John put his most conspicuous wealth in the bottom of his day pack for safe keeping along with that old map for if he decided to go exploring and needed a reference, then put a small selection of currency in his inner jacket pocket. Two of his new mercenaries, and wasn’t that a weird thought to have, would be heading out tomorrow to grab some rations from a small market in the suburbs of the local city-state. He was looking forward to some greens if he could get them, he was living on starches, jerky and tuna for proteins, and the odd can of soup or fruit. He also had a jumbo sack of hard candies he had planned to suck his way through while driving... refined sugars and chemical flavorings would probably be of interest to his new employees, he’d pass some out when he was done. Turning from his shrinking food stores he considered his water supply, which hadn’t lasted as long as he’d thought it would. It was rather arid here, and he had lost a large chunk of his cleaning water to evaporation. He had about 8 days of drinking water left, the two water cooler bottles almost empty with miscellaneous sports drinks and a case of spring water all that remained. He’d noticed the five had traveled light, and would ask what their plans for water were.

John took another long look around his squat, taking in all the labels and industrial goods, then sighed. He was going ot have to cop to using that portal. They were smart people; there were no vehicles or animals here, no tracks, yet still a strange man who didn’t have the language down with 100’s of pounds of goods that would be entirely foreign. Unless he covered all his things in blankets and acted super suspiciously, there was no hiding his mysterious origins.

Well… I’ll cross that bridge when we have to. Lets go bribe those barbarians with candy!

---------------

Inheritor Campos poked his head out just as the basic camp was laid out. Tents were up and small area was cleared with a ad hoc fire circle and a heap of scrounged tinder. Auriean had set a trip ward over the narrow ledge that lead to the escarpment and was walking back to the group to see Alikir practically vibrating with excitement. Apparantly, they were going to get a chance to scope out the way station tonight. Personally, Auriean wasn’t too fussed. He never discovered any talent for spatial magics like Alikir had, and he wasn’t a scholarly type like the captain. His focus had always been survival, which is why he had delved into healing and subtle sorceries of the senses when he was discovered to be mana sensitive. He saw a similar mild interest on Garrus’s face, and Millat seemed to be sulking a bit, but gave a shy conciliatory smile when John came right to him with a mangled apology, popped something in his own mouth to show its safety, then handed a few small things to Millat before offering one to each of them in turn, making an exaggerated sucking sound to show how to eat it. Auriean held it up to the dying light and saw it was like a sticky red crystal with a sweet, strange scent. He had confidence in his healing skill if it was some kind of double bluff betrayal, which didn’t seem likely at this point but you never know, and popped it in his mouth.

Alikir was about to try hers when she say Auriean’s eyes pop comically wide, and she asked. “What’s wrong with it?”

Auriean made to answer; then, seeing no one else had tried theirs, put on a stern face and said. “It’s a bitter medicinal, tastes awful but is mildly good for you. The taste will never go away, you all should just give me yours and spare yourselves this agony.” He had a good face for lying, but the eager slurp of saliva that rang out during this speech tipped Alikir off that she had some good stuff. She gave him a sneer and a rude gesture before popping hers into her mouth as well. She left out a soft moan which made every man in camp shift uncomfortably, then turned to Kerris.

“Remember those sap candies that they had in Red Leaf, during the harvest festival?”

“The ones you blew half your pay to stockpile then cried bitter tears over when you ran out?”

"Yes, those.. I mean, Uh, no that never happened of course, but yes I see you recall. “ Alikir’s face was a little red as she continue, and Kerris felt the healing that only cute-little-sis Alikir could bring.”… anywy those are vere shit to this. Its like the memory of fruit and distilled sweetness. But as important as candy is, LETS GO CHECK THIS RUIN OUT!”

Everyone enjoyed their sweets while they followed John into the way station.

-------

John showed them the small outpost, figuring it was faster to just let them see for themselves that there wasn’t anything too special about the place other than the gate room. He pointed out the trash room and the jakes, which got him a grateful look from an awkwardly shifting Garrus, which culminated in a discrete exodus from the room where his teacher was laid to rest, whom he introduced by pointing and saying, “My teacher, Magus Ningyum Arima.”

John was pleased that they offered a respectful bow to the remains, and seeing there were no more sights, they filed back into the main hall and while most went to their camp with a wave, Alikir was scurrying around the array like a caffeinated squirrel, excitedly gibbering at Kerris over such and such selection of runes. This was endearing but also showed little sign of stopping, and John needed to do his exercises and practice his writing before kipping out. With a sigh he dug into his collection of papers until he uncovered the fruit of almost four hours bent over the floor, complete rubbings of the entire circle. He rolled the thick wad into a cylinder than used it to bop Alikir on her head. When she turned indignantly to chew him out, he handed her the rubbings. As she zoned into the shuffling pages he bodily turned her around and gently pushed her out the door, waving good night to Kerris who watched the interplay with a fond smile, and locked the door behind them.

The sun was almost set, and he had a few hours of work left if he was to keep his routine. John did not know that as he went about his practice he also was wearing a small smile.

Rule#7 Adventures are meant to be shared.