Omen: 16, 16

“You alright?” Adam called, looking to the porter cousins.

The pair were panting heavily, carrying their packs full of kurabara shell plates. They had managed quite well, but with the slight incline of the gentle hills, their calves burned.

“We’re alright, boss,” Remy replied, panting.

“Aye, we’re all good, boss,” Jeremy added.

“I’ll go ask for a break,” Adam said. “They’ve been marching us like mules all day.”

“We’re alright, boss,” Remy repeated. The pair didn’t need to carry the kurabara shell plates, but they had taken on the burden so that the mules would be in better shape once evening came.

The group stopped not long after, with calls coming from ahead. Adam approached, taking with him Jurot and Sir Vonda. At the edge of the hill was a small figure, currently aflame, chirping weakly.

“What is that?” Adam asked, squinting his eyes.

“Firebird,” Jurot stated, his voice clear.

Sir Vonda raised her brows towards Jurot. “A Firebird?” she asked, stifling a gasp.

Jurot, who couldn’t believed his eyes, nodded. “Yes.”

Sir Vonda quickly rushed forward, but an arrow struck the Firebird, silencing its cries. Sir Vonda stopped, frozen in shock.

Jurot blinked. He stared at the dead Firebird, before his eyes trailed towards the young woman clad in leathers, a long cloak over her shoulders. She placed away her bow, before noting the gazes towards her.

James, the Priest who followed Ebony, stepped in front of his companion, shielding her from the wicked gazes. “What?”

“What have you done?” Sir Vonda asked.

“It was dying,” he replied. “We put it out of its misery.”

‘Holy shit,’ Adam thought. ‘I need to stop cursing, but goddamn, what is going on with these guys? They’re utterly stupid. What are they? NPCs?’

Sir Vonda’s eyes were wide, and even with the scarf across her face, they could sense the frown on her face.

“You would let it burn to death?” James asked.

“It was a Firebird.” Sir Vonda tried to keep her voice calm.

Mikayla gasped. ‘A Firebird?’

“It may have been dying, but I could have saved it.”

“Why?” James asked.

“A Firebird? Are you sure?” Mikayla asked.

“Yes.” Sir Vonda quickly approached the small bird, but the creature was already half ash.

“What’s a Firebird?” James asked, looking to Mikayla.

“A creature which brings with it a prophecy death and doom,” Mikayla said.

“Life and hope,” Sir Vonda corrected. “It may bring misfortune to those which wish to use it for dark purposes.”

“What about to those who kill it?” Adam asked.

“Death and doom.”

Adam’s eyes fell across James, and he sighed. “Oh Baktu.”

Vonda sighed, feeling the ash fall across her hands, and flow between her fingers.

“Man,” Adam said. “There’s no way that…” He sighed, looking across the entire landscape. ‘Seriously. I’m surrounded by idiots. If it isn’t some little racist snob, it’s a dense anime protagonist who thinks with his… no. He doesn’t even think.’

“It is terrible,” Jurot said. “A Firebird’s feather is full of magic. One who holds a feather may cast a great spell.”

“What…” Adam sighed, shaking his head. He almost didn’t want to ask the question. “What kind of spell?”

“It can bring back the dead,” Jurot said. “Not like Revivify. Even if one has been dead for many years, it could bring them back.”

Adam looked up towards the sky. “Jurot. Am I dreaming?”

“No.”

“There’s no way that people can be that stupid, right?” Adam asked. “I mean, forget the fact that he killed a Firebird, how could someone kill a living creature crying for help in front of a Priest of Life?”

James winced. “Putting it out of misery is a form of love.”

“Oh, trust me,” Adam said. “I’d love to put some of you out of your misery too, so I understand that, but that’s still stupid.”

“Love is not stupid, Elf.”

“Half,” Adam corrected. “I know love isn’t stupid, but you aren’t love.”

“Enough,” Oliver called, realising that the situation may escalate. “It’s too late now. The alleged Firebird is dead, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Adam continued to sigh, feeling the heaviness which came with trying to help an idiot. “Are we going to make camp here?”

“It is a decent place,” Oliver said.

“Yes,” Adam said, looking back to where the Firebird was. “I, too, want to make the outpost right where a Firebird was killed by one… of ours.” Adam didn’t have the strength to even quip. He couldn’t imagine how stupid one could be to aggravate someone in their own party, and to go out of their way to put them in danger.

Then he recalled his adventure north with Sir Harvey.

‘No,’ he thought, wincing. ‘That was different.’

“You know, I think we need to separate the groups,” Adam said. “We’ll take the farmers with us, and you can have the two Iron Rank groups and make your outpost where the Firebird was killed.”

“It’s not a terrible idea to separate the groups,” Oliver agreed. He was wondering how to bring up the topic with Adam, but he was glad that the Half Elf had mentioned it first.

“You alright with that, Rick?”

“Aye,” Rick replied. He was South Aldish, so he wasn’t excited to be with Adam and his party, which held two Faefolk. However, it would be an issue if they lost left Adam’s party to take care of themselves, a third of the entire group left to the wolves.

“Great. We’ll split the resources in half for our groups.” Adam thought for a moment. “We should make the forts one at a time.”

“We will split the resources two and three,” Oliver said.

“What?” Adam asked.

“Your group is made up of two parties, including Iyrmen. The Iyrmen will help you with food and water, whereas our group is…” Oliver looked to the two Iron Rank parties.

Adam sighed. “Sure.” Adam looked to the two Iron Rank parties too, noting their looks. “Actually, we’ll make our own fort separately.”

Oliver nodded and the group split off, with Azar and Dunes working on splitting their resources as the two groups began to work on making their forts.

Mana: 18 -> 15

Spell: Adam’s Tower

“We should create the wooden wall beside the tower,” Adam said. “Just in case I don’t have enough Mana to keep it up.”

The two parties worked on creating a rather large outpost. It was rectangular, about three times as wide as its sides. They dug out the ditch first, with Jurot leading a few of them to cut out wood, for the walls and for the fire. They piled the earth quite high, which also formed part of the wall, contained by the wooden stakes.

“We will create more stakes tomorrow,” Jurot said, motioning his head toward the ditch.

“Alright,” Adam said. They would create a second layer of walls along the outside of the ditch, with the sharp stakes pointed out.

They created two gates too, which could be lifted and set aside whenever they required, with some effort. If they needed to escape quickly, they could climb up the steps made of earth towards the walls, leaping towards a section which wouldn’t be staked, hopefully.

It had grown dark by the time they had managed to finish creating most of their fort. Adam wasn’t able to enjoy the luxury of his bath until dinner was served.

‘They didn’t give us enough food and water for the entire month, but there’s a stream nearby. Still, that might be awkward…’ Adam wondered as he bathed, trying to think of what they could do.

“Adam,” Dunes said, sitting down in the corner with him, away from the others. Sir Vonda had joined them too, having been called by the Half Elf.

“We need to figure out our spells,” Adam said. “We need to prepare for combat, yes, but we also need to prepare for living out here.”

Sir Vonda looked to the tower, before nodding her head. She understood that the tower wasn’t a waste of a spell, considering it could be used to look out across the land, and to shoot from. It also would provide them with a small morale boost.

“We’ve got plenty of weapons, ammunition, and all that,” Adam said, rubbing the side of his neck. “We’ve got five health potions from the group, and then I’ve got about nine on me that I really should have handed out before.”

“Which spells would you like us to carry?” Vonda asked.

“Revivify and Spirit Sentinels, of course,” Adam said, nodding his head to them.

“Mother Soza affords to me Revivify always,” Vonda said.

“Lady Arya gifts me Spirit Sentinels always,” Dunes added.

“Really?” Adam asked, squinting. “That does make sense. Vonda, I’d like you to take Create Food and Water too.”

She nodded. “As you wish, Adam.”

“If only I had Goodberry, then I’d…” Adam tilted his head. ‘God damn, I have so many spells,’ Adam thought, before scanning across the list.

Spells Available

Goodberry

“Uh, nevermind,” Adam said. “It seems I have Goodberry.”

Goodberry summoned ten berries, each of which could heal a slight amount of Health, but they could also be used to sustain a creature for a day without food.

Vonda and Dunes exchanged a look between one another. ‘Of course you do.’ Adam seemed to have the abilities of all the various magic disciplines, and the pair weren’t able to be surprised by him any longer.

“That’s enough food for ten out of seventeen, right?” Adam said, trying to do the calculations in his head. “I’ll cast it when I feel very lucky or very unlucky. We’ll rotate the people who will use the berries for food that day.” ‘It’s probably not good for morale if I make people eat just a berry daily. Plus, I already have so many other spells which I’ve prepared.’

“Do you think I’ll need Counterspell?” Adam asked.

“No,” Vonda replied.

“Alright, I’ll swap that out for Goodberry then, so I can keep my other spells available.”

“Which spells?”

“Goodberry, Healing Word, Hex, Shield, Mage’s Tower, Revivify, Fireball, Fly,” Adam said.

The pair could see the logic with each of the spells.

“So many Third Gate spells,” Dunes said. “You can cast six of them daily?”

“If I don’t cast other spells,” Adam said, nodding his head.

“How many 1st Gate and 2nd Gate?”

“As long as it adds up to eighteen,” Adam said.

Dunes slowly nodded his head. ‘Even his magic is queer.’

“Wait, do you both have Sending?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” the pair replied. “It is available to all Priests.”

“I really should pick that up,” Adam said. “So you two could send messages in case we get into any trouble.”

“Shall we take it?”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “Just in case.”

Vonda waited, seeing the question in Adam’s eyes. She and Dunes knew what Adam wanted to say.

Adam exhaled. ‘No. I can’t just ask them to send messages back to the Iyr casually.’

They stared at Adam as he shut his eyes tight, arms crossed. They waited until he finished arguing in his mind.

Adam stood and returned back to the centre of the outpost.

Vonda and Dunes shared a look.

“Our leader is wise,” Dunes said.

“Yes,” Vonda said. “He is.”

The pair smiled at their joke.