After Doris left, we all exchanged quiet looks, nobody willing to start. One after the other, we started to look at Olivia, collectively deciding that her plans would have to be settled first. If she decided to stay with us, unlikely as it was, the option to take Jenn with us would fall off the table, as the System had a bias against groups of six or more people.

For a moment, Olivia just returned our looks, her face impassive, before letting out a soft sigh.

“It is as you think,” she quietly began, a soft smile on her face, “It’s time for us to part ways. I’ve been gone from my home for decades and it looks like, it’s time for me to return and stay.”

“You told us in the beginning, that you’d only travel with us for a time. I guess that time is now up.” I accepted her decision, not really surprised by it. There had been a sliver of hope, or maybe expectation, that she’d decide to stay with us after all, but given that these people were fighting for the very thing her Goddess embodied, she had to follow her path.

“Regrettable,” I added with a nod, “But I can only wish you the best and hope that you find what you seek here.”

“Now, we need to consider what that means for the four of us.” I changed the topic, focusing on Adra and Rai. I was certain Sigmir would follow me anywhere, into the very depths of hell if so needed and there was such a place, but Adra and Rai were here for their own reasons.

Adra had been seeking power and experiences, with the ultimate goal to settle down somewhere. The offer Tani had given her might be an interesting one if she could accept the pushy Dryad, something she had to decide for herself.

Similarly, Rai had started out with us because of the training I had given him, but by now, his path had diverged far enough to make that training relatively useless. While Darkness-Magic had given him the start on his path, by now his class abilities had mostly subsumed the general magic I had taught him. He might be able to expand on it in the long term, possibly giving him more or stronger options when it came to the Divides, but that was only a vague possibility. There was no need for him to follow me, only a notion of debt, duty and friendship keeping him with me. Well, and his relationship with Adra, adorable as it occasionally was.

“We know you plan to go to Arbotoma next, but you have yet to tell us why you are heading there. There has to be a good reason for someone to travel around the world like that, and don’t tell me you just want to travel the worth, to put truth to the title of Traveller,” Adra asked, her voice rather amused, as if she was aware there wouldn’t be a response.

“There’s something I need to do in Arbotoma, in the Mountains of Ice. What and where exactly, I can’t tell you, as I don’t know myself,” I let out a sigh, trying to misdirect them by conjuring up a bit of snow, letting it flutter around my hand.

For a moment, Adra studied me, probably realising that I wasn’t telling them everything, she knew me well enough by now, but after the moment passed, she simply nodded, accepting my lie. Or maybe deciding that travelling to Arbotoma was the right call for her, especially in light of the interest Phraan had shown in her. If nothing else, she would be welcomed there.

“I think the easiest way would be to take Jenn, or whomever, with us. With Olivia leaving, there won’t be a real problem, we just need to remind them that if the person they send with us is incompetent, she won’t make it to the other side. Maybe we should ask for some landmarks, just in case,” Adra reasoned, her callous attitude making me chuckle.

“Yes, that would work. Though we really need a bit more information on that area of wild magic, depending how and why it has formed might be crucial if we want to cleanse the entire thing, or at least create a safe path through it,” I mused, my mind already trying to form models how such a thing could happen.

So far, I only had direct knowledge of a few wild magic phenomena. There was the one from Dura Firebringer’s tales, the necropolis she had explored in the past. Or, from our recent past, the entirety of the Dorrian Mountains, maybe even the Shadowcleft as individual location. Or, from direct exposure, the glacial valley, where I had accidentally caused the wind magic of a swarm of Windraptors to resonate out of control. In a way, the Windswept Plains could also count, but the magic there was widely distributed and incredibly low level, making it dubious.

With just those few examples, I could already see that not all wild magic was created equal. No matter how powerful those raptors had been and how deeply I had managed to tap into the primordial power of the glacier below, there was no way for a bunch of birds and my past self to create a truly powerful, permanent effect, something strong enough that even other casters could only watch it awed impotence. On the other hand, the necropolis had been there for centuries, never conquered, never cleansed, still defiling the lands around it, constantly creating vengeful Undead.

The best two examples for comparison might be the Necropolis and the Dorrian Mountains, both were constantly creating Undead, affecting a large area and were ancient. The Dorrian Mountains had, allegedly, been created due to the amount of suffering and death occurring there, as countless people were thrown into combat and died there, their death permanently staining the area.

Which made me wonder, how did that weird, controlling intelligence I suspected come to be? The force that had chased us out originally, sending Undead Hunters after us in an incredibly predictable pattern? Was it a God, or maybe proto-god, or something else entirely? Or, thinking on a meta-level, it might simply be some future content, something to explore for high-level players and there simply was no deeper in-world reason.

Shaking my head, I pushed those questions away, deciding to gather more information on the area we were supposed to be heading in and deal with it as appropriate. If the quest we would hopefully get didn’t rate it as impossible, deity or something along those lines, making the attempt would hopefully be fine. If it was rated as deadly, we’d have to consider but we had accomplished deadly quests in the past, so there was a chance. There always was a chance.

“Anyway, I’ll go and talk to that Leonard fellow, maybe you can find out some more about the area we are supposed to head into? Anything would be useful, tales, stories but especially reports from people who’ve been there.

“I’ll go with you,” Sigmir instantly decided, rising from her chair before I had a chance to get up myself.

“Sure, I’ll happily bring you, I’m not sure what that guy wants anyway. Maybe just a discussion, maybe something else, who knows?” I shrugged, rising myself.

Finding Leonard was a lot easier than expected, we only had to ask one of the locals to be directed toward one of the outlying buildings. There was a weird smile on their face when they directed me and the words, “You cannot miss it,” were slightly suspicious, too, but once I reached the area, I could only nod my head. I really couldn’t miss it.

There, near the edge of the village, was an incredibly strange building. Parts of it looked like a smithy, others like a tannery and as we approached, the smells seemed to confirm that thought. It, quite frankly, stank to the high heavens, making me think that it had been located here so the prevailing winds would carry the stench away from the village, hopefully someplace it wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Other parts looked more akin to a loading dock mixed with a woodworking shop, giving me the impression that it was a car garage, only transmuted into working with a lot of wood, not sheet metal. There even was a wooden crane, currently holding up some strange contraption of wood, metal and stone. Blinking, I activated Lenore’s sight, looking at the odd building through her eyes and, as I had expected, magically it was just as weird as on a mundane level. It gave me a profound appreciation for Tani and her mastery of magic, if I hadn’t been literally standing in front of the building, I wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss. But given that I was in front of it, the riot of magical streams almost made me dizzy, none were particularly powerful, but there were many of them, making me think of a mad painter, throwing paint at a canvas to see what stuck.

Just as I was about to walk to the door and knock, the sound of an explosion rang out of the building, making me switch into combat mode, six of the Blades of the Northern Wind hovering behind my shoulders.