It was growing late in the day when Mayor Kinton finally called everyone to hear the news. He'd designated a place to meet in an hour, and he would explain the situation. Tars was surprised the middle-aged man had waited so long. He'd been hearing grumbling about going back home for hours already. He was expecting someone to decide to up and leave any moment now.
In the meantime, the Mayor called upon Tars and a few other people he'd met, plus several he hadn't yet. Tars put down the mug of water he'd been sipping, partially as an experiment but mostly because he was thirsty. His experiment showed mixed results. Food and drink did have an impact on his 'weakened' status, but he hadn't figured out how much yet. Food seemed to help more than drink but there was also quality to consider. Water was worse than nimberry juice, even though the dark red fruit drink was a little too tart for his tastes. More testing was needed. Especially since he was getting hungry again.
This private meeting, before the one for the village as a whole, would include Hunter Kino, Ponter, Feerestia, Blacksmith Hamal, and a man and two women Tars had yet to be introduced to.
The man, Lusmond, was the head of construction, making and repairing buildings and walls around Immica. He had skills related to shaping stone and earth to improve how sturdy a building was. Combined with his brother who could do similar things with wood, they were invaluable.
One of the women was Jesta. She ran the tavern and was known for her Gut-Bomb Brew, about the strongest ale outside of Dwarven lands, Ponter had added. She also had a selection of more mild and pleasant ales and meads.
The last woman there was Ennira, who was a merchant who later switched classes to become a Shopkeeper. Aside from having lost a bunch of stats, she made up for it with a good combination of skills. Tars asked Kino, who was standing against the wall next to him, how switching classes worked.
"When you reach level ten in your tier one class, like archer for me, you have the choice of where to progress next," Kino whispered back. "Usually, you'll keep the same grade of class. Archer and Hunter are both white, or common classes, for example. Sometimes, if you leveled a skill high enough or learned an elemental magic, you can upgrade your grade, from white to green. Then instead of a Hunter you could become a Windborne Hunter if you learned enough Wind Magic."
Tars nodded along in understanding. He wondered what class he would have access to. What did he have before?
"Often times, a person will also have the option of resetting their class or switching it," Kino continued. "Let's say I was learning Wind Magic, but I wasn't experienced enough to unlock Windborne Hunter. Instead, I could go back to a level 1, tier 1, Wind-Shot Archer instead. It would replace the white Archer class with a green uncommon one."
"And being uncommon makes it stronger?" Tars asked.
"In many ways, yes," Kino answered. "Sometimes you'll be more limited in class skill options, but the options you get are usually better and you'll gain more stats every level. The only reason people don't do it more often is because you lose all the stats you'd gained from leveling in that class."
Kino seemed to recognize the look on Tars' face. "You remember how weak you felt when you woke up yesterday? That frustrated look when you couldn't even hold your sword? Imagine that feeling lasting for weeks or even months. You lose around 75-100 stat points in total, depending on your class."
That seemed like a much worse situation than he'd been thinking. Now he could understand a little bit. Knowing that you had the ability to do something and then losing that ability. Going from swinging a sword for an hour to being tired after a few swings. Tars shivered at the thought.
"Then why do it?" Tars asked.
"Because it's temporary," Kino answered. "A white class gives 12 stat points per level. A green class gives 15 and access to a better class at the next tier. For the younger people, or for those after a particular class, choosing Regrowth, as it's called, is a fine option."
"Lastly, switching to a different class of the same grade, like Ennira did, means losing a lot of stats to get back the same amount later. But the advantage is learning more skills from several different paths. It gives her a lot of flexibility in exchange for raw power."
Tars spent a few minutes thinking about this new information while the Mayor finished getting the last of the group into the shed.
"Feerestia informed us that the former bandit gang known as the 'Red Heels' attacked us on the order of a noble from Yudensa," Mayor Kinton said to get started.
"Why would they attack us?!" Lusmond asked in shock.
"To make Baron Zemwold look bad," Ennira answered. She spoke in a clear and pleasant voice. 'Are there skills for having a pleasant voice? I wonder if it would be from the Merchant or Shopkeeper class?' Tars wondered as she was speaking.
"The two have been going at each other for almost a year already, you know that," Ennira continued. "The Baron had his people recruiting and then just taking our strongest men and women from here and the other villages for his little war." The pretty, brown-haired woman was obviously dissatisfied with local politics.
"I meant why us and not another village, did we do something?" Lusmond clarified.
Mayor Kinton answered this time. "The bandits had no idea why this was their target, or at least the leader didn't tell the rest of the bandits, but it doesn't really matter at this point. The question is what are we going to do about it?"
"Whadda ya mean?" Hamal asked. "We tell the Baron 'n let 'im handle it, yeah?"
The newer arrivals all looked at the Mayor for an explanation.
"Even if Baron Zemwold does take care of it, even if went all the way up until the King finds out, that won't save us from the next fight or from being undefended while our taxes go up more and more every year."
"What are you saying, Kinton, just spit it out," Ponter griped.
"I want to leave the village."
Kino and Tars already knew about this, they had briefly gone over the enchanted map earlier trying to see where it said they should go.
There were a few different expressions on the faces of the group. Ennira looked mildly surprised but mostly unhappy, Tars imagined she was worried about her business. Hamal looked at everyone else confused. He seemed to think it was a joke and was waiting for someone to explain it to him.
Jesta looked excited, surprisingly. Tars wasn't sure what the barkeep was thinking for that to be her reaction. He'd expected a similar look as the one Ennira had.
Ponter seemed to be thinking things through, but Tars figured the man wasn't overly invested in the town either way. If he hadn't brought Feerestia and the information she provided he would most likely not be part of this little council at all.
Feerestia was stone faced, as usual. Even after taking the collar off, she didn't start showing any expressions. Tars thought that was her way of dealing with her situation, but even when things had started improving, she hadn't changed much.
Lusmond was just shocked. Tars thought that he was on the council for necessity and not for his input. He didn't seem to have the mind for politics. 'Hamal, too. I doubt councils for larger cities are run this way. I wonder if that's better or worse?'
"You all know we got an emergency quest and then were saved by Tars here," the Mayor explained. "We don't know why, but it seems the Gods are giving us a path out of this mess."
"I've wanted out of here for a while now," Jesta said. "Where are you thinking? As long as it isn't this province or Yudensa's I'll go." Yudensa was the province that had sent the bandits.
"South," Kinton answered. He paused a moment before adding "Into the Untamed Lands."
The group nodded in agreement when he said 'south' but then they all froze in shock once more at the mention of the 'Untamed Lands'.
Kino had explained to Tars that the lands south of their Ulstwen Kingdom were monster infested wilds. It was usually only traveled by adventurers and the braver, or just crazier, bandits.
It took many minutes for the group to calm down. Aside from Ponter, everyone was against this plan.
"This wasn't a decision made without reason," Mayor Kinton said. "There is a God or Goddess who sent an emergency quest, we were saved at exactly the time when we were supposed to, at the exact place we were supposed to be."
Kinton looked around at those who were arguing a moment earlier. "Now, we have been granted access to a magic map that shows our destination. It won't be fast, and it won't be easy, but one of the Gods has suggested this path and I will not be the one to spit on their gift."
"I will be taking my family along with any who choose to accept the God's suggestion." Kinton looked at each person there except Tars who had already decided to help those deciding to travel. "If you choose a different path, then I wish you luck."
Tars could tell that he was sincere in his wish, but it was obvious to everyone that the Mayor believed it would be a foolish choice.
"Can we see this map?" Lusmond asked.
'Hmmm, perhaps he does have a mind for leadership.'
Tars unrolled the map on an old work desk that had seen better days.
Most of the group were amazed at the level of detail and were excited to look at the treasure. It seemed magical equipment was hard to find.
"Near as we can tell," the Mayor began once everyone had gotten a chance to look at the map, "we need to travel about two hundred miles to reach our destination. It could take as much as two weeks if things go poorly or about a week if things are fairly smooth. I imagine it will be somewhere in between.
Kino took over at this point, as he was the most familiar person at traveling through rough terrain, though he admitted to Tars he'd never been through the wild lands.
"This map is more detailed in the center and the farther something is the less it shows. It shows only rough outlines after a certain distance away," he said in his quiet voice. "We can make our way south until we reach the mountains and then we'll have to find a path west for the last part of the journey."
"What will we find there?" Ennira asked.
"We don't know," the Mayor admitted. "The map just says that is our destination. As we get closer we should be able to get more details."
"There is another problem," Jesta pointed out. "I've considered leaving before, I'm sure you've heard. It would be easy for me to leave and start over somewhere else. But if we want to transport over a hundred people across the border of a province and eventually out of the kingdom entirely, we'll have a whole different issue."
Ennira nodded in agreement. "I don't see Zemwold allowing us to leave with his permission, so we would need to find another way out of the Zem province and later out of the Ulstwen Kingdom."
"We can tell them the truth, right? We were attacked by bandits and didn't feel safe in Zem," Lusmond said.
"That would let us leave here, yes," the Mayor replied, "but then we'd have to serve the new Baron. They wouldn't just let us leave."
"Which would put us in the same situation, only without a home," Jesta snarled. "No, we've lost enough to these tyrants." She looked at the Mayor and nodded her head. "I see what you mean. Nowhere would be safe." The Barkeep shuddered in fear before squaring her shoulders. "We need to leave the Ulstwen."
The group began to see how few their options really were as more ideas were considered and rejected until they were left with only two options. Stay in Immica and deal with Baron Zemwold, or find a way to leave the Ulstwen Kingdom and hope for a new start. Normally that idea would be unthinkable, but with the help of the Gods it was looking like the better option.
After ten minutes of discussion most of the group agreed to the journey. Lusmond and Ennira were still undecided, but Tars thought it was a formality for Lusmond, who had to tell his brother first, and Ennira was just running the ideas through her mind one more time.
Kino walked over to the Mayor and whispered something to him. Kinton looked at Tars before nodding.
Tars watched as the Mayor and Hunter approached. "Tars, Kino pointed out that we haven't really been able to explain things to you very well. We didn't mean to leave you floundering for answers, but you know what it's been like."
"Of course." Tars was aware of how pressed for time everyone had been. While he didn't like being as confused as he was, he didn't blame the villagers.
"In the evening, when we make camp, I will set aside some time to answer some questions of yours. And if I'm not the best to ask I'll make sure to point you in the right direction for answers."
"Thank you, Mayor. That will be very helpful."
"Should be about time to let everybody know what is happening," Kinton said as he made his way outside.
It was chaotic outside, with more people than Tars could count gathered around. It was also loud enough that the Mayor had to shout to be heard. Then something surprising happened. A wave of force seemed to explode from Mayor Kinton.
The air rippled as it flowed through the gathered people. In its wake, the unruly crowd was far more calm. 'That was an impressive skill.' Tars thought in admiration. Something to calm a rowdy group, maybe?
Now that he could speak and be heard, the Mayor explained the situation as he had to the others during the meeting. When questioned about where they would go, he left the answer vague, only saying it would be several weeks' journey and their destination was the Untamed Lands.
While the Mayor was answering questions, Tars approached Ponter and Feerestia who were standing off to the side. The elven woman was given the occasional glare, but most people were focused on the meeting.
"Perhaps we could do a little training now," Tars said as he looked at the two of them. "We've already made our decision anyway."
"Yeah, let's go," Ponter agreed with a nod. "I don't want one of these fools making a problem. My head is already splitting."
Feerestia came along with Ponter without seeming to care. Hopefully being under her own Oath would be better than the Mayor's Vow she was using now. If not, then time was probably the only other thing that would help.
The three went to an open area behind a farmhouse that was hidden from view of the villagers. "What would you like to see?" Feerestia asked when they stood in the yard.
Tars drew his sword from the makeshift half-sheath he'd been given before the meeting. Allevia also gave him an old belt to hang it from. The pair of pants and shirt were much too large for him, but it was still a vast improvement over the strange sheet he was wearing before.
"I have to learn a Sword Art and an elemental skill tonight," Tars told her. "I'm also supposed to learn a Light Elemental skill and a Life skill soon."
Ponter made a strange face off to the side, but Feerestia showed no reaction. "I can't help you with Light magic, Feerestia denied. "I don't know any. My elements are wind, water, and ice. I suppose I should explain what I am. Do you know what a Blade Dancer is?"
For just a moment Tars saw excitement in her eyes. She either wanted to show off or was proud of her class.
Tars shook his head in response. He hadn't heard the term that day, but he was unsure if it was rare or not.
"It is an uncommon class among the elves and far more rare among other races." She then went on to explain how the class worked. "Blade Dancers combine Sword Arts and elemental magic to increase its usefulness in many different situations. Increasing power on attacks, burning or shocking an opponent in addition to the normal cuts, or using long ranged elemental attacks when something is out or reach."
"The downside to Blade Dancing," the elf admitted, "is a lack of solid defense. Usually, a Blade Dancer is paired with a Shield Guardian or another defensive class as a pillar to dance around."
"Now, where should we start?" Feerestia asked. She may have been the teacher in this situation but she and Tars both knew this wasn't a normal student-teacher relationship. She would teach what he wanted to learn. He wasn't becoming a Blade Dancer, after all, simply learning the sword.
"Let's try for a simple Sword Art, one without any elements."
"Hmmm," Feerestia hummed in thought. "I think I know one we can begin with." She then turned to the side and drew her long and thin sword.