"A-well that expins why a couple humans are wandering in the woods alone." Voel stated, nodding his head sagely as if stating the most wise thing in the world. Temate had just finished expining, roughly, how they'd gotten here. Not lying about their origin at all to Toni's surprise. Voel had interrupted a few times to ask questions and it was really starting to annoy Toni, so she said something.

  "Why do you keep saying that, we're Toni and Temate, you keep saying a couple humans like we're... lost pets or something." She gred at Voel who blinked then sighed.

  "A-great, and they're supremacists."

  "WHAT?!" Now Toni was really mad. Supremacists?! She wasn't the one treating others like they were a disappointment!

  Kea spoke up quickly, putting her hand on Voel who seemed to blink in surprise. "Sorry, you're not from here and clearly that word has more significance to you than us. He didn't mean anything by it."

  "Well what did he mean by it, cause I'm not gonna be treated like a burden by a stranger and then insulted, regardless of any life saving behavior." She gred between the two as Kea mulled over her response.

  "Mmm, it's just a term for Humans, Ghanaan's and other servant species who believe that they should... Ya know, be more independent. One of the superior species, thus supremacists."

  "I-" Toni didn't even know where to start unpacking that statement. Kea just smiled sincerely at her as if she'd said nothing wrong. "I-I don't even..." A hand came to rest on her shoulder.

  "Servant species?" Temate asked. Kea blinked and then looked confused.

  "O-of course, is it not the same where you come from?" She asked. Temate shook his head.

  "We only have humans where we come from, though some people do tend to think they're better than others because of stupid shit, those assholes we call supremacists. Thus the reaction." Temate answered and expined at the same time. He looked down to Toni and nodded softly.

  "I can guess as to why but I'd like to know why you consider those species 'servant' species, as it strikes at some personal moral issues I and Toni have."

  Voel sat back crossing his soft, white feathered arms as he sighed before replying.

  "A-it is very simple. Humans, Ghanaans, Goblins, Lizalf and a few other species ck in Power, though often are physically stronger at a base level. A-this makes them ideal for menial bor but often cking in the ability to develop high tier [Power]s which can make notable impact in society."

  Voel nodded toward them before continuing. "A-there are exceptions of course, but it is rare and thus the species relies on protections of others. A-therefore they pay in menial bor and service, thus servant species."

  Temate could practically hear Toni's teeth grinding in her jaw and rubbed her shoulder carefully, trying to tell her to rex. It didn't work.

  "That's fucking stupid." She hissed. Voel just shrugged.

  "A-you believe what you wish. A-if you are lucky enough to be the exception, you are lucky. A-but most people who feel this is outdated and push for change end up hurting themselves and others, proving why it is the way it is."

  "It's still fucking stupid." She snarled those words.

  "Toni." Temate called for her attention, she looked to him, pure venom in her gaze. He smiled and pressed his forehead to hers. "I agree, but right now isn't the time." He stared into her eyes until her face softened.

  "I still think it's stupid, but you're right." She relented. Temate didn't like pushing that to the side, though he understood and didn't entirely disagree with the cssification. He was the exception, and he'd use that to help everyone he could and prove that the exception has to do with circumstance and not something else. For now though trying to convince the clearly sympathetic Kea, and the stubborn Voel who saved his life?

  Not the time.

  Also just generally not productive if you don't have a prepared argument. Which would be hard because just the introduction of skills made equality a harder thing to judge. If human's really do struggle to empower their skills then it might be a fair judgement. At least in terms of safety and ability.

  He turned back to Voel to ask a question, "So why are you looking for us?"

  "A-our benefactor, Lady Are-" He gestured towards a ring around his finger, a single glowing ruby in the center of the simple band.

  Though it was the strange armlets above that which Temate kept gncing at. Four bands, three of brass or bronze and one of silver set equidistant from each other starting at Voel's wrist. Each one always had some level of contact with Voel's arm and despite being so rge they should fall straight off they never fell down or up his arm. Fascinating.

  Wait, he missed the expnation. Temate looked up to Voel and smiled apologetically.

  "Sorry, could you repeat that, I got distracted by your armlets." Temate gestured towards the bands of metal. Voel ughed loudly and held the bands up to dispy them proudly.

  "A-even not being from our world you recognize the splendor of my Circle! A-yes, these are a symbol of my rank in the Circle of Magi, fourth Circle." He tapped his way up each of the bands and Temate saw a small symbol on each one. He nodded, making an educated guess as to the value of that.

  "That's pretty high I take it? Impressive, really."

  "A-The highest acknowledged circle is 9th circle. A-I only just got my first silver Circle, but one day." He smiled happily as he ran a finger across the silver band.

  "How get Circle?" Surrender cut in, she'd been particurly quiet this whole time, causing Voel to jump slightly when she spoke.

  "A-ah, they are symbolic of the control I have over my Way." He replied as if that answered anything at all. Surrender clearly felt the same way as an ear shook with annoyance.

  "Way is?" She asked, a little more sharply than was probably necessary.

  "A-ah you... you don't?" Voel looked between them all, finally turning to Laurel who just shrugged.

  "Don't look at me sir Voel, I have some knowledge of [Power]s gifted me by the Grand Ceil, but no clue what you're speaking of." Laurel said when Voel looked at him with surprise.

  Voel sighed and put his head into his talons. Honestly, Temate thought he was kinda cute, if a bit stuffy. The way the feathers ruffled around his face, which was wide and sweet looking. The long beak which Temate was sure could probably do some uniquely fun things. He forced his attention back to Voel's words as he spoke again.

  "A-I do not have time to get into the details, but it is essentially the basis of your Magical [Power]s." To emphasize he shifted some feathers and a soft wind cast around each of them, soothing and rexing Temate. The stress of his recent loss, which he had actively been avoiding thinking about, melted away.

  "That's alright, I still need you to tell me why you're looking for us." Temate redirected the conversation.

  "A-indeed." Voel stood and bowed slightly, as if to keep Temate's attention on him this time. "A- Lady Are would like to invite you to her manor in Occiden. A-she attempted to do so by providing a guiding light but you were taking too long to arrive. A-so she sent us to seek you and bring you back safely."

  "I tol' you the ligh' was weir'!" Pipuck excimed grinning from ear to ear. "Bu' nooooo, let's go tal' with bears, an' then we'll go 'elp them ou' by talkin' to the Leshy an' then we'll help them by killin' their Rot's ass problem!" Pipuck poked Temate in his side.

  "Yes yes Pip, it got out of hand. No more helping, we've been helped and returned it. But-" Temate held a finger up to cut off something else Pipuck was gonna say. "-we will be going back to the Grand Ceil and reporting what we found. And back to the bears. I don't consider the favor done until we hand the information off to the bears ourselves."

  Pipuck rolled their eyes and sighed. "If that's 'ow you wan' to do i', I'm jus' 'ere to guide you an' keep you safe."

  "And we'll help." Kea said, cutting Voel off. "We can help keep everyone safe as we travel, and I wanna meet these bears, and this Grand Ceil." Kea looked up to Voel with pleading eyes. The big, owl like bird man sighed again and nodded.

  "A-I am here to help you, not to capture or force anything. A-so if that is what you wish to do, I will assist." Then his back straightened. "A-for instance, at this moment we should wait to leave. A-a group of goblins with, amazingly, a troll are beneath us in this moment. They appear to be trying to reach something in the trees."

  "Oh for fucks sake" Toni groaned. "I guess we'll jus-"

  "Toni." Temate and Surrender both cut her off, she looked between them. Temate looked up to Surrender who's wide eyes told him she'd realized the same thing. Before either could say it Toni leapt up realizing herself.

  "OUR GEAR! I TOTALLY FORGOT IN ALL THE CHAOS!"

  Temate stood up, hand grabbing at his machete and grimacing as he saw the damage. Toni held her hand out. Temate blinked at her.

  "You're not going to-"

  "You're going to go." She cut him off. "I couldn't stop you if I wanted to, I get that now, but you're not going with a weapon as likely to cut you as your enemy."

  "Oh, we c-" Kea started to say something as Temate handed Toni his bde. Her words were cut off with a gasp as Toni used her [Power]s. With a soft pop of dispced air Toni [Fshforge]d a new handle, using [Quick Shape] to mold it. She tched it around the damaged handle using [Rapid Repair] and some [Firebrand] and [Eternal Fme] to weld it in pce.

  "That'll st maybe ten minutes, so let's move." Without even hesitating the group was already moving. Surrender had slipped out already, as Temate went to step out the entrance a soft hand nded on his arm.

  "We can handle this sir Mate." Kea offered from beside him, her bck fur crackled with soft electric energy.

  "A-in fact we may not be able to. There are many goblins, and the troll seems surprisingly intelligent for its kind."

  Temate shrugged Kea off along with Voels words.

  "We need that gear, it's not a choice. That gear is literally irrepceable, as valuable as my life in it's usefulness and quality." Temate stepped out and slipped carefully up to Surrender as he heard Voel and Kea begin talking together behind him. Toni followed with Pipuck and Laurel shortly behind her.

  They examined the small clearing beneath them. Several dozen goblins were gathered below, some armored with cruel looking weapons. Amidst them, ordering the smaller creatures around, was the troll. It was hard to tell at this height, for Temate, so he poked Surrender lightly.

  "Report?" He whispered as he felt the [Enshadow] cover him.

  "Many goblin. They trying get gear. Troll big boss, rare and dangerous." She pointed to the troll and measured it with her eye. "Troll big as you, small troll. New evolve."

  Evolve? A question for ter.

  "Which is more dangerous?" Temate asked pointing to himself then the troll. She examined them for a moment then gave a shrug which Temate read to mean 'basically the same'. Good.

  "And the goblins?" Temate asked, Surrender pointed to three of the nearly 30 small green folk. They were more well armored then their counterparts, and bigger looking properly fed and trained.

  "They dangerous ish, but think Toni or I could take." She said, indicating with gestures she meant any one of them could take all three.

  Laurel whispered from beside him. "I can handle the troll if-" Temate held up a hand.

  "No. Troll is mine." He needed to hurt something. "Toni." His [Magic Eye] confirming something he had already suspected.

  "Yes?" She whispered as she examined the soon to be battlefield.

  "Fire my weapon up?" He didn't know if she could, but she nodded and ran her hand along the bde. The edge began to glow.

  "I've got your back, I'll take shots from up here on people who are fnking or in blindspots. Laurel, you get those two nasty goblins." She pointed towards two of the stronger goblins.

  "Ren look for an opportunity to take that one out while picking off the others." She pointed to the st strong goblin.

  "A-I will handle the goblin mass, my [Feathered Friend]s can be a great distraction, a-and even combat effective in this circumstance." Voel spoke quietly, the wind seeming to carry his voice to their ears. Temate looked to Toni who just nodded.

  "Kea?" She asked the sheep girl.

  "Y-y-yes?" She replied, looking scared to death.

  Toni hesitated before giving direction. "If you can, take out some on the edge or distract that one." She pointed to the one she'd set Ren against.

  Kea looked about ready to scream and run but took a deep breath and set her face. She csped her hands together around the two bdes on her hips and drew them out. To Temate's surpise they weren't daggers, but long metal rods. Like a weird club or a nightstick without the side handle.

  "I should be able to handle that. Yes."

  "Pip" Toni turned to the st person in their group. "That new light thing, wanna try a trick?"

  Pipuck grinned at the suggestion and Temate listened as the two came up with a pn. He shook his head with a soft ugh to himself but let them have their fun. This was perfect, with the help of Laurel, Kea and Voel they could easily do this. Assuming he could beat the troll, which he should be able to, they needed a win.

  Pn set the group waited and watched. It wasn't an urgent situation, the goblins were struggling to climb the tree's with how high their stuff was hanging. The troll had kicked some of them around and began instructing them to build what appeared to be dders of a kind. Clever indeed, it was honestly fascinating to Temate.

  The troll was very thin, gangly and lithe with greenish white hide. It's body was surprisingly square looking, with several growths pushing up the rough hide clothing it was wearing. It's eyes were wide and gave an impression of idiocy, yet Temate could see with his [Magic Eye] this creature was anything but.

  Fascinatingly this creature didn't have [Power]s or skills to examine, it simply was things. As in, the Power it had was filling its body, and the way it wove together formed a tapestry that defined the creature, both individually and as a whole. It was quite strange after every other creature he'd examined having the more uniform, contained [Power]s. That thought prompted his investigation of the goblins.

  Which he found to be the same, though their presence and Power were weaker overall, the stronger goblins appeared to have more. A fascinating thing to ask someone about ter, maybe the Grand Ceil because It likely knew better than anyone else. Though It would probably also ask him to do something for the information, so maybe Voel instead. He seemed rather well-educated.

  Temate systematically examined each of the goblins while he waited, learning to read and correte their information. What was different, what was the same. Eventually he categorized a few things which he loosely defined as individual traits much like [Power]s for others.

  The troll was hardest to tell but it had a part of itself dedicated to improvisation which Temate dubbed [Clever Improviser]. After the 2e Pathfinder feat of the same name, it seemed a unique aspect of the trolls power. Primarily because people were remarking on its intuition and ability to direct others in making primitive dders from scrap on the floor.

  The second thing he noted was something he figured out almost immediately. It was a troll, in the way he expected it to be mostly, but also not. It had regenerative elements in its Power that were tethered to vulnerabilities. Strong traits on 'weaker' creatures probably did that, if Temate had to guess.

  Acid and fire, just like they usually are in games.

  The goblins were easier to discern, with the armored ones having traits which allowed them to better wield weapons. One had a minor regenerative effect which Temate pointed out to Toni and Laurel. Around the same time Toni took his bde back to re-repair the handle. He grimaced at that, they'd have to find a proper repair for it soon.

  Finally, nearly 12 minutes after they exited the tree and set their pn together Toni gave the signal. Immediately Pipuck breathed in deeply. As they breathed out the light in the area began to take on a soft, purple hue. Even having heard what Pipuck was going to do Temate took in a hissing breath.

  Snarling wolves could suddenly be heard in the distance and the goblins reacted quickly. Immediately they circled up, clustering together near the center of the space around the troll. They got tight together looking for their target when one of them seemed to blink. Their mouth opened to say something in their broken, yet surprisingly effective, english.

  KABOOM

  Toni's grenade went off in the midst of their group, killing and scattering several of the goblins. Everyone but Toni moved, dispersing from the tree. Voel took flight, lifting Kea up to drop her on the ground softly. Temate activated [Spiral of Bone] and simply stepped off the ptform, grunting with pain as he hit the ground. Surrender slipped away into shadow and Laurel?

  "[FALLING ACORN]!"

  Laurel crashed into two very unprepared goblins.

  Force2reckon