Master of Puppets

The group followed the road, none of them much in the mood for conversation following the encounter with Filaurel and Valencia. If only we had met them sooner. We could have befriended them, completed the escort mission with them.

John’s internal debate of whether or not using Advanced Spy or Mind Reading on his partner waged on. Surely she would realize what he had done, and if it were the former, there was no guarantee that he would be able to read it before she destroyed the window again. She’s probably the highest levelled person out of the four of us, maybe the highest levelled applicant I’ve met at all. Eyes that can cancel magic and the ability to summon any weapon effortlessly. Still, she’s obviously not flawless. She lost to Metallia.

What’cha thinkin about? Grace’s voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked down from the tree he was leaping off to see her face staring back at him. This distraction almost caused her to run into a tree, though she barely sidestepped it. You’ve got this crazy intense look on your face. It’s not good to keep secrets, you know.

I’m not sure I’m the one you need to worry about, John replied, the internal sigh audible in his thoughts. I don’t trust Lucille. She stopped me when I tried to scry her, and her cold attitude puts me off. I feel like she’s up to something.

Did you just think a sigh? How is that- right, I’m getting off topic. She’s a bit of a berk, but she’s helped us out so far. Those cars probably would have been destroyed twice over if not for her, Grace reasoned, taking on a rare, serious tone. I’ll admit she seems off. I mean, she doesn’t find me very funny, so there’s a red flag, but try not to get too into your own head about it. I’m sure she’s fine.

You’re probably right. Getting betrayed by this ass in my last test just probably put me on edge. She’s my teammate, and a powerful ally to have. Thanks, Grace, John thought, visibly relaxing. The problem was he relaxed too much and only just barely made the next jump.

Happy to help! By the way, if you’re having trouble up there, I could give you a leapfrog sticker, Grace thought, smirking back at him.

I think I’m good for now, John laughed, focusing on leaping through the trees again. A flashy smile and a thumbs-up was her reply. So they continued for another half an hour before coming to a crossroads. There were no signs, and so a choice was presented to them. Keep going the way they were going or follow the new road, which was unpaved and more of a backroad dirt path.

“If we’re looking for a village, I say we follow the dirt path. This long road seems like more of a highway than anything else, so I doubt we’ll find any villages on it,” Lucille reasoned, her voice breaking the silence.

“Makes sense, but it begs the question: left or right?” the Gamer said, looking in each direction. On the left, the forest kept on for miles, stretching into the horizon. On the right, the trees gradually thinned out and the land rose up into mountains.

“I say we follow the left side! My family lived in the mountains, and we were super secluded from everything else. If we’re looking for other people, we’ll probably find them in a forest first,” Abigail exclaimed, pointing toward the left road emphatically.

“A sound argument, even if it comes from anecdotal origins, that trend is generally correct. A place where the ground is dirt instead of rock makes for a better settlement,” The Prodigy agreed, cracking her neck as she stared off along the left path.

“Makes sense to me,” the Brit shrugged, not having much knowledge on the topic either way. That settled, they abandoned the concrete road for the dirt trail, heading along it and deeper into the forest.

After an hour of travel (and a break in which Abigail charred a piece of meat for them to share), Lucille stopped. The rest of the group did as well as she reported, There’s smoke in the distance. Not that of a raging fire, but that of a forge. There’s a village nearby.

“Sounds great! See, you had nothing to worry about, John!” Grace said, slapping a hand on his back after he jumped down from the tree he had been on.

“We should stick together and scout it out. See if there are any people already there. Same pairs as before. David, you know what to do,” John relayed, his hawk taking to the skies and heading toward the smoke.

In pairs they circled the village, Grace and John taking the east side and Lucille and Abigail taking the west side. David soared above, invisible. David, I want you to fly lower, see if you can get me a view inside the houses.

John watched as the hawk, invisible to all but those in his party, swooped down. He perched on the fence of one of the houses, which looked to be standard fantasy house work. Wooden walls atop a stone base, with windows that revealed sparse furnishings beyond that of a table and a hearth. Attunement revealed this to John as he cast it, looking around through the eyes of his pet. The village was populated by several people, and John attempted to cast Advanced Spy through the hawk to no avail.

His eyes went to his mini-map, which had filled out as he looked through the village with David’s eyes. There are definitely people in this town and none of them look like bounty hunters. John thought, letting David explore the town out of sight as he scouted the trees.

Those aren’t people, they’re illusions. Each individual one is. I can see the person making them right now. If you can, look toward the bigger house in the middle. The massive windows should allow you to scry the person inside, Lucille sent back, and John crept closer to the town until he saw the house in question. A bald man sat inside, and John used Advanced Spy on the figure.

The moment the spell was cast, The Illusionist’s head turned toward John. “I knew somebody was messing with my illusions! Come, my boy, come!”

Tentatively stepping inside, John told his teammates, The scrying told me that he’s an illusionist that’s a part of the Waites who is here to make the village look more like a village by populating it with people.

“I was just talking to this applicant whose teammate abandoned him, a shame,” the Illusionist said, guiding John into the house with his hand on the Gamer’s back.

Be careful, an illusionist could easily deceive scrying magic, the elf warned, approaching with Abigail.

Turning his head, John’s eyes met the single applicant The Illusionist was talking about. Though his situation was dire, his expression was amused apathy. “Hello there!” the man called, waving to John and Grace. “I seem to have gotten myself in quite the situation. I was worried I would have to defend this village by my lonesome come night time. Some help would be much appreciated.”

“What is the name of this village?” John asked, turning to The Illusionist, who had sat back down at the table. The portly man was currently nursing a metal mug full of a steaming golden liquid.

Between sips, he replied, “Meul Village. If you’re looking for the village to protect from vampires, this is it.”

“So, your partner abandoned you?” John said, looking at the blond skeptically. For some reason, he didn’t think to use Advanced Spy.

“I’m afraid so. He took off right away, saying something about how he could do better on his own than he could with someone like me. Took off into the mountains we were teleported near, and I haven’t seen him since. I was hoping to find him when I stumbled across this village, but he either missed it or deemed it an impossible task to do alone,” the man explained, arms crossed. “I stayed, knowing that it was unlikely that I’d be able to handle a hoard of vampires at night alone, but even less likely that I’d find another one of my tasks.”

“Say, what are your abilities anyway?” Grace asked, staring daggers at the man. She immediately felt distrust for him, though John was quickly playing into his hands.

“Well, I have some light martial arts training, but my words are my weapons. I can be very convincing,” the man explained, getting up from the table. He walked toward them, his gaze never breaking from John’s eyes.

Realizing it had been a while since she had heard from the other two, she quickly thought, Lucille? Abigail? Where are you two? The moment the thought went out, an explosion rocked the ground.