Polkitain grew restless like any child and after a while of very serious guarding he started to stretch and play with a rock.

After a nice long real sleep, Kalista awoke to find friends still watching her. "Have you two been here the whole time?"

Continue conversing if you like.

After that -- Ethan, Kalista, and Polkatain all feel well-rested if a little hungry. If Ethan joins Kalista on her glittermount, the psychic mumbo-jumbo crew can probably catch up with the Behemoth by sundown.

Polkitain drops the stone he was playing with.

"Yes, we have been here. Are you feeling better Lady Kalista ?"

She nodded, "Much better actually. The psychic conflict took much of my reserves. I am better now. Shall we try to catch up with our comrades?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Whoever is selling those false rune weapons must have some way to control those entities. Most trained magisters could tell they are not real rune weapons. So I guess it makes sense selling to the non initiated. There is a lot to think about, wish we could report our findings so far."

Kalista mounted her glittering horse and offered her hand to Ethan, "Coming?" she asked him. She was confident and capable, and obviously strong enough to toss him around if she choose to.

Ethan had watched over Kalista with Polkitain, staying alert for any indication of trouble. Thankfully there had been nothing even close to alarming during their watch over the remarkably beautiful woman.

He knew next to nothing about magic and so had little to contribute to that part of their conversation however but he part of his education had included logic an deduction. He looked a the dragon and nodded his head. "That makes sense," he said, not even thinking about the strangeness of discussing magic with a dragon.

Then Kalista mounted her glittering horse and offered Ethan her hand. He smiled at her and took it, not at all concerned about how riding behind a woman would possibly affect his masculine image. "Thank you milady, I would be most grateful." he said to her. The field medic had learned that she preferred being addressed in the old, even by his standards, courtly fashions of England and France.

Then he continued to explain why he agreed with Polkitan's assessment of the situation."If you know you're making and selling forgeries, you wouldn't try to sell them to people that would almost certainly recognize them as cheap imitations. From what I gather, that means instead of an ominous threat to the region or even local area, that makes these weapons not much more than a nuisance really. That is in comparison to a real, what did you call them? Rune weapons?"

"Yes, rune weapons. Rune weapons are similar they contain souls but they are indestructible. Usually they are evil since most people don't volunteer to trap their soul for eternity. These other things seem more like temporary powered down rune weapons."

Kalista commented, "More insidious, actually, as few rune weapons can control their owners. These can take direct control, very disturbing. I think it might be more than a nuisance, as some are willing to take any path to power, even one undesirable." She hoisted her comrade up onto the magic beast.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:03, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

"Uhm what form should I take ? I hope to be able to keep up."

She took out a pad and paper and attempted to draw a flying monkey.

Polkitain looked embarrassed, "I run faster then I can fly."
Polkitain lowered his head.

Ethan considers Kalista's words for a few minutes before speaking again. "Yes good point but unless the one making these fakes can in turn control those psychic entities, then it's 'just' possessed people running around with cheap knock off weapons right? Not much more of a danger than any bandits really. If they can be controlled though, turned into some kind of organized army, now that would be a big problem."

Ethan looked at Polkitan and tried not to laugh when Kalista drew a flying monkey. Then he looked at the dragon. "Couldn't you just transform into something small, like a mouse, and ride with us? Or maybe go the other way, transform into something fast, like a Cheetah. Wouldn't you still have your same strength and endurance? I've seen you take hits before."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:13, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

"Oh I can be small." Politain turns into a cat and hops up.

"Yes, I am still as strong." Polkitain gave a catlike smile.

"You really think they are building an army ?"

"I've no more idea than you but it seems like someone went through a lot of effort to make these things. Unless they were just interested in creating chaos, they could be trying to build an army of mind controlled slaves."

Ethan points at his shoulders, indicating Polk the cat could ride there.

Pokitain hops up on Ethan's shoulders and curls.

"Maybe it is for Chaos, some beings like that. Though if those Syphon things are controlled it could very well be what you say the very start of some army. They seemed more interested in wealth then in getting us to join an army though."

"Army's are expensive, even small ones; boots, rations, spare parts, you name it an army needs it. Getting money before having troops to spend it on sounds like a good idea."

"Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking it through. I have never raised an army." Polkitain swished his tail.

Before he remembered it was in fact a dragon and not a house cat, Ethan reached up with one hand and scratched Polkitan behind his furry ears. "Nothing to be sorry about, you're probably not used to thinking about army logistics."

"Nope, I only know about small groups like Nyx and Doc. Now I have even more friends like Lady Kalista and you."

Polkitain leaned into the scritchintg.

Great stuff, guys.

I'll next see you all in the Scene 5: Saloon thread.

Thanks! Worth some XP maybe? Some of us missed out on a lot and need every bit we can get ^_^

Players are supposed to be rewarding each others characters with XP. If that doesn't happen, I'll award some points at the end of this mission, okay?