Tutorial's End

The New Arrival's Guide to Common Things

by Jorbon Delivas

I'll start with the simplest of all the possible groups. Guilds. Guilds are, essentially, mercenary outfits organized in a transactional manner wherein members can choose their own tasks from some kind of list or another.

This isn't to suggest that guilds, by nature, allow more independence than other organizations. Many require dues be paid, which are generally only payable using an internal currency which may only be earned through their job listings.

To be recognized by the UICI, guilds must have a charter. The charter dictates the specific goals and scope of the guild itself. A guild violating its charter is often a sign the guild will soon fail and fall apart. The benefits guilds are granted through the UICI, and the knock-on recognition of certain gods, may be revoked if a guild stops following their charter.

Madrick

Personal Campsite, Upper-crust Tunnels, Chimera's Moon-63

The slightest hint of concern clouded Madrick's mind as he waited for Willow's construct to return. He hadn't told her how to reverse the spell, but any fool should be able to infer that recasting it would suffice.

Glancing toward Willow's pod, his Eyes of Conquest easily pierced the flimsy protections of the portable domicile. She was entirely unconscious and he was allowing everyone, other than himself, a full night's sleep. The decision wasn't borne of any misguided sentimentality, of course. Rather they would all need to be in top shape to challenge the powerful variant nest of esquien which congregated around the passage to the planet's next layer. It was likely Willow's party would take injuries, if not deaths.

He'd already determined that anyone who respawned would be cut loose, left to find their path once more without assistance. Willow would be furious if it came to pass that they'd need to leave one of her posse behind, but he wouldn't allow the rest to slow their progress for the sake of someone less talented. Perhaps he'd allow them to rejoin the group, but wouldn't provide them training until they caught up. A compromise…

Shaking his head to dismiss the train of thought, Madrick returned his mind to the problem at hand. Willow would no doubt be furious if her little rift-earned guide went missing and she learned he was the cause. Not that her ire was to be feared, certainly not now that he was able to fully counter her trump card.

Still, he had no desire to become an enemy of his own apprentice. Especially as she would be the perfect enforcer for his organization. The organization he was strongly considering dedicating to the nebulous objective Willow's she-attendant had suggested.

He'd give the construct an hour. If it hadn't returned by then, he would put together a summoning to draw her back. He would frame it as both a learning experience, and a warning against using a spell without fully understanding it. Willow and her pet would have no choice but to accept his wisdom.

Smiling to himself, Madrick stepped back into the temporary demi-plane created by Two Steps Back to wait.

Katha

???

"Eep!" Katha shrieked as she threw herself backwards. Her bare bottom slammed against the dusty gray ground, throwing up a plume of tiny dirt particles. She broke into a coughing fit, having gasped at the pain in her rear.

As her coughing subsided, she stood while rubbing her sore rump and looking around with squinted eyes, trying to figure out what exactly had snuck up on her. She'd done such a good job of keeping watch! She hadn't even fallen asleep in like… Two or three hours!

Spotting her tormentor, Katha froze, transfixed by the shining and sparkling fairy which was rolling around, suspended in the air, while laughing hysterically. After a few seconds the little wonder managed to control its giggles and righted herself.

"Sorry, sorry! I've just never managed to scare anyone before! That was AWESOME! I wonder if I can get mom like that, too. OOOOOh or Madrick!" A Cheshire smile spread across tiny crystalline lips in a shade of pink only slightly darker than the rest of her body.

Stinging butt forgotten, Katha rushed forward to catch the beautiful little pixie. Her hands flashed out, coming together in a cup in front of her eyes. Carefully opening her fingers, the elf squinted into the hand-made cage. It was too dark to see in there, prompting her to twist her head this way and that in search of a position that would provide her enough light to see within.

Feeling a very slight weight on her knuckles, Katha forgot just what she was looking for and let her eyes flick toward the sensation. A pink pixie was standing there, mimicking her head twisting. Seeing the naked woman looking at her, the tiny pink woman asked, "Whatcha looking for?"

Katha's hands opened and snapped shut in a blur of motion! She'd definitely caught the pretty thing this time!

Hearing a soft clap that somewhat mimicked the noise she'd just made slapping her fingers together, Katha looked up. She found the tiny floating figure standing there with her own hands clasped in front of her in mimicry of Katha. She snickered, "You're so slow! Way slower than Willow, at least. Are you really weak?"

So asking, the pink enchantress cocked her head toward a slim shoulder, her searingly bright red hair swaying down loosely.

"No!" Katha protested, "I'm super fast!"

Waving dismissively, wings fluttering so fast Katha only saw them as a blur, the creature disagreed, "Nah. I think even Jonah's faster than you. Ooooh, unless you're not actually trying to catch me? Is it a game or something?"

As the little woman spoke, Katha had felt herself growing a bit indignant and annoyed! She was like the wind itself! The wind couldn't be slow! There was even an expression for it, 'fast as the wind!' That tiny spark of anger blew away at the mention of games.

She was so bored. What harm would a little game be? She readily agreed, "Yes! Let's play a game! What games do you know?"

"Uhhhm… Go Fish? Uno? I don't have any cards, though…. Tag? Nah, you're too slow for tag. Oh! Hide and seek! Yeah! Let's play hide and seek!"

Katha immediately agreed, thrilled to finally have something to do. Since Mejah wouldn't let her help him keep watch over Willow and her little group surely there was no harm in having some fun. Speaking of Willow… Wasn't there something familiar about the pink blur that followed her tiny pixie friend around?

"You hide first! One… Two…"

Realizing her time was short, Katha sprinted off in search of a good hiding spot.

Piper

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Some Dusty Place

Watching the elf sprint off, Piper felt a bit bemused. Usually she was the excitable one, but it felt a bit good to be the more grounded and serious for a change. The naked girl seemed kind of… Dumb? The look in her eyes alternated between wide eyed wonder, excited mischief, absolute confusion, and dull emptiness.

Each time she'd tried to catch Piper in her hands, she'd frozen for a moment while staring open-mouthed before leaping forward. The exaggerated way her muscles tensed up made it incredibly obvious what she was planning. So obvious that Piper had absolutely no trouble dodging the blindly lunging woman. The way she put her hands in front of her face while trying to capture her also helped, as it entirely obscured the pointy-eared woman's vision.

After the first time, Piper had considered just flying away and reporting what she'd found to mother, but… The way she stared into her own hand as if unsure what she was searching for had convinced her to stick around and try to learn a little more. After the second attempt, she was convinced the lady was unhinged.

When her asking if they were playing a game was apparently taken as an offer to play one, rather than a question, Piper became certain this person was no threat to anyone. That conclusion was only reinforced as she sprinted off, without confirming that Piper's eyes were closed, to 'hide' by throwing herself behind a tiny hill of dust that was significantly shorter and smaller than the nudist laying prone behind it.

Finishing her count at one hundred, Piper called out, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Zooming around, she pretended to seek diligently. As she did, she caught a soft snickering giggle every so often. The weird lady was clearly unaware of just how exposed she was - in pretty much every way Piper could imagine.

After twenty minutes or so hide and seek, Piper decided she was just about done. Had she wanted to 'win' she could have easily used Two Steps Back, or simply flown up high enough that the silly girl she was playing with couldn't see her. In fact, she'd spent most of one round simply flying around behind the oblivious girl as she gleefully rushed around searching in increasingly unlikely places.

When the woman started frantically digging, while laughing, "I found you! You cheater!" Piper decided to just let herself be found by the simple expedient of yelling, "Oh no, you got me!" Which was enough to convince the airhead of her success.

"Is it my turn?" The girl asked, delicate brows deeply furrowed in thought.

Quickly shaking her head, Piper denied her, "Nope! You won! As a reward, you get to tell me your name and what you're doing here!"

"Oh! Good! Yes! I haven't had someone to talk to in FOREVER! Can you believe Mejah just left me here? All alone?! What if someone tried to take advantage of me?" The last was asked with a scandalized tone of voice which Piper found impossible not to giggle at. The sincerity of her entirely un-selfaware concern was too much.

Thankfully, her hide and seek companion was happy to laugh along, despite clearly having no clue what the joke was. Regaining control of herself, Piper asked, "So, what is your name?"

"Katha!" Was the prompt, proud, reply. The woman even thrust her small chest out in arrogance.

"What a pretty name, Katha. I'm Piper, nice to meet you!" She held out one of her hands, shaking one of Katha's fingers when she extended her own entire hand.

Pleasantries finally out of the way, Piper decided it was time to discover why her new spell had showed her this woman, "So what are you doing on this boring planet? There aren't many games to play here, you know."

"I knoooooow!" Katha moaned, throwing her body to the ground in apparent distress. "But I have to follow a human girl for my mistress."

Looking around, Piper pointed out the obvious, "I don't see any humans around here, though."

"Mejah thinks I'm too loud and conspicuous to be trusted in the tunnels tight corners." She admitted sadly.

"Who is Mejah?"

"Oh! Mejah is GREAT! He's this really big guy, he looks human but I'm pretty sure he has some orc blood! He's super big and hunky and mmmmm…" She wiggled around in a weird way, then pouted. "…but we haven't been able to play in WEEKS! It's so, so… Frustrating!" So saying, the unhinged woman threw her limbs out in every direction.

"Does Mejah also run around naked? I thought most humanoids didn't do that?" This question was purely to sate her own curiosity about the oddity.

"Oh, yeah! I forgot! I was supposed to keep those clothes on! One minute!"

A rush of wind away from Piper heralded Katha's sudden departure, followed by an equal gust blowing into her face and throwing her a meters or two backwards as she hovered in the air. Righting herself, Piper found Katha back in the same position, dressed.

So she isn't actually that slow! Why was she so sluggish when she tried to catch me? Is she just acting? No, if that was the case she wouldn't have revealed her actual ability, right? Although she wasn't sure it was possible, Piper thought she might be getting a headache.

"Thanks for reminding me! Mejah would be super annoyed with me if I forgot again. If any of Willow's party were to find me naked they'd probably think I was weird and not trust me if I was naked. That's what he says, at least."

"Mhm, that sounds likely." Piper agreed. "Say, Katha, why are you and Mejah following Willow around?"

"Oh! The mistress said to! It's a secret though, so don't tell anyone, okay?"

Frowning a bit, Piper floated forward and poked the girl's head, "You just told me, though, so it's not that much of a secret is it?"

The question seemed to stump her for a minute, darkening her face as the bimbo thought it through. Finally, her expression smoothed in realization, "But you're my friend, so it's fine!"

"Oh, okay. That makes sense. Why not just make Willow your friend too, so you can tell her?"

Katha recoiled at the suggestion, "Eeeeeew! Why would I want to be her friend?! She's horrible!"

Feeling a bit insulted on her mother's behalf, the pixie crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at the silly spike-haired person, "Why would you think she's horrible? You haven't even talked with her! Maybe she's twice as fun as me!"

"Oh, that's impossible!" Her tone flipped immediately. From insulted and horrified to dreamy and bright. "You're the prettiest and funnest being I've ever met! I really wanna touch you, you look so smooth, like a stone! Can I?"

Suppressing the scowl at the inappropriate request, Piper firmly told her, "No." Seeing literal tears begin to well up, she backtracked slightly, "Not right now. I'm - ah - sensitive. After so much activity. Yeah, that's why. It's not that I don't want your dusty dirty fingers messing with me."

"Oh! Okay! Later, then!" Katha's tears… Did they get sucked back into her eyes? Piper wasn't even aware that was possible. She still had plenty of missing pieces of knowledge, though, despite all the wisdom mother had tried to infuse into her.

Tsking, she turned the conversation back on topic, She's even more distractible than mom! "How about you at least say hi to Willow? It wouldn't hurt to try to be friendly, right? Then you can decide if she's actually as horrible as you think."

For some reason, the normally excitable Katha seemed extremely hesitant, "I don't know… What if she tries to hurt me?"

There's no way this girl's actually been successfully watching Willow if she thinks that. Is she just the world's worst spy, or something? Everyone likes mom, she's great! There's no way she'll be able to keep being so negative about her if they meet.

"Just try it!" She demanded. "If you don't, I'll tell Mejah you were naked!"

Eyes widening and lips parting in a shocked 'O', she looked to be caught in an internal dilemma. Eventually, her shoulders slumped and she nodded her agreement, "Okaaay, I'll try. If she sends me to respawn I'll be super unhappy though! I'll tell mistress it's all a pretty pink fairy's fault if that happens!" She threatened darkly.

Smiling, Piper shot her a double thumbs up, "Deal!" Looking down at her bare wrist she exclaimed, "Whoa! Will you look at the time?! It's like…" She mumbled something, "Which is way past my curfew. I've gotta go, but I'll see ya soon! After you introduce yourself to Willow!"

"Byyyye!!!" Katha hopped up and down excitedly waving her hands as she saw her new friend off.

Once again casting her new favorite spell, Piper made sure her intention was clear. She wanted to see Willow and the campsite inside Madrick's circle. As before, there were two distinct orbs containing different viewpoints for what she' was looking for a 'new perspective' on. The campsite orb still, each of the camping pods seemingly undisturbed. The little orb containing a picture of Willow's sleeping form showed her laying sprawled in an awkward position on her back that absolutely couldn't be comfortable, mouth hanging wide open.

Smiling fondly, Piper stepped back into the campsite and looked around, expecting Madrick to pop back up. And he did! Hah, he's so predictable!

He then asked, "Did you have trouble figuring out how to come back, little construct?"

"Nope! I went and checked out one of the people trying to sneak up on Willow."

The deep wrinkles in Madrick's forehead deepend, "Start from the beginning."

She happily did, explaining her entire adventure. A good portion of the story was spent miming Katha's ridiculous motions and emphasizing her distractible nature. She didn't want the violent man to decide the 'spy' was too dangerous to leave running around, after all. Katha seemed weird and dumb, but not really dangerous. She'd have to check if her partner, Mejah, was as simple. She guessed that was the other being she'd seen when she used her new spell for the first time.

"Interesting… You shouldn't be able to use the spell like that. One moment…" He took a couple steps, after making a ridiculous statement that was obviously not true given she'd just done what he was now claiming she shouldn't be able to.

A few moments later, Madrick was back. Then he took some more steps and was gone again. This happened maybe five times before he finally stopped and shook his head, "The spell doesn't allow me to specify anything as broad as what you described. Nor am I able to conjure multiple 'orbs' as you called them with different subjects and perspectives. Finally, no one I've ever met who could use the spell was able to change their exit position. One always appears from the point of entry, as it's not a teleportation spell or even slightly near to one."

"Soooo, you're saying I'm better at the spell than you?" She partially teased, partially hoped.

He shrugged, "Your mana aspect is likely altering the functions slightly. It's a common enough thing. Even general spells don't always work the same between every aspect, as the mana itself will alter the spell effect to be more in line with its nature. This gives a small hint toward what your mana aspect might be, though not enough of one to form any guesses."

Piper cheered, "Hell yeah, I'm better at magic than you!"