Friends in a Foreign Land

As Gito left the room, conversation sprung up between the instructors and students, with the teachers sharing a bit more about themselves and answering any questions the group had. Before long, food and drink were brought to the table and the instructors left so their new students could eat in peace.

“This is delicious,” Dakota said between bites. "I'm glad they're willing to teach me how they cook."

“Yeah, but what is it?” asked Wendell.

“No idea. The meat isn’t beef. The starches might be potatoes but I wouldn’t swear to it. The mushrooms are definitely mushrooms, though.”

“As I learn more about it, I’ll let y’all know what it actually is,” said Dakota.

“Asking to be trained as a chef was a good idea,” added Celeste. “I’m not looking forward to learning fighting and smithing, but I can’t wait to work with Luitwin.”

“Hold up,” cut in Wendell, “is no one going to talk about how the lady that’s teaching us has better beard than any of us?”

Everyone just looked around and shrugged before Liam spoke up, “Well, she’s a dwarf. It’s not unusual for dwarven women to have beards.”

“I was thinking it, but I didn’t want to get yelled at so I didn’t say anything,” Dakota said.

Miguel looked over to his wife but before he could say anything she held up a hand, “No. I’m not going to grow out a beard. I’m not judging anyone else, but… just no.”

“So,” Liam said changing topics, “you’re a wizard, Dakota is a ranger, Wendell is a sorcerer. Miguel what did you get?”

“I’m just a spellsword for now. If things go well, I’ll get a rarer class later on. What about you?”

“I was given a class called Battle Smith.”

“So you got a rare class already? That sucks! Why did you and Wendell get them already and I have to wait for mine?”

“Maybe you didn’t ask politely enough?” Liam answered with a grin.

“Settle down you two,” Celeste chided before her husband could get going. “Liam, do you know where everyone else is at?”

“Basama told me that Regina and a few others are now Elves, and they’re to the southwest. Arden and a few others are human still, and they were dropped off to the southeast. It’s going to be a while before we can see them since we have to stay for all this training.”

“Yeah. Not to mention they’re like a couple hundred miles away, and we’re now in a world with no cars.” Miguel added.

“I was given a stone that will allow us to communicate with them once per day. So we’ll be able to check in with them. We can do it now if you want," Liam said.

“They’re probably just waking up and getting going, too. Since we can only do it once per day, let’s wait so we’re not interrupting any training or anything they have going on.” Dakota interjected.

“Good idea,” Celeste said

Liam reached over and tussled Deandra’s hair, “I’m happy to see you too. Do you have a class or anything?”

Deandra just shook her head no, and Celeste spoke up, “My god Ryjin… man, that sounds weird to have individual patron gods like this. Anyway, Ryjin said that she won’t get a class or start gaining levels until puberty. She can learn skills and spells and level them up now, though. The classes she’ll be offered will depend on the skills and spells that she’s used regularly. And Ryjin has gone ahead and put a ward on her that will protect her from all harm.”

“I’d like her to learn as many skills as she can so that when she gets older, she’ll have more to draw from when making a decision on her class.” Miguel said with a smile.

“Hell, I want to learn as many as I can, too!” Liam said with a laugh. “But you said when she gets older. How long do you expect us to be here?”

The other adults look at each other and then back to Liam when Dakota spoke up, “Brother, none of our gods or goddesses said anything about us going home. And word is Arden negotiated all of us a really long life span. I think this was a one-way trip.”

Liam just sat there for a moment before responding. “I... I just assumed that we’d go home after we took care of a few things for the gods. I asked Basama about various boons and such but never thought about asking about a ride home.” Then with a grin, he continued, “Guess it’s a good thing I really negotiated well then.”

“What did you do?” Celeste asked in her momma tone of voice.

“Well, going around helping others and fighting is cool, but that’s not all I want to do. I like building things, and I’ve made my living automating homes. Since many of my skills related to my work didn’t really translate here with no electricity or technology, I worked with Basama to give me some more generalized skills. I have a few levels in engineering, construction, masonry, and smithing now and was told to start looking for ways to improve on the dwarves' manufacturing and construction processes while we’re here. That plus a bit of magic so that I can cast a few helpful spells that I wanted.”

“Badass!” Dakota and Miguel say simultaneously.

“Susinak, my god, told me you could help me with my side project. Now I see how.” Miguel said

“Oh, what are you thinking?” Liam asked

“Whiskey. It does exist here, but nothing like what we’re used to. Most of the focus is on ale and mead. The whiskey isn’t aged even a year in most cases. I want to change that. And I’m going to need some help to make it in the quantities I’d like to.”

“Nice! I’ll totally help in exchange for free whiskey.” Liam said with a grin.

“Wait a second,” cut in Celeste with some heat in her voice, “You were being brought to an entirely new world and got the opportunity to speak with a god… and you talked about whiskey?”

Everyone got quiet as Celeste stared at Miguel. Eventually he spoke up, “Susinak asked me about what I enjoyed. I told him about my family and friends, my Harley, shared some stories from the pool halls, board game nights and such. Susinak noticed that many of my stories involved drinking and asked about it. So we talked about alcohol and what I liked to drink. He gave me an overview of how most ale, wine, and whiskey is made here on Traum. I said that I’d like to start making an aged sour mash whiskey and maybe even bourbon.”

Celeste harrumphed before saying, “Alright, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you found a way to convince a god to help you make whiskey.”

“Dang, y’all make me look like a chump,” Dakota said quietly

“You didn’t ask for anything?” questioned Celeste

“No, I did. But nothing like the rest of the guys. Tisodi told me I was going to be a ranger, and I started talking about loving being out in the woods. She laughed and said no, that I’d be mostly underground or in the mountains for quite a while, maybe even up to a year.”

“This is where he called her stupid,” Miguel cut in.

“I did not call her stupid!” Dakota snapped. Then in a quieter voice he added, “I said the idea was stupid.” Grinning up at everyone, he continued, “Yeah, she didn’t take kindly to that. I think she was going to make me a dwarf anyway but was trying to break it to me softly, and when I said that, she was like, ‘fuck it,’ and stopped being nice. Anyway, I asked for my son to be brought here and was told no, because he wasn’t with me at the time we came over. Then I asked….” Dakota took a deep breath, “I asked her to make sure I could contribute. I often feel like I don’t bring enough to the table. If we’re here on a mission from gods, I want to make sure I can keep up. That’s why she gave me a quest to find a unique companion. She wouldn’t tell me what it is, though. Once I can get some training, I’ll head out on this quest.”

“Dude, that’s cool. I bet the companion is going to be super powerful.” Miguel said

“Right. Probably something big enough he can ride it into battle.” Liam said as Dakota started to smile again. Liam continued, “Like a Saint Bernard or something.”

Everyone broke out in laughter, including Dakota, as he yelled at Liam, “You rat bastard, you!”

After everyone calmed down, Celeste looked at Wendell, "So what is a psionic sorcerer?"

“Basically, it’s most of my magic is related to the mind. That’s not to say I can’t learn other spells, but the ones I’ll receive when I level up will all be related to my specialty.”

“When you say mind, do you mean charm spells?” inquires Liam

“Yeah, those as well as things like telepathy, mind reading, and playing with emotions. Oh, and my favorite thing so far” Wendell extended his arm up in the air so as not to hit anyone and then made a fist as if holding something. Suddenly a sword appeared, glowing with purple energy. “Whatcha think?”

After the oohs and ahhs over Wendell’s sword ability, everyone else started sharing their abilities.

“So what did you negotiate for?” Liam asked Celeste.

“While talking with Ryjin he said that he’s the god of stars and wanderers. We agreed that once I learn the basics I’m going to specialize on high level concepts like temporal and spatial with the goal being to learn to teleport us around and, in time, to be able to build teleporters for others. Evidently Traum used to have teleporters in many cities but they were all destroyed. He hopes I’ll be able to bring them back.”

“Bring back teleportation?” asked Miguel “Dang baby, that’s huge!”

“Yeah, I bet that’ll help far more people than anything else we can do,” added Liam.

“Maybe,” answered Celeste, “but he cautioned me that it’d be a while before I get to that stage. I’ll need to learn and level quite a bit. In the mean time, I also got a few perks. My traveling-related spells automatically get double the range and take less mana than usual. Not that I have any spells that qualify for that yet. I can learn other types of spells, too. I just need to keep temporal and spatial as my focus. Smiling up at the group Celeste continued, “But you all have to behave or I’ll make you walk everywhere! No stupid shit.”