The Outlands

The door to the cabin flew open, interrupting Tess’s story and letting in a howling burst of wind and snow. A huge four-armed figure shook off the snow that was coating him, then slammed the door shut behind him. While he wasn’t as tall as a goliath like Ker, he more than made up for it in sheer…thickness. He was incredibly muscled, with shaggy brown hair that blended into the heavy furs he was wearing.

And then there was the bow. It was massive, a fair bit taller than the man was, made of some sort of imposing-looking bone. She…honestly didn’t see how it was supposed to work. From her admittedly minimal knowledge of bow making, she was sure the bone should snap, or not bend enough, or even that it would require such an unreasonable amount of strength to pull the string back that it would be unfeasible to use…not that strength seemed to be a concern for the mammoth of a man in front of her.

“What’s the big idea, Evan?!” He growled, “The yearly meeting’s not scheduled for another two months and I was in the middle of hunting a particularly nasty Phosphorescent Mangler. If there’s not a very good reason for this, I’m not going to be happy.”

“Don’t worry, Valin, I didn’t call this just to call it.” Gramps soothed, patting the back of Tess’s chair. “We’ve got a new member.”

Valin arched a brow, staring Tess down with a look that suggested he was looking at more than just her appearance. “Really?” He said skeptically, “She looks rather underwhelming to me.”

Gramps smirked. “Looks can be deceiving.” He said, waving a hand and causing some sort of…motionless body to appear in the room. “Please give the dummy a good hit, Tess.” He instructed, “Full power, no need to hold back for fear of leaking secrets.”

Tess nodded, unsheathing her claws and stalking towards the dummy. She activated all her Skills and, slashed downwards, then hurriedly jumped back so she was out of the way of the status explosion that would hit after You Are Already Dead’s time was up.

Curious as to the exact numbers, Tess expanded the window. Due to the ever-increasing length of the windows she was getting with each hit, Fortune had given her a Blessing that let her collapse them, so they weren’t so obnoxious.

“Blessing?” Valin grunted.

“Yup. Any check that is influenced by her Luck automatically gives her the most favorable result.” Gramps replied.

Valin stared off into space for a second, then nodded. “I see how it is. Who are we still waiting on? I’d like to get back to the hunt as soon as I can.”

“Aside from the five of us you’re the first one here.” Eyfura said. “We still have about twenty minutes before the meeting’s slated to start.”

Valin gave a noncommittal grunt and moved to walked out through a door to a room Tess hadn’t been in before, but stopped, squinting at Tess. “You seem to have a ghost haunting you.” He said, “Shall I take care of it?”

“No, that’s fine, she’s mine.”

Valin nodded curtly and left.

“I…thought people teleported here?” Tess asked once he was gone.

“Valin prefers to use his own means of transport when possible. He’s got a few quirks but he’s generally a pretty decent guy once you get to know him.” Ava said, “Anyway, you were talking about that bet you had, do continue.”

---

Tess finished her story in around ten minutes, during which another couple of people filtered in through the portal. As they came through, they gave Tess a curious look, looked back at the other, and then left the room without comment.

Once Tess had finished, Atum gave her a smile and patted her on the back. “Don’t feel too beat up about not being able to beat Ilmir without a Descent.” He said, “She’s quite a big stronger than average and she’s got those blessings to boot. Still, she treated you awfully, I promise she’s not usually like that. Have you sat down and talked with her about why she acts the way she does?”

Tess frowned. “She thinks I’m weak, and that I’m holding Ellie back. Pretty sure she also has the hots for Ellie and doesn’t want me in the way of things, though,” and Tess couldn’t help but smirk a little while saying this, “I’m pretty sure she’s already lost to me on that front.”

Ava nodded. “I think you’re partially right and partially wrong. It’s not our place to say more, though, so for now I recommend you force her to sit down and have a talk with you as soon as possible. You’re her acting party leader so she’s going to have to listen to you about stuff like this, and I’m sure Eyfura will make sure she doesn’t try to weasel out of it.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Eyfura replied, standing up and stretching. “I’m going to grab some food from the pantry before we start, does anyone want anything?”

“I just ate.” Tess said.

“The two of us did too.” Atum added.

“I as well.” Gramps finished.

“Ah well.” Eyfura said. “Tess, you might as well come with me anyway, it’s good to know where everything is.”

Gramps nodded. “I’ll meet you two in the meeting room, then. Remember, we start in ten minutes.”

“Yeah, got it.” Eyfura said, moving away and motioning for Tess to follow. She led her through a couple of rooms until they were in a cozy-looking kitchen. “Stick with me here until the meeting starts.” She said, beginning to rummage through the pantry, “I want to talk real quick and it’s probably best you’re with one of us until everyone knows who you are.”

“Sure.” Tess said, sitting down at a table, “What about?”

“Ilmir.” Eyfura said. “I’m not going to tell you everything now because that’s really her story to tell, but I want to give you some context that I don’t think she even consciously realizes.” She paused for a moment, scanning the shelves, picking up a can of something, looking at it for a moment, then putting it back and resuming her search.

“I’m pretty sure you remind her of what she thinks of as her own failures.” Eyfura sighed. “She got super pumped when her stats came in and she was way above average, and even more so when her Skills started to work together really well. She was getting convinced that she was different, better than everyone else. She started bugging me to let her tag along on one of the outings I do occasionally. Nothing big, of course, but something that could give her a good challenge.”

Eyfura came back out of the pantry with some sort of bread-like substance, sitting down across from Tess. “I was like that at her age too, and so I thought it would be wise to give her a reality check of sorts and decided to grant her wish.” She sighed again, shaking her head. “I really should have talked with Evan or someone about it, scouted more, just…made the entire thing more of a controlled situation. I’m not going to go into details here because that really is her story to tell, but things ended up going poorly, and she blames herself, no matter how much we try to convince her it’s not her fault.

“Since that day she’s convinced herself that there are some gaps in raw power that are just too large to bridge. It’s achieved the goal of making her more wary, but she’s built her worldview around it. I’ve tried to break her of that, but…well, trauma does weird things to people, and I’m nowhere near qualified to tackle something like that.

“But you…you fly in the face of everything she believes. You’re near constantly at similar deficits to the one she was facing, and she can’t bring herself to believe that they can be tackled without outside intervention. If she faces the fact that you can make things work…she has to consider that maybe she could have made things work then, too.”

She stared down at her bread, which had laid untouched as she talked. “She couldn’t have done it on her own, of course, and she actually did far better than I ever would have expected her to do, but I’m not sure she realizes just how special a case you are. She thought she was special too, and that brought her nothing but problems, so she thinks the situations are the same. In her own misguided way, she really is just trying to be kind…though I can’t deny her ‘having the hots for Ellie and wanting you out of the way’. It’s just…less of a motivator than you might think.”

Eyfura gave Tess a weak smile. “So…please try to not be too harsh on her. My own poor choices are partially at fault here. I can’t expect you to forgive and forget immediately, just… give her some time to come to grips with things.”

“Is…that so?” Ava asked softly. She had gotten right behind Tess without Tess even noticing, something that hadn’t happened to Tess since she had first gotten Enhanced Hearing (Perfect).

Ava sat down in a chair between Eyfura and Tess. “I wasn’t aware she was still hung up about that.” She said. “Would you like me to have a talk with her?”

Eyfura opened her mouth to speak, but Ava cut her off. “Just because it’s something you did doesn’t mean you have to be the only one to try and fix it.” Ava said, patting Eyfura’s hand.

Eyfura paused, looked into Ava’s eyes, blushed, then looked away. “I…was hoping she’d mellow out more with age.” She admitted. “I thought that something like this wouldn’t come up until she had. And…I’m not able to handle this on my own. If… if you could talk with her sometime soon, I would appreciate it. I’ll let you know when a good time is.”

Ava smiled, nodding. “Of course. Just give me the word and I’ll be there.” She turned to Tess, “Sorry you got caught up in all of this.” She said. “Normally we try not to let people see our failures like this, but…you’re one of us now.”

She grabbed Tess’s hand between hers, giving Tess a gentle smile. “It can be really hard, having to put up a tough front like this, but even if you think we’re busy, any of the four of us will be more than willing to listen to your troubles and give advice, even directly help you if we think it necessary. We’re your seniors here, so don’t feel shy about it.”

“R-right.” Tess said.

“Right.” Ava repeated. “Let me give you our phone number, Atum and I will make sure to get back to you as soon as we see your call or text or however you choose to go about this.”

Tess fumbled around in her pocket for a moment before eventually pulling out her phone and putting in the information that Ava gave her.

“You can reach either of us through this number, this is our house phone.” Ava explained. “Well, we say house phone but it’s actually just Atum’s cell phone that we put for most things that want a “house phone” or “main phone” or whatever.”

“Right, I…get it, I think. Um, if you don’t mind my asking…what’s your relationship with Atum? I don’t know anything about you two, really, and thought I might as well ask.” Tess said hesitantly.

Ava laughed. “We’re married.” She explained. “Going strong for over two-hundred years at this point, and we’ve no intention of quitting now. When you have some free time we’ll have to introduce you to the rest of our family, it’ll be nice for them to finally meet one of the grandchildren Evan’s so proud of.”

“Not going to be for a while.” Eyfura said, seemingly having regained her composure. “There’s a lot that’s going into her training at the moment and every minute counts. I’m really hoping we can get her to the point where she’s able to take on dungeons a fair bit above her level soon, and, seeing as how she’s going back to school soon, we need all the time we can get. After she’s ready, though, we can set something up. Ellie too, for that matter.”

They conversed for a few more minutes while Eyfura finished her bread, and then Ava led them back to the conference room, which had filled up considerably. There were, including Gramps’s party members and herself, 11 people around the table. Gramps sat at the end of the table, and he motioned for Tess to sit down in an empty chair just around the corner from his own. Tess did, and Ava and Eyfura made their way to a couple of empty seats near them.

“Good, we’re all here. Well, except for Rachel, but she’s always late.” Gramps said, “We might as well begin.”

“Right.” An oddly familiar looking demon with her feet up on the table said. “Can we assume the girl has something to do with this?”

Gramps nodded. “We’ll get to that in time, Amara. Before we do, though, are there any matters that need to be brought up?”

“I’m starting to get overworked with the new dungeons.” Valin grumbled. “I’ve done what I can in some of the publicly unknown dungeons, but I just don’t have enough time to deal with what’s overflowing from the new dungeons and keep the old dungeons in check. If you could find some way to surreptitiously release the locations of three or so mid-level dungeons that would really help.”

“I’ll organize an expedition that should finish around the end of the year. Will you be able to hold on by yourself for that long, or will you need help?”

“It’ll probably be fine so long as the new dungeons don’t begin to grow faster than expected. I’ll let one of you know if I need help. It’ll just be cleanup of level fiftyish stuff, so shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.”

“Right. I’ll begin making the preparations, then. Anyone else?”

There was a silence, so Gramps continued. “Alright. In that case, I suppose we should get to the main topic of the meeting.” He motioned at Tess with a hand as he spoke, “This is Tess, my granddaughter. As of yesterday, she is Fortune’s Appointed and the newest member of the group. As always, I’ve called the meeting so everyone can get to know each other. Tess, if you would?”

He gently prompted Tess to stand up, so she did. “Um…hi, I guess.” She said, suddenly nervous. “I’m Tess, and I’m still new to freelancing and this sort of stuff in general, but I’m Fortune’s Appointed. Um…” She looked to Gramps, unsure of what to say next.

Hi everyone, sorry, I know it’s polite to Descend during the first introduction, but that’s not really in the cards right now. Fortune interjected, an audible voice filling the room, Tess has an experimental Class that we had Amy help make and, long story short, it’s messing with Descents. We’re working on a solution, but for now I’ll just have to talk like this. I look forward to working with you all!

“Thank you, Fortune.” Gramps said, indicating to Tess that she could sit, “For the six of you who haven’t introduced yourselves, it would be great if you would do so now.”

“Valin.” Valin grunted, “Hunt’s Appointed.”

The demon smiled, taking her feet off of the table and standing up. “Don’t be such a grump, Valin.” She teased, “It’s not the girl’s fault that your hunt was interrupted, she probably didn’t even know about you until today.” She turned to Tess, giving her a smile. “I’m Amara Sarlienne, Subterfuge’s Appointed and former Queen of Paumen. I believe you’ve already met my great-granddaughter, she told me all about your little run in at the dungeon.”

Ah, that was why she had looked familiar. Now that Tess was looking more closely, she could see the resemblance; she had the same long black hair, glossy horns and wings, spade tail, and perfectly tanned skin as Maven. Amara gave Tess a wink before sitting back down in her chair, putting her feet back up on the table.

“Name’s Alberich.” A rugged-looking dwarf said kindly. He was on the tall side for dwarves, but otherwise he looked like a stereotypical dwarf; brown hair, huge beard, and dressed in practical heavy clothes. “I’m Magic’s Appointed. I mostly handle experimentation with magic and don’t do much field work, so I don’t get the honor being called best mage in the world like your grandfather, but I know just about anything about Magic there is to know. Ask me if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them.”

“Guess we’ll go, then.” An…elf said, standing up and motioning to a similar looking elf at his side. They were different from normal elves, to the point where Tess wasn’t sure if they even counted as elves anymore. They had the general build and the ears, sure, but they also had pale turquoise skin and blue hair and gills on the side of their necks.

“I’m Carel Suennon, and this is my brother, Meison, Appointed of Sea and Storms respectively.” He took Tess’s gaze in, then smiled. “Aquatic elves. We’re not too common on the surface because the water’s just more comfortable for us. Anyway, the two of us mostly deal with marine problems, so if you need any help in the water, we’re your guys. Anything else to say, Meison?”

Meison shook his head, causing Carel to pat him on the back. “Don’t mind him, he’s just shy around new people. Nothing you did or anything.” He sat back down, looking to the last person at the table.

“That’s me.” A human said, standing up. He was short and had messy black hair, but by far the most attention grabbing part of him was the long coat he was wearing. It had a ton of pockets sown onto it, and each of them appeared to be full of…something that Tess couldn’t quite make out. “I’m Kane Io, Artifice’s Appointed. If you need special gear to accommodate your blessings or Descent abilities, let me know and I’ll get it made for you, no charge. I might need your help gathering materials or something, but for Appointed business it’s free.

“As for other stuff, I’ll give you a hefty discount, but I think even with that I might be well out of your price range, given how new to freelancing you are. How’s the bag treating you, by the way?”

“What?” Tess asked, confused.

“Your magic bag. Your grandfather had me make the ones you and Ellie are using.”

“Oh, right.” She did vaguely remember Eyfura mentioning something along the lines of the bag being one of Kane’s best.  “No problems so far. Been better than I could ask for, honestly.”

Kane smiled. “Glad to hear it.”

“Sorry I’m late!” The door opened, and in scuttled…Rachel, the seamstress that Gramps had taken Tess to her very first day in the Outlands. “I had lost track of time putting the final touches on the cookies I made for everyone last night.” She motioned to a box of cookies that was sitting on her abdomen. “What’d I miss?”

She looked around, saw Tess, and then blinked all eight of her eyes in surprise. “Tess, what are you doing here?”

Gramps smirked. “She’s our newest member. Fortune made her, her Appointed yesterday.”

Understanding dawned on Rachel’s face and she made her way over to the table, taking the box of cookies from her abdomen and placing it on top of the table. “I made extras, so there should be plenty.” She said, “Have we already done introductions?”

“We were just finishing.” Gramps said, “You’re the only one left.”

“Ah, perfect. Well, you already know me, but on top of my day job I’m Hearth’s Appointed.” She moved to an area of the table that, now that Tess was looking, was conspicuously lacking in a chair, sort of…settling herself down in a position that sort of approximated sitting.

“It’s my job to help keep the peace and make people feel welcome in the Outlands, as well as keeping kids safe from those that might harm them.” She smirked somewhat, “Oh, and making sure none of us Appointed start having any fights. Dealing with the fallout of those is not something the gods want to have to do. Everyone here is fine, of course, some of the others are just…a little wild.”

“Anyway, that’s all for our little group, I guess.” She continued, nodding at Gramps, “Anything else in this meeting?”

Gramps shrugged. “Not really. I figured I’d let you all get to know her a little bit.” He paused briefly, then continued. “We’ll probably have another one of these soon, though. I’ve been told that a few gods have their eyes on my other granddaughter, and she already knows about Amy, so I think she’ll be here sooner rather than later.”

Kane raised an eyebrow. “We haven’t had any new members in what…a couple hundred years, and here we are getting two in such a short period of time. Should we be preparing for something big to happen?”

“Well, we’re trying to make Mael’s eventual introduction to wider society as smooth as possible, and we thought that having some big hitters on their side is hopefully going to make them seem like less of a target. That and those two just happened to be perfect candidates for Appointed in their own ways.” Gramps explained. “That being said, you all know the drill.”

He stood up, walking over and grabbing a couple of cookies from the box. “Try not to overwhelm her with too many questions right off the bat, but feel free to ask her whatever. Just know that information on her Class is classified due to its nature, so no one outside this room can know without direct approval from me or one of the gods.”

He sat back down in his chair, handing a cookie to Tess. “Try one, Rachel’s cookies are amazing.” He told her.

She took the cookie and gave it a try. Just as Gramps had said, it was the best she’d had in quite a while.

“So, my great-granddaughter was quite curious as to what exactly you could do.” Amara began, “I won’t tell her, of course, but she did pique my curiosity somewhat. She mentioned that you seemed to inflict ailments much more often than should reasonably be expected, I’m assuming that has something to do with Fortune?”

“Yeah, anything involving my Luck automatically gives me the most favorable result. I actually held back when she was around, generally I always inflict those statuses.” Tess confirmed.

Amara nodded. “Makes sense. So…how would you feel about working with her again? She’s trying to get better, but her parents aren’t having it. They never really approved of the whole freelancing thing, so they’re being purposefully lazy with getting her “teachers”. She’s got talent, but…it’s being squandered, and her parents won’t listen to me when I tell them to get her some actual teachers.”

She sighed. “I know you’re not in a position to teach anyone yourself, but I was hoping you could at least teach her some of the stuff you’ve been learning from Eyfura and The Rumors. It’ll be better than whatever booster is in charge of her now, that’s for sure.”

Eyfura scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Let’s wait until Tess finishes school on Mael before we think about grouping them up, but I’m not wholly opposed to the idea. Their team certainly could benefit from another member or two, and it’s not like money’s going to be an issue for them.”

“You two can talk about that later.” Alberich said, “I’m quite curious about that Class of hers. Fortune said it was experimental, right? What does that mean?”

And so, for the second time that day, Tess settled down and began to tell a group of the world’s strongest about her abilities.