Faysal’s team and the Orc’s finished the feast, no more talk of battle happened that night except for the regaling tales of battles past. When Faysal woke the next morning he was surprised to see the village already up and working. Faysal and Myra, who shared a room, met up with Jasper and Paline. The team then went to the largest of the buildings where Happino the first was usually found. Inside the front entrance they found Happino the first, Happy and Fella mid discussion.
“...And that is what I want for my next trip papa.” Happy was speaking as they entered but stopped as they all looked at the Faysal’s team as they entered. Happino spoke up replying to Happy first then addressing the group. “Happy, we will talk about it later, Welcome Faysal, Jasper, Myra, Paline, we have much to discuss.” They all were led to a room with a giant table, maps in the middle and tons of parchment to write and take notes all around the room. They started to discuss a plan of action to take on the corrupt government of Ryse. The Orc’s were large in number, but nowhere near a force large enough to take on the army they were facing. Despite receiving help and some information about the resistance forming, Faysal and his team did not know much about their numbers or how far their reach was. That information was crucial to making a proper plan, but for now the Orcs would finish preparing and begin making their way down the Mountains. Happy, who would be continuing traveling with Faysal, would be given some supplies, along with a communication stone for Faysal to contact Happino when they had more information. They did use a code with the stones as they were easily intercepted, but with the code given from the Orcs, Faysal was able to easily use it.
While the group was invited to stay as long as they wished, they had to wait at least until the next morning to leave so that the materials that Happy is waiting on would not be ready until then. Happy spent most of the time with his friends and family, Paline, being half orc herself, was interested to see the culture of these mountain Orcs, she led Jasper all around as they explored and helped the Orcs prepare wherever they could help. That allowed Paline to talk and ask questions about their culture without feeling like a nuisance. Faysal and Myra simply walked around outside, not wanting to be inside of walls after being stuck inside the dungeon for so many years.
Faysal was fascinated by how efficient the Orcs were and how they worked together to gather tons of food and weapons along with other supplies and placed them on pallets. Faysal was curious how they would bring them down some of the more steep parts of the mountain, but then he saw different pulley systems being strung together. It looked like one or two people would go down first, securing the pulley system, then the pallets with the supplies would be lowered down using metal clamps on each rope of the pulley system. It was quite impressive. Nothing of interest happened for the rest of the day. Luckily the team was offered free meals throughout the day, as various people were excited for the safe return of one of their lost kin. Faysal was sitting on the outer parts of the village, just relaxing, closing his eyes as he thought about what they have been through the past years, truly relaxing for the first time in as long as he could remember. Faysal thought of the past, his past life as a doctor, his life as a prisoner, the gaining of the system and escaping the dungeon through a monster lair. Faysal thought of his family, of Harper, he thought of his nephew that he never met, Enris, and the boy he did meet almost a year after he said goodbye to his sister, Hyro. They should be around fourteen and fifteen now, Faysal wondered what happened to them. Faysal relaxed, thinking happy thoughts for the first time in years, aside from brief moments with Myra and his team. Fayal thought of his new friends more, closer than any friends that he has had before. Their circumstance, while torturous, led to a family. Faysal thought of the resistance and the future. As Faysal was deep in thought he drifted off to sleep, or he thought he did, but as he was thinking he was suddenly back in the dungeon, at their camp.
Faysal was in a panic, Was everything a dream? A hallucination? How did I end up back here? Faysal was frantically looking around as his thoughts raced. As he looked around he realized, while this looked like their old camp, there were some differences. For starters, all despite light from the fireplace and their makeshift torches, the light stopped in almost a perfect circle around the camp, normally it would stretch on and the surrounding area could be seen. Two of the most obvious differences were that first, Faysal did not see his map in the corner of his display, so either he was in an area without a map at all, or an area without the system somehow. The other main difference was that Faysal was staring at what appeared to be himself. “Well, I do not know where I am, but at least the company is good.” Faysal tried to joke as he took a seat around the camp.
The other Faysal was already sitting right at the campfire, tending to the flames, he spoke as Faysal had a seat. “Welcome to our Sanctuary, I am sure you have some questions.” The Sanctuary Faysal went over what a Sanctuary was, and how Faysal was able to access it. The Faysal in the Sanctuary explained that he was a Faysal that did not become a doctor, but became a cleric for the order. The Cleric Faysal explained that he would not be able to answer specific questions about his life but could offer advice and help Faysal sort his thoughts. The two Faysal’s talked for a long while, Faysal asking basic questions about how the Sanctuary worked and the Cleric Faysal answering what he could, but reminding Faysal that he did not have all the answers, he was just a projection of a combination of different ambient magics and Faysal’s own will.
Faysal, truthfully, had no idea what was going on, he tried to follow along but it was a lot seeing himself here of all places, and what was the point of it all? Then the cleric version of himself said something that made him understand a bit more, “This is a place for you, for us, to think, relax, and work through our issues.” Immediately after hearing that Faysal thought of the tutorial, “So this is sort of like my own tutorial? Is there any point in doing the system offered tutorial?” The cleric Faysal thought for a moment before responding, “The system tutorial is not something I have much experience with, I can say, most aspects you seem to have figured out with trial and error, so I do not know how much you will gain from the tutorial, but I am sure there will still be some useful information.” Faysal came to that conclusion on his own, which led him to ask his follow up question, “Can you tell me anything or answer anything that I do not know?” The Cleric Faysal shook his head, “Not exactly, but you may not have consciously noticed that the quest to close the monster Lair was completed, it did not reset like you assumed. It is information like that, that I, well that us other versions of you can provide. Not always life changing news but helpful at times.”
Faysal did not have many other questions that he could think of so he stood up in preparation to leave, “Well, I guess I may not see you next time, but it was nice meeting you, er me?” The cleric Faysal waved as the world around Faysal faded to black and he was once again sitting next to Myra. Myra was looking out at the views over the mountainside as she held Faysal’s hand tight. As Faysal finished gathering his surroundings he spoke up, “What happened?” Myra looked over, shocked to hear Faysal speak, “I thought that you fell asleep while we were sitting here, and then you started glowing faintly. I assumed it was an adventurer thing and just stayed here and kept an eye on you.” Faysal looked at Myra with admiration, “Thank you, I should be fine now.” Faysal explained a little about his sanctuary but did not go into much detail as it was a confusing idea. Faysal and Myra headed to where they were staying for the evening, it was starting to get late and they had a long journey tomorrow, they were able to take an express route to get up the mountain, but going down they would have to do the hard way.
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After returning to the building they were given rooms in, Faysal decided to look over his character sheet and see what differences there were, to his shock there was a popup message before his character sheet, he must have minimized the sheet subconsciously.
I was given credit even though I had nothing to do with the Rysing Adventurer’s closing the lair on the other side. I was given their team name, so they were probably given information about me as well, this isn’t good. Faysal thought as he opened his character sheet.
CHARACTER SHEET LEVEL UP!
Faysal looked over his changes, gaining another level was a nice surprise, and the new achievement was helpful as well, but what really caught his eye was the fast travel portal. The location it was in was not ideal for now, but could be a vital position for the coming days. Faysal quickly spent his three ability points, putting one in dexterity and the other two into intelligence. Faysal then drifted off to sleep. The next morning the five teammates that escaped from the dungeon met up to begin scaling down the mountain. Faysal, Myra, Jasper and Paline were waiting for Happy but were all ready to go as soon as he met up with them. They were all prepared for anything that would come their way. They were prepared for anything, except for Happy walking up to them, a turtle under each of his feet.
