Nascent Goddess Quest

Winning votes:
[w] "But Tobias, I've grown more from this one mission than I have after a month of training, and I couldn't have done it without you."

---

"I…" Tobias stops for a moment as he considers. "While that's true you've also come much closer to dying from this one mission than in a month of training," he counters.

"You've said there are people who are going to come after me when my powers start returning. How am I meant to deal with them if I don't have experience? They've killed gods you can't defend me from the yourself."

"That...you're right. I'm sorry Eshani, but the thought of you dying…" he trails off and looks down. You frown, he looks so forlorn. In response you give him a hug.

"It's okay, you were just trying to protect me," you say softly while embracing him. He brightens up at the reassurance. Considering you're his goddess he's going to take your opinion seriously after all.

With Tobias in a better mood it Liam and Mira are willing to come over and sit with the two of you now.

"I'd like to apologise to you both," Liam says as he puts down his food, "I failed to protect you both, and you were hurt for my failure as a knight." He kneels on the ground, "Please give me the honour of accepting my sincerest apologies."

Mira sighs, "Jeez, knights. Always gotta be so formal." She scratches the back of her head, "But, uh, yeah, sorry from me too. You guys ended up doing most of the work there."

Accept the apology?
[] Yes
[] No

"I accept your apologies," Tobias says, "So, what is on today's itinerary?"

"In another mission or two you should both be strong enough for us to move past this village and do some of the more important missions, we might even get the attention of a local noble!" he says, voice rising towards the end.

Tobias looks at you, "A noble could get us connections with a high ranking church member, they might be able to help you."

"Still on about that 'goddess' business Toby?"

"Please do not call me that. And yes, as Eshani is a goddess I will help her reach her status again."

Mira gives him a disbelieving look. You're just confused by the random nickname.

"Toby?" you question. Tobias sighs.

"Mira apparently has a habit of giving her teammates infuriating nicknames."

"What about Liam?"

"Oh, he's the exception," Mira says with a wink, "gotta have an exception to have a rule."

"So, what am I?" you ask.

"Youuuu get to be Annie!"

"Huh?"

"Esh-Annie!"

Oh...you aren't sure how you feel about this to be honest, you'll ignore it for now. What has her so hyper right now anyway?

"Well, okay then."

"Now that that's settled, how about we find another mission to do today and buy some supplies for it." Liam says.

You make your way to the adventuring guild. As you enter the man at the desk greets you.

"Nice job on your last mission. Back for another?"

"Indeed we are," Liam responds brightly.

Quest?
[] Mage looking for brave souls for spell trials - E Rank
[] Bandits preparing to invade. - E Rank
[] Airship transport to Asoa, no resistance anticipated, but guards wanted - F Rank
[] Several adventurers lost in the Northern Forest while on a quest, lead them back - F Rank
[] Wait...is that the guy from before you can see through the window? What's he doing lying on the ground in the alleyway next to the guild?

Winning votes:
[w] Yes
[w] Wait...is that the guy from before you can see through the window? What's he doing lying on the ground in the alleyway next to the guild?

---

As you look at the board something catches the corner of your eye. That's a pretty big window the guild has, but it isn't the window that's interesting so much as what's on the other side. It's a rather dirty alleyway, the type you'd normally expect to have groups of of low lives within. In this case though there's a man, just kinda...lying on the ground, you don't know if he's alright. What's more it seems to be the same cloaked person you saw before at the inn. You kinda wanted to talk to him but didn't get the chance earlier because of Tobias. You consider taking a quest, especially the airship one, but curiosity overcomes you.

"Uh, excuse me for a second guys," you say as you head for the exit, "I...need to use the bathroom."

Thankfully none of them decided to go with you. You let out a sigh as you emerge from the guild. Well, it wasn't a complete lie, you do sorta have to go. Still, that wasn't why you left. Turning into the alleyway it seemed it looked about the same as you expected, just without people. There's an unpaved path that's been beaten in by people walking. Various bits and pieces that people threw out and were taken here by someone. Even some mismatched colourful 'art' that resembled words. The most interesting thing though, was the man lying off to the side, propped up against a crate.

"Umm, are you alright?" you ask as you approach.

Almost like a jack-in-the-box he springs up to his feet as you get close, thankfully you're still out of view of your companions. Now that you're close enough you can see that almost his entire face is covered in cloth wrappings, he's worse than Mira.

"Why hello there young miss. I'm quite fine, but what might one as young as you be doing in such an unsavoury place?" he asks in return.

The way he speaks is much more nice and formal than you expected from someone who looked so dangerous.

"Well, I saw you lying there through the window and wanted to make sure you were safe."

"It makes my heart soar to here of adventurers who still care about people who don't give them quests. Bless you miss. Here, how many companions do you have?"

"Erm, three if you don't count me. Why?"

With a bright smile, and an overly dramatic flourish, he produces four tickets. "Why to invite you and them to my show of course."

"Show?" you question as you take the tickets.

"Hmm? Why of co-" he looks down, "Oh how embarrassing, I don't normally wear this. I felt like having some fun today though." With a slightly different flourish the man's clothes shimmer and shift into an expensive looking suit. The wrappings on his face also vanish, revealing a relatively handsome man with a very well trimmed mustache. "Terribly sorry about that, I have a magic show, please do come."

"What kind of fun were you talking about?"

"Ah, just some light fun to keep my magic skills from dulling. It's more enjoyable to dress up sometimes though."

"Uh, alright. I'll be seeing you later then."

"But miss, aren't you forgetting something? It'd be a waste to lose something this nice."

Huh? You turn around. He's holding your rapier, sheath and all. As if he took it off your waist while you weren't looking. But how? He lets out a hearty laugh.

"Just a small joke miss, don't worry." he reassures you as he hands back the rapier, "I'll be seeing you later then."

"Right," you say as you walk off, patting yourself down to make sure he hadn't managed to take anything else. You give the tickets a quick look, the show was starting not long from now, definitely not enough time for a quest. As you reenter the guild building Mira, Liam and Tobias all suddenly pop up around you.

"Did something happen? You were gone for quite some time." Tobias asks.

"Nothing happened, I just ran into someone and we talked a little."

"Who was it? You can't leave us with that." Mira presses.

What'll you tell them?
[] Tell them about the man and go to the show
[] Don't tell them anything and take a regular quest instead
-[] Mage looking for brave souls for spell trials - E Rank
-[] Bandits preparing to invade. - E Rank
-[] Airship transport to Asoa, no resistance anticipated, but guards wanted - F Rank
-[] Several adventurers lost in the Northern Forest while on a quest, lead them back - F Rank