Ah fuck, my fucking head kills. Have you ever had a head butting contest with an orc? well thats what this feels like. And its not fucking fun! slowly opening my eyes to let them adjust to the sun I bring my hand to my temple. this seriously fucking sucks. Taking a quick glance over the room I can see katia sat at the table in the corner sharpening her sword, I keep telling her mithril doesn't need sharpened but shes obsessive like that. helping myself up slowly to with the aid of the bedpost, I finally manage to get into a sitting position. huh, what a hero... she remembered to put my flask next to the bed. I'm definitely going to need some hair of the dog... shame its not dwarven whiskey though.
After regaining my faculties I stand up and walk over to where shes sitting and ask"you got everything ready?"
"Well i'll be damned, your actually capable of speech at this time of day." She replies looking up from her pointlessly sharp sword.
"Yeah yeah, stop rubbing it in already"
"Your no fun when your hungover, but to answer your question, yes everything is ready. We've got 3 regeneration potions, 2 Mana potions, 50 meters of rope, a grappling hook and a couple of days worth of supplies each. I trust that will be enough?" she answers as gestures to the packs in the corner of the room.
"Yep fantastic, so what times the carriage ride out towards the east?"
"11 o'clock, just about enough time for us to get some breakfast and you to sort that hangover out." shes now grinning at me knowing the pain that im currently in. I swear she a secret sadist! anyhow after about 10 more minutes of running through the plan again we decide to head back out towards Claudia's for something to eat before the job today.
We soon arrived at Claudia's and sat down in my usual table, this table was my favorite because its located near to the bar meaning that it has easy access to alcohol as well as allows me to watch the scantily dressed bar maids walking about. And if im going to be honest with you ive spent enough money here that im basically a share holder in the business so Claudia doesn't mind reserving me a table full time. But im getting off topic.... I think this hangovers hitting me harder than I thought.
After indulging in a nice large breakfast that consisted of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausages, Katia and I finalized the plans for dealing with the Gnolls. All thats left now is to buy the last of the supplies I need and then head to the carriage heading eastwards. Those supplies did indeed mean stocking up on more whisky for the road.... some people might reckon it would be stupid to fight drunk, but id say its even more stupid to fight with a hangover. And you know what they say? The best way to deal with a hangover is to never stop drinking.
Some time later we had boarded the carriage taking us to our destination, it was actually more of a small convoy and consisted of 4 horse drawn carriages which contained a mixture of supplies and over adventuring parties who where heading east for some reason or other. we had are own carriage to make use of since katia isnt a fan of sharing so she payed much larger amount of silver than would normally be required. I personally wouldn't mind some socializing at this point, you know considering that were about to go on a suicide mission, but what can you do. The convoy itself was well protected, the merchant in charge of it had hired a handful of D-class hunters to escort it as well as me, Katia and the lower ranked hunters that had hitched a ride. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to get some more rest? it will still be about 6 hours before we reach our destination so that leaves plenty of time. But no, that probably wouldn't be a good idea, I want my mind sharp when we get there. In that case meditation it is.... sort out the mess that I call a mana pool.
I look towards katia to see that she's hanging out the back of the carriage smoking the same pipe that shes always smoking, ill never understand why she still uses that thing. Just make the switch to cigarettes like every normal person has, there so much more convenient. In all honestly though she seems more tense about this then I would have guessed, she doesn't normally get this stressed just because aren't stacked in our favor. I think theres something more to it.... but that's none of my business, so lets leave it at that shall we.
Fuck... im getting side tracked again, I should really have a mage look at my brain, theres got to at least be some accumulated brain damage by now. Right right, I was meant be meditating wasn't I? lets crack on with it then. I move to the corner of the carriage, and relax leaning back in the most comfortable position that I can find. None of this cross legged hands on knees bullshit that you read about. Do you know how hard it is to clear your mind when your uncomfortable? Nah just get as comfortable as possible, close your eyes and push all unnecessary thoughts out of your head. now that ive achieved that I need to concentrate on my mana pool. Everyone calls it a pool, But id describe it more like an ever shifting pulsating ball of yarn. What the next step is is to try ad untangle and stretch the yarn or mana increasing the amount you have as well as making it more consistent and higher quality. If your mana pool is a mess, so is your magic, its a simple as that really. Well I've got 6 hours to sort this out so i should make some good head way. I'll pick back up when we get there.