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LLOTF - B2 - Chapter 7: Talk to bandits before killing them
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 05:02:52 +0000 UTCTristan woke up next to Felicity once more in her elfanoid form. Again, without disturbing her, he rose up, did his morning routine, and as he began armoring up, she roused, helped him get his gear on, shifted forms, and the two left the Fey Realm to continue their traveling.
Despite being in the coastal lowlands, it was hot; the hottest week of the year, the sixteenth through the twentieth of Building Season. Rain would not fall over most of the world, and without his essence crucible venting powerful, cool energy into the nearby environment, Onyx and Midnight would have long-since overheated and needed to stop for a breather.
But he was able to push on, putting on his Bhant disguise of the dark haired and tan-skinned Human as he kept traveling. Felicity kept an eye on the surroundings from atop his head – fully invisible – whilst he pulled out the scraps of parchment.
Flipping through The Matriarch’s few pages of essence-weaving guides, Tristan’s mind seemingly converted the script in Elvish to the Standard Tongue, much as it had done before when he first encountered the Queen’s Vault. Damn, he thought. She only had time for two of each. Well, it’s better than what I had before.
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Persuasive Charm (First)
Spell Phrase: “Katsokaa kasvojani ja ihastukaa viehätysvoimaani.” (Look upon my countenance and find yourself enamored with my charm).
Spell Gesture: Take your dominant hand, and put your index finger and middle finger out, extended and split apart from each other. Curl in your other fingers, face the palm outward, and cock your elbow out sideways so that your middle finger lines up with the bottom of your eye, and the index finger extends above the eyebrow.
Other Notes: This spell will make you more naturally agreeable and people will find themselves liking you for up to ten minutes per casting. Unlike most enchantment, they will not know they are under the effects of a spell; but if they are already hostile or view you with disfavor, this spell will not work. Best used on neutral parties, such as with merchants, shopkeepers, or rumormongers.
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Break Enchantment (First)
Spell Phrase: “Ne, jotka ovat muiden lumoissa, vapautan teidät!” (Those who are under the enchantment of others, I release you!).
Spell Gesture: Place your index finger of the dominant hand against your temple, whilst folding the other three fingers to the palm, and placing the thumb along the outside edge of the middle finger. (Yes, you are, in effect, pointing at your own head).
Other Notes: This spell will help to break anyone who is without earshot out of an enchantment spell. It will only affect spells of the First Order. There are more potent versions for higher Order enchantment spells, with the same name (oddly enough), but slightly lengthier phrasing and a slightly more complex gesture. It is similar to Command, in that regard, just not having the prefix for the number of words one can use. Instead look at the Order level tag.
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Disguise Other (First)
Spell Phrase: “Naamioida muotonsa niin, että ne näyttävät joltakin, mitä ne eivät ole.” (Disguise their form so that they appear as something they are not).
Spell Gesture: Take your hand, pass it over the target’s face (a few inches away is fine – contact is not necessary), and move it in small, circular, scrubbing motion.
Other Notes: This is like Disguise Form, which I know you already know thanks to your altered appearance on a prior visit to the Fey Realm. Lasts for about an hour.
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Tristan sighed, “Only one new illusion spell – she wrote down Blended Body. We never told her that you taught me that one.”
Felicity frowned, “Darn. Well, maybe you should fill her in on all the spells you’ve learned so far for the stuff she can teach you.”
Tristan nodded as he re-read the instructions for each one by one, going through the motions and saying the spell phrases each in turn, without actually casting them. A solid hour of doing so had cemented the spells in his memory. Thank the gods mother made me become so good at rote memorization, he thought as he vividly recalled her drilling him repeatedly with memory puzzles and games.
Felicity tapped his head, “Hey, there’s something weird up ahead. There’s a small rise in the road, and some really…really badly painted, crappy wooden panels that I think are supposed to be bushes? But…it’s bad.”
Tristan looked up from his practice as he put The Matriarch’s spell guide away. He let out a snort of laughter at the shoddy ambush. “That’s just pathetic,” he muttered as he pulled his bow from his back, strung it, nocked an arrow, and spun his essence crucible. He felt the cooling, soothing presence of essence surging through his body, and pushed it down his channels into the bow. “Alright!” he shouted. “I know you’re hiding. Come out, or I let my shaft fly!”
Felicity giggled, “Pff. You said ‘shaft’.”
Tristan shook his head to jostle her, “Why don’t you fly over there all invisible and tell me something about what I’m about to face?”
“Right!” she flew off, and Tristan waited patiently while she scouted and returned to her perch atop his head. “You’ve got eight. Mix of heritages, none are Elf-blooded. All of them look poorly equipped, malnourished, and probably scraping by on these ambushes.”
“How close to those badly painted shrubs?”
“Oh, they’re on the sides of the roads of those,” she said as she pointed alongside his head to the small, inconspicuous, hard-to-see green-painted blankets. “Easy to spot from above since they are different color from the rest of the grass around them. But from this angle? Really good cover.”
“Smart,” Tristan said as he aimed at one of the horribly painted panels. “Making a traveler think they hide behind, when in fact they actually are on the sides.” Tristan let fly, the arrow embedded into the structure, and exploded into a razor-sharp hail of ice shards.
This elicited some shouts of panic as a few figures stood up with arrows nocked and bows drawn, “Hold, mage! One more spell, and you will see our arrows fly!”
Tristan frowned as he sat astride Onyx. I have armor, he thought, but the horses don’t. And I can’t dismount to throw up an ice wall before they let fly. “Very well. Let us talk terms. You look hungry, I can give you food.”
There was some muttered conversation, and a teenage boy ran out onto the road, holding a small knife. Not a dagger, a knife like one would carry for chores, or to cut meat with. “Okay! Where is it?”
“Felicity?” Tristan asked as he reached his arm to the side. She opened her storage space, and he pulled out one of the slotted, wooden boxes that held ten of the clearcool elixirs. He leaned down and held it out, “These are called clearcool elixirs. One of them will fill your food and drink needs for a day. Go on, take them back to your allies.”
“We don’t trust some mage at face value!” the teenage boy said, his voice cracking slightly.
Tristan took one of the ten, pulled the top off with his teeth, and chugged it down. “See? Harmless.”
The boy cautiously approached, keeping a wary eye on Tristan, before he reached out, grabbed the box, and scrabbled back to his allies. Tristan overheard him explaining the transaction, and he saw one of the archers let his arrow loose slightly in his grip as he took one of the elixirs and chugged it down. “This is good stuff!”
Right, now that they aren’t hostile…he set the bow on the saddle horn, put his index and middle finger out, curled the other fingers in, and put the middle finger on the bottom of his right eye. Whispering just loud enough to say the words, he spun his crucible and muttered the spell phrase for Persuasive Charm. “Katsokaa kasvojani ja ihastukaa viehätysvoimaani.”
Tristan sighed – not from exhaustion, but putting on a part, “It is obvious that you fell on hard times and have resorted to banditry as a last resort. Why don’t you tell me what happened? I may be able to help.”
The archers glanced to each other and then let their bows dip down, “Come on, lads and lasses. He seems like he wants to help.”
And the spell worked, Tristan thought as he smiled. “Yes, I may be able to help you. First; what fate befell you?”
The teenage boy got up to him first being the closest. “Demon Realm Incursion,” he said. “Wiped out our village. We fled. Couldn’t take nothing.”
The first archer got closer, and Tristan could tell the family resemblance between the two. “The lad speaks true, master mage. The Incursion was sealed once the Sapphire Coast’s army arrived to deal with it…but we lost everything. And in a region where what you can sell determines worth, and with little financial help to get on our feet?”
“You mean to tell me that the Sapphire Coast with its vast riches doesn’t help the people whose livelihood keeps them fed?” Tristan was greeted with nods, and he scowled. “That’s just not right. A lord’s duty, nay, any noble’s duty, is to protect their servants.”
“Not how it works here, master mage,” the man replied as the rest of his companions passed around the clay vials and drank their dose of clearcool elixir, looking quite happy after doing so. “The Queen is a queen in name only. She is the richest person residing at Jewel’s Point and leads the Merchant Council. The region is led by the richest six people, with the current Queen as the leader. But Queen is just a title she gave herself. Queen of Sapphires, she calls herself.”
Tristan frowned, “I was led to believe that it was a monarchy.”
“Nope,” another one of the villagers replied. “Jus’ abou’ however much you can pay for the righ’ ‘a rule.”
Interesting, Tristan thought, that these people did not have a landed lord like in the kingdom of Bhant. He cleared his throat, “I imagine that your region also has no gentry?”
“Gent-what-now?” another villager asked.
“Nobles ruling regions on behalf of the monarch.”
“Nope,” the teenage boy’s father said. “Each village…pools its money and goods. Enough of that, you get a town, then a city. Jewel’s Point is just the biggest city.”
Tristan nodded, “I cannot give you any money, as I do not have any.” He saw the villagers deflate at that, “But, I can do you one better. Let me ask, though, in your village what were your trades?”
“Carpenter!” one shouted from the back.
“Shepherd,” three added one after another.
“Brewer,” a woman added.
“I used to make clothes!” another one shouted.
The man who was primarily speaking pointed to himself, “I used to be headsman. I kept count of coin, helped trade with travelers and other regions, and translated. I know three languages.” He put his hand on the teenage boy’s shoulder, “My son here was learning from me, and we almost had enough money saved up to send him off to school. Get more languages under his belt, come back, and we could trade even more.”
Tristan nodded, “Well…I have a proposal.” He dropped his Disguise Form and revealed himself in all of his majesty. “My name is Tristan. I rule a place known as the Fey Realm. In an hour’s time, if you are patient, I can take you there. I invite you to take up residence in my domain.”
The villagers looked out at each other and began muttering. The primary speaker, and this headsman raised his hands for silence. “I have not heard of this place, this ‘Fey Realm’ as you say it. What waits for us if we agree?”
“The berry that I make that elixir you drank from. Half-breed Broxtar from the Gredo Expanse who have joined me. A burgeoning city under my auspices…and a wonderful Realm that is beautiful and enchanting – not the spell! Just, beautiful.”
The villagers looked to each other, muttered amongst themselves, and nodded. The headsman looked at his companions then to Tristan, “Master mage, I have one more question. Could you let us leave?”
“Yes. You must return to the Mortal Realm with me, but I can pull you out at any time. And, if you do not desire to stay, I can put together some trade goods with your help, and pull you out of the Fey Realm when I arrive in a larger city. Then, you can sell those goods, and start to rebuild your lives.”
Once more, the headsman looked to his allies, then back to Tristan. “Sounds like more than a fair deal, master mage.”
“Tristan. Tristan is my name. No need to call me master. I am not your lord. But, if you desire to stay in my Realm permanently, then you may address me as Lord Tristan. For now…you will be my guests.”
---
The first ten minutes passed, and Tristan felt a small jolt of anticipation as he knew the enchantment spell to help persuade these people was fading. But they still seemed to look upon him favorably without the need for the spell.
Felicity pawed his ears, “More refugees?”
“It’s not their fault,” Tristan whispered just loud enough for her to hear as the villagers lounged about, waiting for Tristan to do his spell. “And it doesn’t cost us anything except an hour of travel time.”
“I’m not complaining,” she said. “Just taking note that you’re fine with these people but not others.”
Tristan grimaced internally, “That’s…different. I’ll admit it, I’m greedy. I think it’s part of being a dragonslayer. Dragons are greedy by nature. And I was never greedy until I killed and consumed the crucible of that fire dragon. But at least I know I’m greedy and don’t want any other Elves to suck up my Realm’s essence, or threaten my rule.”
“Well…you can just have a set number allowed. Like I said, the ambient essence is like a big barrel of water. You can have thousands of Elves – just not tons of Winterbloom. Which…sadly…is not an option…anymore.” She deflated and laid on top of his head. “I just made myself sad.”
He reached a hand up and scratched right in between her antlers, “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m sad sometimes, too, thinking about it. The whole idea that I’m the last Winterbloom, and that other bloodlines are being hunted down – prominent bloodlines from what the Archon said, is troubling.”
“Speaking of him,” Felicity commented. “He hasn’t contacted you in over a week! I thought I was going to be every five days.”
“It was,” Tristan replied as he fished around his neck to pull up the family seal with the king’s favor, the Archon’s favor, and the black star on the back that represented his place as named heir of the family. “But he has been silent, despite us not being in the Fey Realm during sunrise.”
Felicity shrugged and batted his hair back and forth, swishing her tail behind his head along the back of his neck. “Well, maybe he’ll reach out soon here.”
“I hope nothing happened to him,” Tristan replied. “The kingdom has no dragonslayers except Gisele after she gives birth and recovers. They will need to send many troops to deal with an Incursion.”
“Wasn’t there also the whole entire thing about the demonic dragon being something that a regular scout would not know about?”
Tristan nodded once more, “Yes. If grandfather didn’t know such a thing was possible, it is doubtful many others knew. We thought it might be saboteur in the king’s court trying to stir up conflict for a war of expansion to the Gredo Expanse. To stoke conflict between the kingdom of Bhant and that region, so that the city-states of the Gredo Expanse would allow outside influence to have a foothold in their territories. Then…they could join the war against Bhant, and take the fertile farmlands for themselves.” He sighed and pulled his legs up, leaning back against the saddle as he kicked his limbs onto Onyx’s back. “Schlarz or Maladonia to the south were what the Archon supposed.”
Felicity yawned and let her head drop onto Tristan’s, “Welp, I’m going to nap.”
---
The rest of the hour passed uneventfully, and Tristan waved everyone over to hold hands and put one on him. He touched his two mounts, and transported the group to the Fey Realm. After getting the villagers situated – who rapidly integrated themselves with the half-breed Broxtar residents, he returned back to the Mortal Realm and resumed his journey along the road.
