AN: I'd like to preface the chapter with a reminder that this is an AU, and as such, I will have changed around some of the things of various parts of the world of Remnant, including Vacuo.
IMPORTANT INFO! This is one of the changes to the normal Canon that I am making. The city of Coquina, Vacuo is being moved to the southern end of Vacuo within the bay which I am now naming the Bay of Bones. Oscuro Academy will also be moving alongside it to the same location. Also, I decided to make it so that Vacuo isn't a lawless wasteland as described by the cast, but rather a generally more rambunctious place. Everyone not from Vacuo still calls it Lawless, but that is just them being uniformed about the place by Vacuoan who are trying to trick them into not coming there, cause they hate tourists... Yeah, I think I just made Vacuo into a combination of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Florida... Your Welcome!
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, or any properties related to it, only the OCs I have created.
Story Reviews:
Raxxon1221: I wasn't planning on allowing other individuals to have any form of class in this story. However, I will look into it, thank you for the idea.
ProfessorGoblitz: Yes, a round only lasts six seconds. My apologies if it looked like I was implying otherwise in that scene, but Mowgli's spell wore out a few seconds after he reached the top of the wall. The intent behind casting it was to protect himself if someone threw a spear at him the moment, he stepped up there. As for the rolls, they are all 100% natural, before each skill check, I write down the possible results, and then afterwards pick based on the roll. This has led to certain plot points opening up, and others being closed off, or at least delayed. One such occurrence happens in this chapter, though it will be hard to recognize till later on.
Caboose118: Thanks!
GhostlyDrew: I'm a bit confused on exactly what you mean by leaving the rolls till the end. I don't know if you meant at the end of the action, the fight or dialogue scene, or at the end of the chapter itself. For now I have left them where they are, and I'm going to do a poll to determine their future placement.
tempace: To start, your English is fine, better than some native speakers to be honest. Breaking down your review piece by piece, I'll begin on your pairing ideas. I'm not 100% if your suggesting four separate pairings, or a Polyamorous ship. I'm nowhere near certain on what my plans for pairings (if any) are currently, but I will definitely take those suggestions into consideration. As for Salem, I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that Mowgli is an empathetic person, who had seen all the cruelty and injustice she has suffered.
Vertias123: Glad you understand! Although RWBY may not be as over the top of an anime as some are, from a perspective of D , team RWBY were the equivalent of a party of four level 5 adventurers, just from episode one. The sheer number of attacks and damage they could fit into one turn is absurd. Even now, if Mowgli came up against even Weiss alone, he would be hard pressed to beat her.
Magi Mari: I'm a little confused about what exact situation your referring to, but I'll assume you mean his talk with Raven. Normally, Mowgli would never have revealed his knowledge, or himself for that matter, to any of the main characters yet. However, Mowgli is an empathetic individual, who would have felt immense guilt about leaving the villagers to die. At the same time, Mowgli could see that there was absolutely no chance that they could win against Raven. So, he frightened her off in order to save the people's lives. I know that a lot of Gamer fics are popular for having heartless and cold protagonists who use their psychopathy to feel no guilt for any action they take, but mine do not. I understand if that is what you are not looking for in a fic, and I wish you well on your search for one that fits your tastes.
Bankleo305: Thanks, I had a lot of fun writing the interaction between Raven and Mowgli in that chapter, and while this one isn't anywhere on the same scale, it does help set-up the following one, which I am very excited to write!
dlmauricio19: Yep, I have like 40 different ideas on how the reunion between Blake and Mowgli might go down. They range from fights, chase scenes, and shouting matches, all the way to kidnapping.
Translation: Mater (Latin) - Mother (English)
TWO IMPORTANT POLLS!
Poll 1: The Pairing! I have no idea how adept I would be at writing a pairing, so, I'm going to put it to a vote. You can either be FOR having a pairing, or AGAINST having a pairing. If you are FOR having a pairing, then you may also vote for whether there should only be ONE, or MORE! In your votes, you may also suggest which characters you would like to see Mowgli paired with. However, there will be no guarantee that I accept any of the suggestions.
Poll 2: GhostlyDrew had brought it to my attention that the rolls and calculations for various skill checks and attacks may be distracting from the story. So, I want y'alls opinion on the matter. Do you want them moved to the end of the chapter, the end of the scene, just after the action occurs, to stay in place, more of them, less of them? Let me know in the reviews!
Visiting Vacuo with a Valiant Venerable Vanguard: Part 1 (Chapter 4)
Mowgli stood, heaving, his mace covered in the drying ick of Grimm blood. Around him laid the decaying bodies of Beowolves and a Beringel, a smoldering building behind him. The black smoke around him wafted upwards into the air as Mowgli heard the sound of a mass of approaching people.
Looking over, Mowgli saw a contingent of about 45 soldiers march in, they all wore desert camo with sand grey body armor pieces and tan cloth wrapped around the parts that weren't covered. Add to them the suspiciously M16 rifles and M249 light machineguns, Mowgli could see a clear resemblance to the American military force from Earth.
They all began fanning out, various hand signals went up, most not understood by Mowgli, along with various bits of radio chatter. Once they had completed a full perimeter around where he stood, one of them called out to him. "Drop your weapon!" He ordered.
Slow with his movements, Mowgli gently placed Crackdown on the sandy earth, giving gentle care to the mechashift device.
"Kick your weapon away!" The commander ordered, ignoring his platoon's chatter, mostly around the phrase "White Fang".
Mowgli knew that he should be complying, but he truly was grateful to Midnight for her help, and there was no way in Hell that he was going to disrespect a gift she bestowed upon him. "No can do, this weapon was a gift." The cleric called out.
Mowgli just began thinking about how odd it was that there was this large of a group of nearby stationed soldiers when a new individual stepped in. Ignoring the various rifles all aimed at Mowgli, she walked over to the commanding officer, "Lieutenant Gutiérrez, report." She ordered.
The lieutenant began speaking to his superior after a quick salute, however Mowgli wasn't paying attention to his words. No, he was more focused on the recent addition to the equation, she was tall, maybe 7ft, salt and pepper hair, transformed most likely by both stress and age. She wore a series of badges and medals across her heart, a couple of them glinting in the Vacuoan sun. Her uniform was roughly similar to the other military operatives present, however there was a clear bit of pomp added to it, a very minor amount, but it was present none the less. The way it was placed suggested that it was worn begrudgingly and not out of choice. All of that, however, was ignored. Mowgli's eyes were on the clawed hands fitted into silver fingerless gloves. The claws themselves were mostly unremarkable, except for two factors. The first being the missing right hand pinky finger, and the second was a bright red gloss on the nail of the remaining pinky.
Seemingly done with his report, the lieutenant finished speaking. Finally giving a proper look to the surrounded individual, the woman's eyes widened and then she smiled, "Identify yourself!" She called out, almost cheerfully, already walking towards Mowgli.
A little confused with her demeaner, but willing to comply, Mowgli answered, "I am the Mengerian ambassador and prince, Mowgli Belladonna. I'm here to meet with a Vacuoan Councilor to be escorted to the capital for a summit with the Council to discuss a series of negotiations between our nations."
By the time Mowgli had finished speaking, the woman was far closer now, only 10ft off, and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she already knew who he was before she asked. For some reason that Mowgli couldn't shake, he felt like he recognized her, but had no idea why.
Investigation Check: 8 (Rolled) +2 (Int. Mod.) =10
Failure
But nothing could come into his head before she finally had reached him. As she stood in front of him, being one of the view people that Mowgli had to crane his head to look at, her smile grew into a smug grin.
...
~7 Days Earlier Aboard the Argonaut~
Mowgli sat up abruptly at the sound of the ships horn. Archimedes squawked as he was tossed into the air off of Mowgli's stomach from where he was sleeping, with Mowgli's sudden rise.
A soft click and crackle ran across the ship's PA as the captain's voice came on, relaying a similar message to the one of two days prior, "This is a notice to all passengers that we will be arriving in Coquina, Vacuo in 30 minutes. If that is your stop, then I would like to thank you for travelling with us today. If you are part of the group that will be continuing on to Kuo Kuana Menagerie, then please know that we will be stopped for only 1 hour and will not delay for stray passengers."
Stretching his arms, giving a short yawn, and feeling his ears flutter a bit as he woke up, Mowgli prepared for the day and called out, "Stats-yawn".
Stat Sheet:
Name: Mowgli De Coquina Belladonna
Alignment: Lawful Good
Race: Faunus (lynx)
Class: Arcana Cleric
Character Level: 4 (Proficiency Bonus: +2)
Exp: 5,900/6,500
AP: 40/40 (1 Aura Point = 2 HP)
HP: 31/31 = 8 (Base) +8 (2 Con. Mod. X 4 Levels) +15 (5 X 3 Levels over 1st)
AC: 17 = 14 (Scale Mail ) +2 (Dex. Mod.) +1 (Shield)
Initiative Bonus: +4 = 2 (Dex. Mod.) + 2 (Racial Trait)
Speed: 30ft
Passive Perception: 16 = 10 (Base) +4 (Wis. Mod.) +2 (Prof. Bonus)
Saving Throw Proficiency: Wisdom and Charisma
Skill Proficiency: History, Perception, Aura Use, and Persuasion.
Strength: 0 (10)
Dexterity: +2 (14)
Constitution: +2 (14)
Intelligence: +2 (14)
Wisdom: +4 (18)
Charisma: +2 (14)
Channel Divinity: Turn Undead and Arcane Abjuration
Cantrips: Light, Sacred Flame, Thaumaturgy, Hand of Radiance, Guidance (Cast once per long rest), Mage Hand (Cast once per long rest), Blade Ward (Always Prepared), and Firebolt (Always Prepared).
Spell Points: 17/17
Prepared 1st Level Spells (Casting Cost: 2): Find Familiar (Can be Cast for No Cost once per long rest), Detect Magic (Domain Spell: Always Prepared), Magic Missile (Domain Spell: Always prepared), Cure Wounds, Guiding Bolt, Protection from Evil and Good, and Bless.
Prepared 2nd Level Spells (Casting Cost: 3): Magic Weapon (Domain Spell: Always prepared), Nystul's Magic Aura (Domain Spell: Always prepared), Spiritual Weapon, Lesser Restoration, and Continual Flame.
Proficiencies: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields, Remnant The Game, and Simple Weapons.
Languages: Vytalian, Vacish, Mistralian.
Currency: 11,792Lien
Mowgli smiled as he looked at his recently updated character sheet. He had to admit, adding points to his wisdom score had been one of the weirdest sensations he had ever felt. It was like someone updated every memory of his to 4k and new meanings to interactions were brought to light in his mind. Overall though, he felt like a million Lien, he could definitely feel his increased health, and felt a lot safer for it. Finished with his internal musings, Mowgli quickly packed away the few items that he had taken out of the rucksack he was travelling with. While Mowgli had gone through his stuff the morning after the first night on the ship, he had come across a gift from his father.
Dear Mowgli,
You may not remember, but when you were four years old, you snuck into my office while your mother and I were making dinner. When your mother, sister, and I noticed you were gone, we checked all through the estate, worried that you had been kidnapped. We sent the guards out across the island asking anyone if they had seen you. After two hours of you being missing, we had become frantic, tearing apart the island and house looking for you. It was only after I had returned to my office to stop and consider where you may be, when I found my coat lying on my desk chair. I lifted it to find you sound asleep under it, with your arms barely making their way into the sleeves of the garment. It was three weeks later that I had this commissioned, and I've been holding onto it for the right time to give it to you.
Love,
Dad
The note was attached to a small brown wrapping papered object. Gently tearing at the seams of the package, Mowgli opened to find a beautiful dark purple coat nearly identical to his father's. The only difference was the thinner profile to fit Mowgli's more lithe physique.
Thankful for the gift, Mowgli quickly picked out a wardrobe from the other clothes he brought and finished preparing for the day. However, as he put the amulet on, he was introduced to a new feature of Midnight's gift.
Would you like to assign a new Outfit?
Yes/No
'Um... yes...' Mowgli tentatively answered.
Insert Outfit name [...]
'Uh, Ambassadorial Attire,' He supplied.
New outfit created!
Available outfits:
Cleric Clothing (Medium Armor requires 5 minutes to don)
Ambassadorial Attire (Requires one Action to don)
'Well that's neat,' Mowgli thought, before selecting the new outfit.
With a flash he was redressed. He left his room wearing tan pants that led into his combat boots, a light blue colored shirt, and a golden sash on his waits (Bull fighters sash). As for his amulet, it had shrunk and become one of the buttons on the cufflinks of his collared shirt. His rucksack was thrown over his shoulders as he made his way to the bow of the ship. There, he could see the dock and approaching sands of Vacuo. He planned to wear the coat during his meeting with the Vacuoan Council but would rather not wear it now in the desert heat.
As the ship finally reached the dock and several of the dock workers began tying down the lines, Mowgli was approached by Jason. "Your stop, Prince Belladonna."
"Mowgli." The ambassador corrected, "Jason, You know you can call me that. Honestly, I insist that you do so."
"Sorry Mowgli, It's just not every day that you ferry royalty around the globe. Though, I did once meet a man who came aboard, got excessively drunk, and preceded to claim to be the reincarnation of the king of Vale. That was fifty-seven years ago, when I was but a regular crewman on this vessel, but I still remember it well." Jason commented.
"...That, is quite interesting." Mowgli responded, having a feeling he knew who it was.
"Yes," Jason answered, not noticing Mowgli's recognition of the individual, "He looked quite distressed when he came on board, kept muttering about the old fairytale of the Four Maidens. I do hope that he got better."
"By Mystra! What the hell Ozpin?" Mowgli harshly swore under his breath, thinking about the potential breech of the secret war that the drunk reincarnator could have caused.
"Pardon, what was that Mowgli?" Jason asked, mishearing the cleric.
"Nothing, just surprised at the story is all. I best get going though, it was nice meeting you Jason." Mowgli answered before sticking out his hand.
"Of course, it was great meeting you Mowgli," Jason responded as he shook Mowgli's hand.
"Good luck!" Jason called out as Mowgli walked down the gangplank onto the dock, Mowgli waved in response.
Mowgli looked out into the city of Coquina, and like Kitakyushu, the city seemed similar to some from Earth. This one, Mowgli had actually been to in his previous life, that being the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. There was a few posh skyscrapers on the beach of the city, and as Mowgli went further back, he came across more commercial and residential areas. The houses were mostly painted in bright pastel hues that gave the city a fantastical appearance. If Mowgli had to guess, he would say he saw a roughly even split of Faunus and Humans walking the sidewalks and driving down the streets. Coquina was about as far South as you could go in Vacuo before you reached the wilds, the port city was nestled in the Bay of Bones, on the Eastern half of the continent of Sanus. The bay had gotten its name for the sheer number of Atlesians and Mistralians who had died there during the Battle of the Sunken Bones, in the Great War. They had attempted to launch a naval attack on the port town, thinking it had no defenses, but the Vacuoans had armed themselves with artillery that they had hidden in the alleyways of the city. The combined Mistral and Atlesian force were not prepared for the resistance they faced that day, and over 10,000 souls had perished that day.
After asking a few people for directions, Mowgli made it to the hotel he was staying at. It was only four stories tall, and not as glamorous as the ones on the beach, however it looked far more 'homely' than the others. On the sides of the building were a series of wooden decks that hung off from every floor, and Mowgli could see individuals walking under a red and white cloth gazebo on the roof. Thinking on it, Mowgli decided that 'inn' would better fit the description of the place than hotel. This was further affirmed when Mowgli entered the sand brick building, passing under the lacquered wooden sign, reading in proud red letters, "The Owl's Oasis". Inside, he was greeted to a maître d'hôtel desk, and a semi-formally dressed and olive skinned salamander Faunus. The man's second and third eyelids open upon the tinkling of the bell above the door, pseudo scales could be seen along the corners of his eyes, just slightly darker than the rest of his skin.
His face was somewhat leathery, most likely from the high exposure to the sun when outside of the covered restaurant. As he opened his mouth to speak, the skin crinkled slightly along the corners, "Welcome to The Owl's Oasis, how may I help you today sir?" The man asked kindly, the gravel in his voice was quite deep despite how young he appeared overall.
"Hi, I wanted to rent a room for the night." Mowgli spoke, closing the door behind him, causing the Fire Dust candles in the room to flicker with the change of air current.
"Of course sir, we have just a few more rooms available. Would you like to purchase the dinner buffets alongside it?" The older Faunus offered.
"Yeah, that would be great. Do you offer a lunch option or...?" Mowgli asked after agreeing to the man's proposition.
"Oh, my apologies, lunch comes with your room, where it is served from 11:00am to 2:00pm on the roof." He replied to the younger Faunus. "In total, for one night that comes out to 400Lien."
"Any recommendations on night life you can give?" Mowgli commented, looking for a lead in his search.
The man looked ready to reply, however he was interrupted by the door behind his desk opening. Stepping through was a man of at least 80, and Mowgli was 90% that he was the Remnant version of Christopher Walken, which was only confirmed by the man's familiar voice, "Pierre, has the Belladonna boy come in yet, Ghira told me-Woah!" The elderly Human expressed his surprise as he turned to see Mowgli standing there.
"By Oum! Mowgli, is that you?" The astonished man asked, appearing surprised by how large Mowgli was.
"Um... Yeah, I'm sorry, do I know you?" Mystra's chosen voiced his confusion.
"No, I doubt you would, but I know you well enough. Why, I delivered you in this very hotel." The man answered wistfully, thinking back to the day.
"Wha...?" Mowgli's voice trailed off. His mind, not expecting this level of shock that day.
"Yes, your mother was pregnant with you during your parents' honeymoon. It was their second to last night staying here when I woke up to screaming, it was only an hour later that you were born." The hotel owner explained, "Ah! Where are my manners, my name is Jessie Alvarado, and this here is my son Pierre Alvarado." The introduced, gesturing to himself and his son.
"Mowgli, Mowgli De Coquina Belladonna. It's nice to properly meet you sir." Mowgli responded, still weirded out about how the day had gone.
"None of that! Its uncle J to you!" The man enthusiastically replied, "Come, come, its 11:45 and my wife Lya will be on the roof making lunch." 'Uncle J' began to cheerfully lead Mowgli up the few flights of stairs to the roof.
"Um, Uncle J, I haven't paid for my-" Mowgli began.
"-Nonsense," Jessie cut off, "I'm not charging my nephew to stay with me. Besides, Lya will be so happy to see you."
Jessie then led Mowgli up the final steps before throwing open the roof access door. Noise flooded in from the various conversations occurring, fans whirring, and the sizzling of food on a cooktop. Meanwhile, the smell of marinated chicken, steamed rice, and lager wafted through the air.
Following behind Jessie, Mowgli took in the sight of the other hotel guests eating, drinking, and chatting in various lounge chairs of vibrant colors, set all around the roof. Looking over, he saw a group of people setting up some instruments and speakers on a raised deck on the roof, chatting animatedly with a few guests. Finally, he was led to the large cooking area, a few grills and cooktops were set up in one corner of the roof, small motes of Fire Dust rose from between the grates of the cooktop. Behind it worked three individuals. An older female lioness Faunus, a Human girl around Mowgli's age, and a Faunus girl around half of Mowgli's age. Mowgli watched them work as Jessie introduced the older woman as his wife Lya, the younger girl as his middle daughter Noémie, and the youngest as his daughter Isabella.
"Lya, mi paloma!" Jessie called as they walked over. Mowgli recognized it as the Vacish term of endearment, 'My dove'.
"Look who I found standing in our front hall!" The man excitedly gestured to Mowgli.
The woman looked up from the mortar and pestle she was using, silver rimmed glasses framed her hazel eyes as she stared towards Mowgli. She had sandy blonde hair that framed her face like a mane, with small whisker marks visible on her cheeks. Slowly, her eyes widened, and a cheerful grin appeared on her face, "Mowgli! Oh how good it is to see you!" Lya spoke as she came over and hugged him, her head barely reaching his shoulder. She appeared Valean, and her accent further specified that to the northern region of Vale, Lyon, the Remnant equivalent of France. She stood on her tip toes to reach up and kiss the sides of his face. "You're so big, come sit down, a growing boy like you needs to eat!" She began leading him by his arm towards one of the many table set-up on the roof.
"Now, wait here, I will be back with food in just a minute." Lya ordered as she sat him at one of the many oaken chairs at the long table.
Marching off, Lya rejoined her daughters in the kitchen. As she spoke, Mowgli's ears unintentionally caught onto the conversation as he heard his name. Curious, he listened in for a little bit.
Perception Check: 5 (Rolled 3 and 5 with Advantage) +4 (Wis. Mod.) +2 (Prof. Bonus) = 11
Minor Failure!
However, due to the noise on the roof, he was only able to catch snippets of conversation. Those snippets were the three phrases from Lya to Noémie of "A real prince", "Anything like his father", and "Talk to him", followed by Noémie's indignant cry of "Mater!".
A few moments later, as Mowgli was still chuckling under his hand about the conversation he overheard, though a little confused why hearing part of it counted as a failure, he felt a small tugging on the sleeve of his collared shirt. Looking down and to the right, he saw the youngest girl, Isabella, looking up at him with wide, star-filled, baby blue eyes. Her voice was light, cheerful, and curious, "My mater says that you're a prince, but I heard that princes are all from fairytales. Are you from a fairytale?"
Smiling down at the girl, Mowgli answered, "No, but I once heard a wise man say that all fairytales have a hint of truth to them. Afterall, they had to have come from somewhere, didn't they?"
"Woah! Does that mean you're gonna marry a princess?" Isabella asked with wonder.
"No, sadly there aren't really any princesses around anymore." Mowgli said in faux-disappointment.
"Aww~" The small Faunus sighed disappointedly. "Then, if you're not here looking for a princess, why are you?"
"That, is top secret." Mowgli said jokingly, before putting a finger to his lips in a Shh motion.
"I can keep a secret." Isabella informed him, with as much seriousness as a six-year-old could muster.
"Alright, alright, I tell you." Mowgli acquiesced, "Just calm and sit down for a moment." The ambassador gestured to the chair next to him.
Instead, however, Isabella quickly hopped up and sat herself down in Mowgli's lap, before looking back up at him in rapacious fascination.
Snorting at the girl's antics, Mowgli answered, "I'm secretly going around and looking for the origins to all of the fairytales." Mowgli put on a storytellers voice and mysterious airs.
"Ohhhh, are you gonna find the girl in the tower? And! And, where all the Faunus came from?" She asked excitedly.
Mowgli paused for a moment hearing her second question, actually caught off guard by it, 'Where did all the Faunus come from?' he wondered. Sure there was the tale of "The Shallow Sea", but was there really a god of the animals, or was it just the god of light in disguise? After all, the story was originally a piece of Atlesian post-war propaganda, in order to make it seem like they were the good guys and returned the Faunus to their homeland. The people of Menagerie had later adapted it into a religion, knowing that it was made up, purely because they needed some form of hope after the war. So Mowgli had doubts if there truly was a god of animals, and if he was still watching Remnant, or did he leave with the Brother Gods? So many questions flitted through Mowgli's head, it took Isabella a couple tries to get his attention.
"Mr. Prince? Mr. Prince~? Hello...?" Isabella called out to Mowgli, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Oh! Sorry, zoned out there for a bit. But yeah, something like that." Mowgli answered.
Isabella looked like she wanted to ask more questions, however she was interrupted by her mother's call, "Isabella baby, I need your help in the kitchen dear."
"Coming mater!" Isabella responded before hopping down from Mowgli's lap and scampering of to the kitchen. She peeked her head back over to Mowgli for one moment, "Bye Mr. Prince!" before leaving sight once more.
A few minutes later, a disgruntled Noémie brought over his food before retreating to the kitchen. Eating the teriyaki chicken quesadilla, Mowgli considered his current plan of action. He had a little less than a day to explore through Coquina, in the hopes of finding the Summer Maiden, needless to say, his chances weren't high. Even ignoring the limited time to investigate the rather large city, there was no guarantee that the Summer Maiden was in Coquina, versus one of the many of Vacuoan cities, or possibly even in the Wilds. However, Mowgli did have one trick up his sleeve, that being the spell of Detect Magic. Mowgli prayed that it would work, and that he would be able to use it to scour through the city, in the hopes of it picking up a signal of the Maiden.
As Mowgli sat, he decided to consider the past few days, and review their events in his mind. Mostly because, even now, it's still all felt to unreal. Working in reverse chronological order, Mowgli thought about his defending of the Mistralian town during Raven's raid. He hoped that she hadn't gone and turned around to attack it the moment he left, however, he considered Raven smart enough to realize that antagonizing him would only lead to him revealing the information. As of now, Raven only had the appearance of his cloak and the sound of his voice to try and identify him. The smart thing for her to do would be to figure out who he was, quietly eliminate the individuals close to him who could have been trusted with the information, and then finally silence him. Possible for Raven? Yes. Easy? Far from it. Mowgli had put Archimedes on patrol soon after he had woken up from his 'cat' nap on the Argonaut. The owl's sole priority was to identify any suspicious birds or individuals trailing Mowgli. Overall, Mowgli had a feeling that he was probably somewhere on Raven Branwen's hitlist-or maybe that was just his narcissism talking.
Thinking about Archimedes reminded Mowgli of an idea he wanted to try, he remembered how stupidly powerful-for a dog at least, Zwei was in the show, and the Faunus was now curious if he could unlock Archimedes' Aura, if he even had one. Making a mental note to look info on the unlocking of animal Aura, Mowgli realized that he couldn't exactly look that up in the way one normally would. The Human part of him was so used to being able to access the internet on his phone, that the rest of him forgot to realize that since he had grown up on Menagerie, where there was no CCTS tower, he had never bothered to buy a scroll. Therefore, he made another mental note to stop by a store in town to purchase one.
Returning to his original thought line, Mowgli thought about his first interaction with Midnight; the goddess being very different than what he had expected. Mowgli was also especially curious about Dweomerheart, Mystra's divine realm in the Forgotten Realms universe. Mystra had mentioned that she was going to study the Dust crystals in her divine realm, however the reincarnated part of him knew that it had been destroyed during the Spellplague, which also rose the question of how Mystra escaped her entombment after the Spellplague. A third mental note was jotted down to ask Midnight what had happened since the Spellplague.
Mowgli's musings were interrupted by his realization that he had finished his food, making his way over to the kitchen to drop off his plate, he listened as the band that was setting up earlier continued to play. As he set his plate down, Mowgli's eyes widened as his ears picked up the oddly familiar tune the band was playing, and upon looking over, he realized that all of them were Fauni, more specifically insect Fauni.
Finishing the song they were on, the lead singer addressed the relatively large crowd of listeners, "Thank you, Thank you, its lovely to play for you all on this fine day. And for those who don't know us we are the Beatles!"
Smack, Mowgli facepalmed as he realized that they were all beetle Fauni, "Sometimes I hate this world, and its stupid obsession with skit humor." Mowgli dryly groaned under his breath.
Sneaking his way back down stairs, Mowgli made it to the front desk where he quickly dropped off 400Lien with Pierre before heading back outside. Stopping first at a scroll store after asking around a bit, getting directions, and the short walk there, Mowgli made it to the store and walked out a few minutes later, 500Lien less, but happy with his purchase. Pocketing the device, Mowgli looked up the popular inns and clubs in Coquina. Making his way to the most famous one, The Howling Hound, Mowgli stepped into a deserted alleyway a couple blocks off before the club and activated Detect Magic before heading towards the entrance.
1st Level Spell: Detect Magic
-2 Spell Points
Thankfully, due to the sheer enormity of the establishment, there was no wait limit, line, or exclusivity of any sort, and Mowgli was able to casually walk in without any fuss. The inside would best be described as a mixture of an indoor Bazaar, multi-storied tavern, and a mall. Hundreds of wood table were set up along the tiered floors that surrounded the edge of the massive hall. Then, down on the bottom floor in the middle, sat hundreds of market stalls selling everything under the Sun, and then some. Slowly making his way through the building, floor by floor, Mowgli kept a constant vigil on the magic surrounding him. The cleric could feel faint traces of magic coming off of everyone there, most likely their dormant Aura, along with random spikes of slightly more intense magic, which Mowgli determined were people with unlocked Aura. However, none of them exhibited an intensity of magic as strong as Mowgli, or even his clothing, so the ambassador knew he hadn't found the Maiden yet, unless she turned out to be really, really, disappointing in power. A few times Mowgli got excited when he felt an exceptionally large spike, but it always turned out to be a collection of Dust crates in one of the many market stalls.
As the spell finally wore out, Mowgli sent a silent thanks to Mystra that the spell only worked in a radius of 30ft; as although longer distance may allow him to cover a larger area, Mowgli was certain that his brain would breakdown if there was any more information being filtered into it, judging by the awful headache he had gotten in only a few minutes at the place. With the spell off for the moment, due to its 10 minute duration running out, Mowgli took a seat at one of the many open tables and began considering a plan of action. He had only made it a quarter way through the building, and although he could technically cast the spell 7 more times that day, allowing him to finish exploring the place, which wouldn't be nearly enough to go through all of Coquina. So, he needed to be deliberate with his search areas, which meant considering what he knew of the Summer Maiden.
...
Which was pretty much nothing.
Mowgli's only knowledge on the Summer Maiden was based on generalizations of the other Maidens. Those being the presence of glowing fire-like eyes when their powers are activated, and overpowered elemental abilities. The fact that the Maidens could use multiple elements only made the problem worse, as he couldn't search for individuals who just used Fire, Cold, Lightening, or Piercing/Slashing attacks. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't rule out possible suspects if they only used one of the elemental types, as some of the Maidens showed a clear preference to the point of nearly solely using one type, those being Cinder and Fria.
'How in Ao's name, am I supposed to find the Summer Maiden...?' Mowgli thought rhetorically.
However, then it came to him, this wasn't just any reality, this was a universe designed to be entertaining and having climatic reveals and make the characters seem poignant and important. So, the Summer Maiden wouldn't just be some random gal in a mall, but rather the person who owns the mall, or something along that line. But the main thing Mowgli considered, was the matter that the main characters were supposed to meet the Summer Maiden, whether it be the bad guys or good guys first. Mowgli needed to consider, whether or not he counted as one of the main characters now. If he did, then there was no point, as the story would only let him find the Summer Maiden when it wanted to and working against it was pointless.
That was of course, assuming that reality would retroactively reshape itself in order to accommodate a story, which Mowgli highly doubted. Meaning, that if he wanted to any chance to find the Summer Maiden, he needed to look where the main characters would look. The most obvious would be Shade academy, and asking the headmaster there, Theodore. Then, Mowgli had to consider who would be a part of the search: Oscar/Ozma/Ozpin, Winter, Nora, and Ren. That was of course, based on who made it through the portal at the end of Volume 8. Sun and Neptune might have helped out, but Mowgli had no idea how far into Volume 9 it would have been when they met up with the group, assuming it even occurred in Volume 9. So, Mowgli needed to also consider the places that Oscar/Ozma/Ozpin, Winter, Nora, and Ren would look. Oz would probably be the one to focus on Shade academy, Winter may try the Vacuoan military, Nora and Ren...
'Huh, where would they go?' The cleric thought perplexed. 'Maybe an underground fight arena for Nora, and... a tea shop for Ren? Then again, that just sounds like the Avatar fan in him talking.' Though it took a bit of thinking, Mowgli eventually arrived at his answer, if Ren and Nora were gonna check anywhere, it would be the suburbs. The two were oddly enough, some of the most normal people part of the main cast and would probably prefer to check the happy homes and neighborhoods rather than bars and bunkers. Huh, bars and bunkers... Kinda sounds like a cool cooking network show.'
That left three places to visit: Shade academy, the Vacuoan military, and the suburbs. The first two, weren't available in Coquina, but Mowgli would have access when he reached the capital city of Vacuo. While it was possible that the Summer Maiden may have been enrolled at the Primary combat school of Oscuro, Mowgli felt that the show had heavily implied that the Maiden would be older. Also, if they were still only in Primary combat school, Mowgli didn't want any part in dragging them into a conflict way above their age.
So, for something to do until he went to the capital, Mowgli made his way out of The Howling Hound, and began his trek to the suburbs of Coquina. By the time he reached them, it was 3 o'clock, and only a few hours of light left. The pastel houses were crowded together creating vast rainbows across every road Mowgli walked along. Casting the spell once more, Mowgli continued his search.
~A Couple Hours and Many Spells Later~
Mowgli slowly trudged along the cobbled road, having made no luck in the past few hours. He was down to his last cast of Detect Magic for that day. Feeling tired, Mowgli gave up for the day, even though he still had a few more minutes on his current cast of Detect Magic. Taking a seat at one of the sandstone fountains in a small plaza surrounded by homes, Mowgli massaged his temples from the ongoing headache he had received from the spell.
'By Mystra this is annoying. I've only been searching for a few hours, but this headache is awful.' Mowgli thought.
Suddenly, the pain from his headache increased two-fold. Mowgli was disorientated and confused for a moment, until he realized the reason for the intensity.
Something powerfully magical had come near him.
Standing up rapidly, Mowgli looked left and right, before realizing he was sensing it from behind him, from around the fountain. Cautiously walking around the raised waterspouts of the stonework, Mowgli peaked out to see a person sitting before the fountain.
They were less than half his height, white haired, and looked deceptively frail. In their hands sat a bag of unknown content, which they happily consumed. Then, they turned to Mowgli, and bright blue mechanical eyes stared up at him.
...
She raised out a hand, the palm turned upward, "Cashew?"
Blessing of Knowledge has Activated!
AN: Sorry about the shorter chapter, I'm about to take a trip to Montreal, Canada for the F1 Grand Prix so I've been busy preparing for it.
Reminder of Important Polls!
Poll 1: The Pairing! I have no idea how adept I would be at writing a pairing, so, I'm going to put it to a vote. You can either be FOR having a pairing, or AGAINST having a pairing. If you are FOR having a pairing, then you may also vote for whether there should only be ONE, or MORE! In your votes, you may also suggest which characters you would like to see Mowgli paired with. However, there will be no guarantee that I accept any of the suggestions.
Poll 2: GhostlyDrew had brought it to my attention that the rolls and calculations for various skill checks and attacks may be distracting from the story. So, I want yalls' opinion on the matter. Do you want them moved to the end of the chapter, the end of the scene, just after the action occurs, to stay in place, more of them, less of them? Let me know in the reviews!
Please leave a review and half a wonderful second half of your week!
Also, isn't it fun the Vale, is the same as vale, the Latin word for goodbye?