In Jason’s opinion, the meal that Leska had delivered to them after they’d all had a chance to bathe had been heavenly. Lumi seemed to agree as well, based on how she’d devoured her portions of hot bread and stew, and even Kera seemed to be back to her formerly cheerful self.

The three of them currently sat around a wooden dining table in their room, each dressed in a set of loose robes that Jason thought of as a mix between a giant towel and a toga. Leska had taken their clothes away for a proper washing, as they were still stained rather liberally with various blood and dirt, despite Jason’s [Mending] skill. Frankly he was kind of surprised they’d been allowed in the door, looking as they had. Back home, someone would have called the police the moment they stepped foot inside.

Jason gave a small sigh of pleasure as he sagged back in his seat, placing yet another tiny wooden skewer down onto the pile on his plate.

“Remind me to get lost in a fantasy world more often,” Jason said.

“Tell me about it,” replied Lumi, who seemed equally stuffed. “That’s got to be one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. This has got to be like, five-star, VIP-level quality food, and I don’t even know what half these meats are.”

Jason closed his eyes and leaned his head back over the edge of his chair, stretching. “My [Basic Cooking] told me a little, but thats it. Guess our host is just one hell of an innkeeper. He must have some incredible level of cooking skill. I dont even know what’s in half of this.”

He sat back forwards, and shrugged.

“Aww, who cares?” Kera said from the other side of the table. She snagged the last remaining skewer of spicy mystery sausage from the large platter in front of them, and held it out to Ceri.

“It’s delicious, and that’s all I care about. Learning about what’s in your food always spoils the fun.”

Ceri squeaked happily, seizing the small sausage in both foreclaws.

Jason had been somewhat surprised that small drake had been well behaved the whole time; apparently Kera’s bond with him counted for a lot in the way of training. He’d waited relatively patiently on his side of the table, waiting for Kera to give him bits to eat, and never once tried to take food on his own. Jason wondered if that was a normal thing for magical pets, and if that was why the innkeeper hadn’t even asked about Ceri or had any special rules for him.

Speaking of small....

“Say Kera, has Ceri gotten bigger?” Jason asked, “He seems a little bit larger to me.”

Kera nodded, took a final sip of her second bowl of stew, and sat back.

“Yeah,” She said. “He is. He gets a little bit stronger every time I level up. It’s really noticeable this time because I gained like four levels today.”

“What, so many? Jason asked. “I mean, I know you were lower than Lumi and I, but I only got one for [Alchemist].”

“One of them was from my side quest,” Kera replied.

“Speaking of our quest,” commented Lumi, “We never did spend much time looking at what we got other than the loot chests. Sorry for hurrying you guys so much.”

“Eh,” Jason said with a wave, “you made a good point about dungeons collapsing, and we still got to loot the salamanders and the berries before we left. Plus I’d already picked up the snake fangs. All good.”

“What did everyone get?” asked Kera. “I got all sorts of new stuff.”

“Me too,” said Lumi. “I’ve got heaping piles of points now. I’m thinking maybe I’ll ask this Therissa person for some advice on how to distribute my stats. I’m sure someone running an Adventurer’s Guild would know what stats do what.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea,” said Kera. “Still, I’d like to hear what people got, too.”

“Well I guess I’ll go first,” said Jason, “since there’s not much to report there. I earned the one level of Alchemist, plus since Artificer was new I got two levels for that. I got a [Disenchant] skill, which works pretty much like you’d expect; it lets me destroy enchanted things in exchange for arcane powder, which is a reagent for all sorts of stuff. It’s essentially powdered mana.”

”I didn’t get anything new from Alchemist except the normal points,” Jason continued, “but I did put some of them into ranking up [Brew Potion] and [Analyze Ingredient]. Now I don’t have to eat stuff anymore, and I can now use three ingredients instead of two. I can also double up on traits now apparently, for either a stronger effect, or so I can then dilute the stuff into weaker versions in exchange for more potions.”

“Oh, and we probably have new stuff I could try to make, but I haven’t checked out the traits from the all the stuff we got from the salamanders, yet,” he finished.

“Kera?” inquired Lumi.

“A bunch of stuff,” the girl replied. “I got a skill that lets me temporarily, um, ‘upgrade’ any creature that’s part of my character sheet, which costs a lot of mana. I’m not sure what I can do with it yet, but it’s called [Evolution Surge], so I bet it’s like transforming them. You know, tougher skin, or make em bigger, or grow wings or whatever. I also got the option to form a new soulbond, but I think I want to learn more before I decide on with what.”

“Most of what I got was new spells, though” Kera said. She pushed her bowl back into the middle of the table, sitting back like the others. “Some utility stuff, including three temporary summons. Also a spell that I am never ever gonna use that makes a summoned creature blow itself up. That’s just... just ick, and it’s cruel. I don’t want to get helpless animals killed.”

“They might not actually die,” Jason said. “While it’s not something we want to test on ourselves as a means of getting home, obviously, at least in Dungeons and Dragons, summoned creatures just go back to whatever place they came from when they ‘die’. I always felt the writers threw that in there to deliberately avoid arguments that summoning was inherently evil or cruel.”

“I’m not so sure they succeeded in that,” Lumi commented. “I mean in that game you still basically mind control stuff, only to throw them into situations where others inflict pain and injury on them, before they have to experience a traumatic end as they’re banished back home.”

”See, Lumi gets it,” Kera said. “It’s just awful."

Jason was confused. “But... you deliberately picked a summoner class. Why would you do that if you don’t want to use their powers?”

“I don’t have to summon stuff only to throw them into the meat grinder, you know,” Kera replied, rolling her eyes. “There’s plenty of other things I can do. It’s not like I’m mind controlling Ceri, or needlessly endangering him, either. I sent him away when we fought the salamanders, remember, so he didn’t get hurt.”

“Besides,” Kera said with a shrug, “I’m not saying I won’t use stuff in combat, I’m just saying I don’t want to deliberately put my minions in danger. The spell’s called [Final Sacrifice], for crying out loud! If it looks like they’re gonna get really hurt, I’ll just end the summon spell and send them away, not end their lives for my own benefit.”

“I guess,” Jason said doubtfully. Personally, he thought it was a bit silly, especially after they’d seen creatures that were quite literally temporary existences formed entirely of mana. But it didn’t seem reasonable to argue the point. Kera was her own woman, and she if wanted to stick to her convictions, he obviously didn’t have any right to tell her otherwise.

He changed the subject. “So, what did you get, Lumi?”

“Well, I didn’t get a whole lot in the way of new spells like I’d hoped, but I did get lots of levels. I hit six in [Spellblade], five in [Knight], and two in [Sunwarden]. I’m not sure why my level gains were so spread out. But I learned two new spells, [Corrosive Touch] and [Stone Call], and I got another Arcana, which I need to still pick. Got what basically sounds like a taunt skill from Knight, too, and learned how to ride horses.

“Oh!" she said, "And something pretty neat from Sunwarden. Check this out!”

Lumi clasped her hands together and bowed her head. A soft golden glow enveloped her, and then expanded outwards to fill the room. A deep, relaxing heat washed through Jason, and he felt the last of the day’s aches fading away, as if he were back in the tub again.

The glow vanished as Lumi dropped her hands and looked up.

“Wow, what was that?” asked Kera. “That felt really nice.”

Lumi smiled. “It’s a skill called [Warmth], which lets me channel my mana into an aura that heats up an area and creates a very slight regeneration effect. It’s a little expensive mana-wise, but if I put points into it, it costs less over time, and will heal worse injuries.”

“That sounds pretty useful,” Jason said. “Having more healing options than just potions is good."

“I thought so too,” replied Lumi. Then she suddenly yawned, raising a hand to her mouth.

Kera yawned as well.

“Whoops. I guess it’s kind of relaxing too,” Lumi said.

Jason gave a small laugh. “Well, it’s probably about time we all got some sleep anyway. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in a real bed for a change.”

“We’ve even got nice, soft pajamas, so to speak,” he added, plucking at his sleeve. Then he yawned as well.

“Agreed,” said Lumi. “So um, how do we want to do rooms? Since I um, well...”

“It’s fine, Lumi,” Kera said with a wave. “We can share a room. I’m not bothered, we’re all adults here, right? It’s not like we haven’t been sleeping around the same campfire for two days. Sharing a room doesn't have to be any different.”

“Three days, for Lumi and I,” Jason said. “And I agree. But I’d like to make a different suggestion. It’s not fair to you two to always be the ones sharing a room while I get one to myself, just as I’m sure you’d say the same to me if I was always offering to sleep on the floor when there were only two beds.

“What I mean to say is, well, if we decide to go with the adventurer thing while we’re here, we are going to run into situations where normal, um, how should I put it... where ‘modern standards of propriety’ are probably best ignored. I mean, well, sorry to bring it up Lumi, but earlier today is a good example. That stuff’s gonna happen. We just need to be adults about it, like Kera said.”

Jason picked up three of the small wooden skewers, and broke ends off two of them so they were different sizes.

“Instead of worrying about appearances or getting all embarrassed, why don’t we just agree to trust each other, and when applicable draw lots for who gets to have a room or a bed to themselves for the night?” He suggested. “We can take turns based on prior results, that way everybody gets some time to themselves and nobody has to feel like they aren’t getting a turn.”

Kera shrugged. “I’m game if Lumi is. I don’t care who I room with, really.”

Lumi looked at Jason, then Kera.

“You guys are way more accepting of random strangers than I am,” she said, though her expression said she was considering Jason’s words.

Jason just shrugged. “I suppose, but neither of you have tried to stab me in my sleep yet, so why start worrying now? We seem to get along pretty well after all, and we’re essentially all in the same boat. Society seems a bit different here, too; more accepting. Besides, if anyone’s in danger here, it’d be me, since you two both have magic to defend yourselves if someone caught you off guard. I don’t.”

Kera snickered. “I guess you’re right about that. I’m not accusing anyone of wanting to or anything, but if you snuck up on me in my sleep, you’d get yourself tased right quick.”

Lumi shook her head with a mock-resigned sigh. “Alright. I guess we can do it that way. I’m just...”

She hesitated a moment, then continued. “It’s really just body-shyness. Never did like getting changed for gym in front of of other girls. I don’t know if that’s related to being bi, or what, but that’s just how I am. But I can deal. Just-“

Jason held up his hands and shook his head. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s not what I’m saying. We can always just leave the room or take a walk or whatever while you do what you need. I’m not saying we should all just suddenly get over it and be willing to get naked in front of each other, that would be way too extreme.

”I’m just saying that, well, accidents will happen, and if we're out there adventuring we’re going to end up in situations where we might see something or where sleeping arrangements might be considered inappropriate or awkward or whatever by whatever standards we grew up with. All I’m suggesting is we agree do our best to ignore it and act like proper adults when it happens. We give people space when they need it, treat each other with respect, and otherwise don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Kera gave a sharp nod. "Well said."

“I can live with that, I think,” replied Lumi.

Jason held out his fist, and they each drew a stick.

Lumi ended up with the room to herself after all.

The following morning, after they’d gotten their clothing back washed and pressed, and used the second room as an impromptu changing room, the trio headed down to the common room. Breakfast turned out to be a pretty standard fare of bacon, eggs, and grilled ham, with a side of freshly baked dark bread. Even so, all three fell to it with a big appetite.

Soon after, they were ready to head off to the market area in search of Therissa. Arn gave them a short set of directions to what he referred to as the ‘Adventurer’s Lodge’, and they were soon out the door and on their way.

The Lodge building itself dominated the market square. Placed at the far end, its three stories towered over the sprawling open-air market that took up the center of the district. Here and there a few free standing tile-roofed buildings contained larger, indoor shops specializing in things like clothing or other goods, but most of the commerce in Arnvale seemed to take place outdoors.

Jason tried not to stare at all the various people standing or walking around hawking wares. He’d never been anywhere like it, except in games of course, which didn't count. There were even a few non-humans weaving their way through the crowd, but he only got to catch brief glimpses of strangely-colored hair or unusual skin tones. Jason wanted to look around, but Lumi and Kera insisted he could get distracted later when everyone hopefully had some money to shop with.

So instead they headed straight for the Adventurer’s Lodge, which turned out to be a kind of combination tavern and temping agency. Once inside, Jason could see a number of tables lining the edges of the room, with privacy dividers set up between them. Several huge casks of what was presumably some kind of beer were propped against a back wall, behind the counter. A prominent notice board with only a handful of job postings pinned to it stood in the center of the room, and a second counter lay just off to once side of the door on their right. A young woman with a sleeveless vest that showed off her tattooed arms sat behind the second counter, idly shuffling some papers back and forth while studiously ignoring the two grizzled men in leather armor who were enjoying a drink in a back corner of the room.

Jason did a double take as he approached the counter with Kera and Lumi in tow.

It wasn’t just a young woman, but an elven one. She had long, delicate ears that stood straight out to either side of her head, and Jason had to suppress a completely irrational desire to reach out and touch them. Not only would it no doubt be highly offensive and inappropriate, but he’d probably get a punch in the face; the woman hardly looked incapable of defending herself. Her muscular, tattooed arms belied a Might score far higher than his.

Other than her unusual tattoos and elfin ears though, she looked more or less like everyone else Jason had seen in Arnvale so far; highly fit, roughly the same height and build as everyone else, with tanned skin. This was no dainty, ethereal beauty here.

She looked up as they approached.

“Hi, um,” Jason began slowly, staring a little. The woman’s ears were very distracting. “Wow, you’re actually-“

He paused again. Then he shook himself as Kera surreptitiously pinched his elbow.

“Sorry, I’m being rude,” he apologized. “A bit of culture shock, I’ve never met any- ...well, anyway, uh, are you Therissa? My friends and I were told to come see you because you might be able to help us.”

“Registration or Request?” the woman asked. She stacked the papers she’d been going through to one side, and straightened up, all business.

“Sorry?” Jason asked, confused.

“Are you here to register for a license, or to post a job you’d like someone to do? We don’t get a lot of traffic down here. If it’s something urgent you’d be better off posting something in Feron.”

“Oh, I see. No, we’re here because Raelin sent us to you specifically. She said, um, what was it...?” Jason looked behind him to Lumi and Kera.

Lumi spoke up. “I think her words were ‘ask Therissa about that one time with her and the Darklight Archive’, and to remind you you owed her a favor.”

Therissa looked them up and down appraisingly, curiosity written across her face.

“So, it’s something like that...? Alright, then. Raelin and I go way back. I’ll hear you out, but I can’t make any promises til I understand the problem.”

She stood up, and Jason covered his ears as she bellowed across the room to the men at the corner table.

“All right, you two layabouts, clear out! I’ve got Guild business with these three, so I’ve got to close up for a while!” She made a shooing motion towards the door.

The two men gave Therissa some half-hearted, cheerful cursing, but they tossed a few coins on the table, downed their drinks, and left without making any real fuss.

“Don’t mind those two,” Therissa said with a smile. She vaulted over the counter and moved to close the lodge door. “They grumble, but they’re a good sort. They aren’t even adventurers, they just come here for the atmosphere, and because I get shipments of my father’s best ales from up north.”

“Come on,” she said, leading them up the stairs and into a private room on the third floor. “Normally, I’m supposed to make sure you’ve got an AVL and check your affiliation before I render assistance, but let’s just say that Raelin knows I’ve been known to... bend the rules a little. After all, it’s not like much happens out here anyway, so there’s no-one’s toes to get stepped on but my own. A little extra excitement never hurts.”

The four of them sat down around the table.

“Now, how’d you all manage to piss off the Archive, if that’s what you’re here for?” Therissa asked.

“Um, I’m sorry,” Jason apologized, “but we don’t know what most of any of that actually means. That’s sort of half the problem. What’s the Archive?”

“How do you not know of the Darklight Archive?” Therissa asked, a bit shocked. “They’re only, you know, the foremost scholars on the Voice and the ones who are in charge of cataloguing and sealing away dangerous, world-altering artifacts. Please tell me you didn’t steal one from them by accident.”

Jason held his hands up in front of him. “No, no, nothing like that. That doesn’t sound like anyone we know. We just... well perhaps it’s easier to show you.”

He pulled out several of his potion vials, and slid them across the table to Therissa.

She performed a set of examinations similar to the ones Raelin had done; apparently it was something of a standard among adventuring types. Or perhaps with those who dealt with various goods. Jason could see why; his and Kera’s [Analyze] skills had already proven their value. It didn’t surprise him to see they were relatively common.

“Interesting,” Therissa said after a few minutes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a least-tier Eternal Potion before. And the stone vials are certainly unusual. Other than that though, I don’t see a problem with them. Where’d you get them?”

“I made them,” Jason said simply.

“What!?” the elf woman shouted, nearly dropping the one she was holding.

“I made them,” Jason replied. After a moment’s hesitation, he continued on. “I’ve got this class skill, [Brew Potion], and as far as I’ve seen, the potions it makes are all ‘Eternal’ ones as you put it. Though they aren’t labeled that way. Are they supposed to be?”

The woman looked down at the stone vial of healing potion she held. She frowned for a moment, then looked back up at Jason.

“Please, wait here,” she said, handing the vial back to Jason. “I need to fetch something from downstairs. I’ll only be a moment.”

She hurried out of the room, and Jason was concerned for a few tense minutes that they’d made a serious mistake. However, Therissa returned quickly, this time with an armful of various objects, which she set down on one side of the table.

First, Therissa placed down a large, silver half-sphere covered in runes, with a small slot in the side. Jason thought it looked vaguely like a really fancy, old-school external disk drive, except round.

Then, she set aside a small set of parchments, also covered with runes, that had a series blank lines at the bottom. It looked about what he’d expect a magical contract to look like. He vaguely hoped the small penknife Therissa placed atop the paper wasn’t because they had to sign something in blood.

Finally, she placed a red gemstone set in a brass circle onto the middle of the table.

Then she sat back down.

Therissa gestured to the gem on the table. “Do you know what this is?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Jason.

“I can guess,” Kera said, speaking up. “It’s a truth-checker, isn’t it?”

Therissa smiled a bit. “That’s right. This is a [Diplomat’s Eye], which when activated, glows blue in the presence of truth, and green in the presence of falsehood. If you don’t mind, I would like to put it to use for our discussion. Understand, I trust that Raelin sent you to me, but items can have their natures disguised by the right class skills, and without scanning your AVL, I don’t have a means to determine whether or not you might have access to them.”

“Ok. Sure,” Jason said, after looking to Lumi for confirmation. He could always just not answer a question if it was too problematic.

“Thank you,” Therissa said with a smile. Then she placed her hand on the amulet, spoke a word in a language that made Jason’s ears ring, and the gem changed to a soft blue.

She placed a hand over her heart. “I, Therissa, do pledge that anything said in this room between us four will remain only between us unless both parties agree otherwise. Furthermore, I declare that I harbor no ill intentions towards you and yours, and will not reveal your presence to any authorities that may be seeking you without your express permission.”

The gem stayed a pale blue.

“It’s not binding, I’m afraid,” Therissa confessed, “as people’s minds can change, but there you have it. Discretion comes with my job, whether or not I’m following the rules to the letter. I give you my word, I’ll do what I can to assist you, though I’m unclear at this point as to what exactly you need. Would you mind repeating your earlier statement?”

Jason did so, explaining that he had, in fact, made the potions himself. He tried putting a bit more eloquent spin on it this time, too: the woman’s manner of speech seemed to have gotten to him.

Afterwards, she sat back, crossing her arms while thinking, much as Raelin had.

“Well, obviously you’re telling the truth, here. But I’m still not sure why Raelin sent you to me. It should just be a simple matter of not telling anyone. If you don’t let on you can make them, I don’t see how the Archive would hear about it unless you’re careless enough to go around trying to sell them to just...”

She trailed off, looking at the three of them.

“Ah,” She said.

Jason gave her a rather chagrined smile. “Um, yeah,” he said. “We have a sort of... second problem. We don’t know anything about the way things work around here. I didn’t even know there was anything unusual about my potions until Raelin told me, since I’d only just earned the class.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason chose his words very carefully. “We’re... not from around here. Like, anywhere near at all. We think we ended up in the area thanks to some sort of spell gone wrong, but the end result is... well we barely know anything about uh, well, much of anything around here. Things are... way different where we’re from.”

“And where’s that?” Therissa asked. “I assure you, as a Lodge owner, I’ve seen people from all sorts of crazy places. I haven’t always lived out here on the frontier either. Used to live in one of the big capitals before I got tired of all the noise.”

“I would be shocked if you’d heard of San Francisco,” Jason replied.

“Hmm. Can’t say that I have. I guess you’re right. Still, things can’t be all that different, right?”

Jason looked over at Lumi and Kera.

“How much should we tell her?” he asked. “I’m a bit leery of, well, you know. Getting dragged into something we could otherwise avoid.”

“We’re going to have to tell someone if we want to ever get back home,” Lumi replied. “Might as well be someone who’s been vouched for, even if it’s by a magic rock.”

“Kera?” Jason asked.

“Oh go ahead,” she said dismissively, crossing her arms. “Somebody’s gonna work it out eventually, right? I mean we’ve already seen half a dozen different [Analyze] skills. Eventually, someone’s gonna use the right one on us. I’d rather take a risk now that it’ll be an issue than get caught off guard somewhere down the line where it’s really gonna bite us in the ass.”

“Alright,” Jason said, turning back to a very amused-looking Therissa. “You mentioned an.. AVL? Something that lets you see our status?”

“That’s right,” she nodded, gesturing to the silver orb sitting at the edge of the table. “Thanks to a worldwide series of treaties, all adventurers must be registered for an Adventurer’s License if they wish to take on official Lodge-issued quests, regardless of source. This device is essentially enchanted with all manner of high grade analysis skills. It provides a fool-proof means of scanning and displaying an individual’s full status, and can record a basic summary onto your Adventurer’s License. Don’t worry though, it won’t list out your entire skill lists or achievements or anything. That information will be available only to branch managers like myself, but we’ve got some very strict rules about accessing it. There’s more than one Guild that prefers their secrets to stay secret.”

“Alright. Well, how do I join the Guild, then? Wait, you said more than one. Which guild is yours?”

Therissa laughed. “My you are from far away. The Lodges don’t belong to any guild. Each Lodge is owned and run independently, though usually we’re sponsored by someone so the manager might actually be a member. But we’re all overseen by a big group of high level members of each of the major Guilds. After some big war waaaaay back when, all the guild heads got together and decided something had to be done about jurisdictions, and they settled on the system used today, and are in charge of making sure all Lodges follow the same set of rules.”

“Oh I get it. It’s like a franchising agreement,” Jason said. “But wait, why does everyone keep referring to you as ‘The Guild’, then?”

Therissa just waved a hand dismissively. “A combination of laziness and a lack of interest in the details, really. Besides, it makes people think of us as all one organization, which we are, sort of, so nobody minds.”

“So basically a branding thing, then.” said Lumi. “That makes sense.”

Therissa lifted the silver device, moving around the table until she could place it down in front of Jason. She handed him the penknife.

“Registering is pretty simple. Just prick you finger with the knife, and then place a drop of blood on top of the device. It will do the rest.”

Jason grimaced, but did as instructed.

The device lit up with a series of runes that flickered back and forth across the surface of the half-sphere. Jason thought it looked a little like something out of a science fiction movie, all strange symbols and writing, whirling around like it was some sort of computer doing calculations.

Who knows, maybe it is, he thought to himself.

After a moment the runes stopped moving, and Jason’s status screen appeared above it for everyone to see.

The woman looked it over. “Hmm, unusual classes. [Artificer] I’ve heard of, that’s like [Enchanter] but a rare adventuring variant, nice work getting that. What’s an [Alchemist]? Your potion-making class, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah,” Jason replied. “But our biggest problem is actually that,” he said, pointing to his race, where [Outworlder] was clearly visible.

“Oh my.” Therissa said, leaning forward. “Now that’s not something you see every day. I haven’t seen that tag in absolute ages.”

Jason felt hope surge inside him, and started to speak, but Lumi beat him to the punch.

“You mean, you’ve seen it before? Could you get us home?” She blurted out.

Their hopes were dashed though as Therissa shook her head. “Not exactly, I’m afraid. Us adventuring types come across that designation every so often when some marauding wizard has done something he really shouldn’t have. We know there’s other worlds out there, but I’ve never heard of anyone meeting regular people from one. Usually it’s some kind of giant, terrifying monster that’s been summoned by a wizard who was far too weak to control it, and got himself eaten. I mentioned the Darklight Archivists? Yeah. That’s the sort of stuff they work to prevent.”

“Should we... watch out for them?” Kera asked hesitantly.

Therissa hummed as she thought to herself. “I can’t really say,” she responded after a moment, “Most of them are pretty cautious and methodical people, so as long as you weren’t showing any signs of causing problems, they’d probably leave you alone. The problem comes from that potion making of yours. That’s big news. Not the bad kind, but the Archive isn’t just about burying things people shouldn’t be messing with. They collect knowledge, particularly knowledge about the inner workings of the Voice. Especially rare classes and skills. While every Guild hoards their own secrets, the Archive actively tries to uncover everybody else’s, and they aren’t subtle about it, because knowledge of the exact details of a class is a powerful thing. Some of their more extreme members might just decide that you being an outworlder is enough of an excuse to lock you away until you give up the goods.”

“Great,” said Jason bitterly.

“Well, there’s always the option of just telling them,” Therissa pointed out. “It’s a risk, but they might just leave you alone if you agree to just feed them whatever info they want.”

“Somehow I feel like it would involve more than that,” Jason replied. “The means of earning it... well let’s just say that if they want to lock away dangerous knowledge, they just might include what I’d have to teach them in that, just so they could even understand what I did to earn it. There’s a lot more background here you aren’t aware of.”

“Well then,” Therissa replied, “you might try signing up with one of the more powerful Guilds then. Several others wield a great deal of influence, and many of them aren’t particularly friendly to the Archivists, who are always sticking their noses into others’ business. The Black Thorns are always clashing with them, as do the Scarab Sages. I’d stay away from the Shining Legion though, they’re rather...judgmental, and might just try to have you killed simply for being the spawn of some evil wizard’s insane plot.”

“You’re being awfully frank about my potential death,” Jason said sourly.

Therissa just shrugged. “Dying is a fact of life for adventurers. We don’t go into this profession because we want to be safe. You quickly learn to live with the idea that people you know could die at any time, or you quit.”

“She’s kind of got a point, Jason,” Lumi said. “I’m not happy about it either. You might be in more danger, but I’ve still got a unique skill that seems really powerful, which might be enough to get me targeted too. But-”

“I know, I know. This is stuff we need to be aware of,” he said, slumping down into his chair.

“I was a just a student five days ago,” he lamented. “I need time to adjust. Or a quick way out.”

He looked up at Therissa. “I don’t suppose there’s any kind of Guild that specializes in extraplanar travel, or summoning things from other dimensions, or something of that nature?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘extraplanar’, but there is a guild that specializes in travel, and a sort of summoning magic, yes.”

Kera spoke up. “Oh! Raelin mentioned something called a ‘Wayfinder’s Gate’, didn’t she?”

Therissa nodded. “That’s right. The Wayfinders are a Guild that specializes in all sorts of trade and travel magics. If you need to hire guards for a caravan, or need something shipped by air or sea or magic, they’re the ones you go to. They also run the Gate system, which is... well kind of a magical network capable of teleporting people across huge distances. Although teleport isn’t quite the right word. It’s sort of mixture between a teleport and a summon spell. I don’t know the details; they’re very secretive about the process, and it’s very expensive for anyone who isn’t a member. Apparently the costs involved are considerable, even moreso than building an airship. But it’s possible they might be able to find a way to get you home, if anyone could.”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Lumi said.

“I think this whole conversation has been about how it could.” retorted Jason.

“But we don’t know for sure,” Kera said. “Look, we just have to be careful. There’s no reason we have to just walk up to someone and introduce ourselves as being from Earth. We could just ask questions, act like we’re interested in some line of research, right? Why don’t we at least talk to some of these people, feel things out a bit. We know we need to be careful now, so we can work to not make stupid mistakes.”

“Besides,” Kera said, looking at Therissa, “It might not even be an issue, right?”

“That’s possible too, yes.” The elf nodded. “Also, though I doubt you’d be interested, you could just settle down here in Arnvale and pick up some normal classes. Then nobody would ever be the wiser. Adventurers are a pretty strange lot to begin with. People see something odd, most of them would just shrug it off as just another weird adventurer thing. I once knew a dwarf who spent a whole year wearing a tin pot as a cap, just to see if anyone would ask.”

She laughed. “They never did, of course. Everyone just assumed it had some kind of amazing enchantment on it.”

Jason grinned. “People failing to notice the unusual? Now that I get. Never underestimate people’s inability to pay attention to things that don’t actually concern them.“

Kera blew a raspberry. “I don’t want to be ordinary though.”

“Me neither,” said Lumi.

“I didn’t really expect you would,” Therissa said, “But the option to just lay low was worth mentioning.”

“I think Kera has the right of it,” Lumi said to Jason. “We should ask around, but carefully. Before that though, we should probably work on getting ourselves geared up, and maybe get stronger before we risk exposing ourselves. That way we both make ourselves more appealing as potential hires, and we’ll be better equipped to defend ourselves if we need to.”

She looked back and forth between Kera and Jason. Kera nodded once. Jason sighed first, but then agreed.

“Fine,” he conceded. “I don’t really see a better option anyway, apart from just ‘lie down and take it’ which really isn’t my style at all. If it turns out we’re stuck here, I want to earn my place, even if that means fighting for it.”

“That’s the spirit!” Therissa said, clapping him on the back. “Now just let me confirm your registration, here...”

She reached over and pressed a hidden panel on the back of the scanning device. It hummed briefly, and then spit out a small pewter rectangle about the size of a credit card. A handful of different runes covered its surface.

Therissa handed it to Jason. “Here you go. That should automatically update itself periodically, anytime you’re present or even nearby any Lodge in the world. As long as you don’t stay out in the wilderness for more than a few months, it should stay up to date.”

“If you need to-huh?”

She stopped. A pair of small, red lights were blinking on the top of the scanner device.

“You’ve got mail already?” She said, confused. “How...? You weren’t even registered a second ago.”

Therissa pressed the plam of her hand to the top of the sphere. A rune appeared on the back of her hand as she muttered a command, and the screen above the sphere changed.

To: Jason Elric From: System Management Subject: Compensation