The ones we were waiting for.

Before I could even turn to see who it was, Natalia sprinted to the table and dived on top of it. Her dive landed her perfectly, laying on her stomach with her face right in from on the spirit's mask. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity and wonder, I couldn't help myself but chuckle. The sprit, of course, made no reaction.

"Some of us are still waking up!" Called Silvia, massaging her forehead.

"Will yee ever run out of surprises?" Grutrod shook his head as he also joined the table.

"It truly seems impossible to doubt there to be a new god, with all the miracles you keep performing." Oliver said as he sat down as well, the table finally full.

I smiled to them, "This, is a servant my god made in order to assist me." Natalia jerked her body to look at me, then back to the spirit in awe. "Though, it is not very strong, comparatively, it is still while useful."

Natalia pointed to its mask. "What's that symbol? Is it a rune?"

I gave a polite shake of the head. "No, that is the Divine Mark of Moged-Ruun." The table once again went silent. 'I suppose I should be used to this. Most times I list my abilities they are stunned silent.'

Silvia was the first to respond. "It doesn't look like the other light god's. It's a lot less... fancy?"

Grutrod followed, "Aye, but it ain't like those foul dark god's, not as vile as 'em." He stroked his beard as he thought.

I responded. "I do believe I forgot to tell you, neither pantheon has approached my lord yet." They all slowly turned to look at me. "They may not know he exists yet, but for now that means he isn't officially a light or dark god."

The silence lasted far longer this time. I saw that even the bartender was looking my way, though with a more neutral expression than the rest of the people at the table. My inspection of the barkeep was interrupted by Natalia moving herself to be in front of me now. It was then I truly acknowledged the unresponsiveness of the spirit, as she was right in my face, and had the perfect position to show her cleavage from under her robe. "You truly are amazing! You and your god keep proving things that had not even been conceived are possible! I mean, at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out to be from another world or something!"

I laughed to myself at how on the mark she was without knowing it. "Perhaps you should actually sit within the booth?" As I asked, I signaled to the spirit, and it immediately floated to my other side, just outside of the booth. Natalia seemed almost **** to move to an actual seat, but ended up worming her way into it at the encouragement of Grutrod.

There was some more small talk and getting to know each other, where I answered most questions about myself either technically truthfully, or truthfully if I was one of my characters in my video games. I brought it back to useful information by asking a seemingly straightforward question. "So, how did you all become an adventuring party?"

The mood was happy as they each explained how they joined. Grutrod had found Silvia while he was on his own mission, and after that they teamed up after being at each other's throats for awhile. They ran into Oliver while he was out training and he proved himself to be useful after he tagged along with them on a mission that they both happened to go on at once. The mood turned slightly sour when they got to Natalia.

"For how Natalia joined us, I'll need to give more context." Oliver said grimly. "Every year, A regent goes to every capital, and chooses one knight among them to go to the royal academy. There were two people the common folk believed had a chance to go from Wodegta. One, was Nathaniel Normn, the second son of our own Baron Norman Normn. The other, was yours truly." He gave a bitter laugh to himself. "We got a request from the Normns about a month out from the regent's visit. I saw it as a good chance to prove my worthiness, but I have since realized it was a setup. We were supposed to be protecting a town from some bandits, but when we got there..." He clenched his fist, Silvia patted his shoulder, and Natalia looked down sadly. "What we found were Wraiths. Teir II undead monsters, known to be deadly to all but the most experienced. For us, it was a near **** sentence. Wraiths are near immune to physical attacks, and we had almost no defenses against its **** magic. That was the day I lost my arm, to the leader of the Wraiths. It had some sword, made healing it impossible according to anyone I asked. Regardless, the only reason we survived that day, is sitting right next to you." As he said that, he nodded to Natalia.

Natalia gave a nervous chuckle. "All I did was cast an illusion to cover my own escape. It just happened to scare the Wraiths away entirely."

I was quite intrigued by this statement. "What was the illusion of?"

She turned back to me and then thought for a moment. "I don't actually know, I just casted it in desperation and started running." She shrugged. 'Unfortunate, it would have been potentially useful in the future to know.'

I gave a smile and a shrug in response. "I suppose it worked in the end, and that's what matters most." I turned to Oliver, "Do you know what became of the Wraiths?"

He shook his head with a dark expression. "No, I couldn't hunt them while down an arm, and we haven't heard a whisper regardless."

I considered for a moment. "Well, one could potentially see this as a blessing."

He leaned backwards into his seat, getting comfortable again. "How so?"

I chuckled. "As grim as it is, had you not lost your arm, we would not have met." He gave a slight laugh to that response. "But, I also would not have been able to ask you something."

He gave me a questioning look, "What's that?"

I put on my best contemplative look. "Do you know what a Variant Bloodline is?"

Before he could respond, Silvia scoffed. "They are the result of diluted blood of monsters or angels or such, after they have been part of humanoids for generations. The people who are part of them are gifted, and can use some of the abilities of their Bloodline. But, every one I have met or heard of is a snob or asshole."

I chuckled, "I recommend you take that back."

She tilted her head judgingly. "Why? Should I be scared of them? Or are you one of them? Doesn't matter to me."

I shook my head as one would to a child not understanding something simple. "No, it's because our formerly one-armed friend might be one himself." The table went silent again. Before anyone else could break it this time, I stood up from the table myself. "I suppose I should give you time to process my most recent world-shattering statement." I laughed to myself. "I shall see you around, yes?"

Before they could respond I was already leaving. I exited the tavern and looked around the main center I was in. Now the big question. 'What should I do now?'