Chapter Text
The City of Vale lies almost on the edge of Galea, near the border of the Wildlands to the south and east. Protected to the south by Mount Celesia and its foothills, it was a walled city until peaceful times allowed expansion beyond its walls. Since then, the well-off have largely bought out the valuable real estate inside the walls while improving the buildings and infrastructure, while the less fortunate have gradually been displaced outside the walls. The old town’s cobbled streets are well-maintained and cleaned, while the roads of the new town are dirty and often in need of repair. Despite this, most of the poor and working class far prefer the new town’s grime and liveliness to the old town’s grandiosity. On this day, three tired travelers made their way to a building with a stone tower sticking out the back of it on the outskirts of old town. A massive, green-scaled dregordian, a willowy elf, and a mildly hunched-over human, the motley band all wore gray cloaks that identify them as members of Grayson’s Grey Riders from the Wildlands. Noticing Grayson’s crest prominently displayed on the building, they entered their destination.
Inside, they found a large common room, well-lit by a south-facing skylight and a warm fire. Across from the entrance, a burly man looked up from his book, and nodded at the trio upon seeing their cloaks. To their left, a dark-skinned human woman in a well-decorated uniform sat at a writing desk. Upon hearing the door, she put her pen down, and wheeled her chair around to face the group.
The human of the trio looked up at his companions. They made no attempt to speak, so it must be up to him. He gave her a quick salute with his fist across his chest. “Good afternoon, Ma’rm. Are ye Captain Mapstone?”
She returned the salute from her chair. “That’s me. And you must be the new recruits I’ve been expecting. I’m glad you made it safely – not too much trouble on the roads, I hope?”
“Well, nothin’ we couldnae handle,” said the man. “But we did have a run-in with some wolves while crossing the Orcshields. That was a wee bit scary, I don’t mind admittin’.”
“And cold,” added the dregordian in a deep alto voice. “I didn’t realize there could be snow in those hills at this time of year.”
“Let me guess,” Mapstone said. “You didn’t want to pay the goblinesh toll to use the good road through the mountains?”
“Well, you know, they didnae give us a lot of money for the trip,” the man said.
“You should have. The goblinesh roads are safer and better maintained than even Galean ones. Plus the settlements give you free meals and sleeping rooms along the way.”
“Ooh,” the man said. “No one told us that.”
Mapstone sighed. “I keep telling them back at Kythros that they need to impress on you newbies how good the toll roads are. A lot of youngsters have never even been to a goblinesh gather before. Anyway, I’ll send them a note about it. Again. In the meantime, would you mind introducing yourselves?” She twisted around and grabbed a paper from a drawer of her desk. “I can probably guess who’s who, but I need to make sure everyone’s here who’s supposed to be.”
The human started. “Del Truestone, ma’rm,” he said, rolling the R in Truestone even more than usual. “The Wondermaker,” he added in a quieter, uncertain tone that went mostly unnoticed.
“Does that mean you’re from Truestone, then?” Mapstone asked. “The dwarven town up in the Southern Hills? The accent certainly fits.”
“Yes, ma’rm.” Forestalling her question, Del continued, “I’m adopted. Had to head out once my head started hittin’ the ceilings.”
The dregordian spoke up, finally remembering to salute. “Sparrow amin Basma, ma’am.”
“That’s a Desert Princes name, isn’t it? But not a dregordian one,” Mapstone said. “Are you adopted, too?”
“Um, no, but you’re not wrong. It’s a long story. I’ll let Eis go next.” Sparrow looked at the tall elf, then nudged him when he didn’t seem to notice.
“Ah. Yes. My name is Eis’Libe Arbeitand,” he said, not bothering to salute, but pulling down his hood to reveal his long, flowing white hair.
“And you are an eldakar?” Mapstone asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, why join the Grey Rangers? It’s certainly an unusual choice for one as prestigious as you.”
Eis’Libe shrugged. “I’m approaching the age at which I’m expected to become an Eldais – a leader at the local level – in my community, but in order to do so, I need to provide some sort of material benefit, a boon if you will, to my hometown or country,” he said in a tone that indicated that he thought the whole thing was beneath him. “Apparently contribution to the academic study of magic is not sufficient. I have little experience outside of scholarly study, so the Grey Rangers seemed the most expeditious route to achieving such a boon.”
“Well, regardless of the reason, we’re glad to have you. But I should warn you that most people here have little experience with eldakar. They won’t take kindly to being called ‘lesser races,’ regardless of how you mean it. So, choose your words with care.”
“I always do,” he replied. “And as I assured my superiors at Kythros, when I wear this cloak, I represent the Grey Rangers, not the eldakar. We are all equal under this banner,” though he said this unconvincingly, rolling his eyes a bit.
"Now, maybe you can answer a question for me,” said Mapstone. “Do you know why there are only three of you? Normally recruits deploy here in teams of four.”
Sparrow spoke up, “Oh, that. We were supposed to, and we even had a fourth teammate for the first few weeks of training. A winged elf.”
“An aevakar,” corrected Eis’Libe.
“Really? That’s even rarer than you,” Mapstone said, making Eis’Libe purse his lips. “So what happened?”
“She got a message from her hometown and had to leave right away,” Sparrow continued. “We didn’t find out more than that, but she said she hoped she’d return to finish the training later. Anyway, by then all the groups had been assigned, and so we had to make do with three for the rest of training. That’s probably why we got the, uh, cushy assignment, though.”
“Cushy? Cushy? ” Mapstone asked, raising her voice. She wheeled herself in front of Sparrow and poked a finger at her broad chest. “Let me tell you, if you're hoping for a cakewalk, you have come to the wrong place. You see these useless legs? That's what happens when you let your guard down for just a second in Vale. I was just walking in the market in broad daylight, when some thug slipped a knife in my spine. And that's just the start. This city may look clean and peaceful, but it hides some of the worst criminals in the entire world, and don't expect the corrupt city guard to help you. Welcome to hell, kids.”
All three newcomers looked at her with surprise and dismay, as this didn’t match what they had been told at all. After a few seconds, though, Mapstone broke her serious expression, and burst out laughing. The guard in the back snickered as well. "I'm kidding!” she said. “Sorry, it gets so boring here, we have to make our own fun. Seriously, this isn't a bad town. It's got some crime, you always have that, but the city guard is actually pretty good at their jobs, and the duke - well, the duchess, really - works hard to keep people from struggling too much. We may be on the border, but we’re still in Galea, so we get support the Wildlands don't. We Rangers are mostly just a token presence here, to keep communication lines open and keep people thinking well of us.”
The trio looked relieved, but Mapstone continued, “To be honest, there is a danger here, but it’s just complacency. Don't let this place make you soft, or someday you'll get assigned to a tough assignment without any useful experience, and you won't last long. Some places, you just need to keep your head down and survive; here, it's more like you need to go looking for trouble so it doesn’t blindside you later. I have some ideas for where you can start, but first, let me give you the tour."
Spinning her wheelchair around with surprising agility, she rolled forward into the large room.
"This is the common room, and also my office, sad as that is. You've probably noticed there's a bookcase wherever I could fit one in - not the most extensive library, but it's not bad for basic research. My bedroom's over there - if you wake me up when I'm sleeping, it better be an emergency. Otherwise, I'm almost always here and available. We also always have a hired guard on hand - that's Huis there. Say hi to Huis."
Sparrow and Del waved to Huis, who rolled his eyes, gave a cursory wave back, and went back to his book.
“He doesn't talk much, but be nice to him and the other guards - they keep our shit safe when you guys are out and about. We have a cook that comes in the morning and evening to make meals, mostly for me, but if you're here you're welcome to join in." She pointed off to the right. "Down that way, past Huis, is the side alley entrance. It's pretty secluded, so sometimes people who need help knock on that door when they don't want to be seen at the front entrance. Also, fair warning, the city doesn't clean that alley for us, so don't go there for a piss unless you plan to clean it up yourself. If I can haul myself out of this chair to use the bathroom properly, so can you. Speaking of which, the bathroom is through that door there. There’s one in your dorm room, as well, running water and everything. We modernized it a few years ago.”
“Praise Illiana,” said Sparrow. “Civilization at last.”
“Now, if you'll follow me down our handy-dandy access ramp..." As the trio followed, Mapstone rolled herself down a ramp at the far side of the room, leading them through an open door into another room whose floor was lower. Unlike the first room, which was mostly made of wood, this one was entirely made of stone, and every wall was covered in shelves. It was noticeably cooler here. "You may notice this part of the building looks older, and it is – by more than a century, in fact. It dates back to the formation of the Grey Rangers. The front room came later, after they’d raised the streets. This room is for storage, and of course the pantry. Our main rule here is if you notice we're running low on something, write it on this board here so we can restock. Back there is our delivery entrance. It's also good for you guys on missions, because you can go right on out after gearing up. The armory is the next floor up, though I won't show you myself for obvious reasons. Above that is your dorm. When it’s occupied, we have a maid come in once a week to clean – one came in just yesterday, so it should be all ready for you. Above that is an attic — mostly just used for storage, or so they tell me. There's a ladder to the roof from there. There's parapets if you need to shoot anyone from up there, but the neighbors aren’t too fond of that." Del chuckled at that.
"And that's about it for the tour. Make yourselves at home, you'll likely be here for at least a few months. Hopefully you all learned to get along with each other in training, but if there's any interpersonal conflicts, I'm always available to arbitrate and advise. Or for anything else really, if you're not sure what to do, I'm here to help. Other than the monthly ducal dinners I attend, I don't get out much, so it's really no trouble. Any questions for me before you get settled?" She looked at each of the trio in turn, but they stayed silent. "All right then, I’m sure you’re weary from traveling, so if there's nothing else, feel free to rest for the rest of the day if you need to. If you want to get to work right away, come find me and I'll show you what I've got. If not, I'll see you at dinner. Dismissed!"
With that, Mapstone wheeled herself back to the common room. The three began trudging upstairs to their dormitory. “‘If ye wanna get to work right away’, she says,” grumbled Del once he thought they were out of earshot. “I don’ know ‘bout you two, but all I wanna do is sleep for a week. An’ have my meals brought to me.”
“I know what you mean,” agreed Sparrow. “After going through all that snow, I personally want to curl up in front of that fireplace and just soak up the heat for a year .”
“Unlikely that we’ll be allowed that much leisure,” said Eis’Libe as they reached their dorm, finding four crisply-made beds therein. “Besides, I, for one, am looking forward to making a name for myself as quickly as possible. We can’t do that from our beds, I’m afraid.”
“What we were doin’, Eis,” said Del, as he tossed his heavy backpack on one of the beds, “was group bondin’ via grousin’. That’s a thing we humans do, we’re not really plannin’ to sit on our thumbs while we’re here. I have goals too, ye know.”
Eis'Libe considered it. “Ah. In that case, I suppose I could stand to rest my blistered feet. At least for the next…century.”
“That’s more like it,” said Del as Sparrow laughed.
“At least we seem to have a good boss,” Sparrow said. “I was half-expecting to get some asshole with control issues in charge. I got a little scared she might be, during that knife-in-the-spine bit.”
“I wonder what did happen to her legs?” Del wondered. “There has to be a story there, aye?”
“Seems rude to ask, though,” said Sparrow. “It would have to be congenital, right? Otherwise it could just get fixed with magic, couldn’t it?”
“Not typically,” answered Eis’Libe. “Normal healing magic only accelerates natural healing - a permanent injury remains permanent. A very few healers are capable of doing more, and restructuring the body in such a manner carries a number of risks. It is akin to performing surgery – one could easily kill the patient or worsen their condition with a single misstep. And even if she were willing to assume the risks, those healers are in extremely high demand, especially as the war is ongoing in the north.”
“I wonder, though, if magic could help in other ways,” said Del. He had emptied out half of his backpack on the spare bed and was connecting crystals with lengths of metal to make a rough model of a pair of legs. “Supposin’ I could make a prosthesis that fit over her existin’ legs, maybe with a bar going up behind the spine if the problem’s to do with her back…of course, she’d have to get some kind of mage to recharge it periodically, and then there’s the matter of control…”
“Del, that’s really cool, but wait for her to ask before offering to help,” Sparrow said, laying herself down on her bed, which creaked under her considerable weight, but held up. She curled her tail around and pulled it under her neck for extra support. “You’re not the only artificer around, if she wanted to try experimental prostheses, she’d probably already have some.”
“Aye, I know, don’ treat people like guinea pigs,” replied Del. He yawned. “But it could have applications for abled bodies, too. Like for lifting heavy objects, or in battle…” Sparrow was already asleep. Del pulled the blankets up from his bed and crept under them, still cradling his little legs trinket in his hand as he drifted off. Eis’Libe, for his part, crossed his legs and began to meditate.
After a nap, the three of them worked on getting unpacked and settled in, until the smells of dinner being prepared summoned them downstairs. Over dinner, Mapstone asked them some more about their backgrounds and skills.
“I’m an artificer,” said Del. “So, ye know, I make magical stuff. Especially stuff that goes boom, but I do other things, too. I trained with a master artificer back home, but she died and left the shop to a senior journeyman who I didn’t get along with, so I had to find something else to do. I really want to open up my own shop someday and send money back home to my family, but I don’t have enough experience yet…or capital.”
“I’ve already explained my situation,” said Eis’Libe. “As far as my skills go, I work exclusively with ice magic. That’s what inspired me to choose my name, after all. As an eldakar, my magical potential is nearly unmatched.”
“That’s an interesting choice for a druid,” prompted Mapstone when he didn’t continue. “And at your age, I imagine you’re quite the powerhouse.”
Eis’Libe tightened his lips again. “Unfortunately for our purposes, until recently the bulk of my experience has been…theoretical. I’ve mostly explored the common ground between necromancy and druidic channeling when it comes to manipulating cold. Of course, I am incapable of necromancy, but such research may prove critical in combating the necromancers of Shaya’Nor, should they declare open war again. But as far as practical magic, I’m afraid I’m a relative newcomer.”
“I guess that makes Del the most experienced mage,” Sparrow interjected. “I’m an adept of The Way, but only as of recently. Learned it right from the source in Dregordia.” She held out her focus crystal on a pendant as proof.
“I’d venture a guess that you weren’t raised there, though, seeing as how you’re much more personable than any dregordian I’ve ever met,” Mapstone said. “Oh, that reminds me, you were going to tell me the story behind your name.”
“Ah, yes. Well, this is going to be unbelievable, but here’s the thing: up until about a year ago, I wasn’t a dregordian at all. I was human! Just woke up like this, no explanation.”
“Ooookay,” said Mapstone. “You’re right about it being unbelievable.”
“I know how it sounds! And I’m still as confused as anyone,” said Sparrow. “By all rights, it should be impossible. But, here I am! I mean, I suppose I could be a dregordian with a very strange delusion, but that wouldn’t explain how I know about my home and family. Oh, and speaking of which, my parents hardly believed me at first, either. And once I managed to convince them, they made it all about themselves – about how this derailed all their plans for me. So they sent me over the mountains to Dregordia, supposedly to learn more about my new people, but really just to remove the embarrassment. But frankly, I was glad to get out of there. My mother’s a sultana in A'Tora, and of course she wants me to inherit the position someday. No, thank you.”
Del and Eis’Libe took the opportunity to work on their meals while Sparrow continued rambling. They were used to this.
“Anyway, the dregordians couldn’t explain my new body either, but they were still helpful. I trained with them, and as I did, I started to manifest magical abilities. The way they train to control their bodies is also the start of their adept training, it turns out. All about having full control of your body and mind, and such. So I kept that up for a while, but…even though they were helpful, I just didn’t fit in there. It’s weird, I love dregordians in general, and the ones I met in the Desert Princes were great, but I guess the ones who leave are the outliers, because in their home country, it’s structure and discipline all day, every day. If you deviate from what you’re expected to do, you’re pretty much a pariah. And as you might guess from my name, I’m kind of a free spirit! So, once I knew enough to train on my own, I said my goodbyes and headed east. I know the Grey Rangers will take anyone, even a weirdo like me, so I decided to join up. Hell, I even thought about joining up a few times even before my transformation. So, here I am!”
“That’s quite a story,” said Mapstone. “And you know what, stranger things have happened in the world, and I don’t know enough about magic to know what’s possible and what’s not. I take it you want to find a way to turn back human?”
“Actually, not really?” Sparrow replied. “I mean, yeah, this body is super different, and I’m not always great at controlling it, but I’m getting better. And it’s kinda nice being bigger than most everyone. And if I hadn’t transformed, I never would have learned The Way, or probably even left the desert, so really it’s been a good thing overall.”
After that, Mapstone regaled them with stories of past groups of recruits and their misadventures, which were both entertaining and educational, until the time came to retire.