Plans and companion buff

"Wake up lazybones!" alastair heard and began to stir and the person continued "come on! up you get!" which finally cleared alastairs sleep ridden mind and he began to sit up while rubbing his eyes. looking around alastair saw he was in a white walled room with stain glassed windows and sitting on a chair next to the bed was the stranger with his hood down revealing a handsome face with with bluenette hair that was obviously natural since the roots of the hair were the same color. the stranger looked relieved to see alastair waking up.

"Finally! I was worried we'd lost you for a minute there. you've been out cold ever since we jumped. had to drag you all the way here on my own." the stranger said seriously. "by the way didn't have a good chance to introduce myself , names erik. good to meet you officially." erik said while holding out a hand with a brown fingerless glove on it. alastair shook the hand "my name is alastair and it is my pleasure to meet you erik." he said before getting off the bed and stretching out causing pops to ring out in the room.

Erik looked at alastair stretching with a confused expression. "looking at how fit you are how in erdrea did you get captured in the first place if you don't mind me asking?" erik asked having a hard time believing alastair who was obviously way more fit than even him could get captured. alastair chuckled a little at the question "to be honest i had my guard down when i went to meet the king since i was under the impression that he would help me at the time and by the time i figured out that wasn't even vaguely true i was already surrounded by spears too close to dodge."

Erik nodded "yeah that would certainly do it. so now that we escaped i was wondering what the plan was?" he asked calmly. "the king sent jasper and a troop of soldiers to my home town and i have a bad felling it wasn't for a friendly chat. my current plan is to head back there to see the how bad it is before figuring out my next move. that is unless you have a different idea?" alastair asked while looking at erik calmly waiting for his response.

Erik nodded " before i got locked up my partner and i had nabbed a large red orb that glowed brightly that we stashed before i was caught. my idea is to get that orb before i follow you on your journey to save the world." he said honestly. alastair had no problem with that plan at all "well then lets go get that orb and welcome aboard." he said with a grin that erik returned. "before we leave we aught to thank the old lady who set us up for the time you were out." erik said seriously and alastair agreed.

Walking out of the room alastair and erik thanked the old nun who was just happy she could help before she warned them of some vicious criminal who was on the loose that the kings men were searching for. erik and alastair made brief eye contact at this before acting like they didn't know anything about it and saying they would be careful. the two then left the church were alastair got a notification that surprised him. the system announced erik's official joining of the party which gave alastair a perk called sticky fingers that increased his chance of successfully stealing and item without getting caught.

Surprisingly another notification arrived that almost made alastairs eyes pop out of his head. the notification stated that a buff was attached to his companion that gave a one thousand percent growth increase as well as a slight boost to luck as long as they accompany him. this buff made alastair realize that he didn't have to shoulder the weight of the entire world alone and can share it with his companions. looking at erik alastair noticed that erik didn't notice anything at all meaning that it was only because of the system he even noticed it.

"Alright where to now?" alastair asked calmly. erik pointed at the scaffolding going up the side of the cliff leading to a sort of cave entrance with braziers an either side of it. "that cave up there is the entrance to the slums of heliodor where i stashed that orb. so we are going to go in there grab the orb and evacuate before the guards even know we were there." erik said calmly. "oh , before i forget here take this hood to cover your face. you are a criminal now so might as well look the part." he said before pulling out a hood from a well hidden belt sack on his waist.

Alastair shook his head and pulled out a black curved plate that seemed to absorb light and pressed it onto his face. immediately the plate shimmers and expands covering alastairs head before changing shape and taking on color to reveal a completely different face as well as hair. "oh now i am definitely jealous." erik said enviously. "yeah it was a gift from the old alchemist back at cobblestone before i left. I've been studying it this whole time and have absolutely no clue what he used to make it." alastair said frustrated.

"Well no matter about that lead the way to this treasure of yours." he said before following erik to the bottom of the scaffolding. the walk wasn't that long taking only about ten minutes and even then only because alastair insisted on killing everything along the way. after arriving at the scaffolding though alastair saw the look on erik's face and spent the walk to the the slum entrance trying to convince erik he wasn't some battle junky and that the mass killing was for a good purpose.