used them like pawns. Used them like meat suits to walk among their followers and fuel themselves.

"In the end, nothing had really changed for all of you. Instead of being servants and minions of the Protectors, you now found yourselves servants and minions of the gods. Gods who sought to bring their troubles to your world and use it as their battleground.

"The worst part was, no one except the Exalted, the survivors of the First Banishment, even knew this. They'd been so successful erasing the Protectors and their own history, that no one saw the signs."

Carric reached out and touched the surface of the water. The image shifted to five shadowy figures. "If there's a First Banishment, then was there a second?"

Glendaia smiled and nodded. "The Exalted had amassed followers of their own. They gathered in the city of Skonia, where one of the largest leyline geysers existed. While their followers defended the city from invaders, the Exalted drew upon the magic in the leylines to perform the ritual."

"What happened?" Carric's voice was soft as the original map of the leylines shifted into focus.

"They succeeded in driving the gods out of the land, but they weren't able to create a seal as powerful as before. They succeeded in only creating a magical gate that locked the gods from being able to step upon the world. Our influence is still felt, but we can no longer walk amongst you."

"What about the Exalted?"

"They all perished." Glendaia snapped her fingers and the leylines burst. "The amount of magical energy that was exerted sent shockwaves through the leylines. This was the Great Calamity. Skonia was decimated, The Divide was created, and the very landscape of your world was changed. The leylines were disrupted, broken, and thrown into chaos. The geysers disappeared as they were once again swallowed."

The whole image of the leylines went dark. The two of them were silent for several minutes as Glendaia gave Carric time to process it all. Slowly, the pinpricks flared back to life. Whereas before they were spread out in an even pattern, now they stood grouped together in patches. They were long stretches where no pins existed. Crawling lines began to stretch out, much more slowly than before.

"It's taken time, but your world is healing. Magic will always find a way to survive." Glendaia's voice as soft as she laid a hand on Carric's shoulder. "I have been tasked my father to fix the leylines, and I need your help. I need you, to bring me a sapling."

A/N: It's here, finally! Thank you to everyone for being so patient. I felt like I owed you all something, so I gave some lore! Next time the downtime is over!

Till Next Time!