The "Best" RPG Ever-109

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Just as before, the teleportation felt like a blinding flash which replaced their previous surroundings with new ones—although Katherine could swear this one took just slightly longer to clear away. Once they could see, the group found themselves standing before a covered wagon not unlike the ones seen in old westerns—or, indeed, those associated with the Oregon Trial. Its opening was facing them, and a large, faintly glowing blue crystal was partially visible inside. As they quickly looked around to get their bearings, they spotted another five such wagons scattered around nearby, the six of them connected together in pairs, and in the opposite of the direction they had been facing—a group of people initially sitting in an outward-facing circle.

An average-height, slightly thin man was at the front of this group, just ending the process of standing up. He had shoulder-length brown hair, an especially fair and handsome face, and was wearing clothing that appeared somewhat ornate—favoring gold in color with some purple trim—yet also seemed lightweight and not impractical to move quickly in. He also had a very slim sword with a circular guard fastened to his right side—some sort of foil. Three men behind him were mostly covered in armor and didn't seem particularly remarkable; at any rate, all of them seemed to be humans, and they appeared to have taken this long to recover from whatever teleportation looked like to those at the destination..which was possibly a bright flash, considering.

"Ah! Greetings," the obvious noble said, his face settling into an easygoing, friendly and utterly trustworthy-seeming smile. "You must be the group Lady Ezra sent to me about."
"That would be right, your highness," Zack said, gently weaving his way to the front of the group (he'd been at the front before, but now they were facing the former direction of their backs). Let him introduce himself first. It was less of an instruction to everyone else, and more reminding himself of the proper courtesy protocol.

"She did not mention that you were all such charming ladies," he said smoothly, "but I can see where that might not have been a priority. I am Peregrine Bertrand Lyxeris," he continued, bowing at a shallow angle, "but you may call me 'Perry' if time is short, or you forget the rest." There was a hint of humor to his tone at this last part, a suggestion that 'forgetting the rest' was extremely permissible.

"I am Zack," the knight replied after a short pause, bowing much deeper—almost to a ninety-degree angle—before coming upright again. "A knight. My companions are—" (he moved slightly aside to give a clear view of all of them) "—Katherine, a psion; Clera, an Empath; Lynn, an archer with some command of magic; and Rayna, an illusionist." Lynn and Kath's attire didn't allow them to curtsy (not that Lynn actually knew how), so they just imitated Zack when introduced; Clera and Rayna had no trouble at all with said gesture.

"Pleased to make all of your acquaintance," the prince nodded; he gestured behind himself at the soldiers. "My present company are Isarac, Morris, and Karl," he said, gesturing to each in turn. "These men have saved my life a few times on this journey so far."

"Only our duty, highness," Karl said.

"Excuse my interruption, your highness," Clera said, stepping forward slightly. "But we were told you had some wounded? I am eager to see to them as soon as possible."
"Oh, but of course," Peregrine nodded. "Morris?"
"Sire." He gave a brief salute, and gestured her to follow him to one of the wagons.

As they left, Zack gestured to one side, toward the crates that had been teleported with them. "Lady Ezra" (he echoed the prince's titling of her) "sent some supplies with us, your highness."
"Ah, yes, I ought to take stock of these," he said, going over and squatting slightly to get a closer look. "Generous and carefully organized, just as I would expect from her." Peregrine picked up the top of one stack. "Ah—here, I can show you where these rations belong. Isarac, Morris—get started on the medical and repair supplies, would you please?"
"Sire," both of them replied in chorus.

Zack picked up a few more of the crates below the one the prince had taken, following him; Rayna took what looked to her like the lightest one, and Lynn took a stack of two from below that. Katherine picked up the end of one crate of food in each hand—actually using her power to get the other half of the weight of each and make them stay balanced.

Whoo, this guy is charming, Rayna thought. I'd say 'I thought I had high charisma', but I've seen Ezra's. His other stats are..middling to low, I guess. Better than any of those soldiers in agility, which is a bit sad.

I think being around us might have distorted your sense of 'normal', the psion replied. There's plenty of non-combatants around town with worse raw numbers than any of these guys, right? Anyway, numbers are never everything.

Once he'd dropped off his first load, Peregrine went back for more. He paused for a second, watching the way Katherine was carrying her crates and tilting his head just slightly. "Telekinesis, I presume?"
"Right. I'm not very strong, physically speaking," she said. Not that she was actually trying to read it, but his mind felt fuzzy. Or..hazy even, in a somewhat familiar way.

"Still quite impressive to see in person. I have always felt Bimorphaeus's gift should be treated with the same respect as Haestra's, myself."

"I know a priestess of Haestra," she said, following him back to their teleportation target. "I'm not sure I would willingly trade my upbringing for hers." It had to be yet another 'flavor' of mental defenses that she was unfamiliar with. Well—it would make sense for anyone who expected to be politically active to learn some of those, and it wasn't like she'd had many opportunities to meet nobility directly within her 'backstory'. On the other hand, none of the soldiers seemed to have any mental barriers at all.

Peregrine moved on to make conversation with the knight, who was already on his third trip by now. "Zack is a somewhat unusual name for a woman," he commented.
"It's a family name," the knight replied, "passed down from my uncle." Katherine could see that this was technically true, at least as his backstory in this world went.

"Well, I can see that its sharpness fits your strength. Would you prefer that we call you 'Lady Zack', or something else..?"
"Whatever you like, your highness." He maintained a kind of stonefaced expression that was courteous, but not overly friendly. This overall presentation toward a high-ranking noble was something drilled into him long ago, and effortlessly hid any annoyance he felt at being thought of or looked at as female by the prince.
"Ah, well, 'Lady Zack' it is, then. Unless it's urgent." He nodded seemingly to himself and gracefully heading off after dropping off his second load—presumably to speak to the others.

Lynn gave the fox-girl a look as they passed. You can carry more than that, can't you?

Sorry, but some things never change. I...still haven't really started that exercise regimen.

No, I mean—can't you just buff your strength a bit?

Oh, right. Well, in that case I'm...conserving my energy. Lots of making-the-carvan-invisible to do, I bet.

"An archer and an illusionist.." Peregrine's voice nearly startled Lynn enough to drop the crates she'd just lifted, and he hurried to lean forward and put out a hand to catch them. "Oh—my deepest apologies."
"It's okay, I really should be more alert than that." Thanks a lot for the warning, fox-ears. Rayna replied with the mental equivalent of sticking out her tongue for a second.

Seeing that she still had her load, he stood upright again and took another crate to follow her with. "It's just—did you two ever work as traveling performers?"

"Yes, until quite recently in fact."

"And, do you recall visiting Kyzerath once or twice?"

"I..believe so, yes," she said, thinking back. That was a royal capital of a human-dominated country, wasn't it?
"One of my nephews snuck out of the palace to see one of your shows, I think. Small world.

"And...Lady Zack said that you practiced some magic?"
"Only very recently, and just amateur stuff. Mostly enchanting my arrows elementally to make them more effective against the monsters around here."
"Indeed? It's quite impressive to first pick up spellcasting as an adult, I'm told, especially without formal training."

"Do you know any magic, your highness?"
"A few low-level defensive spells were drilled into me at a young age," he said. "I haven't the talent for it, or I may well have been shipped off to a mages' college."

He caught up to the fox-girl on her way back to the crates—which wasn't very hard, as she wasn't moving very fast. "..Ah, Miss Rayna. Forgive me if this is an intrusion, but..I believe I spotted a faint glow to your eyes once or twice. It is difficult to be certain in this sunlight, but..do you possess the Sight?"
"I do," she said. "I didn't really know that was what it was until fairly recently, though, so I have much more experience casting illusions than piercing them."

"Well—please do not hesitate to mention anything useful it shows you, even if it is somewhat difficult to explain how you know it. Some say the Sight is Sophol's gift, but he never has admitted to it."

"I'll do just that, your highness," she said with a grin, setting down her burden again. "You know, in absence of a psion, there's no telling just how different one person's perception of the world really is from another's. You and I might agree that the sky is blue, but we may be perceiving entirely different colors all the same."

"Hm..that is interesting to consider," Peregrine said. "Another reason they ought to be more respected, I suppose. Excuse me, please." Nodding politely to her, he continued off toward the wagon he'd sent Clera toward.

What do you think he's doing? Trying to endear himself to everyone? Lynn thought 'toward' Rayna.

The fox-girl replied, I have the impression that he wants to build some level of trust before we all start fighting monsters together. Getting a more detailed idea of our abilities may also be a goal here. He is extremely perceptive, by the way.

Clera took a long, sharp breath as she pulled out another soldier's wounds. As promised, nothing here was life-threatening, but there were cuts, bruises, and breaks alike to worry about. She had taken a second to assess their injuries and then begun with the most severe, so at least each one hurt less than the previous. She came to the fourth now, a dark-haired woman named Nils with "only" a horrific cut on her leg. It missed the mark of being properly dressed by a relatively small margin; there was some risk of infection like this. Correct that, and she probably could just ride for a day and heal enough naturally to walk again, but..the winged girl saw no good reason to make her suffer, nor to have them down one fighter if monsters came.

Mostly through regenerating the previous wound, she placed her hands gently on the bandages. Her patient breathed a sigh of relief, and Clera gritted her teeth and kept silent against the pain. "Gods, that feels amazin'," she said. "Why can't all healers be Empaths?"

"There would be far too few of us," Clera said. "Why were you not sent with one in the first place?"
"No one would risk the trip," another of the soldiers said. "Prince Perry only got the seven worst in the army what aren't fit for court martialin'." The other three expressed immediate disagreement with this. "Come now, you all know it's true!"

"You have served admirably, all the same." The prince climbed into the wagon, and the four soldiers quickly went to salute him more or less in unison.

"Sire!"

"How are they?" he asked, toward Clera.
"Their wounds are gone," she said. "Some rest, and they should be perfectly healthy. Have you or the other three sustained any injuries?"

"Not more than scratches on their armor," he said, shaking his head and gesturing for her to follow him back outside.

Once they were standing a few feet off, he stopped and turned toward her. "An Empath must experience every wound she heals, right?"
"That is correct, your highness."
"Why would you offer to heal anything trivial, then?"

"Even small injuries cause pain, and—more to the point—can become worse if left untreated. If it bleeds, it can get infected.

"...I should inform you of this so that you are not caught by surprise if it becomes relevant: I had some formal training as a mage before I became an Empath. My talent is primarily in fire magic, and I still use it to defend myself or others when necessary."
He tilted his head just slightly. "I have never heard of the likes of that before. Most Empaths are healers beforehand, or else mostly magicless. Nonetheless, I appreciate the warning; I'm certain we will be nothing but grateful if you use that power against our attackers."
She nodded. "I have also..trained myself in some non-magical methods to help bodies heal themselves. Bandages, splints, or sewing a wound back together...the sorts of things one without access to healing magic would need to resort to."

"You seem to possess much knowledge, miss Clera," he said cheerfully, starting to move and subtly lead her back toward the center of their makeshift camp. "Yet you still have quite a kind heart, from what I can see."

She kept a more or less passive expression against this praise. "Half-avian lifespans can vary greatly, your highness. I am much older than I appear to be."

"I see. We will have to respect your wisdom, then, if it comes to it," he replied smoothly. "On that note, I believe you said the four in the sick wagon may require some rest to be back to full?"
"Correct. Being injured is taxing, and I cannot take another's exhaustion. However, that would not prevent us from moving forward; they can rest just as well in a moving wagon as an unmoving one."

"Just what I was thinking," he nodded.

Everyone was back in the center with them before long. Peregrine said, "Unless it is against the judgement of you experienced adventurers, I believe it would be best to reconvene our caravan and get moving again as soon as possible."
"I would recommend the same, your highness," Zack said. "The longer we stay in one place, the easier it is for something big to notice us."
"Indeed. Let us continue, then." He and the three soldiers led the way in reattaching the wagons to a group of horses and lining them up to head out.

As they neared the end of their preparations, Rayna looked at the road ahead, and then slowly turned around. Encounter probability...in the nineties if not one hundred percent, in every direction. That can't be right, can it?

I think it is, and I think I know why, Katherine replied. Let me explain it aloud.

"Your highness," she said, approaching him. "Goblins are very tenacious monsters, and fairly intelligent. I don't imagine you killed very many of those which attacked you before?"
"Not one of them," he said, shaking his head. "We narrowly succeeded in injuring and driving them away. You think they will be back?"

"Most likely," the catgirl nodded. "Once a group of them is after something, they tend to keep at it until either they die or their target goes down."

"Lady Ezra likely had the same idea; it would explain her insistence on sending along some experts. How should we handle them?" He wasn't looking at her alone for this advice, but the rest of the five adventurers as well.

"I can make us invisible and inaudible to them," Rayna said, "but not indefinitely. A better idea would be for me to also put a 'fake caravan' ahead of us for them to attack so we can ambush them."
"If we can kill the majority, or preferably all of them, we won't need to worry about them anymore," Zack agreed.

"That seems like a wise plan," Peregrine said, nodding. "Very well. Ah, but Miss Clera, would you mind scouting our surroundings? If they are already nearby, then..."

Clera nodded, taking off into the air just above them and making a brief, tight circle to look around. After landing, she said, "The road ahead looks clear for the moment. No sign of goblins, nor any other monsters or obstructions. Plenty of places for them to be lying in wait in our path, however."

"Good, good. Let us be on our way, then."

Isarac, Karl and Morris drove the wagons, guiding the animals along the path. The prince and the five adventurers flanked either side of the caravan, Rayna toward the very front so she could more easily concentrate to maintain her illusions.

Katherine moved up next to Prince Perry for a moment. "Your highness. Do you have any idea of their numbers when they attacked before?"
"Hmm. There was much confusion, but not more than ten, I think," he said.

She nodded, distributing this information to any of the others who hadn't heard it. "As far as the actual battle with the goblin goes...you could remain back with the actual caravan, if you wish."

"I shall, if the soldiers who were injured in the last battle have yet to recuperate by then," he said. "Someone must keep them away from the draft animals and supplies. When they are well, however, I would prefer to take the front lines rather than hiding behind others." He 'thought', unhidden by his mental defenses in a way which made it clear he meant her to hear: If I am being cruelly honest, my martial skills are somewhat better than theirs. I believe I shall not be a burden to you; but if I prove to be one, I swear I will stay out of future battles for the remainder of the journey.

"Very well," she said, nodding.