Friends in a Foreign Land

Wendell sat and focused his mind, doing the exercises that Sai had taught him. He was casting his mind out in search of other minds within range. He could detect Sai, Dakota, and two others he did not know. He also could occasionally sense others further away but not reliably.

Sai taught him this exercise to help him maintain control of his mind while in pain. He wasn’t sure exactly what was happening to his body but Sai said that she would change his race into something better. If he’d known how much it would hurt he would have never agreed. But he had to admit that he had grown quite a bit since they had started this process. He hardly ever lost focus any more. And he no longer needed to touch someone in order to read their thoughts.

“It is time,” Sai spoke into his mind.

Wendell opened his eyes for the first time in days. It felt as though it was the first time ever. There was a soft light glowing in the corner of the room and even that felt too bright.

In front of him lay Sei in her full dragon form. A single eye bigger than his body was watching him as she spoke into his mind, “I hesitated to agree to grant you this boon. Doing this takes power the likes of which you can’t fathom and it will take me years to fully recover. But I was told that you would interest me and it’s true. Watching your memories and seeing how they shaped your personality has been fascinating. Being raised by two mothers in a world where that wasn’t always accepted shaped you in many ways. As did being estranged from your father and hundreds of other events. But all of these things together simply removed some outer layers and revealed who you really are, not changed it. You’ve made a lot of choices in life due to fear. You allowed fear to limit you in many ways. I’m glad that you were brave enough to push through that fear and accept the gift I’ve given you. And I’m excited to see what you do with this new life you’ve been given.”

“Thank you Sai. Feeling you sorting through my memories was quite uncomfortable but I somehow feel more… solid, now that you’ve done that. It’s like you reorganized them into a more efficient way.”

“That, my student, is a result of the mental training you’ve been doing, not my viewing of your memories. Continue the exercises and you will continue to grow. Now, let us return you to your friend.”

“My brother,” Wendell said reflexively as he stood and started to walk toward where he’d left Dakota.

When Wendell walked into the clearing and saw Dakota playing with a drake that was nearly twice his height. He looked like a toddler trying to wrestle with a full grown Irish Wolfhound. Off to the side sat an enormous green dragon watching the two of them play with an odd expression on her face. Wendell used the skills he'd been taught and attempted to read the dragon's emotions. Hope. Her primary, yes.. the dragon was a female and her primary emotion was hope.

She looked over to him and spoke into his mind, "In time you'll be able to read emotions without people knowing it. When your skill reaches that level, you still won't be able to do it to a dragon without being detected. Crawl before you walk, little one."

Wendell bowed to the dragon and sent back, "Understood great one. This one has just started his journey."

Sei walked into the room behind Wendell and rumbled, "Read your brother's emotions. Tell me what you sense."

Wendell focused on Dakota and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Teacher, I sense joy… but there's something different. It's like… his mind is doubled, almost. With one mind further away."

"You're sensing his emotions as well as those of his companion. They are linked," Sai instructed Wendell before looking over to Kwil. "It appears you chose to follow the advice of the gods after all. Do you think it will work out the way you had hoped?"

"I think the odds are better this way, Sai. And even if it doesn't work, at least my daughter will be more than just some beast." Kwil answered.

"It is good to see you again Sai," Dakota said as he and Sage approached. Looking to Wendell, Dakota grinned, "Brother, you look a bit different. You seem to have grown some scales. Are you okay?"

"Wendell is now dragon touched. As he continues to use the powers I've given him, he will continue to become more like me," Sai announced.

"So he'll eventually become a dragon?"

"I wish! But no. Just a human / dragon mix. Check it out, my status screen has already changed," Wendell said as he shared his status with Dakota.

Status

Name

Wendell

Class

Sorcerer

Race

Dragonkin

Level

10

Languages

Common, Draconic, Goblin

XP / Next

8,020 / 13,000

Attributes

Health

Stamina

Mana

148

160

220

Stats

A

L

M

S

41

10

48

42

"Dragonkin? Sounds like you were adopted," Dakota said with a chuckle. "But seriously, you good?"

"Yeah brother. Sai has helped me make peace with a lot of baggage and I have a plan for how I want to grow now. Rather than just growing my powers for attacking, I want to learn how to heal the mind as well. With her training, my psionic abilities are stronger than before and I have a stable foundation to grow from."

Dakota nodded his head as Wendell spoke before answering, "That sounds great brother! I’m proud of you. Now, let me introduce you to Sage Rose. She's my companion," Dakota said as he motioned to the drake next to him. "Sage, this is my brother Wendell. He'll be traveling with us."

Sage stepped forward and licked Wendell's entire face with her huge tongue. Sputtering, Wendell hollered, "You told her to do that didn't you."

"You can't prove it," Dakota said as he laughed.

At this, Kwil stepped over to the others. "Now that the reunion is over, it's time to get to work. Sai, I went ahead and allowed Dakota to pack up all the magic items and anything useful he found in the worm. There wasn't anything in there that you would have been interested in but there were some items that could help them and their friends. Would you like to go through it all, just to make sure?"

"No, I trust your judgment."

"Then it's time for us to be on our way. Mother Tianlong has asked me to get them heading toward Ashenhold. Evidently there's work there for them to do."

"Will you be taking them directly there? You know the king still hasn't forgiven you."

Kwil started chuckling, "And I don't expect he ever will. But no, I'm just going to get them in to the correct tunnel and let them go from there. They need to get some fights under their belt so they can figure out how to work together. Some cavernclaws and maybe a dryder or two should loosen them up enough."

Sei looked back down to Wendell, Dakota, and Sage, "Then I guess this is goodbye. I've invested a lot of effort into you Wendell, do not waste it. Go pick flowers or whatever it is the gods want you to do. But when we meet again I expect to see a great deal of growth."

Wendell and Dakota both bowed to Sei. Sage, seeing this attempted to copy them, lowering her head as well. Kwil laid a wing over the three of them and cast a teleport spell. After they were all gone, Sei turned to the corner of the cavern behind her and bowed, "Mother, I've done as you've asked. Was this truly needed? Why was this mortal worth the effort?"

A dragon over twice the size of Sei appeared with a smile on her face. "Sei, you are so hard to spy on sometimes. I cannot reveal the plots and plans of my siblings, but rest assured that you will see in time. The game board is set and pieces are being moved to where they're needed. Thank you for doing as I asked. You and Kwil both will be rewarded for your efforts."

⚴

The next two days were filled with shopping for personal supplies and last minute fixes for Miguel's "ale wagon." Once Miguel explained the process and the design of the wagon to the rest of the party Liam quickly spotted some areas where the design could be improved. And once completed the wagon had a small bar along the side where ale could be served on the move.

Celeste worried if the wagon could make ale faster than Liam and Miguel could drink it to which Davruck replied with a laugh, "Only if you keep them busy most of the day and don't let them near it."

In addition to the equipment and supplies needed to brew more ale, the wagon also had half a dozen barrels of Davruck's ale that was ready for consumption.

While the guys were putting the finishing touches on the wagon, Celeste went to go purchase the draft animals to pull it. She was shocked to find that instead of oxen the dwarves used llamas for such tasks. She quickly learned that llamas, alpaca, and goats were native to the mountains the dwarves lived under so they were a huge part of the culture. Easy access plus a multitude of uses such as pack animals, meat, wool for clothing, and even as a source of milk made llamas a profitable animal to breed and raise. And she delighted in educating Miguel and Liam when they questioned why she returned with six llamas.

"You realize, four would have been enough to pull the wagon," Davruck advised. "You could have saved some gold."

"I thought it best to have a couple extras, just in case. The last thing I need is for the wagon to be stuck somewhere and Miguel yelling at me to push." Celeste responded.

"And that's why she's in charge instead of Miguel," Liam added.

"Yeah yeah, stop sucking up to my wife and help me harness these llamas,” said Miguel. “We're suppose to have our wagon in line with the caravan in less than an hour."

Just over an hour later the party pulled up to the caravan, obviously still trying to get the hang of working with the llamas. A dwarf in a military uniform with an honest to god clipboard in his hand came rushing up to the party. "You are late. I don't care what strings you pulled to be included in this supply run, but if you can't follow orders then you will not be traveling with us."

"You must be Quartermaster Halfshield," Celeste said in a calming voice. "We apologize for being tardy, please tell us where you need us in line and we'll be happy to comply."

"You can pull your wagon in at the end of the line. If nothing else it'll make a good shield should we be attacked from behind. Since you obviously don't know what you're doing yet, I'll assign a drover to your wagon for the first leg of the journey so that you can learn. After that, you'll be expected to man your wagon yourself. During the trip, you'll all be expected function as guards. You'll rotate shifts with the others. Because you're not part of the military you are expected to supply your own provisions and equipment. If you run out of anything, and I have extra, I will sell it to you. We leave first thing in the morning. If you're late you will be left behind."

"About how long will this journey take?" Miguel asked

"The first leg should take about three days. We'll stay at that outpost two nights before leaving for the next. If all goes to plan, which it never does, we will visit five outposts and return here within a month."

"Well, when your military runs out of ale, let me know," replied Miguel as he turned to walk off. "If I have extra I'll sell it to you."