Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – Greenstone’d Out of Her Gourd

A simple expedition into the delta.

That's what it was supposed to have been. 

As Merryweather crashed through the reeds at speed, running faster than she ever had before, she called into question her ability to read into things. She knew that as an adventurer, she would see all manners of danger.

She really preferred to know said danger was going to be there first, though. 

She and her teammate, Magdela, had been contracted to look into something pertaining to Magic Society interests out in the delta. It had fallen to Merryweather to stand guard, whilst Magdela kept one eye out from what they sought out, and the other for any roaming monsters. She had assured Merryweather that the coast was clear, and that no monsters were nearby.

She'd been wrong, of course. But the effort was there.

Merryweather burst through the reeds at last, skidding to a halt upon the muddy ground. It was open here- which suited her just fine. She turned swiftly, and focused. Her mana drained in a rush, as she felt herself rise into the air- her height bolstered by the ability she had activated. Connecting to her limbs, articulated by thick metallic cables, was an exoskeletal suit of armor. Her ability, Mantle of the Immovable One, allowed her to conjure it at a considerable cost to her mana pool. The physical protection it offered, combined with the increase to her strength, was well worth the strain. She felt the mud sink beneath her as her newly armored form's weight increased by a factor of fifty. There was a grinding sound as she manipulated the guiding cables, one huge hand clanking as it formed a fist. 

It was ready to meet the first creature that burst from the reeds after her.

Shabs were relatively common. Long, piscine bodies with a massive maw full of rows of sharp, serrated teeth. With six legs and a thick chitinous shell, they were formidable opponents of Iron Rank adventurers. Merryweather had felt its approach from a dozen yards away, each of its skittering limbs projecting force into the ground, which resonated with the metallic elements in the earth, which subsequently fed back into Merryweather as a result of another of her abilities, Ferrosense. She was also aware of two other shabs approaching, but focused on the one in front of her.

The fist of her exoskeleton slammed into its face, cracking chitin and shattering teeth. The shab's body warped and wobbled like gelatin dropped from a third-story balcony as the considerable force of the blow worked its way through its body. It wasn't enough to take the monster out of the fight, unfortunately, and it sprung forward in a vicious counterattack. Teeth ground against her armor, tearing away at the steel plates that made up the exoskeleton's outer shell. Jerking one leg up, the armor mirrored the action of its wearer, and a massive knee pounded repeatedly into the shab's unarmored underbelly until it detached itself from her armor. It had left a rather sizable tear in the upper arm of the suit as a result, but Merryweather had neither the time nor the excess mana to focus on repairing it. Pressing the advantage, she swung both arms up and brought the fists of her exoskeleton down on top of the shab, slamming it into the mud and sending it sprawling. 

Drawing a leg back, she punted it in the side. The creature sailed a few feet through the air, skipping like a stone before landing in a heap. It didn't rise again. Before she had time to catch her breath, the other two shabs were upon her, and Merryweather found herself fighting into a (metaphorical) corner. The shabs fought synergistically, darting in one after the other to bite and stab at her armor, tearing holes into the plates. One well placed bite severed the guiding cables in her left armor- and with a series of high-pitched snaps the tension won out over the durability of the metal, tearing the arm loose. The maiming of her exoskeleton was a blow, her left arm breaking with a sickening crunch. Merryweather bit down to prevent a scream, and raised her exoskeleton's remaining arm. 

"Become an Adventurer, they said.."

Her voice, tone laden with pain and no small amount of bitter sarcasm, was amplified by the armor, made tinny and inhuman in the process. 

"It'll be fun they said. See the world they said!"

---

Merryweather's conjured armor sank to its knees and fell to pieces around her, which disappeared in flashes of blue-grey light as they touched the ground. She fell with it, catching herself with her good arm. Her left was a mangled mess at her side, and she quickly downed a healing potion. A lesser adventurer would have lost the limb entirely- it was only due to her aura ability, Immortal Will, that she hadn't. The increase in resistance to physical damage had been her saving grace more than once.

The three shabs lay in heaps around her, their bodies bent and broken. It had been a brutal brawl, more of an endurance test than anything else. In the end, Merryweather had won out- if only barely. 

She looked up and towards the reeds as a new presence entered the range of her perception power. Shouldering through the reeds was Magdela, her teammate, who had been absent from the fight. She was a tall, angular woman who very much resembled the reeds she was pushing through- and was also the one who had gotten Merryweather into this mess.

"There weren't supposed to be any monsters where we were," Merryweather said drily, gesturing with her good arm to the three corpses. This earned a flat look from Magdela, who approached each of the shabs in turn- laying a hand on them. As she walked towards Merryweather, the monsters went up in rainbow smoke. 

"My methods are not infallible. We are both only Iron Rank. I did my best to avoid monsters. I will simply have to refine my rituals in future. Here," Magdela held out one long-fingered hand, in which rested a small stone. It thrummed with magic power, and Merryweather could feel the determination radiating from it. Like the stone refused to bend, like it would persist through the direst of circumstances.

"Awakening Stone of Persistence," the researcher explained. Merryweather snatched it up, pocketing it.

"Can we go? I want to get downwind of this smoke."

---

Greenstone, for all its many, many faults, was a gorgeous city. Merryweather made her way through the streets of the Island, towards the Adventurer's Society campus. Her walks back and forth were always enjoyable- though the additional presence of Magedela was a bit of a dampener. Never before had she met such a sober woman. Merryweather wouldn't be surprised if Magdela's very presence could erase joy, given the way she looked at the world around her. Like it was all one big experiment, and she the sole researcher, fiddling with all the pokey bits to make the universe squirm.

"Did you even get what you went out there for?"

Merryweather finally broke the tense silence, earning a sidelong glance from the researcher. 

"I did," she said without further explanation. 

"And said thing was...?"

"Confidential."

"Of course, not like I almost died for that information or anything. That won't tease a sympathy answer out of you?"

"No."

Magdela's monosyllabic answers put a clamp on Merryweather's curiosity. She sighed, long and low, and consigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't get anything more from Magdela. The two of them returned to walking in silence. By the time they reached the Adventurer's Society campus, the sun was beginning to set. Their trek back from the delta had taken up an entire day and most of the next, their walk through Greenstone rounding out the rest of that spent time. The two women parted without further words; Magdela striding towards the Magic Society building, and Merryweather towards the Job Hall. She felt every bump and bruise as she pushed her way inside, setting down her contract.

"Hey, Bert," she greeted in a voice croaky with exhaustion.

"Merryweather! Magdela have you running ragged across the delta again?" 

The sigh he received was answer enough, earning a soft chuckle and an amicable smile from the clerk.

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"I'm sure she'll come around. New teams always have a few...issues to work out. Speaking of which- where is the rest of your team?"

Merryweather scratched her cheek.

"Staying just down the road. I'll be going there after we get the paperwork sorted. I need a shower, and some bandages. Magdela was no help, only showed up to use her looting power after the fight. I got an Awakening Stone out of the ordeal, so I guess I can't whine too much..." 

Merryweather waited a while whilst Bert sorted out the paperwork related to her contract. It was even darker out by the time she'd received her payment and gone on her way. As she crossed the campus, Magdela fell in at her side, as if she had simply stepped out of thin air. 

"You are still injured," Magdela observed.

"My, aren't you perceptive?" 

Merryweather shot back sourly.

"You will take tomorrow to rest, I assume?"

Merryweather sighed and shrugged. Magdela laid one hand on her shoulder, an icy feeling creeping over Merryweather's skin. It prickled, leaving gooseflesh in its wake. There was an overpowering sensation of patronizing guidance, the processes of Merryweather's body pushed with a persuasive will to heal her all the faster. It did not feel like benevolent healing. It felt like the will of a ruler, pressing down on her, demanding she pull herself back together so that she may better serve the will of something greater. She felt bones mend, flesh knit together, and the dark bruises that covered her face vanish. Magdela's hand dropped from her shoulder, and she passed her by.

"Thank you, Magdela," she called after her, but did not receive a response. 

---

The cozy apartment that Merryweather occupied was cluttered with all manner of books and loose papers. She walked past an open book she had planned on finishing when she got home, and flopped right into her bed. She took several long moments to reflect on the day's events. The fight with the shabs had been dangerous, more so than anything she had done before, and that brush with death had left her shaken. And more than a little angry.

Magdela was a member of her team. She was supposed to help. Yet she had been far too focused on her own research to pay Merryweather any mind. The two of them and a few mutual friends had formed their team only recently, and still had plenty of issues derived from in and outside of their adventuring lives to work out. Magdela's solitary nature and condescending intellectualism was one of their largest obstacles. She was a steadfast ally, when she could be trusted to put her duty as an adventurer before her duties as a Magic Society researcher. With her Adept, Potent, Staff and Sovereign Essences, Magdela was a domineering presence on the field with a suite of abilities that buffed her allies, controlled the powers of her enemies, and even the healing power she had used on Merryweather, applied at critical moments to keep her pawns on the board. 

Merryweather groaned into her pillow, and sat up.

"I need to go talk to her."

---

In contrast to Merryweather's cluttered room, Magdela's was a display of concise organization. Everything was slotted into shelves, inside drawers or clearly marked containers. Not a thing was out of place, nor was a speck of dust visible. Magdela herself sat in the center of the room, meditating, a staff laid across her lap. It was a sleek silver rod capped with a large eye, a sapphire resting where the iris would be. As Magdela's eyes opened, the staff vanished, its strange sapphire iris now residing within the researcher's left eye. She gave Merryweather a quizzical glance.

"We need to talk," Merryweather said, taking a seat opposite of her.

"About?"

"About you, Magdela. About how you treat everyone else in the team. How you were today. You left me to face those shabs alone, I almost died!" 

Merryweather's tone was clipped, her aura awash with a mixture of anger and anguish. She viewed Magdela as a friend, for all of her faults, and the idea that such feelings might not be reciprocated swam to the fore. She waited for Magdela to respond, growing increasingly tense as the silence dragged on.

"I apologize," Magdela said finally.

"I have been absorbed in my work. You have suffered for it. Our team has suffered for it. It is a failing of mine, to be so caught up in what I do."

Despite her apologetic words, her expression did not shift. Magdela rarely wore an expression that wasn't one of passive disinterest. However disinterested her expression, her aura told the truth; sincerity, concern...and a lack of knowledge of how to assuage Merryweather's anxiety. For all of her book-smarts, Magdela did not know how to work with her feelings. Merryweather's expression softened, and she reached for a small plate of sweet pastries on Magdela's table. They tasted odd, but she kept eating them. The researcher was looking off into the middle distance, before her eyes snapped to Merryweather.

"Wait- don't eat those!"

Merryweather was busy stuffing a fifth into her mouth, and froze like a child caught red-handed rooting through the cookie jar. She slowly slid the rest into her mouth and chewed, swallowing.

"Whaffor?"

"Those are-"

Merryweather suddenly felt very light, and very giddy. Like she was striding on clouds. She giggled and bounced in place, leaving an exasperated Magdela to corral her around as she reached for all manner of things she shouldn't be touching. Using her conjured Staff Nexus familiar, Magdela prodded and guided Merryweather out of her room and back to her own. Along the way, she was joined by another member of their team, a huge leonid woman named Awiti.

"What's gotten into her?" 

Awiti asked, helping guide Merryweather towards her room.

"She came to speak to me. She and I had a disagreement and were working to smooth it out when she got into my...recreational sweets. She ate five of them, Awiti. Five."

"So you're telling me she's absolutely stoned out of her gourd?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

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