In the moments between me meeting guardsman Irving and my rather furry and feathered party reaching the mayor's house I do many small things. Namely I look inward and make use of some of my perks.
My internal strategy session would probably bore anyone who isn't into jumpchains. Thankfully I was a jumpchain nerd on Earth and have spent countless hours doing theorycrafting, which is really paying off at this moment.
As I step past houses, drawing the curious gazes of those in them, I tap into and make selective use of various new abilities. I begin by looking into "Dabbler"; an auto-training perk with five slots I can slide powers into to make them act as though they were constantly being used and thus constantly growing. I have an especially nasty combo at my disposal since in addition to "Dabbler" I have "Fine Tuning" which is an "Uncapper" perk that lets me train any perk even ones that are meant to be static and incapable of growth.
The first perk I slide into a dabbler slot is the dabbler perk itself. I do this in the hopes that someday I have more than five slots. The second perk I put into a slot is "Chameleon" an incredibly powerful perk I plan to take advantage of after today that lets me build backstories and actually benefit from them, gaining temporary but otherwise real experience in a variety of professions and hobbies.
My third and fourth perks that go into dabbler are named "Lay on Hands" and "Share the Burden". The last perk I toss into the thing is my favorite explorer ability "I can see forever!". Enhancing my senses is always a good idea, especially a sense like sight.
Beyond tossing perks into an auto trainer I tap into a simpler perk named "Presentation" to figure out how to best present myself as a saintly, sage-like healer. Knowledge fills me and I feel myself relax, gaining a level of confidence that I previously lacked as I begin to tap into the artificial knowledge and memories that fill my mind.
Minutes after the stoic guardsman begins to guide me through the town, the guard and I reach the small but picturesque house in the middle of the settlement. The thing is made of lightly colored wood, and it is a simple building consisting of a single story, making it smaller than the other houses that surround it. The guardsman reaches the front door and knocks lightly on it.
Seconds later a gruff voice calls out from the other side of the door, shouting that the door is unlocked. Irving smiles sheepishly at me and opens the door, letting me see inside, which allows me to see a single large room and a few closed doors, as well as a solitary open door that I can't quite see the totality of I half expect the silent guard to speak but when he doesn't I do.
"Hello Mayor Anderson. My name is George Silvertongue, I'm a traveling healer and entertainer. I came here to help your son." I call out, and the same gruff voice calls out to me and asks me to come in. I step into the room and a head peeks out from the edge of the open door. The face is classically handsome, with hard, stoic features and a thick beard. I nod at him and he nods back.
"My son is in here, Mr. Silvertongue." The man tells me, and I glance back and ask the bear to stay outside. He nods at me, and I smile at him before I cross the small common room and approach the room, even as I smile and will my outfit to change.
My clothes change in the span of time it takes me to take a single step, going from my previous outfit to one of the items I sense has been "Imported" into it; a form-fitting, elegant doctor's outfit in the form of a spotless lab's coat. The mayor watches this and his eyes subtly widen, but I know that some individuals in this world are capable of magic more impressive than what I've just done. This is also good for making a solid impression, and as I reach the door where the man is waiting I set my backpack down on the ground and extend a hand towards him. He reaches out and shakes my hand, his grip firm and his shake unyielding.
I look into the room and spot his son, a pale thing sitting in a bed that he has yet to grow into. He is shivering and I can see that he is in pain. I step past the man guarding the door and I move closer to the boy, relying on my perks to shield me from whatever he is enduring.
"Hi there little one, what is your name?" I ask, smiling at the child. He seems out of it, but something about my voice snaps him out of his dazed state and he looks at me with a gentle smile.
"Hi mister! I'm Carlos, what's your name?" He asks, and before I can respond his father responds for me.
"That's Mister Silvertongue. He's a healer, come to make you feel better." The man says, his voice softer than I've heard it from so far. Carlos's eyes widen in delight and I give him a gentle look.
I passively use a simple perk I possess to begin to study the child. As I activate the perk, "Diagnostic", my mind begins to connect the subtle pains and aches the boy feels to various illnesses I know of, slowly giving me the beginnings of a diagnosis for the child. I reach out and offer him my hand, so that I can make him feel a little bit better. He looks up at me quizzically and I let out a small laugh.
"Take my hand Carlos. I'll take a little bit of your pain." I say, and he smiles at me. His face is an echo of his father's, but more youthful and unsurprisingly lacking the facial hair of his dad. He takes my hand and I close my eyes as I activate "Share the Burden". This caring perk causes me to take on some of the discomfort and pain the child is in, my bones beginning to tremble and ache and my temperature rising as I feel the boy's fever wash over me.
I also immediately, and easily, feel my body beginning to fight back against the sickness, and even as I do this color begins to return to the boy's face. At the same time faint memories that belong to someone else, Carlos, fill my head, flashing into my mind's eye courtesy of "Theater of the Mind". This psychometric perk lets me learn things when I touch objects, people, or places that are not mine, me, or my home. These curious memories darkly suggest something deeper than normal misfortune or childish antics are at play here.
Snapshots of Carlos's past dance through my mind. Scenes of a joy-filled childhood flit through my mind's eye, from dinners with a single parent to interactions with other villagers. The later scenes that fill my mind, chronologically, show me Carlos talking to a new person, someone he has never seen before. The figure is an adult man who has a noticeable resemblance to the mayor, and the man gives Carlos some food that the naive child happily eats. This occurred days ago, mere hours before the boy initially falls ill…
As for my treatment of him, it goes well. I begin with "Share the Burden"; a simple but effective perk that lets me take some of the pain someone else feels, though at the cost of subjecting myself to it.
Thankfully how much I can do with it depends on my experience, and since I have next to no experience with the perk I can only do so much, but even that is enough to visibly help the child. And I have a powerful set of self-recovery perks that immediately kick in, letting me begin to recover from the self-sacrificial decision I've made. Behind me I hear his father gasp as he sees his son begin to recover. He doesn't dare move forward, but I can easily sense his surprise and joy even without looking at him.
"Okay, I can see that you're already feeling a tiny bit better Carlos! We're now going to go ahead with some more small bits of treatment." I tell the child, who nods energetically at me.
For the next few minutes I use simple perks and share small baubles on the child, things that gently soothe him and accelerate his natural healing. Perks like "Lay on Hands", "Words of Power", and even "The Best Medicine" minorly accelerate his healing and weaken the effects of the unnatural condition he is suffering from. I also use other, stranger perks, like "This Is A Place Of Healing" and "Set the Mood" to transform the boy's room into a place where violence is no longer allowed and where healing is accelerated, utilizing something akin to feng shui, mixed with fiat-backing (the process by which powers are guaranteed to work even in settings other than the ones they come from) to achieve this effect.
At the end of the round of treatment, I have his father retrieve my backpack and I use it to pull out a number of objects. The first thing he retrieves is a liquid medicine item known as the "Universal Antidote"; a medicine I have the boy drink a few drops of, which immediately takes effect thanks to my speedy perks, countering the noxious and dangerous drugs coursing through the boy's system. I then retrieve a few small helpers in the form of "Placebos"; small sugar pills that lessen the effects of symptoms someone is suffering from. I hand some to the boy's father, and I give Carlos a single pill.
"Can you do a favor for your father and I?" I ask, and the boy cheerily nods at me.
"Take these pills for me. Every day for the next week, at breakfast and dinner, take one of these." I tell him. He gives me a serious look and nods and I nonverbally ask for a high five, which he obliges with a smile. Carlos immediately takes the medicine, and I get to see the not-so-subtle effects of some of my perks, as color swiftly returns to the boy's cheeks and as he begins to look at me with an energetic look. I laugh and he thanks me for helping him feel better, before he shows me the extent of his newfound health by beginning to talk my ear off.
The boy cheerily regales me with stories of his friends for the next hour, before he comes to a stop, having worn himself down. When he is done I thank him for his time and tell him to write me a letter in a few days. I get ready to leave, but as I do I subtly gesture to the boy's dad, who nods at me and follows me out of the room and then the house. He pales when he spots my bear friend, but he doesn't say anything either out of gratitude to me or fear, or more realistically, a mixture of both feelings. We step into what passes for the man's backyard, a small area behind his house tended to by him and I give him a serious look. At the same time my falcon lands on my shoulder and I smile at the thing.
"Mayor Anderson, I need you to see something." I tell him, causing him to look at me worriedly.
I tap my falcon and nonverbally ask the thing to activate its power. It leaps off my shoulder and lands on the floor between the mayor and I, before bursting into flames, revealing its nature as a hybrid of a falcon and a phoenix. The mayor takes a step back, but I don't. I focus on the smoke and silently trigger one of my powers, "Special Effects". The smoke begins to billow past my face and I stick a hand into it before shutting my eyes and willing the stuff to change.
"I am a talented healer for a number of reasons. One of the things I'm good at is figuring out how people get sick. The way I do this is an ability I possess that lets me see the past of people I heal." I say, as I will the smoke to form images matching what memories of Carlos linger in my mind. I stop talking when I begin to weave images out of the smoke that show the man who looks like Mayor Anderson. When the man appears in the smoke I feel a subtle shift in the way the mayor is standing, in his body language, even without physically seeing him.
"That man… My own brother." He says, despairingly, as I stop weaving the smoke into detailed illusions and get to see him again when my bird buddy stops setting itself ablaze. For a moment I'm a bit shocked at how much the man trusts me, but I mentally step back and consider how I've helped the man, and the shock of seeing some of my powers. All of that coupled with my reputation, and my social perks, and I suppose it makes a bit more sense. I open my eyes and frown at the man.
"Does your brother live here in this community?" I ask, and the mayor shakes his head.
"No, Thomas was exiled from here a long time ago. I suppose he did this for revenge. I was the one who banished him. He committed a horrifying crime, banishment was one of the more harsh punishments I could have enacted but it was the one that felt appropriate. I think about him daily, wondering where he is. It turns out he may think about me as often as I do him, though to a different end." The man reveals before closing his eyes and sighing quietly.
"If he's in the area it means that my family and I are in danger. Especially if he's willing to do something that gets Carlos sick." The man says, his voice a solemn whisper. He is quiet for a moment before looking up at me earnestly and smiling.
"Thank you Mister Silvertongue. Not only have you helped my son, you've helped me catch sight of something dire before it became something irreversible. I owe you a debt." He proclaims, earnestly. I shake my head gently and smile at the man.
"No, mayor Anderson. You owe me exactly what was conveyed in the request and nothing more. We can call everything else I've done the result of a newly blossoming friendship." I remark, causing him to look at me appraisingly. I feel his gaze appraising me, and after a few moments his expression changes and he flashes me a quick smile.
"I see. In that case… Thank you for your friendship." He remarks, before reaching into his pockets and pulling out a few coins, which is actually a sizable amount of money. He hands them to me, and I take them with a grin, accepting payment for the man's solving the man's request for medical aid.
"And with that… We are finished here." I exclaim, with a happy look.
"Make sure Carlos takes his medicine, and that he spends at least a few hours each day in his room. I used some of my sorcery to make it a place of healing. It'll speed up his recovery, and keep things from getting worse. The medicine will treat some of the symptoms of the poisoning he is suffering from. In days his condition would have gotten worse, in all likelihood. And warn Carlos about your brother, even if you opt not to divulge everything." I remark, to which the mayor nods.
I spend a few minutes saying bye to Carlos, reminding him of the treatment I've prescribed, and mere hours after I've arrived here I walk out the gate and begin a trek back to the city of Golden Gate, the city I live in and operate out of.
When I'm out of sight of the small town I reach into my bag and I retrieve the small, portable form of a powerful item I own named "The Traveler's Dream". The thing, in its portable form, is a small figurine in the form of a wooden horse but when I place it on the ground I am amused to see a carriage appear in front of me.
The thing is meant to be drawn by a horse, but my bear friend walks over to it and I watch as he readies himself to pull it. I reach into my backpack and pull out some rations, specifically I pull out some meat, which he heartily eats. When he's done with the food I fiddle with the carriage and position it so that the bear can draw it, which is only really possible due to magic but the item is innately, powerfully, magical, and in minutes the bear is speedily pulling the carriage and I towards my home, while I easily grip the reins of the carriage's connection to my furred friend.
Minutes into the carriage ride my backpack, seated next to me, opens itself and a figure the size of a hand pops out of it. My "Muse", a red headed fairy-like figure looks around and smiles when she spots me. I smile at her even as she tosses herself out of the backpack and onto the carriage's front seat next to me.
"Good afternoon, how was your nap?" I ask the spirit, who lightly hits me with her incredibly small fist, whacking me repeatedly.
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" She demands, somewhat feigning her annoyance and I let out a quiet laugh.
"You were tired! I wanted you to rest." I remark, honestly. She huffs before lightly laughing and looking at me mischievously.
"So how did it go? If we're on 'The Dream' I'm assuming you're heading back home." She exclaims, clocking a pattern of "mine". It's true, "I" have a habit of accepting requests, walking to the locations of the requests over the course of a few days, and then riding one of my vehicles on the way back. I nod at the spirit.
"It went well. It was also like the start of… something. A kid was poisoned, apparently by his father's brother. The craziest parts of it were that the kid didn't know his uncle, and apparently the dad banished the brother for some crime a while ago? The best we could figure is that it was an attempt to get revenge, but I got here before stuff got serious and now the kid is recovering." I remark.
"Do you think they'll be repeat customers?" The fairy asks, and I grimace. She lets out a soft laugh when she sees my facial expression.
"I mean… I hope not," I reply, before my facial expression softens. "I wouldn't mind coming back here to perform, but I wouldn't want to come back to heal someone again." I state, which mildly amuses the tiny sprite.
This commences something akin to a routine. The sprite and I keep each other company for hours, and when we stop for the night the moon has risen over the night's sky. I return my travel item to its portable state, retrieve my portable cabin, activate it, and my companions and I retreat into it for the night. I do all the same things I did last night, adding a little bit more food and stuff for the sake of the fairy, and when I go to sleep I activate perks, particularly one which lets me set an internal alarm clock that will wake me up tomorrow.
I fall into another dreamless sleep, but get woken up by my perk, and repeat what I did the morning before today; making breakfast for my companions and getting back on the road in about an hour. Thanks to bear power and endurance we reach the outskirts of the gleaming city in the early hours of the evening, where guards spot me and wave me through the city's security, allowing my bear and I to pass through the city's gates without pestering by security, thanks to my own well-known history in the city.
The city's gleaming towers glitter in the distance as my furry friend guides the carriage to one of the largest edifices in the city. People call out to me and I wave at them and make small talk with people "I" know as my companion guides me deeper into the city. My fairy companion laughs as I exchange pleasantries with people curious to know how my latest excursion went, though others cannot see her.
In minutes the bear comes to a stop outside of a marvelous-looking structure that juts into the sky. Guards salute me as I get out of the carriage and give them a kind nod.
"Hello gentlemen, how are you today?" I ask, and the two guards refer to me as "Grandmaster Silvertongue", while telling me that they've had a good day keeping the institute safe.
"That is good news. Keep up the good work gentlemen." I remark, as I transform the carriage into its more portable form and place it in my backpack. I step past them and walk up a small stairway leading to a grand door that I open to reveal a reception hall. The hall is filled with people, many of whom recognize me and wave at me. The edges of the hall are lined with receptionists behind glass windows, tending to both students at the college and the needs of various visitors.
"Home sweet home." I remark, with a smile as I stride into the reception hall, and walk right over to one of the receptionists, flashing her a smile. I recognize the receptionist, and I grin internally at my choice.
"Good evening Veronica. Can you give me the file we have on Mayor Anderson of the town of Harvestville?" I ask, and the receptionist brightly nods at me and spends a few moments sorting through a cabinet next to her before finding it and placing it in front of me. I grab a quill and spend a few moments filling out the details of the quest, and noting that the mayor paid me the agreed-upon amount. I hand the file to the receptionist who takes it and wishes me a good evening. My bear companion emits a loud sound and I turn to the animal and chuckle.
"Yes, yes, I know you're hungry. You wanna get some food?" I ask the large animal. It nods at me and I have to stifle a laugh. I turn in the direction of the institute's food court so we can get some dinner. The fairy lets out a loud laugh as she flutters in the air beside me, invisible to everyone here. We head off towards the food court, to fill our stomachs and get some real, professionally made food.