Two days later, Jason and the others rode their way up to Arnvale’s western gate. Serif had pushed for the group to try and make the same single-day trip through the trailing edge of the Prisal that they’d made before, but the others had disagreed. Thanks to being unable to recover two of the horses after their skirmish with Vittorio, some people had needed to ride double.

Kera had re-summoned both Ceri and Echo, and thus was able to ride the massive Rockhound after re-casting her ritual each morning, but they still only had six mounts for a group that had grown to nine riders. Since the civilians needed to ride double with someone, this meant that they simply couldn’t maintain their previous, hard pace.

Serif pulled his horse to a halt as two young men dressed in armor that was a mix of leather and light plate stepped into the road in front of the open gate and approached.

Jason saw Serif give them a curious look.

“Now who might you lot be?” Serif asked. “Y’all aren’t the normal pair that ought t’be out here at this hour of the afternoon.”

“No sir,” one of them replied, with a courteous bow of the head. “We’re just Guild trainees here on loan, so to speak. What’s her name, that Captain, asked for some of us to take up some of the mundane duties so’s the guard could focus on other places. You’d be Serif, right? We were told to expect you sometime soon.”

“That’s me,” Serif said with a nod.

“Miss Therissa left instructions for us to send all of you her way when you arrived,” the other young man said.

“Will do, then,” Serif replied tersely. “Anything else?”

“No sir.”

Without another word, Serif booted his horse back into motion while waving the others to follow suit.

Jason gave a shrug and a wry smile to the ‘guards’ as he passed. Serif was just like that. He didn’t think they noticed though, because they were too busy staring at Echo as Kera passed by as well.

The group reached the market square in short order, and as they skirted around the edges to reach the Lodge, Jason marveled at how busy the place had become. While the market was as noisy and colorful as ever, a steady stream if individuals were now coming in and out of the Lodge’s doors, where previously, outside of the town council meeting the place had been nearly empty.

As they rode up to the doors, two teenagers that Jason would have guessed were perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old wordlessly stepped forward to take their mounts in hand. He could have been wrong though, as they were either not human, or on partly-so: The first had pale blue skin and slightly-pointed ears, while the second sported some highly unusual patches of dark blue scales on his neck and arms.

Their eyes grew wide at the sight of Kera riding along on Echo’s back.

“Cor, Velan, will ya look at that?” Jason heard the blue-skinned boy whisper excitedly to the other. “She’s a proper beastmaster! She’s even got a drake!”

Jason saw Kera blush slightly, but didn’t catch what she mumbled in response as he dismounted. The boy with the scales stepped up and collected the reins from him, and then was immediately distracted by Kera clambering off Echo’s back.

She released the buckles they’d used to keep Echo’s makeshift saddle in place, which fell to the ground, and then muttered a command that dispelled the effect that had enlarged the Rockhound.

“Is it fine if she comes inside with us?” Kera asked the boy who’d spoken.

Distracted by Echo’s sudden change from horse-sized to waist-high, the boy jumped as Kera spoke to him and stammered a bit.

“U-Uh, of course. I mean, I-I think so, if she’s tamed.”

The boys took the horses away, and Jason entered the lodge on Lumi and Serif’s heels.

The place was bustling inside as much as out; many of the tables were occupied by a startling assortment of young men and women, all dressed in a variety of styles, sporting numerous different types of weapons and armor. Most were human, but a good many weren’t. Apparently, Therissa had either drafted or hired some help, because Jason saw more than one person carrying some sort of serving tray laden with mugs, cheeses, and bread.

Now this is what an Adventurer’s Guild tavern should be like! Jason couldn’t help thinking. Is that an actual minotaur over there?!

A number of eyes turned towards the group, coming in all at once together as they were, with several pairs being directed at Kera and her pets.

Jason ignored them headed to the right, to what he thought of as the front desk. Therissa was standing there, looking rather harried, but she immediately paused in he paperwork she was examining when Jason approached.

“Good, you’re back,” Therissa said to him. “No major problems encountered, I hope? …Wait, who's this?” she then asked, looking at Reis and Daldra.

“We did have a little trouble on the way, I’m afraid” Jason said. “I’ll need to fill you in on a few things. But everyone’s in one piece, at least.”

Therissa hmmed to herself a moment.

“Well, I guess you’d better come upstairs then,” she said. “It’s too noisy out here to go over your haul, anyway.”

“Actually, can I be excused from all this?” Reis asked. “I’d rather not get involved. I’m sure you’re all decent people, but I’ve got a life to get back to.”

Therissa looked quizzically at the Kitsune woman, but Serif was the one to answer her question.

“I s’pose my part in all this is done, now,” he said. “If you want to go on your way, I can’t stop you. But I’ll have to ask you to see th’ Captain, first. She’ll have my hide if I let you off the hook and there’s something I’ve missed.”

Reis sighed. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. You coming, Daldra…?”

The woman simply nodded.

“Alright then,” Serif said. He turned to Lumi. “I’ll leave it to you to give the report, then,” he said, before exiting. Reis and Daldra followed.

With a shrug, Lumi gestured for Therissa to lead on.

Jason followed, and along with everyone else they were soon seated around one of the conference tables upstairs.

“So, what’s this trouble you encountered along the way?” Therissa asked. “I assume it had something to do with those two?”

“Sort of,” Lumi said. “I’ll let Jason do the talking. He’s better at this than I am.”

Jason gave a brief summary of events, skimming over their fights with local wildlife, but going into detail about the storm and their subsequent encounter with Vittorio Salazar. However, he left out any mention of the core they’d found on his body afterwards, nor the conclusions he’d reached thanks to it. Lumi gave him a curious look at the omission, but didn’t interrupt, for which he was grateful. He wanted to save that particular conversational bomb for when they were in private.

Afterwards, Jason, with Pelk, Aria, and Belman’s assistance, gave a brief summary of what the expedition had brought back. Pelk then passed Therissa the bag of holding they’d been using to transport the materials, and Therissa pronounced Jason’s Lodge Request fulfilled.

Personal Quest Complete! Bonus Objective Complete: +2 Intellect, +20 Mana.

Jason closed the notification as Therissa handed him two cloth-tied packages plus what appeared to be a letter.

“Here’s Jerrik’s payment for your successful Request completion,” She said to him. “I’ve included the original gold reward in that bundle, there; I’ll leave you to distribute it among your friends as you see fit. The letter is from Jerrik, some kind of explanation, I believe.”

“The second bundle is actually your loot from the encounter you had with the Murklings. It was retrieved when the town guard was sent out to help evacuate the outer farms.”

“Murklings?” Jason asked, confused for a moment.

“Those fish guys,” Kera said.

“Oh, right,” Jason replied. “We never did take the time to pick all that stuff up. We went straight to the closest farm to warn them and the hightailed it back with a bunch of people in tow to bring word.”

“Thanks,” he said to Therissa.

She nodded her head in acceptance.

“I’ve also got some further good news for you,” she said. “Sevani managed to locate a building to use for your… lab. One of the townswomen, a widow, recently married and moved in with her husband, and the house has been vacant. She was gracious enough to allow us to purchase it for your use.”

Jason’s eyebrows rose. “Purchase?”

Therissa shrugged and gave him a bit of a smirk. “Well you did offer your services to the town in exchange for supplies and work space. While Tobias doesn’t know what an incredible gift that is, I certainly do. I can guess what it’ll be worth. I even had Sevani arrange for modifications to be made to the building, and I was actually in the middle of making sure all the equipment you’d requested got delivered when you all showed up.”

“It should be more than adequate for your groups’ needs, so you don’t have to keep staying at Arn’s place,” she finished.

“Oh wow,” Jason said. “I honestly hadn’t expected you guys to deliver on that so fast. That changes things a bit.”

He thought to himself for a moment, considering how best to proceed.

“Could I have you deliver some of the earthheart and bloodstones we brought back to the lab, then?” he asked. “I know Jerrik and Tersk want it for making whatever, but I actually might be able to do more with it in some ways. A few samples is all I need for just the moment, but maybe ask them to hold off on using it up before I have a chance to take a look at the books Jerrik gave me?”

“Certainly,” Therissa replied. “I’m not aware of any specific plans they have for things you bring back, just that they were planning on making what they could. You should meet with them, though, and go over any potential plans to see what the most efficient use of the materials is.”

“I plan to,” Jason said with a nod.

“Well I think that wraps everything up, then,” Therissa said. “Unless anyone else has something to add?”

The others shook their heads, and Aria and Belman started to stand.

“Ah…actually, I sort of do,” Jason said. “But I’d like to speak with you about that in private, Therissa. Oh, and I’d like to borrow your truth-teller; I owe Pelk an explanation about something that came up.”

Aria and Belman looked at Jason curiously.

“It’s fine, nothing that concerns you guys,” Jason said with a wave.

Aria looked at Belman, and shrugged. Then they made their farewells and left.

Therissa withdrew her [Diplomat’s Eye] from her pocket and placed it on the table.

“Could you step outside for a moment?” Jason asked her, once she’d activated the gem.

“Certainly.”

Once she’d closed the door, Jason turned to Pelk. He pulled the gemstone in front of him, and chose his words carefully for a moment before speaking.

“I promise you, the knowledge I possess concerning gunpowder and all of its various uses comes from my homeland, where it is common, and it was obtained through no foul play of any kind.”

The stone remained a pure blue.

Pelk frowned. “Where would this be, your homeland, that such knowledge is so readily available?”

“Well it’s called San Francisco, which I doubt you’ve ever heard of,” Jason replied, “And I’m quite sure I couldn’t tell you how to find it on a map. It’s a long story, which I’m really not at liberty to tell you.”

Pelk looked highly confused as the stone remained blue.

“How can you not know where-”

Jason held up a hand to interrupt him. “Really please, don’t ask. Suffice to say, if you’re worried about the knowledge spilling out into the wider world from there, it’s not likely at all to happen.”

“Along those lines, I have a few questions I’d actually like to ask you, about your people’s wider technology, because I’d like to avoid doing too much toe-stepping. But,” Jason emphasized, “that should be left til later where we can make sure that Therissa can set up some proper security for us. Is that good enough for now?”

Pelk grunted. “It’ll have to, I suppose.”

He stood up and made his exit, and Therissa returned.

“That was quick,” she commented.

“Just clearing up a misunderstanding,” Jason replied.

“Some misunderstanding,” Lumi muttered.

“So, what did you want to discuss with me in private?” Therissa asked him.

Jason took a deep breath, steadying his nerves.

Time to take the plunge, here.

He pulled his bag up onto the table. “I didn’t want to mention with the others here… but we recovered something from Vittorio’s body you need to see.”

Jason withdrew the inert core and placed it on the table.

“Another one?” Therissa asked, aghast.

“Not just that,” Jason said. “This isn’t a dead core. It’s one that’s yet to be activated. It’s… new, for lack of a better term.”

“Wait, so he was the one making them?” Therissa looked confused. “Why did you need-”

“No,” Jason said firmly. “He wasn’t. This was made for him. And if I have my guess...there are plenty more where this came from.”

“What!?” Therissa exclaimed, sitting bolt upright.

Jason gave her a bit of a sheepish look.

“We…. weren’t totally truthful when we first came to you,” he said. “Well, more like we left out a small detail that I’d hoped wasn’t actually a thing.”

Jason sighed and looked down at his hands.

“A small detail that has turned out to be a really big one,” he said finally. “You’ve seen our character sheets, yes?” he asked.

Therissa looked confused. “Huh?”

“Sorry,” Jason replied, realizing his mistake. “Jargon from back home. I mean our full status screens.”

“Oh. Yes, of course.”

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed,” he explained, “but in addition to ‘Outworlder’, we also allreceived a special perk… [Heroic Potential]. I don’t know what it actually does, but it’s come up once already as a synergy-related bonus for both Kera and Lumi now.”

“The thing is… where we come from, stories abound of people being summoned away, or falling into, other worlds and becoming great heroes and things like that. They’re fiction of course, but, well….”

Jason gestured all around himself, and shrugged.

“So that… plus we’ve got this perk, plus the circumstances of our arrival?” he asked, “I think we have very strong reason to believe that someone summoned us, and possibly others, to this world, for whatever reason. And that something may have gone wrong with the attempt. I don’t really know if that’s actually the case, but it makes sense given that we didn’t all show up inside a ritual circle or the like. Then whoever summoned us sent… minions, I guess, to track us down, and they must have done so within hours of our arrival.”

Jason grimaced. “Vittorio… he told us was actively after Lumi because someone had placed some incredible bounty on her capture. On top of that, we originally believed that Seraptis had been after Kera for some unknown reason since he had attacked her twice, and then I was the one who was first attacked down by the river….”

He trailed off.

“…. And if Vittorio was carrying a core as some kind of up-front payment, then it's likely that’s where the other dungeons came from.” Therissa finished for him, her voice and posture laden with dread.

“Yes. Yes I see what you mean,” she said with a heavy sigh. “This is… I can’t even begin to guess what’s best to do with this information, if I’m to be honest.”

“Well… I have an idea about that, really.” Jason replied. “Look. We may not be from this world… but for near future at minimum, we’re stuck here. None of us are going to sit back and hold potentially world-shaking secrets back when someone could be doing something about it. And The Archive will find out sooner or later that something big is either going on, whether or not we’re the ones who tell them.”

“You said it before… it’s very likely they’ll be after us. I wouldn’t be shocked if, given a combination of factors, they’d be more than willing to try and use us to bait out who- or what-ever is after us. If on the other hand we sign up with someone who’s at odds with them, someone who just so happens to be great at combating dungeons and would be ecstatic to gain access to a ready supply of eternal potions….”

Therissa gave a loud guffaw and then covered her mouth for a moment.

“You cheeky—. You mean to bribe the Black Thorns into protecting you?” she asked.

Jason shrugged. “Bribe, pay… it’s essentially the same thing, here. Besides, we’ve got something you haven’t seen yet that I’m willing to bet will make them absolutely salivate over getting us on board.”

Therissa though for a moment.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with your sudden acquisition of a certain title, would it?” she asked him.

Jason just grinned at her.

“So… think you could arrange us a meeting with someone important?” he asked instead.

“I most definitely could,” she replied. “In fact, one of their top members happens to be here in Arnvale right now. I’m sure you’ve noticed the sudden upsurge in adventurers. Well that’s because the Black Thorns sent an entire raid group’s worth down. Most of them are here to earn their memberships, I gather; they aren’t actual members yet. But their… teacher, lack of a better word, Aurion? He’s a top member, and he’s got a few others with him who are full members as well.”

“I’ll do what I can to set up a meeting later. For now, why don’t you all head out and take some well-earned rest? I’ll get someone to show you to your new home.”