Confrontations, Training, and Motes

"You're still alive. Of course if you've been avoiding quests with this trollop, that isn't too surprising." We were about to leave the main hall when we ran into Gunnar and his people.

"With him still alive, I guess this means that I won the bet Hakon." Gyda said.

"You bet that he'd quit so I guess we both lose." Hakon responded.

"Nice to see you're all exactly the same." Lariss said.

"Wilmaer how about we head to the courtyard for a friendly sparring match?" Gunnar said.

"No." I continued to leave.

"So you're admitting you're just an arrogant loser that can't really handle it. Especially since you had to be babied through your last quest." He was speaking loud enough that people nearby were starting to look.

"Are you really that insecure that you have to go around challenging D ranked rookies? Are higher ranks a little too much for you?" I said.

"Trust me he is that insecure and it's not about his fighting skills." Lariss said.

"I don't need the opinion of the Union's strumpet that likes to be passed from guild to guild." Gunnar said.

Before I could respond to his goading another man placed his hand on Gunnar's shoulder. "Are you causing trouble again little Gunny? I keep telling you that an alchemist can help you with your inability to relieve your frustration in the normal manner." Without warning the man grabbed Gunnar's crotch. The man was tall and thin, his grey shoulder length slicked back hair didn't match his middle aged face.

Gunnar batted his hand away and glared at him. "This doesn't concern you. Are you sure you want to cause trouble with me?"

"Oh it's adorable you think you can cause trouble for me when everyone knows you'll just run to your brother. Now leave." The man started out with a smile but became stern as he spoke.

"I've got better things to do than waste my time with trash." Gunnar left with his people.

Several adventurers around us that were watching the confrontation started to laugh at its resolution.

"It's good to see you again, Guild Leader Ludolf." Lariss said.

"No need to be so formal since you're not in the Silver Tongues any more." He then placed his hands on the side of his face in a shocked expression. "Unless this is you saying that you want to rejoin. Please tell me this isn't a joke, my frail old heart can't take it."

Lariss giggled and replied, "At the moment I enjoy being a freelancer."

Ludolf then looked me up and down. "I can see what you enjoy about it. I'm Ludolf, Guild Leader of the Silver Tongues. I don't suppose you would like to join our guild?" I took the hand he extended to me.

"Unfortunately I'm also enjoying being a freelancer." I said.

"Oh rats. I guess if Yngvarr couldn't get you, I don't stand a chance." He said with an exaggerated look of disappointment. "I'll let you two love birds enjoy the rest of the evening."

"Ah we're not…" I didn't finish as he was already making his way back to his table.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the night?" Lariss asked.

"I was thinking of training." Actually I was thinking of heading to the Jagged Tankard to see if Floriana was free but I wasn't going to tell her that. I wanted to tell her some of what had happened and to see if she had any more information for me.

"That's perfect. I was hoping to work on my sword technique so we can train together. We might as well train together." She said. I agreed to join her since I didn't have a good reason not to, and I could always see Floriana tomorrow.

For the rest of the evening the two of us sparred. When we started I thought this was going to be one of those situations where the girl asks the guy to show her how to do something while acting inept so the guy would become more hands on in his teaching. But she kept the flirting to a minimum and picked up on what I was teaching her rather quickly. I gave her a few pointers and taught her the basics of the Defensive stance of the Osgar Sword Style. It was a little difficult since she used a shortsword and didn't use a shield but I was able to adapt it well enough.

By the time we stopped it was late in the night and I ended up walking her home since it wasn't too far from the Union.

"Am I a different person to you? I mean from the Lariss you were in the forest with." Lariss asked.

I wasn't sure how to answer right away and had to think for a moment. "No. You're the same."

"Hmm, because you've had a look in your eye, the one where I look like someone you know but don't. And you kinda go back and forth with how you treat me." She said.

It was true. I had been keeping her at arms length always justifying it as her not remembering me but her basic personality is still the same.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure how to act around you since you lost your memory." I said.

"Well, you need to stop holding it against me. I believe I've proved to you that I'm still capable." She said.

"Will do." I said.

After I dropped her off at her place I started back towards my Union apartment. When I got close I stepped into an alley.

"Man you would have looked really foolish stepping in here if I wasn't following you." Thelora said.

"How could I not expect my shadow to be following me?" I said.

"You know my life doesn't fully revolve around you?' She said.

"Is Skadi happy with our work?" I asked.

"She is and she was able to get your asking fee." A pouch appeared in her hand from her Storage Ring. I took the pouch and found it contained a number of brains, one the size of my fist and the rest were half that size. My rough guess was gremlin brains.

"That should be enough to form a mote. I've been told they're all from the same hive mind." She said.

"Do we have a word on when we need to head out for the next task?" I asked.

"Spend tomorrow relaxing and getting any supplies you may want. The day after that we'll be heading out again. Same time and meeting place." She said.

"I'll see you then." I said.

"I'll see early." She said with a smile.

I put the brains in my Storage Ring and now had a decision to make, a psychic or lightning mote. I'd then need to wait about two weeks to create the other one. If I thought she would tell me I would have asked Thelora what the next task entailed to get a better idea of which to choose. A task that was more combat oriented would lead me towards the lighting mote, while one like the last one, that required deception, would make me create the psychic one.

That night I continued to weigh the pros and cons of each mote while I cultivated my basic aura. By morning I was pretty set on what I wanted to do. After meeting Lariss for breakfast in the Union's main hall, we went to the Flask and Anvil.

There I first purchased some Preservation Cloth. Harvesters used it to help monster parts last longer. The rate of decay wasn't too bad without it but I wanted to make sure that the catalyst that I didn't use would keep as much as possible in the coming weeks. After I asked to use their room to help create another Mote, I talked to Uhtric about the concept of a camera.

"You're hitting on one of the crowning glories of my profession. Artificers for centuries have wanted to create something that could capture an image and be mass produced." He said.

"So such magic items do exist?" I thought I would have heard of such things since my father could afford even the most expensive magic items.

"They do exist but the reagents needed are astronomical. I think the royal treasury has a few but they rarely use them since they can only be used a limited number of times. From what I hear they're made from some sort of crystal that needs to be flawless beyond what the normal eye can see. Those aren't easy to come by." He said.

"What about an alchemical process that reacts to light?" I said.

"What do you mean?" He said.

"Well if you had a type of paper that reacted differently to different amounts of light then used an alchemical process to turn those differences into an image. Would that work?" I was realizing how difficult translating Earth items to here would be. I had no idea how photos actually worked beyond what I remember about dark rooms I had seen on T.V. and movies.

"Huh, you'd need a device to keep light from the paper before you wanted to capture an image. And I'm not sure what chemicals would even do what you are talking about. But… You know every time I thought about it I started with how to use crystals differently since that's how it was currently done. I'm going to have to think about this." He said.

After our discussion I headed to their basement library to create another lightning mote. Having that one would make my Lighting Rebuke useful in combat and would increase the damage to my Moonlight Lightning Slash. The spells I really want a psychic mote for were the ones that Runa used and they needed at least three motes to be effective. Hopefully Raginhard would come through for me on that front.

It was generally advised to wait two weeks between creating motes and I was a little under that. Since I didn't know when I'd be back in Torinheim and able to use a set up like this I took the minor risk. In the end my psychic mote was resistant to being moved like the others but I was able to control it. The other difficulty this time was that my current lightning mote was constantly being pulled towards the new one I was forming.

When I successfully finished hours later I stood and let small arcs of lightning dance across my body.