Chapter 33: Chapter 32 – Waiting and Paperwork

Their time is almost up in the shelter and the group is in a huddle. As they likely were not getting much sleep tonight, the group had taken the chance earlier to nap through the day. Now a bit more than an hour left till midnight a plan is needed. While people can’t find them in the shelter that didn’t stop them from noticing all the people tromping through the woods outside. Either they figured their general location out or the enemy group opened the floodgates and let everyone in.

Rosha is making aggressive chopping actions with her hand while arguing, “We can totally hide for the last bit. Sure James would need to ditch his armor for the moment but we can bury it here. We wouldn’t even need to personally retrieve it. I am sure if I informed my teacher she would come and get it for us while we deal with the court.”

James doesn’t look too happy about leaving his armor but Jason is the one to speak up, “Yeah we might be able to hide but that isn’t certain. They might send out some better trained thugs or one of them happens to be some redneck forest boy who left for the city. James is our tank and healer. The last thing we need is for him to be squishy if we get caught out. We don’t need to stay hidden till midnight. We need to make sure we aren’t nabbed in that time. Even if we have to fight right until today becomes tomorrow it doesn’t matter.”

James smacks the ground to get their attention, “Let me lay down the law here. I am not leaving my armor. Later on once we get out of this we can spend some cash on something to muffle it and a nice matte paint job. However this suit of armor is worth way too much. There is a reason that dwarves don’t  buy the newb armor. I respect your plan Rosha, but try again.”

Rosha throws her hands into the air, “Fine you tin can. Two versus one and what not. You want a plan? How about we just run deeper? This place is already on the edge of the mid forest belt. We aren’t exactly prepared for that but then again our enemies will have a harder time. Large groups will aggro the mobs and everyone else will be careful as they won't be able to take said mobs.”

Her attitude makes it clear that she didn’t actually mean for them to use this plan. Sadly for her the other two are now nodding their heads to the plan. Jason even gives her a thumbs up. Rosha just sort of slumps over in defeat, “Whatever, at least if we die there they won't get us.”

Planning completed they check the barrier and can tell their time is almost up. Only a few minutes before they get revealed to the world once again. After straining their ears and not hearing anyone nearby they decide to take off early. James takes the lead on it and steps through, bursting the bubble that protected them. With that they take off at a slow jog deeper into the forest.

It doesn’t take long for the sounds of pursuit to be heard behind them. However moments later it stops. The mooks clearly realized where our group is heading as shouting about not being paid enough can be heard. While dangerous the choice to head deeper has cut out the random chaff that was hunting them. Jason even thinks to himself that maybe there isn’t enough money to get anyone to follow them in. Though he keeps it to himself so he doesn’t jinx it.

His caution seems to bare out as nothing else of note happens. Even the monsters leave them alone. Time ticks away and then right at midnight a bright flash of golden light streams down from the sky right onto them. It forces the group all to close their eyes and their stomachs all flip like they were on a rollercoaster.

As the light fades away the scene has changed around them. Instead of a dark forest they are now surrounded by marbles pillars. The angel from the day before walks up to them and welcomes them back to the temple. Jason shakes his head, “when you say the Church is going to help us you don’t joke around. Now do we just wait around or is there something else you need us to do besides more paperwork?”

The angel smiles at that before handing over a stack of papers, “Sadly emergency escape portations from the forest don’t come cheap. Not in money and definitely not in paperwork. I will need you to read these over and sign them.”

James groans, “Couldn’t you have just had someone come pick us up? We weren’t exactly far from the city.”

A raised eyebrow meets this suggestion. With a small shake of its head the angel corrects him, “If you had stayed in the city we would have. However you all headed off into a forest. I will admit that this was somewhat predictable as your team is more familiar with the place. However that doesn’t change where you were. The Church of Truth is aligned with civilization. Our powers drop off the farther we are from places that sentients rule such as, for instance, into a natural forest. If you wanted someone to come pick you up, you should have gone to one of the forest based churches.”

James sighs, “Yeah yeah, I know. That whole civilization versus wilderness thing. Meh, where we came from the wilds didn’t put up as much of a fight and we conquered them. Course we have let them come back at this point as we didn’t need all that space but still.”

The angel shakes it head, “Whatever you say. Anyway we have a room over here for you to spend your time waiting and doing the paperwork. Please just stay put if you can? The restroom is across from the room and we have a light dinner read for you. Though tomorrow you will need to fend for yourself with either food you brought with you or by giving us money to go and get whatever you want.” Then it leads them a short way down the hall and leaves them to do paperwork in peace.