A land far away.

Moving forward in distance

Stepping backwards in time.

An army without a purpose.

People without hope.

But the winds of change are blowing from across the ocean’s tide. Far travelers have come from across the other side.

From “Fall of the Imortals” by Gilbarco Xerithon"

I need to talk to my father about setting up a trust to run our new business. I’ve been shopping all day long, and found something nice to wear finally. It’s not too stuffy or uncomfortable. Now I just need to find Thyll Allyran-al-clan. He’s going to be my escort to a meeting. I figure he’s buff enough to be impressive as a companion, as well as having the capacity to seem intimidating should dear old Dad waffle on my requests.

He wasn’t ever around when I was a kid. This is the least he could do for me. The old bastard owes me something.

“Are you sure you want to do this sir?” Exeter sighs. " This is something I have to do Templeton you are still in charge until the new company holders arrive. I have left detailed instructions for all of you, no questions asked you treat them with the same level of respect you had for me and do whatever they ask as long as it is reasonable. I have to pay for my sins and with my own life if it comes to it. If the relay is activated and they come back there is no telling what they will do with the people of this world. Now that I remember everything I understand why The Explorer did what he did so many years ago." " Remember to have logistics ready to help them out if they need it."

“One more thing once I am through shut of the portal and enter the coordinates into the encrypter give it only to the priest or to the Professor. "

So we killed a dragon type thing, and freed some hostages. Thyll, Ender, Freya and Ivy ran golems up against it while Adan and I ran some controls in this booth that helped out. As a result of this mayhem, we were each awarded Class S Delver status, and the title of Dragonhunter upon our return to Foundation.

Class S, hell yes! This is the kind of thing I’ve been working for all of my life!

I got an envelope with some kind of fancy invitation inside of it to go to a casino and lay down some cards. I’m pretty good at cards, so I accepted. It was from someone who called themselves the High Rollers. At first I was really suspicious. I mean, I did just get a hellacious gift from the Lady recently and luck seems to get drained or stolen in some of these casinos as a matter of course.

Turns out, the High Rollers all have chips just like mine. They weren’t interested in stealing mine, it seems to be more of a preservation society and fellowship of those who currently own chips. Sully is the leader or spokesman, he wears a weird zoot suit but seems cool. Jill is a cowgirl, boots and all. Borov is a fancily-attired Dwarf. Finge is a scaly Dragonborn.

All of them made me feel welcome, and Sully seemed a bit amused at my initial lack of trust. I mean, knowing what I know about the chip, I am surprised more people aren’t after it. I guess I can’t really push my luck with this thing like I wanted to at first. The pit bosses and casino lords would first be suspicious, and then be pissed.

These guys seem pretty okay to me. I suppose it will be nice having some folks around who know what I’ll be experiencing as the owner of one of these babies.

All in all, a pretty nice return. But we’ll go back out again soon, I’m sure. After all, we are Class S now!

Our time in Grozniv was a success. The temple that we entered had tests set up to try those that entered and reward those that succeeded. We battled a Minotaur and met an Avatar of a God. As a reward we were all given one question to answer or a trinket of some sort. I took the chance to get something extremely powerful as a risk of my life. He then produced a Deck of Many Things, to which I pulled from. The first, transformed alignment and suddenly switched my views of this world, now being Evil. The second was the Key, a basic caster wand to help in my spellcasting. I was extremely lucky not to die, tho the downside of the evil no inside me has yet to be explored.

I’m not sure what happened. The avatar was there and talking about his interests. All of the images depicting his rise to power. I felt drawn. It felt right. All this time I had been driven to glorify my clan in as spectacular a way as possible. But I never felt my clan would approve of me as I was. I had been outcast for my unconventional ways, just before the pirates attacked. By the time I found out, it was too late to save anyone. All that was left was vengeance. The pirates had had such an easy time with the clan, they never thought one of us could actually fight. They learned better. I didn’t just wade into them, that would’ve been suicide. No I set traps, sabotaged their ship, poisoned their supplies, picked them off slowly, until they were sick, tired, demoralized. Then, what was left of them, could not put up a decent fight when I came. I challenged the captain first. He was overconfident, the surprise on his face permanently hanging over the ruins of the town hall. The rest surrendered. I tied them all together like a prison train, then I executed them. The first two didn’t understand what was happening. The next three screamed for mercy and law. The last one just bared his neck for the cut. His was the hardest, because he knew he deserved it, and accepted it. I’ve been in limbo ever since.

Then he showed me a way. A way for personal peace, and clan acceptance. They did not like the mercenary I was. I think they would accept the Champion I am becoming.

So we cleared out what we could of the Tunnel, met a metallic noxious-breathed bull in combat and defeated it, and ended up meeting a powerful individual who gave us gifts.

We went back to report our findings to the Pope but I was consumed with other matters. The fellow we met had given me a lovely little sapphire chip. A gambling token. It was charmed but I didn’t realize how powerful it might be, until I met Her.

She told me exactly what I needed to know about this charm.

Now I’m feeling pretty darned lucky…

So we’ve been up and down the halls of Somewhere, and recovered… a girl. From the past. Well, maybe not so much a girl. She looks like one, but her body was engineered by Xethanians it seems. Her name’s Vodella, a sexy looking thing but I’m not so sure she understands biological imperatives. I like her in a sort of lost puppy dog way, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.

But we’ve been set to a new task, so I guess I won’t be seeing to her safety anymore. Professor Flynn gave us the choice to go to either Grozniv or Guttenberg for our next assignment. Seems we are doing well, performance-wise. We decided to go to someplace that wasn’t a desolate prison island.

But Grozniv is cold as hell. Even the winter clothes we’ve acquired don’t quite seem to keep a chill off. On the ride up, I saw a prime sample of Grozniv manhood, though. Tall, burly, muscular, bearded… what’s not to love? He took off when we arrived at our destination before I thought to ask his name (or maybe I just forgot what with all that delicious muscle blinding me), but I’d sure love for him to warm my bed while we are here.

Gotta focus on the job at hand.

There’s a tunnel we have to check out. Vellmarson raiders are attacking the people stationed there and living nearby, so it’s our duty to find out what’s in that tunnel that is so important and how to stop the raids. The Priest guy mentioned Dragon Cobras living around there as well. Said they were dangerous as hell. I’d love to see what all the fuss is about.

I slept alone last night; it’s good to keep a sort of tension just under the surface when we are about to do a job, it keeps me on edge. I’ll have to find a way to relieve it once we are done though. Hmmm… wish I had gotten that big beautiful guy’s name.

Well we got rid of Lord Valmont and his children, minus his pure daughter of course. After we uncovered the secret room, unrecorded before our unveiling, it seemed the keep and possibly the island was ours. If this turned out to be the case, we would have a nice headquarters for “5 o’clock Somewhere.” We have already taken haste on claiming the manor keep and branding it as “Somewhere.” As we head back for a much deserved rest, I thought to myself “I know tomorrow will bring a new adventure for sure,” looking at each of the group, admiring them individually, “Quite the adventure indeed.”

So all is said and done. The keep we’ve named Somewhere is pretty much ours to do with as we please. Cool, because I’ve always wanted a keep! The thing is defensible, we know that for a certainty. And it’s former owners, welllll… they have no use for it now.

Seems they were all up to summoning some nasty thing, but we put the kibosh on that in a hurry. It had eyes and mouths everywhere when it appeared, but cold steel was good enough to put it down after some effort. Not sure what the bosses want us to do with the prisoners, but the keep is the Guild’s now.

So maybe with this jump into the fire, we’ve earned ourselves some newfound respect. And a chance at a more in-depth exploration! Seems this place was some kind of research facility.

Although with the creature we slew to gain control over this place being what it was, I’m certain further exploration will be a very interesting ride.

But now we have a keep, so there’s that!

So our first mission out from training is to scout a previously unexplored entrance on an island owned by a small family. Easy contract. If it is worth something, make a contract with the family for exploration rites and set up base. If not, eliminate the entrance to prevent inadvertent contact between islanders and cavern dwellers. Until we scouted the island and found the ghost of a pirate captain who alleged evil activities upon the lord of the island. We return to base camp to find it scattered by the natives. We moved on to the town just to be assaulted by the natives. Something like they were possessed by blood ghosts. Easy cleanup except for the part where I get shot in the back by one of the spellcasters. Bloody lightning bolts hurt. Judging by the expression on his face when I turned on him, it was obviously a miscalculation. I was fighting his target. But damn! Anyways, a quick breather and some healing spells and we moved on to the keep. That proved a little tougher. One son was a lycanthrope, the other a ghost himself. That got interesting as it was difficult to hit him. Then he decided to possess the very same spellcaster that shot me in the back. Heh! A good solid crack to the back of the head with the flat of my blade and that body was useless to the ghost. And the upshot being when the mage woke up he’d have a bitch of a headache. The daughter had evidently locked herself in the dungeon to keep away from her father and brothers. Dad proved to be in the cavern attempting to raise some blood god. We get down there and take out dad, who gets eaten by his own god, karma that. We quickly dispatched the fledgling god and disovered that we had stumbled upon a research lab of the old Xethanians. We claimed the island and keep for the Delver’s Guild in general and “5 o’clock somewhere” specifically. Renamed the keep “Somewhere”. I think we’re set now.

Ministry of Science building 045—— Final Days of the War——-
“Come in Lord Velker!!! Please respond!!” Oerbard waited in response by his radio for any response from the remnants of home base." This is Lord Velker, proceed Oerbard with your report.." Oerbard sighed in releif “Sir the forbidden weapons vault has been raided and the last item was taken. The last item we have yet to use has been taken! He took the Terranigma What do we do sir?” Oerbard waited for a reply in a cold sweat. “Oerbard if that was all he took then we proceed as planed, with your completion of Project Passenger we have nothing to fear of what The Explorer could do with the Terranigma….we will prevail …await for further orders Velker out.”

It had been a few weeks, our well oiled Team, “5 o’clock Somewhere” had placed top in our class, and even exempt from the final exam. Of course we took it, to show that we were that much more badass. In doing so, we achieved top ranking for a rookie team, and were qualified for Rank A assignments. Our first mission was between a survey position on an unexplored island, or a dig site on Guttenberg. And, we chose the virgin island, for what secrets it could hold.

After arriving on the island we set up camp and went exploring, in an attempt to circumvent the area, for anything out of the ordinary. We came across an undead Pirate captain that said he and many others had been victim to the lord of the island. After learning of this, we made our way back to the campsite, only to find it abandoned and several of our crew fleeing for their lives around the island. That’s when the fun began. As we walked into the small village, we could tell things weren’t right. The villagers were walking around like Zombies, had red eyes, and their flesh pulsated uncontrollably. Se slowly approached, and then attacked. Thyll lead the charge mowing down a couple. My peripheral vision could see the rest of my party land some solid blows and several of the villagers explode. But my vision was fixed on 2 that were next to Thyll. For the first time, I cast a lightning orb and attempted to split it in two. To my surprise multiplying the orb was quite easy, gauging the division of power, on the other hand was not. I did not balance the orbs as I launched the first one completely caught off guard by its power. It flew directly into Thyll’s back, scorching is armor and sending bolts of electricity into him. A loud “Ouch!!!” rang out, as he turned to give me an evil stare I hadn’t seen from him until now. I threw the 2nd orb with little power what so ever, still caught in Thyll’s deathgaze, but it at least hit its mark. Thankfully the first didn’t hit him hard enough to kill him, it just pissed him off, which isn’t bad during battle /snicker. Next thing, another Bloodbeast like we had seem before, exited the building next to me. I had one powerful spell remaining in my arsenal. So I said a prayer to Lady Luck and let another orb fly. It hit with such a force that I had never seen, and obliterated the monster in one electric explosion. I turned to my party with smug pride, as Aden disposed of its remnants. We now headed to the keep, to confront Lord Valmont, and make him pay for his indiscretions.

They had their orders from father, take their sister Lydia and keep her locked in the basement with the captured hunter. Lydia had been used to this, all her life kept in a cage her whole family afraid of her. They feared what she was what she could do. She had hoped when Cyrilintha’s hunters came that they would free her and take her away from the House of Horrors she had grown up in. At least now for the first time in her life she had company of another the only survivor of the assault on the island before the Delvers came.

“Do not worry I will get us out of this.” Venik assured. " I shall deliver judgement on your brothers and your father and we will escape I promise." Lydia was not sure to think of her cellmate as mad or determined. Little did they know the horrors that awaited up above in the keep.

They remembered their fathers orders he would go to protect the crop and stop and kill the delvers. They were to remain here and guard their sister and kill the delvers in case they went to the keep first but their father was clear KILL THEM ALL even in death they will still serve a purpose. They understood their opponents were no mere foes after all they had dealt with the blood bags and their controller.The mainlanders will perish tonight…

I was dreaming of swimming. The water cool and quiet like glass. I made long easy strokes through the water from one end to the other. Then a soft shimmer and the pool became darker… The water temp began to slowly rise. The water becoming not only warmer, but thicker too. I stopped swimming and began to tread water. Before the room became a blackout I could see what I was swimming in. Blood. Frantically I tried to find a way out of the pool, but the water was so thick and all-encompassing that I couldn’t keep my bearings. I could feel myself getting tired and beginning to drown. My mind reeled….it knew this feeling.

The dream shifted and I was back home at the fountain with Lady Meredith. “NO!!” my mind screamed, but it was too late. She was holding me under water and not caring at all that the girl she was attempting to drown was only 13. She didn’t care that it had been an accident. Didn’t care at all that not two days prior we had been here together with our families. I ran out of breath quickly and began violently thrashing and clawing at any skin I could find. I could hear her muffled screams through the water…damn I’d forgotten how loud Merry was.

The dream shifted more and I was no longer an active participant in my own drowning but now a bystander to observe. I didn’t focus on me… I knew how that ended. Instead, I focused on Merry. She was soaked all the way through now and almost hoarse from screaming. Her hair, always so immaculate, was now hanging limply and forgotten down to her waist. Her eyes were wild and filled with tears. I doubt she even really knew what she was doing… her grief had clearly exceeded reason. What seemed like eons to me was in reality only a few short minutes. It’s hard to hide that you’re killing someone when the whole kingdom can hear you I thought cynically. All of a sudden her eyes went from wild, to shock, to empty as the dagger pierced her from the back. I could see my savior now… a little village boy not much older than me looking both amazed and terrified by what he had just done.

I woke to the sound of angry knocks at my dorm’s door. “What the Hell?” I said groggy. I got out of bed and wrapped the blanket around me. I opened the door briskly to find two of the schools staff right on the other side. “Yes?” I said sharply. “Miss Freya…..are you all right?” the first man asked. I noticed that they both seemed to have paled a bit. I took their cue and looked over myself quickly. I had forgotten to clean my face and skin. I was still covered in Killian’s blood. “Yes. Quite all right.” I said. “You’re needed with your group ma’am.” The second man chimed. “Right this second or am I allowed to shower first?” I asked. I slammed the door in their face before they could answer. I turned to Killian with a small grin, “It’s time for finals”.

So we’re in our final test, right? This is graduation! I’ve been waiting for this for years. Nobody’s going to screw this up for me.

Except maybe my cousin. Damn you, Ivy! Splitting the group lost us valuable time. And pitted us against two obstacles at once, in smaller groups. It was fortunate for my group then that I stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

The mechanical golems blocking our way and demanding our right of passage were easy enough to dismantle and reprogram, with a little help from Thyll who fancies himself a tinkerer. But Freya and Aden wandered off with Ivy, and Thyll, Ender, and I had no idea they were gone until we finished our work on those golems.

So a few more fiery and shifty obstacles down after coming to the same side Freya, Aden (what a cute butt!) and Ivy had taken, and we found ourselves…in the same place we would have been if we’d just stayed our original course! Another level of the testing dungeon to traverse, and we came across some transporter device of olden times. It lead to a deserted island beach, where we rested briefly and then continued on.

Our objective was to recover an item from a list of several, and we did find one of the items on that list. But then everything got weird. Our communicators were in and out, and the lights in the place were wonky.

So then a voice came up over the intercom, advising us that this was now personal. It was Jensen, whose plot to steal some students for whatever Gods-awful reason only he could say had been interrupted by our very own Delver apprentice party earlier. He’d made scarce, but I wasn’t expecting him to be able to usurp our entire testing controls. He must have backers.

“Hey, Ender? Care to place a wager on whether we end up acing this damned test or not? In light of everything going on right now, I’d say we’re screwed,” I said to the sorcerer with a wry grin.

I flashed him some coin from my purse.

“I’ve got seven silvers.”

While trying to egg the dragonblood into a bet, I was also glancing around the structure of the flashing, darkening lights. Maybe there was a way to trace the wiring back to wherever someone was cutting it off? I knew I didn’t need perfect light to see well, but some in this group did.

Like, oh, that sexy Cleric. One of the members most important to our integrity.

He flashed some light, and I cursed inwardly a bit. But still, follow the dying lights. Maybe that might get us somewhere. We still needed to get out of here to claim our prize, after all.

—Plegethos, Belial’s home Belial has been many things over the years, but perplexed is not one of them. He knows all that goes on in his dominion but knows not who the shadowy figure in front of him is or how it arrived but he has a feeling it is not to his benefice. With a wave of his hand his guards surround the living shadow standing before them. The shadowy figure unmoving, speaks “Belial the Dark Star sends his warning and reguards…Stay out of his realm the power you seek was not meant for you or others. This will be your only warning” With a wave of his hand the demons all jab into the cloaked messenger with their spears only to find empty cloth beneath…..

Halzalm Testing Facility Central Control Room Jensen sighed “This is Exeter to home base. Come in..” a few seconds pass as the signal is transferred. “Exeter this is home base we have received your package via sky lift and are en route back to base. Your orders are to exfiltrate the hot zone and rendezvous at the new LZ do you copy?” Exeter rolls his eyes and sighs again..“That is a negative Alatross I am under pursuit and can not currently exfiltrate the hot zone will contact once on the move.” After more relay time a respond comes over the radio. “Situation understood you and your team contact us once you have escaped. Heil Vermillia!”

Exeter changes his com channel to local relay and begins to crack a smile “Well everyone you have your marching orders your identities are not compromised they are not expecting a surprise attack I have orders from HQ to execute every trainee your team finds I will lend assistance from here, get to work gentlemen.”

I needed to leave and now. The ladies on the dance floor fighting would be a perfect chance. The further I got from that crazy ass angel the better. He was still so lost in all thought about what he had planned for her that he hadn’t even notice she’d left. Visuals of him swimming in her blood while fucking her corpse came to the surface of my mind. I was out the door and walking down the alley like a shot.

“No, no, no….” I chanted. “Just breath. These are NOT your thoughts.” I whispered. I leaned over and wretched on the ground. It tasted like copper. I sat on the ground next to the dumpster and just breathed. In and out in and out. The cold air helped. The colder I got the more control I got. I wiped my mouth and got back up. “Killian’s not going to be happy.” I thought.

Killian was sitting outside our dorm when I got back. I was in his arms before he could say hello. Killian’s smile turned into a frown as he smelled me. “Sulfur?” he asked. “I saw an angel again…” I whispered. What little color he had in his face left. “Did you…do you need me to take care of it?” he asked. He would too she knew that. He had covered for her lapses ever since she was 12. “No. I got out of there in time.” I assured him. I gave him a long measured look. “I’m not going to be nice tonight” I said slowly. “It’s ok. Rather me than her.” he said. As he walked ahead of me to the room I said “Don’t forget the daggers”. There was only this barest of hesitations in his step before he nodded in acknowledgement. Being with someone your whole life had its perks sometimes…

The banging on Krysta’s front door is loud. I hear those two goons from the School, Bruce and Lance, shouting for me. I struggle out from under her warmth, moaning softly as her skin slides across mine. My body is still tingling and slightly sore from the things we did to each other last night as I sit up on the edge of the bed. Ignoring their calls, I stand and walk weak-kneed to the bathroom.

My head throbs as the hot water of the shower washes down over me and I scrub my hair and body briskly. There was a lot of wine last night, too. I remember briefly the hours of training, betting on Hurst’s match and seeing him perform well for a change, and the group’s visit to the bar that led me to spending the night in Krysta’s arms. I almost got into a brawl with some Goblin pranksters, and Freya Halliwell instigated one with some priestess of Aethos. Or was that Thyll ex-Allyran? Hard to remember.

While I’m drying myself off, I hear Krysta rising from her bed to answer the door. Those who were sent to retrieve me are making some big fuss. I have to laugh a bit when I hear one remark incredulously that they found Ender Solfaine in the bed of a Goliath woman… he always did aim high. A brief thought crosses my mind that I have no clue what my distant cousin Ivellios Liadon was doing at all last night—he always did seem a little bit more tightly-laced than even my mom.

I step out of the bathroom in my tiny panties that Krysta likes so much that her enthusiasm seems to be breaking through the annoyed face she makes at first. I rub my hair dry with a towel as I eye her curiously. One of the two men steps around the corner to look for me, and flushes when he sees me standing there in the hall. I make no move to cover myself.

“We’re rounding up all the students who should have been at the dorms last night!” he says plaintively.

I give him my sweetest smile.

“Fine! I’ll be ready in a minute,” I reply.

I glide around him, letting the towel drop to the floor, and step in close to Krysta. Pushing my fingers into her hair, I find the back of her head and drag her down to my lips and give her the most soulful, full-bodied kiss I can muster. The two men might be watching, but I don’t care.

“I’ll be coming back for more,” I whisper in Krysta’s ear as I step away and let her collect herself.

“Give me just a minute to get dressed,” I smile to the two men sent to fetch me.

A few moments later, and I’m dressed, kissed again by Krysta, and out the door. My head’s still throbbing, not all of it from the alchohol, and there’s a huge grin on my face. I’m stepping lightly, and humming a tune Krysta and I had heard last night that we danced together to while walking back to her house. I’m thinking about how much I like her, when I actually hear something that they are saying to me.

“What do you mean, people have been disappearing from the School?” I ask them, my attention finally diverted from musing on the charms of a buxom and beautiful barmaid.

" I want ALL of the students accounted for!!! You lazy slags get off your asses and find them!!!!" She was shouting, the Adjudicators have heard it before they know this tone well. Astrid was on the warpath…Flynn was looking at his desk puzzled “You know Astrid, I really did not think they would try to take it again, this isn’t your fault. It is ok I promise.” Despite his best efforts of reassurance Astrid remained unaffected, same hell hound stare in her eyes. Moments later Bruce and Lance return to give their detail. “Well, Huff Huff we have all students accounted for.. except for two. We are missing Lazlo and Hurst. Neither of their teams have seen them since last night.” Without hesitation Astrid storms from the room shouting "Both of you come on, we have to find them and get it back get roadblocks ready and teams out on the road and FIND THEM!!! I WILL NOT HAVE A REPEAT OF LAST YEAR!!!

Well the day had finally come for a new class of Devlers to start their training, and I was among them. Caretaker Uren had taught me all he could to get me ready for this day.

“Be careful my child, and be sure to keep in touch when you have time.” “These past 19 years have been good to me, I know you’ve had your fair share of mischief, but your parents would have been proud to see the man you’ve become,” Uren proclaimed, with tears coming to his eyes. “I know I wasn’t easy to raise and I was lost for some time, but your teachings with this opportunity feels like a calling,” I replied, giving the only man I knew as a father, a hug, and farewell. The sun was shining as I made my way to the training school. “At least Lex will be a classmate, she’s good with a knife, and other techniques” I said with a grin, while daydreaming down the street, all thoughts on the adventures ahead.

She woke suddenly with the echo of the dream still fresh in her memory. Those eyes burning red with greed and lust still at the forefront of her mind. The dreams were always worse when she didn’t feed.

As she stretched carefully she knew she would have to address this soon.. Her entire body felt tense with the never ending need. Her body temp was slowly rising and a light sheen of sweat was starting to appear along her skin. “Shit.” she whispered. She didn’t have as much time as she thought. If she didn’t get a move on she would be at His mercy and lose her right to chose.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed lacing her boots when she felt movement from the other side of the bed. “Freya?” a groggy voice whispered in sleep confusion. “Go back to sleep. I wont be long” she answered back. The voice gave a defeated sigh and tried to sit up but was still too tired and drained to quite manage it. “I know, just….just do me a favor and shower when you get back. Its you I want to sleep next to. Not them” he said with a hint of sarcasm. “There isn’t going to be a ‘them’ this time” she said as she reached for her gloves “He fed off me enough in my dream. I still have right of choice thank Lolth” she whispered back with a small grin.

“So that wasn’t me you were dreaming about this time?” he said with mock disappointment. “Trust me, you do not want a starring role in those dreams” she finished seriously. “I’m sorry Frey…Damn I know better than to tease about that” he said quietly. She leaned back and traced her finger along his shoulder following the Ranseur tattoo he now donned because of her. She gave the tattoo a light kiss and looked up at her consort. He was the only thing from home that she hadn’t left behind. Its not like he had given her a choice she thought musingly. “I know. Now go back to sleep Killian, Ill be back soon” she whispered. “Don’t be gone too long you start class tomorrow, remember?” he chided. She glanced at the clock and counted “Its still 6 hours away. Plenty of time”

She could still hear his light chuckle as she walked through the door and into the night.

“Awww, Aethos’ wilted purpled balls, Mom? A dress?!” I cried out in utter dismay as I unwrapped my gift.

My mother Caelynn blanched.

“Watch your tongue, young lady, or I’ll have your father tan your rear!” Mom blurted, glancing around with a horrified look to make sure no one else had heard me.

“Tan my rear? I’m not fourteen anymore, in case you haven’t noticed!” I scoffed.

She huffed better than any of the other prim little delicate butterflies at the acceptance party.

“So I guess Dad had a meeting… again,” I muttered just loudly enough for Mom to hear, while simultaneously trying to conceal my disappointment that once again Caelynn was the sole parent attending some event that was important to me.

“Shush now dear,” Mom said softly, “You know he has very important business to attend to. But I’m here. And I even took the liberty of writing an introductory letter to the Fitzsimmons for you, in case you decide against this… travesty. That Tomas of theirs is certainly a handsome fellow and available for marriage, they are quite well-to-do, and I hear very good things about his, ahem, bedside manner-“

“Mom! Marriage, really? Don’t you think if that’s what I wanted I could have found a man by myself by now? I’ve been accepted into Delver School, I want to explore, and discover things! That’s why I’ve worked my ass off for the past three years!”

I shoved the dress back into its box roughly and slammed it on the table. Eyes were already turning towards us with the rise in my tone. I didn’t care. I stood up.

“I’ve got places to go and things to see before I spend a moment in any man’s kitchen, sewing room, or bed-“ I started again as I smoothed my shirt down, but she interrupted with a sly smile.

“That isn’t what I’ve heard. At least, not about the latter part,” she said as she glanced down to her folded hands, “You know, at the rate you’re going, our family name will be colored.”

“Well, at least it will have some color besides lily white!” I exploded, and walked away briskly toward my room, leaving my gift to sit on the table and my mother to sit alone at the gathering.

In my room, I paced angrily for a few minutes before I started unpacking everything I owned from my packs, sacks, and pouches.

At least I’ll be away from her for a while, I thought grimly.

Foundation—- Union Ward- 1947 A.E (After Evacuation) Monday morning…….

“So the facility is ready, and you are sure Professor?” Ernst glared from underneath his glasses. Flynn knew this look all to well a look he knew but was still not affected by. Flynn staring back and finishing his sip of tea began to respond to his superior. “Well I am glad you asked sir, the damage caused by the Vellmarson saboteurs has been repaired to the living quarters of the school. The reset of the ahem, game room is complete and as you asked we have turned up the difficulty. All the faculty and training coordinators are ready and we have added more Adjudicators to make sure what happened last year will not happen again.”

Ernst sighs and smiles," Well Flynn that is good we are going to need tougher Delvers going forward if the data that those miscreants from Team D found is true then what we could be on the trail of is big, very big. Now Gustauvson what have you learned of the whereabouts of the thief that broke in last year your only lead was Ruben and you say he has no knowledge of her identity?" After a brief salute Astrid sits back down, “Well sir, as you are aware Team D had ran across the some of the lost articles the thief had left behind and was able to use them to traverse compression travel to find Ruben, his knowledge has helped immensely in filling in the gaps in research and development But no he has not been able to identify the thief. The past 4 days he has been unresponsive he has still been etching something in High Xethan on the wall in chalk.”

Ernst smiles and responds “Well I will be shifting responsibility for his care and research to another division I want you to focus on the new recruits and getting them into shape. The Adjudicators should have gone and fetched all of them and taken them down to the Medica building for physical exams before they are to be put into the convoy, you are both dismissed. May our lady of electric light shine upon you.”

Ok some more O.C.C stuff here just kinda wanted to relay some things about the technology level of this setting. The technology level is roughly that of WWII earth with a couple things here and there that are from more current times so yes there are guns, cars, things like that but also there is magic so if anyone has any questions about what they may be able to have based on the techological limits shoot me a msge and we can talk about it

So for GUNS if you have martial weapons proficiency you can use them, if you do not you can’t but with one notable exception if you have hand crossbow proficiency and are not a class with martial weapons proficiency you can change out that proficiency with that for handguns but the cost of this is that you lose your hand crossbow proficiency to illustrate that you learned how to use a gun as opposed to a hand crossbow. Except for Druids…guns are made of metal and shoot metal..it ain’t happenin lol.

Ok everyone time for some O.O.C. postin’ but needed none the less here is rules for character gen as follows.

4d6 Take the Highest re-roll anything below a 10 ,roll up a set you can roll 2 sets pick whichever you like. Should you not like either set you can roll a third set BUT if you take the third set YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH IT. So if you like to gamble there ya go if not stick with the first 2 sets. Please keep the sets you rolled written down.

also see New Races for more character options.

Follow the rest of the book standard first level character gen but one notable difference. At the end of your character generation you may either take one of the following

a misc. +1 to an already proficient skill

proficiency in one skill you are not proficient in even if it is not part of your class

or one language of your choice please note for this selection you have two languages you can take that are not in the book also as options Xethanian and High Xethanian.

This is meant to simulate what you learned at the Delver’s Academy during your time there once we complete your time at the academy in game you will be able to keep your selection from this list as a permanent part of your character.