Day 70: Toilday the 27th, Neth, 4707
I got up this morning feeling really refreshed. I guess that surviving a brush with death like that probably creates an effect similar to the feeling referenced by the narrator in Fight Club. Waking up next to a beautiful woman like Savah who is interested in me makes me wonder why I would ever go back. There is a lot of things that I will never get back, I'll never be able to see how Marvel ends the Infinity Stone Saga, I won't find out what happens to Magicians or any of the other movies or shows that I used to watch. But now I get to live in the world that is like all of the fantasy worlds that I had seen before.
There is something odd about this world however. I can't help but think that I've read something like this before. I'll figure it out eventually, at least it feels like I will. I woke up Savah with a kiss and went to go make breakfast. Bailey was ready to go out as well, so I let them out as well. I finished up breakfast and brought Savah breakfast in bed.
After our breakfast, Savah got dressed and headed down to her store while I headed to my workshop. It was then that I realized what I really needed to with the money that I had gotten when I saw Veronica working steadily on the projects as indicated on the chart. She had finished another shock baton yesterday during all of the chaos of the day. She was getting ready to make a set of armor today, as Savah had apparently talked to a new paladin yesterday, but they had only showed up late in the day and couldn't get the quilted armor from Rynshinn yesterday and would be back today.
I realized that I had complained to myself that I wasn't getting enough done with just Veronica, so I needed to talk to Faunra. I went out of the shop and went to go talk to Savah. Savah was talking to this new paladin, a young man with some elvish features by the name of Marcus. He was talking to Savah about how he had heard about this from Chaplain Tira and still didn't believe it. Savah said that it was something that we were offering to minimize the damage that ghouls can do to these communities, and that Paladins were the defense that we could get against ghouls, especially since paladins are immune to diseases and ghouls are spread by disease.
I cleared my throat and Savah looked to me. She smiled and introduced Marcus to me. I asked Marcus if he had been to see Rynshinn for that portion of the armor. He said that he had, and presented the quilted armor. I asked him if he wanted to go into the shop or if he would be fine with just having it made? Marcus was fine with having it made. I shrugged and went into the shop. Veronica had already gotten the oven up to temperature and had the paste already prepared. I used my prestidigitation powers to undo the threads on the seams for the individual panels and presented the pieces to Veronica for processing. She immediately started and I headed back out to the store.
Savah and Marcus were talking about different aspects of the gear and weapons that she had, and was actually looking to acquire one of the masterwork longswords that we had recovered from the Skeletons in the dungeon. I had gotten into the practice of just mending everything that the group ever finds to ensure it was in good working order, should ever we sell it. I told them that my assistant would be working on this and that it should be done in about six hours. Savah gave me a raised eyebrow and I told her that I was reflecting on what happened yesterday, and that I needed to talk to Faunra immediately.
Savah nodded and asked me if it would take a long time. I shrugged and said that I hoped that I would not, but that I couldn't just let Faunra have an enemy and me not do anything about it, since I had so much help from everyone else here in this town myself. Savah came over and gave me a long kiss before telling me not to tarry. She winked at me and whispered that she didn't want to miss me for too long. I smiled and said that I would go as quickly as my bike would take me.
With just me, on my bike, with only the gear that I truly felt that I needed, I could go at a very good clip. This wasn't something that I liked to advertise, especially because the others bikes did not have this amount of work done on them, but I could get a good forty-eight miles an hour on the bike. This would be redlining everything, but I also wouldn't be riding it this was for a full hour. I also go through water in the tank at a rate of a gallon a minute at this speed, because the cooling system can't keep up and the excess steam is bled off. It is still a good deal better than anything the rest of the group can do.
As such, I got to Faunra and Shalelu's place in less than half an hour. There was dust flying up from my tires as I rode at a speed much faster than I would imagine this planet had seen. As such, I barely had time to get a response from Shalelu on the radio before I pulled up. When I got to their place, there was a spell dual going on between Faunra and an elven wizard that I had never met. Shalelu managed to get to me before I would have broken the spell circle, and I pulled to a very quick stop. Shalelu asked what was so important that I needed to interrupt the dual. I told her that I didn't want to interrupt, but that I wanted to make sure that a storyteller of my renown was here to see this unnamed wizard be defeated by the great Magus Faunra Felldoom so that I could properly tell the story throughout the realm.
The dual continued, and the elven wizard seemed to be trying even harder to win than when I first drove up. It seemed that my bluster was causing him to pull out all of the stops. When Faunra inevitably won, the Elven Wizard claimed to Faunra that I had disrupted the battle and as such he would come back tomorrow for satisfaction. I smiled and asked the Wizard for his name. The wizard gritted his teeth and asked me why. I smiled and said that as any self-respecting storyteller, I needed to ensure that my details were as accurate as possible. The wizard sneered and said that a dead man had no need of knowing his name, and launched a spell at me. He launched a lightning bolt at me. Or at least he tried to. Faunra reacted with battle practiced skill and deftly counterspelled him.
Faunra yelled out to him that if he wanted to go at this in a permanent way, that she wouldn't stop me from killing the wizard, and that I was a mage slayer with several kills under my belt. I noted to the wizard that I did not want to take any drastic actions, and that I'd rather that he just leave my friend alone and not come back. The Wizard sneered and noted that it wasn't likely that I killed multiple wizards. Faunra noted that I had downed at least four in her presence, and that he might recognize me by my more well-known name, Johnny Blaze. The Wizard seemed to recognize that name and I played it up by shushing Faunra, noting that since he now knew one of the names that I went under, I would have to finish this unless he left right now.
The wizard looked a bit worried but went to cast another spell. This was a spell that I recognized almost immediately as Fly. He took to the sky and waited there for a few seconds before Faunra reminded me of the time I dropped a flying sorcerer before it could react after it tried to hit me with a lightning bolt and hurt my friends. I sighed and told her that I really hated to bring this up, but that sorcerer did end up giving up some of their power to me before they died because of that. The wizard balked and flew off. I yelled after him in Elvish that I would hunt him down if I caught him creeping around the Ashen Rise ever again.
Faunra smiled and came over to talk to me. Apparently this guy had been coming back every day for the past few days, challenging her to spell combat and ruining any chance she had to enchant any items, since he would make her waste all of her spells before fleeing. I told her that if she had any further trouble with him, to give me a call, that I can be here in under a half an hour. Faunra balked and asked how I was doing that. I told her that my bike had special modifications that had to be constantly monitored during operation that I could use to get a LOT more speed out of it, but to please not tell Dame Rebekah or Jonathan, because I didn't want them to feel self-conscious.
Faunra smiled and asked what it would take to be able to do this with her bike, and I told her that it basically took special training like what she took for learning to be a Magus. She balked at that and asked me if there was anything else that I needed. I smiled a weak smile and asked her if it would be possible for her to make another Homunculus, in the same way that she made the first one. Faunra smiled and asked if I was still having trouble keeping up with orders. I shrugged and noted that I would like to be able to work on things for the party in addition to working on things for the Lord-Mayor, Eviana, the Paladins of Iomedae, and Mayor Deverin. Faunra lifted an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. She noted that she'd either need a pint of blood or my machete for a day.
I asked her if we could go ahead and just collect if from my arm, and then I could use a healing potion to heal up afterwards. Faunra agreed and we all went up to her workshop. After a few minutes, I got a syringe out of my medical kit, used prestidigitation to ensure that it was clean, and then started the process. After the pint was collected, Shalelu pulled the needle out while I downed the potion. I felt right as rain after drinking down that potion. Faunra noted that she would have it finished by the end of the day, and that she would bring it by tomorrow morning. I thanked her and asked her if there was anything else that she needed from me for anything. She noted that there was a large amount of magical ingredients that she needed to utilize, and asked if I could reimburse her for it. I asked her how much she needed, and she gave me an amount. I offered to pay her double but she shook her head. She told me that she had found a way to harvest what she needed here on the Ashen Rise with a good deal of discount, but that she would need to order some things in either Sandpoint or Magnimar when we got there.
I thanked her and told her that I would be glad to see her tomorrow. Faunra noted that she would be glad to drop by, as Shalelu had decided to go with us to Magnimar, as she was going to take a trip to a distant forest to visit her step-father on the twenty-ninth and Faunra would like to have some company while Shalelu was gone. I told her that Savah had offered the guest room to Vaeren, as he would be taking over running the store and the shop while we went to Magnimar, but after that, we could put him up in a room and she could stay with us if she liked, or we could just visit each other periodically. Faunra said that we could talk about it more tomorrow.
As I was about to leave, a wizened goblin approached. They had no weapons and were announcing themselves as they approached. I stayed my hand while Faunra and Shalelu came out. Shalelu greeted the goblin in his language and introduced him to us. She told us that his name was Droop and that he had been befriended by a group of adventurers a long time ago, and that he was working to try to reform his tribe of goblins form attacking passersby. I told Droop that this was an admirable goal, and that if there was anything I could do to help, that he need only pass word along through Faunra or Shalelu. Droop nodded and thanked me, but said that this time he was dealing with a matter of magic.
I told him that I completely understood, and that I would leave them to it. I waved by to Faunra and Shalelu and got on my bike. I started the boiler again and took off, ramping up to full speed. As I left the Ashen Rise, heading towards Wisher's Well, I got hit by some magical bolts of energy. I recognized it as Magic Missile, and looked around. I saw him at a distance of one hundred and fifty feet away from me, attempting to hide behind a bush. I knew that I needed to clear the distance between us quickly, so I turned quickly and ran him down with my pistol out. As soon as I got within five feet of him, I shot at him. It hit him in the shoulder and he looked quite shocked.
He backed up with practiced movement and cast another spell at me. He used some electrical variant of scorching ray from what I understand. The electricity ran through me like I was used to but I threw off the effect but not before dropping my pistol. I drew my machete as I moved up to the sorcerer and saw my opening. I slashed the elf across the neck and opened up his throat. His hand went to his neck and he dropped. I noted as he lost consciousness that it was a bit upsetting that I never did learn his name.
I downed another potion right quick, just in case he had an associate or something else hiding in the background. There wasn't any action after a thirty seconds so I checked on the wizard. He was stable but not conscious. I got on my radio and called up Faunra. Shalelu answered the call. I told her what had happened and asked her what I should do. Shalelu noted that if the situation was reversed, they would have left me to die, thinking that it was the cruelest option, or killed me to take a trophy to brag to others. Shalelu suggested that it would be cruel to leave the elf to die of exposure, that the elf would just keep hunting us if I let him live and that the law of the wild is that if you can't kill something you shouldn't attack it, because it will kill you.
I thought about all of this, and realized that this place really was the wild west with magic instead of six shooters. I took my machete and plunged it down into his throat. I then paged Shalelu one more time. I asked her what his name was. She responded back that she was told that it was Valendron Oparal. I thanked her and took out a sheet of paper and wrote the name on it. I put it on the elf's chest after I stripped him of anything that I felt would give me problems with cremation. I used my machete for its original purpose and got some wood for making a pyre. I then used the prestidigitation powers to convert some material to oil and doused the body with it before sparking it up.
With the body dealt with, I packed everything up and headed back home, at the same quick speed that I had left to head too Faunra's with. I got home quickly and headed in to talk to Savah. Marcus was gone and Savah was there waiting for me when she noted that I still had some residual wounds. She asked me what had happened and I told her that I had to kill another spellcaster. Savah nodded and asked where it happened. I told her that it was on the Ashen Rise after leaving Faunra's place. I dumped out the pool of items that I had looted off the body. Savah reiterated what Shalelu had told me about it being for everyone's safety.
I thanked her before heading in to check in on Veronica. I noted to Veronica that I would be getting another assistant to work in the workshop with her, and that this would help her work faster. Veronica asked if this was Vaeren, and I shook my head, but noted that he would be here on the twenty-ninth to ensure that she didn't need for any materials while I was in Magnimar. Veronica nodded and went back to work. I took a look over the work and assembled what was needed.
I went back out to the store and found that Savah had locked up for lunch. We went upstairs and I made a good meal. Savah and I enjoyed our mid-day luncheon and drinks before Savah asked if we just wanted to spend the rest of the day together. I agreed and we spent a good long time in the bath, luxuriating. After a few hours of a bath and relaxing, Savah and I headed back downstairs to get Marcus his armor. Marcus was more than glad, and ended up purchasing the longsword that he was looking at earlier. He left his old chain shirt with Savah and thanked us. I told him that he should seek out Faunra Felldoom of the Ashen Rise if he wants it to look into getting it enchanted. He said that he would and headed out.
Savah and I decided to spend the rest of the day together, enjoying the fact that we had each other. It was still nice to have someone who was so accepting of me. We had a nice quiet dinner, and afterwards spent the evening together. A nice way to relax after a stressful day like this one.