Chapter 25: Chapter 23 Just Rewards

Chapter 23

Just Rewards

Zip and Raythiel yelled, "Status!"

"Before that, Zip and Raythiel, why don't we help the elves first?" asked Star. "Tira, why don't you use your cleaning spell while we look around for clothes?"

"There aren't any clothes," said one of the elves. "The dragons used their breath weapons on them."

"Oh, well, we brought some spare clothes; we will do what we can," said Star.

The female goblin ran over and started playing in the treasure.

"Put everything that isn't a coin over in a pile so I can identify it," said Tira. She was happy to let the goblin check for cursed items by touching everything.

With 20 villagers, six of whom were male, getting everyone clothed with their extra outfits would be impossible. Olier said he could make some primitive clothes and shoes out of bark and grass, so he and a few of the elves they could dress, who had some crafting or professions that could help, went to go do that.

Star took Zip over to one side of the cavern and whispered to her, "Zip leveling up right now might be detrimental to the party. I suggest waiting until we get back to the caravan. You won't get anything out of leveling up right now anyway; please trust me."

"Whatever you say, Star," said Zip.

Meanwhile, Raythiel was in a rush to level up. She would get 5 more hit points, an attack bonus, and seven skill slots once she advanced her intelligence.

Her new evolutionary advancement options were right there!

* Advancement options for magical creatures

1. Wood elf: -4 mana, -1 charisma, +2 strength (due to desire). (This will restore your birth traits and eliminate unstable physiology entirely.)

2. Based on actions: Faerie elf: -1 to health, +1 to intelligence, and +4 skill slots -4 hit points Curses based on race This will cause health unstable physiology

3. System Temptation: Fey Kissed: 25% increase in magic to 75% (at 4th level, +4 first level mana pool and +8 second level mana pool); 25 cold iron damage resistance per level; -1 hit point per level; hit die changes to D4; alternate form; please select 1 or 2 above. Alternate forms will gain the positive advancement noted. +4 skill slots if Faerie Elf is chosen and you remain in that form for at least 24 hours in a row. Each additional level necessitates an increase of 1,000 experience points. Further physiology based on an alternate form.

* Shard #31: Warning: Option 3 will result in certain altered Elven System traits no longer being in effect. Talk to Tira before you take this option. You will keep other Wood Elven traits like aging, racial weapons, coloration, and so forth, regardless of your choice.

Oh well, I guess I will have to have a long talk with Tira before I make that choice, thought Raythiel to herself, closing the status screen.

Twixia was over the moon; she now had 20 hit points, 44 skill slots, a +3 attack, and a better will save; furthermore, she got another plus to her intelligence in case she hit 8th level or a plus in strength to carry more books. She reasoned that now that the summoners' spell had worn off, she craved the extra power. She took +2 improved social defense (all) for her ability; that seemed wise going into human lands.

With so many hands, counting up the treasure didn't take too long, but by the time they were done, the male goblin had shown up, no worse for wear. The two goblins hugged it out, and Tira finished identifying the magical items in the horde.

For cash, there were about 30,000 base coins made of pewter, nickel, zinc, and lead. There were about 2,000 white copper and wrought-iron coins. Approximately 1,000 copper coins, approximately 1500 bronze coins, approximately 300 silver coins, 300 high silver coins, 85 gold coins, 90 high gold coins, 45 mithril coins, and a non-magical pearl, which Tira gave up in exchange for a boost to her identification abilities.

There were two potions: a superior acid protection potion and a remove disease potion, of course. There was a pre-owned second level double will advancement wand. There was a +1 defense ring, a scroll of polymorph (arcane), a scroll of wall of fire (faith), and finally, of all things, a magical bookmark. It was kind of obvious who would receive that particular treasure after Tira checked it for curses and handed it over to a salivating Twixia as her share of the treasure. Twixia danced around with the bookmark over her head. It was very cute.

"So, somebody was awfully naughty," said Tira, looking at the highly illegal polymorph spell.

"Why is that?" asked Star.

"That is on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know; just knowing why it is illegal is dangerous," said Tira. "I only know because I am Raythiel's guardian, and something might come up where I need to tell her."

"Whenever you get the time then, I leveled and the system said to talk to you about this sort of thing," Raythiel said.

"Oh, that's right, you were going to raise your intelligence to this level. I would just go with wood elf; that way you won't have to know. But if you insist, I will tell you so you can make an informed decision," said Tira.

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"I get a lot, so yeah, I need to know," said Raythiel. "These things are never quite what they seem; I am just glad Shard #31 gave me the warning."

"I think he skipped out on telling me stuff I needed to know. At least he promised to talk later. "I guess for now, we need to get organized before the White Foxes or something finds us."

Tira gasped, "Ethierstaria, for heaven's sake, stop setting flags!" "Put as many valuable coins and items into those saddle bags as we can and let's get going," she said to everyone. "The villagers and goblins can have as many base coins as they can carry."

"Then off to the town; we can't take these people back to a looted village with dragon minions all over the place. We lost our main scout, so me and Olier will scout for everyone; the rest of you should stay close to the elves and feed them a bit at a time. Too much at once, and they will get sick."

They decided to go back the way they came rather than make for the enchanted path. There was just too great a chance of finding something near where the battle was. Plus, the terrain getting here had not been that bad, but the villagers said it was pretty tough going towards the south. It was slow going; they would have to camp for at least one night, and that was if nobody had to be carried. They were only able to walk for about five hours the first day, as the villagers were in rough shape. Tira had a conversation with Raythiel now, as they could really use her healing and another spell to help them out.

Tira took her off to the side of the makeshift camp so they could discuss it.

"Ok, let me see what your status screen says first," said Tira. After carefully reading it, she said, "I guess you are considering taking Fey Kissed. I agree that the extra magic is a lot. You will also be about to take on more magical abilities. The damage reduction basically just counters having fewer hit points. That is probably a fair deal; now here is why it is tricky.

Tira continued, "The elven traits it is referring to have to do with how many children we have and how dominant our race's traits are over humans. So your line will fade faster, but it will be easier for you to have children. Your line will also be immune to the curse that turns us if we stray too far into evil.The main reason polymorph is outlawed in the elfin lands is to prevent people from getting around these rules. If you decide to take fey kissed, you will no longer be allowed to live inside the shield."

"If you really want more power, decline this one and take the Faerie Elf; sure, you will probably not be given more magic, but you can get stronger in other ways later. Just like I am using both marital and magical abilities. Unless you get a magical item made, you won't be able to do that until 12th level, and it will be unlikely that you get that far."

"But what about the curse of being a faerie elf?" said Raythiel.

"Oh, that just makes Faerie elves' appearances appear better to one another; it isn't a big deal," said Tira. "No tribe of that kind of human lives within 5,000 miles of the GEN; we tried some divinations; they may no longer exist."

"The thing is, I've already been exiled; my life in my village was nothing special, and there's a lot of Babylon beyond the GEN." Raythiel sighed. I feel it in my bones; I will never be offered this again. I don't think I will live a long life unless I have more of my magic. I feel trapped by my commoner status. Fey Kissed is the right choice for me. "I do feel like shard #31 is trying to help me." Raythiel activated Fey Kissed and selected wood elf as her secondary form.

Raythiel felt herself changing. She got out a mirror and looked at herself. It really wasn't that different, to be honest. Her skin felt different; her eyes had changed; they were more blue now; her ears had grown some; and she was a little more curvy. The eyes, though, were round; it was disturbing. She also had some freckles. Her hair was more red, more strawberry than auburn. More than that, her magic felt content; she knew the whispering voice she had would be gone now. She felt less stretched now, more natural. She had found peace and harmony. This was the right choice, for sure.

"Well, that was sort of anti-climatic," said Tira. "When we reach the border, don't be in your alternate form; this body will pass as elven, and your other form can be detected with magic."

"Yes, well, I am going to change forms, because more strength will be useful as we have so much treasure to carry," said Raythiel. "Oh no, I guess my magic is still constrained," sighed Raythiel.

With her new mana pool, Raythiel was able to heal an entire party of elves at a time! Let's see, for my spell I am going to take Summon II, so she could summon a pack pony. All those coins were really heavy!

Tira scouted, trying to avoid trouble. The only thing was, every stream was tough, every patch of thorns had to be avoided, and it was exhausting. They wouldn't make it before dark unless they moved to the road. She didn't want to spend another night camping; there was no food left. She led the ragged elves south and hoped for the best.

There was only about an hour of light left when they reached the road. It seemed like there would still be a lot of walking. She kept them going; they needed to reach the town. The whimpers of the elves hurt her heart; they were so close, she could feel them, and then they were met by two parties of the White Fox.

"What do we have here?" said their leader, a sword maiden named Maefon.

"Star and your flags, this is getting silly," sighed Tira.

Star activated her diplomacy skill. "My party found and rescued some villagers from the Green Dragons," said Star. "Can you help us get them to the town?"

"That sounds like a lot of coins you are carrying," said Maefon. "Perhaps for ten high silver a piece, we could be persuaded to assist in transporting these filthy elves to the village; after all, we'll have to clean everything afterwards."

"Just keep in mind that you'll have to pay taxes on whatever you get from the dragons' horde. Did the dragon get away? I don't see its skin."

"Yes, we made them take the oath first, as one of the dragons was threatening to kill the villagers unless we let them live," said Star.

"I doubt Lt. Loud will feel like letting them go, and because of their crimes, there might be some sort of penalty to your taxes," said Maefon. "But that is not my decision."

Tira handed her 100 high-quality silver pieces. It was literally highway robbery, and she would rather take the head of this obviously unscrupulous sword maiden. She knew the only reason they were not being attacked for the treasure was because it was a humiliation in principle to Tira and her mistress. But the poor elves came first, and she needed to obey her mistress.

They were escorted into Drakeshaw. The party had defeated the sibling Green Dragons and saved twenty elven lives and a couple of goblins.

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