Meager Power

"Broken arm. Hell of a slash wound, two broken ribs. You're lucky your lung didn't get pierced, boss." Basrith, the barrier magic user with the lizard-like attributes, poked and prodded at Arla. He was frowning fiercely, but held an appendage up to the bleeding wounds regardless and whispered something out. A moment later, an orange glow came from his claws and spread to encompass the slashes that showed on the human woman's side. They closed up, still looking red and painful, but no longer actively bleeding.

"Always been lucky," she said with a grimace. "Certainly ended up better than Thenny."

Basrith scowled and looked at the elf in question, who was 'patiently' sitting as the lamia fussed around the painful injury with some bandages. "He should have known better than to engage the damn bear alone."

"What was I supposed to do?" Thenishale snapped at Basrith. "We had unknown combatants show up, you were down, and it showed up between me and the clearing."

The lamia bopped him on the head. "Don't move, stupid."

"Come off it, Kel," he responded. "Basrith stopped the bleeding. I'm fine."

"Let her put the fucking bandage on. Doctor's orders." Basrith put his thin lips together with a frustrated expression, and then motioned me forward. I stepped away from the crackling fire we'd made to dry everyone off near the exit. It was still raining sheets out there, so we couldn't get too close, but I just hoped we wouldn't have a smoke problem. Arla grinned at me and moved over with a wince, letting me sit next to Basrith. He brought a hand forward and whispered under his breath again, though I did hear it this time. Triage. Made sense - it seemed like he was scanning me for wounds. I felt a warmth flush across my body momentarily, prompting a shiver to go down my spine, but Basrith just huffed.

"Covered in lacerations. Bruised rib." He frowned. "That's it, though. Remarkably healthy. You'll be fine. Not wasting a Heal on a few cuts."

"Thanks for the checkup, doc."

He let out a harsh laugh as he stood up. "Just my job. I imagine at least one of us would be corpses without your intervention."

"Ental's blessings, I'm definitely glad you showed up when you did," Arla said as Basrith approached the older man. The professor, apparently. "Not sure who you are, stranger, but let's at least share our names, huh? I'm Arla." She pointed at the elf, the healer, the lamia, the crossbow lady, and the old man in order. "Thenishale and Basrith you've met by now. Kelessta's the big lamia there." The woman in question gave him a sour look at that but Arla ignored it. "The lady there is Countess Evelyn Declan of Aldon, and her husband is Professor Daniel Declan."

"You don't think it might be a good idea to keep some things quiet, Arla?" The countess spoke, looking at the two of us with glittering emerald eyes. She was an older woman - late 40s, maybe mid 50s, hard to tell - but she kept herself well. Her short gray-and-tan hair sat wet and matted against a face that spoke of someone who put a great deal of work into her appearance. Very dark skin was accented in several places by pleasant wrinkles and the marks of a long journey. Her dress was absolutely ruined, though it definitely had been some kind of nice sundress that had been more for traveling than anything casual or formal. Her hands were calloused and thick despite her station. It was an odd combination, half seasoned traveler and half fussy noble, but she seemed to make it work. Even her sturdy travel boots looked more expensive than everyone else's. Cool aunt vibes.

"At least one of us, I especially, owe these two our lives, my lady." Arla motioned at me. "Plus, if we're going to get anything from them about why they're here, they should know who they're dealing with, right?

Evelyn barely showed a response other than a slight nod. "I will defer to your experience in the field. I am rather new to all of this adventure business, after all."

"You could have stayed at home, my love," Daniel said to her with a serious look.

She just scoffed at him. "I'm not letting you come clear across the world on your so-called 'biggest find yet' without me. Besides, we've already had this fight, you worrywart." She smirked, leaned forward, and pecked him on the lips. "And you lose all of our fights." He grumbled at that, but said no more. Silence fell across the group, and I realized they were waiting for us. I raised an eyebrow at Rachel, who had absconded back toward her egg and motioned at me to take care of this. Honestly, she seemed a little overwhelmed. Not good with new people?

I cleared my throat. "I'm Allison Lowenzahn, and that's Rachel Wilson. We're, uh, hm. Allies." How much to say? I'd resolved to let the cat out of the bag, but that also would require consideration as to how.

"Lowenzahn? Seid ihr Adlige aus Lauchwal?" Asked the countess. Shit. I definitely recognized German, but I had no goddess damned idea what she was saying. Context clues. She was surprised by the name, and immediately switched languages. Maybe she was asking more about me? Where I was from maybe?

"Ah, uh, my parents got around."

Her eyebrow rose. "Not from Lauchwal, but a noble name?"

"Noble name?" Fuck fuck fuck. Are you kidding me? I was already fucking up? These chucklefucks don't have last names?? Absolutely ridiculous. "No, in my culture, everyone has one. We share a lot of common given names." Was that good enough? Was I panicking outwardly? Shit.

"Interesting," Daniel interjected. "I'm no anthropologist, but I have heard of such things down south." Oh thank goddess.

"The hell's an anthropologist, boss?' Arla asked, confused.

"Someone who studies cultures," he responded. "Can you tell us more?"

"We're, ah..." I glanced over at Rachel, who was very poorly pretending to not be a little anxious at the conversation. "Not fond of talking about home."

The countess narrowed her eyes, and opened her mouth to speak again, but Arla cut her off. "Boss, maybe we ought not to interrogate our saviors? Lotsa folks come out here looking to escape something." Arla looked at her meaningfully, and there was obviously some context I didn't fully understand, but I could guess that they were no different. Evelyn huffed, but seemed to let the matter lie. Double thank goddess. "So, with that awkwardness past, what're you guys even doing here? As far as we knew, no one knew of this place other than boss' contacts."

Doing my best not to glance back at Rachel, I cleared my throat. I could really use some assistance here. I was decent at talking to people but not really the best liar. "We've got our own independent source. The temple here, well, it was something we had to investigate completely."

"Fascinating," Daniel said. "I could have sworn my company was the only one in the area. No one else is ever interested in the far west. Do you happen to know why the tainted are here? It's surprising to find them so far from the coast."

The tainted. The blue things infecting the animals, maybe. Thankfully, I didn't really need to lie, just hide my ignorance. "No, not at all. We weren't expecting them either."

Kelessta spoke up. "Could they be trying to reach Serpent Lake?"

"Before we get too far into this, we need to retrieve our supplies. I need to keep moving or I'm going to wipe out. Arla, can you come with me?" Asked Thenishale, who was getting to his feet. There was a small bit of arguing as they decided who would get the lost stuff before the rain claimed it completely.

Thankful that the discussion was off of us as a subject temporarily, I took the time to really check the appearances of our new acquaintances. Daniel was wearing much more simple gear. His tunic was a simple brown thing with an olive green cloak that he normally wore around his shoulders, though it was currently sitting spread out near the fire to dry it. It'd done its job well, keeping him mostly dry. His pants were gray, but appeared to be made with far more care than his shirt. I didn't know too much about fabric or material and stuff, but they looked decently fancy even to my untrained eyes. Similar to everyone, he had thick, well-made brown traveling boots on his feet. You don't skimp on good footwear. Daniel's face was absolutely "friendly grandpa" with light skin, crow's feet around his eyes, and an easy smile that made his gray eyes stand out.

Thenishale, getting ready to walk out into the rain, pulled a black cloak over his shoulders, ignoring the way it was dripping water. Better to get it more wet than to ruin his other clothes more fully, I guessed. He was actually wearing armor, though it was very light. A hard leather breastplate covered his chest and undershirt, and it extended into a small skirt that encompassed his hips and the top of his own pair of pants, which weren't armored, but definitely were thicker than any other's I'd seen yet. His sword, which was oddly large given his stature, was slid into a well-worn sheathe attached to his side by a leather sword belt. He was tall, but not 'stereotypical elf' tall. Maybe around 190cm? Definitely the tallest humanoid here, though. A short shock of silver hair reached his ears (or ear. Damn), which accented his violet eyes nicely. I could best describe his face as 'thin;' thin nose, thin lips, slender ear, almond-shaped eyes, and very smooth ashen skin. He didn't look pissed off, so much as just perpetually grumpy. At least, he did during the half hour I'd known him. The big ol' bandage across his head probably contributed.

Arla, who had to be pushed to sit back down, was armored as well, but definitely heavier. It was off right now. She had had a full size chainmail hauberk over her, and underneath it was a collection of extremely rust-stained heavy clothing that clearly was there more as a barrier between skin and metal than for any real comfort. Her hair was short as well, but slightly longer than Thenishale's, with her auburn locks reaching past her chin. She was a little taller than me, a decent amount shorter than Thenishale, probably a little taller than average? 170cm? She had an easy smile and a suave manner that screamed 'party face' at me. She wasn't a gorgeous supermodel, but had a much simpler kind of beauty that I could really appreciate. Also, going by the difference in her profile when it came to wearing armor or not, she had to be stacked, though it was still mostly hidden by her heavy shirt. I shook my head. Down, girl.

Kelessta's attire was probably the fanciest, in my opinion. Nothing adorned the majority of her dark green scales, but the top portion of her tail was covered by a sturdy leather skirt that sat upon a nicer, simpler white one that was unfortunately also starting to be stained by travel and what have you. She had worn, on her torso, something I thought was really cool: a true armored robe. It was dark gray and voluminous, enough that it had to be slightly annoying to move in combat, but it was weighed down in many places by metal plating somehow sewn into the material itself. She'd taken it off, though, revealing a thin gray blouse sticky with sweat, enough so that I couldn't help but spy the wraps holding her chest back. Allison. Down, girl. Her face was very human, save for the deep blue of her eyes being home to slit pupils that were much more at home on a reptile than a mammal. A smallish nose was complemented with a large smile that showed an easy humor whenever her companions amused her. Of course, this was all topped off (pun extremely intended) by her big, floppy, girthy wizard hat. It was a dark blue, pretty much the same hue as her eyes, and it almost seemed to glow, even though no light was clearly coming from it. The brim had to easily extend half a foot. She had a staff leaned off to the side of her, a gnarled piece of wood perhaps a meter long that ended in a curled collection of wood that almost seemed like a claw. No idea how to measure her height, but if we were going by tip of tail to head... still no idea.

Finally, Basrith, who was the one pushing Arla down and preparing to follow Thenishale, was very interesting. He'd kept on his heavy gray cloak, which actually seemed to be water wicking somehow, but it had bunched up some during his healing. Squished nose and narrow lips weren't his most prominent facial feature, though. No, his eyes were absolutely huge. They were slit like Rachel's, but a vibrant orange, the same color as his barriers had been. Definitely a point in the theory that the color of magic matches your irises. The healer's eyes took up a full quarter of his face, and had that glow that indicated that he'd have pretty damn good night vision. His claws stuck out of his cloak, and the little bit of arm that stuck out with them also led me to believe that he was almost entirely covered in scales, except for the palms of his hands and face. Said scales were a light tan color, likely suited more toward desert environments than the lush forest in which we found ourselves. He worse thick boots like most of his companions, but they were shaped oddly, like they were compensating for a different foot shape. I'd been right about the tail though. His was perhaps half his height total, which was about Rachel's height. I cut my observations short as he and his elf teammate walked back out into the storm at a brisk pace.

We sat about quietly, all of us edging near the fire to get dry. Even Rachel eventually abandoned the egg, which finally gave the new people a chance to see it.

"That's pretty big. Some kind of drakka egg?" Arla askked, pointing at the thing. Rachel's eyes followed the finger, as if there could be anything else it could indicate, but slowly nodded.

"Yes. It is a lurdrakka, and I had been hoping it would hatch before we leave, but decided that we would be forced to travel with it."

"Oh?" Arla asked with a raised eyebrow while I mentally facepalmed. I take it back. I should say everything. "You're already planning on leaving? You've done what you need to here?"

Rachel bit her lip and looked at me, a helpless look in her eyes. I sighed. "We had actually been planning to leave already, but the storm hit and kept us in."

A harsh laugh came from Kelessta. "Well, it might be annoying for you, then, but I'm certainly glad it kept you occupied. I wouldn't have fancied looking for a new boss."

Arla gave her a sour look. "Counting me out already, huh?" She punched the big lamia's tail. "You'd miss my awesome jokes too much if I went down, I can't leave you hanging." Kelessta just harrumphed and sat back on her tail. "A land drake, though. Honestly, a great find. You'd do best to take great care of it, they make for loyal allies. Where'd you pick up something like that?"

Rachel just stared at me again, and Arla laughed at the expression and said, "Alright, then, keep your secrets."

I snorted. "Mmm. What are you all here for? We might be able to she some light on things."

Arla just looked over at Daniel, the professor, who had been sitting and watching the exchanges while hanging off of his wife. He looked at her. "Dear?" She just shrugged at him, so he turned toward me. "Our scouts indicated that the Impossible Temple was home to a low-level labyrinth. I had hoped to bring these fine adventurers here to help clear the thing and gather as much information as we could."

"Scouts?" I asked.

"I pay-" Evelyn interrupted him with a cough. "We pay-" she shoved him this time. "My wife pays a dozen or so long ranging explorers at a time to find things like this and bring them to my attention, so that we might be able to find the mysteries of the far west before others. Usually, it works, but I suppose it's unlikely that we're the only ones looking."

Lots of information in that quick exchange. He'd said it before, but we were clearly in this Far West. New lands? Wild lands? Needed exploring, at the very least. The Impossible Temple had to be this place, and I was pretty sure I could get away with this question. "You called this place the Impossible temple?"

"Of course!" Daniel responded. "Just look at it! Architecture of the third era, indicative of the worship of the Gray Hand in particular. How could something the scale of this place be here to begin with? People had barely crossed the Western Strait by then, let alone cut into the wilds of Curvor. There should be no architecture this far west, yet there is. It is truly remarkable, not only because of the impossibility of its existence, but also this location! Within the Spine? A structure of this magnificence? It has to be cut into the mountain, but the stone in the walls here does not match the stone of the range."

LOTS of information. Gray Hand? Different gods, fake ones? Third era? How old was civilization? Western Strait - hm. Could it be that this was a similar 'old world new world' type thing that earth had dealt with, Europeans entering the Americas? Entirely possible that other civilizations had existed over here, then, and they just didn't know it. Curvor. A country or a continent maybe?

Too many questions popping up despite the answers we were getting. "So, okay, you're like, what, a historian? A hobbyist?"

"Historian, I like that! Perhaps I should offer a prayer to the Aged Lady. Yes, consider me a historian." Daniel gave me a wide smile.

"Well," I said awkwardly, "I'm afraid we might have to ruin some of your excursion. Rachel and I already cleared the labyrinth that was here."

"Truly! Well, that's rather unfortunate. Were you able to gather anything of cultural significance?"

"Not a lot, though it was really disparate. Lots of undead and such. We did come across a place called the House of Valor? Really fancy."

"Shit, you got the House?" Kelessta butt in. "That's incredible. Not many people get a chance to hit it up in a Labyrinth."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. Damn. How many labyrinths have you hit up before this?"

I exchanged a look with Rachel, but shrugged. "This is our first."

"Impossible," Arla said sharply. "It only shows up on your third or after. You clear the place?"

I shook my head, but pointed at Rachel. "She did. I didn't."

"Still, crazy." Arla looked over at me with a keener gaze in her eyes than before. "No one should know about this place, but you hunted it down for your first delve? I was willing to let things lie before, but now I'm actually concerned." Her hand fell on the spear that was on the ground next to her. She didn't pick it up, but clearly wanted it near. "Alright, we gotta clear the air here. Who the hell are you?"

Ah, fuck. This is why I wanted to learn more about shit before getting into it too quickly. "May I confer with my ally?"

Arla nodded, so the two of us stood and stalked over into the hallway towards the freezer.

We began whispering to each other. "Rachel, I can't lie enough here. I don't know enough about the world, and everything they say gives me like eight more questions."

She stared at me with intensity. "Revealing ourselves went poorly before."

"Yeah, but Nathan was a direct enemy. These people are just people."

She considered that, and hissed out a frustrated breath. "I am not clever enough for this either. Perhaps if we had time... but we do not."

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "The longer we take the worse it's gonna be. I think we gotta come clean, because we're so fucked if they think we're, like enemies or an opposing force."

"Fine. But I will let you speak."

I gave a wan smile and patted her shoulder. "I got us. Just be ready."

We returned to the Sanctuary to find that none of them had moved, but their eyes now held a tad more suspicion. Rachel returned to watching her egg, and I sat down carefully near Arla. Enough to show that I wasn't hostile, but not close enough to make a grab for her weapon. I let out a sigh of annoyance and gathered my courage.

"So, uh. Magic-y stuff. How familiar are you with the concept of other worlds?

Daniel's eyes widened slightly, from suspicious to surprised. Kelessta chose to respond. "It's not an unfamiliar concept. Are you going to say..."

"Okay. That's good." I took a deep breath again. "Does the word 'Godsgame' mean anything to you?"

"Dear gods," Daniel blurted. "Impossible."

"Prof?" Arla asked, giving him a sidelong look.

"Arla, Kelessta, Evelyn, almost nobody knows that term. But if it's true, we are about to be blessed by the gods themselves."

This was either going to be very helpful for us, very bad for us, or very, very annoying. Hopefully not all three.