Back to the Outpost

General Summary

The stairs to the council outpost rose in the darkness. The cold bit at the skin not covered by my cloaks. My head hurt. I wanted nothing more than to return to my quarters to search my tomes for anything of what we saw. Unfortunately, I think we will have some questions to answer first...
I moved for the cliff. Davina stopped me. She said we should get our stories in order. "What should we tell the council?" "I am not planning to tell them anything," I stated. I was not, of course. "Yeah, we should probably get our stories straight for the authorities..." Octaviu added. He was right, of course. "...Perhaps... A gas breach in the mines? Tell the civilians not to go down again?" "Sure, we all got high and danced naked in the mines then woke up on a beach," Davina said. I think she was joking. Rather sure. Octaviu laughed.
"Should we go back and cover the entrance "From what the..." I hated the term, but, "The god told us, it will remain obscured from any miners who dig there again."
"Can you hear me?" I spoke to him as I spoke to the water. Commanding, forceful. "I hear you!" Octaviu shouted, much to Dinu and Davina's surprise. "I can understand her being able to do mind talking, she's already got magic," Davina sighed, "Let me try-" She looked to Dinu, and Dinu looked right back. I'm not a Nurehetic, I wanted to say, but Davina spoke first- "Woah... We can do it to!" "I wonder what the range is on this ability..." I thought aloud, "If we could go to diffent ends of the planet, would we still be able to hear each other? Could we do this with others?" Davina closed her eyes, and spoke in my mind, "Rianemi can you hear me?" "Yes, it works even if I don't see you, too!" She spoke aloud. Fascinating.
Octaviu ran off to one of the seaside caves. Distance testing, I would gather. A moment later, he spoke in our minds. "Military units would kill for this ability..." Davina said.
Octaviu returned to us, "Alright, I've got a potential story to keep the authorities off our back. We tell em that we found a cult that was worshiping the dragons, and we defeated the cult... And we have the dragon figurines to prove it." "If I may, if we told them there was a cult, wouldn't that just encourage them to dig deeper?" "Oh yeah we gotta tell them that we blew the place up," Octaviu quickly added, "That's the other piece of it." "I mean, do we even have to bring cults into this? We could just say it was actually restless spirits..." Davina added. "I mean, the townsfolk might believe that, but the council?" I was unconvinced, "Maybe... We should just go with the gas breach." "I was just about to say, we could say we found a weird bubbling pool that was making an odd wailing noise, and Rianemi was very interested in it, but then someone lit a torch, and..." Davina made an exploding motion with her hands as she trailed off. "Do you really think so little of me?" I looked to her with mock disappointment. "Well you were very interested in that water..." She replied. I shook my head at her, and made for the cliff face, "Well, regardless. We'll have time to figure it out on the climb back."
We walked, discussing potential stories. Dinu thought we should tell the truth. I turned him down. No, this is my discovery. I will not share it, not yet. I did not say as much, but we soon returned to our tale spinning. I was beginning to think the gas breach was the best story. The cult would require too many suppositions, and raise too many questions.
In time, the guards saw us and called to us, "Who goes there?!" They pointed swords to us. I rolled my eyes. "Put down your swords, we're back," "Lady Rianemi!" They rushed to me, flitting about and asking if I was alright. "I'm fine, we're fine, we just need some rest," I stated, and walked ahead. "Of course, the master will want to see you," I could hear them following behind us.
As we walked back in, there was a large commotion. The peasants swarmed us as we walked to the mages' building, battering us with questions and such. I tried to hold my head high as I walked, but I found my gaze on the ground. I despise crowds... Master Erol greeted us at the door. "Welcome, welcome back, what became of you? It's been a good three days since we heard from you-" Master Erol worried over us, "You must be so cold, so hungry, please come inside." He led us to the main study. I do not think the others have ever seen the inside. They seemed surprised. I'll admit I started tuning everyone out as all the other mages joined us and pelted us with question. "We heard there was an explosion, the mine collapsed, we feared the worst..."
"Well, it wasn't ghosts," I sighed, and tried to act exhausted. Wasn't very hard, I might add. I was very much so. "We traveled down to where the miners claimed to hear ghosts. From there, we saw nothing, besides a bubbling pool of... Something," I made a face of disgust, "Smelled awful. I was reaching out to it, when one of them-" I jerked my head over my shoulder, with an appropriate look of annoyance, "Lit a torch. There was an explosion- a small one, mind, but we were trapped down there for some time." I frowned, "I'm a bit... Muddled, on how long we were down there, but... I think that pool had something in it, or at least the vapors from it did. It messed with our minds. My memories are spotty, but... I saw things. Impossible things. I know they did as well..." I trailed off, hoping that would be enough for him.
"A... A gas leak? That sounds like quiet the ordeal... I think I would like to have the doctor look over you come tomorrow..." Master Erol said. I could tell he didn't fully believe me. He would not press us further though, at least not for now, this much I was sure of. He's a good sort. "If there's anything else you wish to let us know before tomorrow... It's going to be a hectic day."
The rest of the mages decided to join us then, their faces filled with questions. Master Erol, bless the man, told them to leave us be, and he and them left us for the night.
No one's commented on our foreheads, thankfully.

Report Date

08 Jul 2023