Full Immersion [for what it's worth]

> Let's go back to our portal samurai

How about world breaker guy?

This would be a tie for votes, so let's just do them in that order, then.

---

Louis wakes up in the morning feeling perfectly fine. He gets up and almost without thinking about it stretches himself backwards in a way that would definitely give less flexible people some kind of spinal injury.

Once back in town, it had already been night. The shopkeeper was in the process of closing up when they showed up, and he was happy with the results. They traded the bear-finding necklace for the money they had before and a magical compass; he even insisted on paying them back the price of the map they boughtearlier.

The boarding house had a couple of separate rooms, fortunately sparing him and Jeannette any need to work out sleeping arrangements. He heads out through the halls to the balcony and looks out at the sunrise through the trees. He hears someone else coming out nearby, and some combination of senses of hearing and smell inform him that it's Jeannette."...Yeesh."
"Can't think of anything to say?"
"I dunno. I just can't get over it. That s*** looks real. I mean, I got less experience with sunrises than a lot of other people my age, but I can't tell the difference."
"I do not think it should be surprising that looks real, considering the number of other real-looking things we have so far encountered," she says.
"Yeah, but.." he sighs. "I didn't have time to think about it, y'know? It's like, all my life I've played games, and they've got better and better at looking real. The latest systems have a problem where they look so real that they look fake again, like f***in' barbie dolls or whatever. I actually like games that don't even try to look real better, but seein' s*** like this? I just..I dunno.
"This is the dream of the people who keep talkin' about virtual reality and motion control like it's the next big thing. I always argue with 'em, say there's no way to make something feel real enough without gettin' rid of all the bulls*** inherent in those kinda devices, an' even if you do, you end up makin' a backdoor that lets someone else hack your brain or some s***. But d***."

They stay standing there for a good half-minute before the elf woman from before shows up near the base of the tree. "Louis, Archimedia. The elder would like a word, if you don't mind."

They look at each other for a second or two, and then Louis turns his head downard "No prob!"

The inside of the central tree of Haestros looks like a very busy alchemist's laboratory, with various vials, pots, and bottles scattered all over the place. The chief himself is like another, particularly elaborate fixture of the place, wandering around constantly in his ceremonial-looking garb, mixing this or tasting that every now and then. He manages to seem old, which isn't easy for a race that apparently never develops wrinkles; at least his hair seems to have mostly grayed out from having been the same color as the elf woman's. A bench carved out of the other end of the room from the entrance currently holds the priest and warrior from the day before.

"Bark," says the elf woman on entering, with the cat-man and human in tow. "Bark!"
"Eh?" The chief looks up from being bent over a couple of bottles, having been quite engrossed in the precise appearance of their contents, and says, "Oh! Sorry about that. Er..these two would be the young ones who helped our friends here, would they?"
"Yes."
He gets a rather wide grin. "Ah, yes! We're very lucky you two showed up yesterday when you did." He stands up fully, becoming quite obviously taller than anyone else in the room, and walks over to give each of them a very firm handshake. "Pleasure to meet you. M'name's Bark, if you didn't gather. I suppose you've already met Root?"
Louis loooks quizically at Jeannette, who says, "She had not yet given us the pleasure of her name, but yes."

The chief nods. "Well, ah, I'd love to say that thanking you was the whole reason for calling you over here, but honestly, we have a bit of a conundrum on our hands."
Root, who by now has found probably the only empty spot on the entire wall-space of the room and leaned against it, arms crossed, nods. "We here in Haestros are worshipers of Hale. If you don't know, Hale governs nature--plants, mostly--and is on very good terms with Solaris. As such, it would be wrong for us to send one of Solaris' priests out to Laerta, especially injured as he is now, without sufficient protection."

The silent warrior frowns, shaking his head. "She doesn't mean to say you can't handle it. It's a matter of courtesy," says the chief.
The priest says, "Yes, and while one protector was considered enough when we started, well, we didn't expect to encounter anything like that giant bear. It would help to have someone else to watch our backs, wouldn't it?"
The warrior gives a shrug, not agreeing but not arguing, either.
"Right. And I know Root could do the job; it would do her some good to see the outside world a bit, anyway. But she won't."
She sighs. "Someone has to keep Haestros safe, especially with beasts like that around. I'm the most competent fighter in the whole village, and I won't be away while it burns down."
"Personally, I'd rather it didn't burn down at all, me in it or not," says the chief, which she responds to with another, mildly-annoyed sigh.

"The point is, we'd like to hire you two to take care of them on the road to Laerta," says Root. "If you're not too busy...exploring, that is."

>

SpoilerShow

I'm going to note here that if you want to accept the proposal, now is a perfect time to negotiate what the actual price of taking on this quest would be. It doesn't have to include money at all, of course.

mA, I definitely meant it as a compliment! I appreciate it, since I actually do concern myself at least some with stuff like that a bit, because when describing an action scene I generally want to balance a cool idea for a move with what can realistically (or at least imaginably) be done with the weapon in question. Sometimes I swing around an imaginary sword in a way I think a character would to try and get a handle on how to describe it, since if I can't even swing around an imaginary sword that way, there's no hope for it happening with a real one.

I doubt there's much precedent for using a bladed protractor and very sturdy compass as weapons, though.