[Jean] Chapter 13: The Evacuation of Tathi VIllage

[Throndir]

《Chapter 12: Rescue Operation

Chapter 14: Escape from the Treants》

《Chapter 13: The Evacuation of Tathi VIllage》

Soon enough, Ren and Dalina followed you to the platform. After that, Amie's father nodded towards Rosalie and raised his hand in a farewell gesture. The earth beneath you situated itself so that it was slightly tilted the direction back to the estate, and it had even made a depression into the platform for an easier to find to maintain a foothold.

"Karn Eldricksen." The man finally stated once the platform was speeding back towards the estate. "Alchemist of Meldoran, but from what I can gather... This place we are in now, isn't Meldoran." He spoke his words more of a statement than a question. "And what are the names of Tathi village's heroes?"

"The one in the green hair is named Dalina. She follows... uhh... him." She pointed at you. "As this guys is one of the heroes of this world, the other girl before is one of them too, that one's name is Rosalie." Amia replied. "I don't know the tentacle girl's name though."

"It is rude to point at others, Amie." Karn said. Amie rolled her eyes though and didn't respond.



Once nearer the mansion, the ground in front of the speeding platform suddenly gave way, as the platform lowered and sunk into the ground. The group was still moving however, and soon enough you found yourself underground. As you traveled that short distance underground, it seemed as if the dirt was simply displaced and moved around you. A few more short seconds and there was a stone wall in front of the group, but that too parted, creating an opening wide enough for everyone to go through. Everyone was pushed through the newly created opening, with the dirt that was pushing you soon turning to stone and floor which made up the underground of the state. Once everyone was inside the wall behind you closed up. Looking back, it looked as if the stone wall was never disturbed in the first place. There were lights in the room, and you realized that the lights was more akin to the ones back on Earth, it had the same kind of glow you would expect from fluorescent lamps.

There were some others in there as well, presumably the villagers of Tathi village.

"Is the mayor of Tathi village here?" Karn asked as he scanned the group. He then glanced towards you before the villagers could response. "A hero is here to save us."

[pringerbeam]

     "Jean's the name and this is Ren."  Said Jean as they sped towards the mansion.  Upon arriving the the shelter Jean looked around at the decor.  "Impressive, what makes the lights work?  You don't have electrical technology do you?  That would make you the most technologically advanced people in this world."

[Throndir]

"The most technologically advanced?" Karn looked at you strangely. "From your statement, I am going to assume this new world we are in is quite backwards then. And how do you know of electricity, Jean? If this is as advanced as you claim, then I don't understand why you would know?" Karn asked curiously as he began studying your face. "Unless... This phenomenon that brought my village here, isn't so rare?"

"But yes. These are powered by electricity. Specifically we use alchemy to continually charge and replenish a series of metals and elements. We call it electrochemistry."

[pringerbeam]

     "Simple, I'm not from here.  I don't think any of the heroes actually are.  From what I understand the nations of this world seem to be somewhere around medieval or renaissance levels of technology...  If those have any meaning to someone that may be from a world that never had a medieval or renaissance period."  Replied Jean. "Though there is all the magic instead.  The people's skill with that seems to be a cut above yours if what your daughter tells me is true."

[Throndir]

"Meldoran, the country where this village and its inhabitants are from, was a country that developed off of alchemy and the sciences that off-shoot from it. It was mainly due to the efforts of the large Alchemy families, the Eldricksen's included, that had been ushering this age for the past hundred years. The first alchemy-powered railway systems would have launched this year, but since we're now here, it looks like I'll be missing that."

"If the magic in this world is really that impressive, I'd very much like to see how it works. I did notice that tornado earlier. I had thought the demons must have created it somehow, was it from one of you?"

"The goddess grants us this magic." Dalina responded. "Sorry... It's a bit hard to understand all the words you are saying, I'm still trying to get used to the accent too. But I was the one who created the tornado earlier. But... Believe me, compared to Jean, and the other hero, that spell was nothing."

Karn nodded. "Meldoran had its own hero too a few decades ago, so I could understand... But the goddess? There is a religion back in my world that worship a goddess, though, I doubt we are talking of the same one."


Eventually one of the townsfolk had come up.

"Amie! Karn! You're back. Thank god..." The man who spoke was a heavily-built man, sporting a trimmed beard, and though was large, was a healthy mix between muscle and fat. "I'm the mayor of this village. We've been holed up here in Karn's mansion when the demons came down from the mountains." He reached his hand out to you in a handshake gesture. "You're the hero little Amie found us then?"

[pringerbeam]

     "Not one, but two heroes actually.  The other is fighting the demons above the vllage right now.  I came here to get you all moving.  A larger horde of demons marches for the town and as easily as we might have been able to handel the demons that were already here, we are not in great enough force to confront what comes."  Said Jean to the mayor before turning back to Amie's father.  "We will need to discuss this a bit later once we are in a less precarious situation.  For now, what supplies do you have here?  Do you have any wounded?  What about wagons that we could use to carry everything we can out of the town?"

[Throndir]

"An army marches towards us? My goodness." The mayor replied shaking his head as he patted his forehead with a napkin. "Most of the villagers homes were abandoned, and such most of their belongings. The only thing anyone has on them is what you see on us now. Did you and the other hero take care of the other demons in the village? There are raging fires in some of the homes that the demons were creating when we were fleeing... But we may be able to salvage the important things." He then stared you in the eye.

"How far are the demons? How long do we have for evacuation? Our village's pride and joy, the Eldricksen family, really are the only treasures we have. Them and their alchemy. Some of the residents have their own wagons and horses, but I've seen a demon kill poor Rich's steeds as we were fleeing, it's been long enough that I doubt anything lives on the other side of the river. The wagons, if they haven't been burned, should be there though. Our host, Mr. Eldricksen, has a few wagons of his own. And we've made a count, there 126 of us here, from 232... And among the 126, there are 11 wounded, only 3 of those are wounded enough that they'd need help or a stretch to move around."

[pringerbeam]

     "Perhaps 80 miles away, but that is merely the innumerable horde we could see from the skies as we flew to the village.  I'm not sure how quickly the demon's forces are moving but a small and fast advance force could be here at any time if the flying demons already infesting the skies are only the tip of the iceberg.  I don't know if they even take breaks or make some semblance of camp so for all I know they could be here tonight.  Our relieve force will be here by nightfall and that is the latest that we should plan on leaving by."  Jean surveyed the room to get an idea of what kind of shape the villagers were in. 
     "I don't know if we have time for a firefighting operation unless you have something that could quickly douse the flames.  I'd say that what burns must be left to burn.  Don't worry about not having enough horses.  If we can just chain together what wagons we can into a train I'll see to it we get out of here.  As for you Mr Pride and Joy..."  He said looking to Amie's father.  "Since you have the most intact house, I'm guessing you still have some assets that can be saved.  Start gathering what you can.  This might sound petty but let's face it: you look like you're loaded so everything that can be sold or bartered with that we can carry needs to go.  Gold, jewels, precious metals...  You know the deal.  Also, anything you have that can teach people about your alchemy would be a great boon to this world.  That means books, diagrams, whatever unique tools you would need reverse engineered."

[Throndir]

"Very well... I wasn't planning on leaving this estate, but if the demons are on their way, even if I close off the upper levels, this underground basement lab would be found. I'll begin collecting the fragile things. Amie, I need you to collect all my research." He then turned towards the mayor. "Have everyone else gather what they can. start with my estate."

A crowd of people had begun to gather at the entrance, and filing themselves in the room to better listen.

The mayor nodded as he patted his forehead again. "Everyone, you heard the hero. Mr. Eldricksen has offered the use of his wagons. There will be no firefighting exercises, and if your homes are destroyed, be careful and do not go in. We don't want to lose any more lives than we have... Right now is not the time for mourning as according to the hero," he glanced at you, "a hoard of demons is on their way here now. Bring only your most important belongings. The demons could be here anytime from tonight or a few days, but we need to be able to go as soon as possible."

The mayor shook his head. In a quieter voice he spoke, only you, your companions, Amie, and Karn were able to hear. "I hope we make it out of this alive. There are some that have lost their families, not just the fact we're cut off from our own country." He shook his head.

State specific actions of what you plan to do. We'll figure out what rolls are needed depending on the actions (if any).

[pringerbeam]

     Jean responded to the mayor in an equally low tone. "I can't make that promise.  As I said a battle continues to be fought above and I don't know how long our forces might last.  They are quite significant;y outnumbered. any dallying will cost lives."  He then spoke in a louder voice so that the villagers could hear.  "Good.  Now, we need to get going as quickly as we can.  Mr Eldricksen, if you could show me  what you think the most fragile things are?  I may have a way of ensuring that they are safe from being damaged during the evacuation."

[info]Will try and fit as much of the fragile objects in my Inventory ability as possible then help Amie collect the research.  Will also be keeping an eye out to see if I notice anything that might be particularly valuable that we could take along that I can fit in my inventory ability.

Perception [blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 8 + 13, total 21[/blockquote]
Appraise (if applicable)[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+16 : 10 + 16, total 26[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

"Come follow me." Karn said simply as he beckoned you onwards as he himself started towards in the further sections of his lab. Ren had begun to follow, along with Dalina, though Amie stopped her short.

"Hey Dalina? Can I actually borrow you for a bit? There's a lot of research, and books, and loose leaf papers and diagrams scattered about. I don't think my father really trusts any of the other villagers as much, but you can help me gather everything?"

Dalina glanced towards you for a moment, but then back to Amie.

"Well... Alright. Jean! I'll be helping Amie with getting the research."

Karn eventually lead the way into his lab, and soon came towards something that looked like a bank's vault. Or at least, the stereotypical one you see in movies back on Earth. There was no visible locking mechanism, but he did place his hand on a section of the vault, and after that it swung open. Inside was a variety of both sealed containers, vials, and even more metallic boxes.

"The Eldricksen family's collection of rare liquids and metals. Many of these were refined manually through alchemical magic and painstakingly collected by my predecessors. Amie would have eventually inherited this all." He glanced towards you. "Some are volatile compounds, do not drop them or move them around vigorously."

State what you do, if you plan to handle or touch any of them, do a DEX check for the entire process. State whether or not Ren is helping.

[pringerbeam]

     "Ren, go ahead and help Dalina.  I should be able to do this work myself."  Commanded Jean as they stood in front of the vault, waiting for Amie's father to access the room.  Once it was opened, Jean whistled at the contents as they were explained to him.  "Quite the fortune you must have here.  Now, if this works, don't be surprised.  I'm pretty sure the items I am holding onto are safe.  Wherever they might be.  I haven't had much of a chance to test this power out yet."  Jean approached the various containers, picked one up, then tried to will it into his inventory, taking care not to jostle it.  "Inventory."  He whispered, checking the status of his capacity as he started his work.

[info]DEX check[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+15 : 5 + 15, total 20[/blockquote]
If successful putting one box into his inventory, Jean will continue with as many boxes as he can fit in his inventory until he either fills his inventory to capacity or empties the room.[/info]

[Throndir]

The moment you willed something into your inventory, it disappeared. Karn was watching intently.

"Magic of this world? Or the so-called heroic blessings?" Karn asked as he watched the containers disappear one by one. Through this you realized that you needed to be physically touching the objects that you wanted to store. Containers, or anything container-like that you touched had its own contents whisked away. Looking at the menu it listed the items separately, though indented for items that were inside containers.

After around 30 minutes of work, you managed to collect everything, while Karn helped bring out some of the other items, though you noticed that he kept a few vials for himself on his body. Altogether you managed to pick up around 10 kegs, at least a hundred metallic containers ranging from 1 ft by 1 ft, to much heavier 3 ft. by 3 ft. containers. And hundreds of jars and vials containing various liquids. You didn't find the work to be strenuous at all, you didn't even really have to pick up each of the items, as touching them and willing to put them into your inventory worked just the same.

Eventually you managed to store his entire collection into your Inventory. You had a large amount of capacity remaining, but due to the metals you placed inside, the weight limit quickly started to run out.

[okay]Inventory
Max Weight: 5,000 lbs | Max Capacity: 1,000 cubic ft. | Weight Remaining: 200 lbs | Capacity Remaining: 700 cubic feet
Search: _______________________

Stored Objects:
Typhoon Spear
Metallic Container
-Refined Titanium
Metallic Container
-Refined Gold
Metallic Container
-Refined Titanium
-Refined Tungsten
Metallic Container
-Refined Rhodium
-Refined Osmium
-Refined Tungsten
Metallic Container
-Refined Orichalcum
Metallic Container
-Refined Platinum
Metallic Container
-Refined Iridium
Metallic Container
-Refined Ruthenium
Metallic Container
-Refined Palladium
Metallic Container
-Refined Rhenium
Metallic Container
-Refined Mithril
Metallic Container
-Refined Silver
...
...
...
Vial
-Nitroglycerin
Vial
-Mercury
Vial
-Gallium
Keg
-Mercury[/okay]

[pringerbeam]

     "It is a blessing I think.  Come to think of it, you seem awfully unimpressed by the magics of this world."  Noted Jean as they finished collecting the materials.  Patting his hands together he motioned for Karn to take the lead.  "I assume we should go help Amie and the others with their task?"  As they got going he continued where he had left off.  "I personally was quite surprised by magic when I first encountered it.  Is there similar magic back in your world?  Or is it all alchemical in nature?  Where I come from we had no magic.  No alchemy either. or at least not the kind of alchemy you practice, as far as I know."  His mind drifted to The Book.  From what little he had read so far it seemed that the ravings of history's maddest quacks had enough truth to them.  Perhaps the mercury poisoned brains that history mocked were on to something.  Something he should try looking into later when he had a chance.  "Instead we had advanced technology that was quite beyond what they have here and even what you had in your world.  You seem to have a good grasp of the atomic nature of the base elements.  We ran with that to a technological level maybe four or five centuries beyond what they have in this world or at least what I have traveled of it.  Which isn't much mind you."

[Throndir]

Location: Eldricksen Mansion - Underground Vault
Date: Day 7 (Jean), Day 9 (Rosalie) - Time: 30 minutes after arriving at Estate

"The magics in this world is impressive, though your companion, the green-haired one, mentions it comes from the goddess. Written in their holy book in my world, it was said that there were magic casters that could bend the 'elements' to their will, those rudimentary ones of fire, air, earth, and water. But these days, it is science that prevails through, even alchemy, though makes use of that power within us called mana, that gives creation to the mysteries, is centered around a series of learning and experimentation over the course of centuries when alchemical magicka was first discovered. Before that time were tales of casters, though, whether or not they truly existed is a different matter."

"The magic to control the winds to create a tornado is fascinating, but I'm sure, given enough time and research, one would be able to figure out how the phenomenon comes to be. As for whether or not the 'goddess' really aids with? Who knows. I was never one to be much into religion, but with this being a new world, who is to say that there is entity that is so far removed and powerful from you or me, that they could be considered something akin to a god? Perhaps even this creature can have some control over the magic in this world, and even 'grant' that magic to their 'followers'. Do you see where I'm going with this? I prefer to view things objectively, rather than take someone's word for granted. I try to teach Amie these same fundamentals, for it is a set that will see her succeed in her life as an alchemist. It would have granted her success in our original world, and our country of Meldoran. Ours excelled in the composition, reactions, and breakdown of the true elements. Our magic gave way to that thinking, and the use of alchemy has indeed advanced my culture far."

He began to step out of the vault, and even once you were out, he didn't seem to close the vault doors either.

"Gathering all of these was much faster than I expected it to take. Likely Amie and your companions are still going through the research. However, here is actually one more thing I must attend to... alone. I will meet the rest of you shortly where the research notes are gathered."