Garth led Rudina to where her possessions had been collected. Not all of it was beyond hope. There were piles of her furniture, piles of her clothing and shoes, books and collectibles, kitchenware, food, and computer hardware. She was ecstatic to see her entire armory room had survived with only being covered in dust. She had used two walk-in safes to store everything and had a workbench set between them with cabinets for gear and supplies. She was glad that she used such good quality safes. Just past that was all the hardware of her home, she couldn’t help but laugh as the wiring, pipes, electrical outlets, solar panels, house battery, and utility meters laid out as if they might be worth something to her now there was no house.
Turning to the elder, “Garth” she pointed to the house trash, “sadly this stuff here goes with the house and is worthless without a home, she then pointed to the furniture, likewise, no home, no need to furnish it, so make of it what you can. The food and kitchenware are useful, albeit smushed, have any cooks in town that can use it take it.”
She then looked at her Armory safes and clothing. “So, magic can adjust the size of my clothing?” she also fished out her camping gear, from a cabinet that was attached to the outside of one of her safes.”
Garth looks at the clothing pile, pulled out a scroll from a tiny bag at his waist, holding out his hands, he chanted what was said on the scroll and raised his hand over the pile of clothing. It all lifted in the air and started to shine a bit.
Rudina was watching with amazement, as the clothing all flew up glowing, and then sat back down neatly folded.
“They are all cleaned, repaired, and sized correctly for you.” Garth said, “it’s a spell I got in the city from a merchant who specializes in such matters. It’s called a Dry-cleaning spell with Alterations and Repair.”
This left Rudina’s jaw hanging when she heard those words. “That is so cool” was all she could say. Forgetting the backpack on the workbench, as she walked over to look closer.
Garth then, pulled a small bag from under his robes, “this is a very valuable gift, I’m sure it will serve you well.” He said as he held it up so she could see it. “It’s a greater bag of holding, much like the one I use.” he pointed to his belt pouch. “It was mine from when I was a young adventuring Wizard. I’m giving it to you as a gift. It has several tons as its maximum capacity and can be used to store anything nonliving, food will be preserved fresh forever.”
He held the tiny bag, so the opening faced the pile of clothing, and said, “Take all.” The clothing jumped into the tiny bag. He closed the bag and handed it to her, “To retrieve something, just think about what you want, and reach in and grab it. To put something in, put it in, size doesn’t matter. You can also say ‘empty all’ if you want to unload the bag completely. Or like I just did ‘Take All’ to place a pile of objects into the bag. there are a few warnings, it won’t open a safe to retrieve an object, and if you put a bag of holding in another bag of holding, you’ll end up with a bag of devouring, which is a nasty thing which consumes everything that it comes in contact with.”
She looked at the bag and then thought “Doctor Martin boots”. She pulled out her old and not as worn-out pair of boots, she then put them back in the bag. “Empty all” as she pointed the bag to the empty space in front of her. The pile of neatly folded clothing flew out of the bag. On top of the pile was her Winchester Model 70 Alaskan, a box of ammunition, and a pile of gold and jewels.
“Wait, what?” she looked at the wealth in front of her.
“As you can see, I’ve also given you your official reward for your help as well, that’s worth about 1000 gold in currency, and another 1000 gold in materials needed for reagents in magic. The bag is my personal gift to you, as is the clothing you received. I saw your books on Magic, and they are useful if not a bit outdated.” He pulled a book out of his own bag of holding. “This is a good study of modern spellcraft, it goes up to about 5th level mage spells, with a selection of Bard spells, that focus on healing and enhancement of abilities and gear. It was the book I used when I first got started. Your skills with ranged weapons, and the lack of heavy melee weapons and armor, says a lot to me. I think you might have talent as a Ranger or Bard, with the possibility of also being a hedge wizard. Before you leave, we’ll test you for the adventure’s guild, I’m sure you have enough skills already to have a high starting level.”
“Thank you,” she said a bit stunned, but yet she was accepting of what has happened, this was no dream, and this new world was amazing.
She then walked to her armory, seeing how impractical it was to load and unload the two large safes, she removed all her weapons and all her ammunition, plus her cleaning kits, camping gear, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tents, combat knives, bows and arrows, crossbows and bolts, slingshot, and a paintball gun with its supplies.
“So, magic has easy to use repair, and easy to use storage, but what about ammunition? I’ve got a lot for now, but without specialized gun stores, my firearm ammunition will run out, is there a fix for that in this world?” She asked him.
“Yes, there is, I’ve known many archers with special quivers that duplicate any ammunition stored. They are very similar to bags of holding but worn on the back.” He replied, “you might be able to buy one for about 10,000 gold in the city, or like most adventurers try to find one while questing. Which is what I would suggest. Also, a trick, pick your favorite weapon. And I’ll teach you a spell to convert any ranged ammunition in the type used for your bonded weapon.”
“Well, that’s easy then.” She drew her service pistol, removed the magazine, cleared, and checked the chamber that it was clear, and held it so he could see it. “Colt m1911a1, .45cal used by the Marine Corps as a Service pistol until they switch to Glocks in the ‘90s. I purchased this one from the government surplus back then. I’ve maintained it as it would have been when in service. It’s been at my side for over twenty years now.”
“I see, that’s a small handheld ‘firearm’, I was wondering what it was.” Garth replied, “ok then, take the spellbook I gave you, and turn to the page with the flower stem as a bookmark,”
She followed his direction, and she read the spell. He then instructed her on how to cast it. She then picked up an arrow and a gold coin and chanted the spell as he directed. The arrow became a .45cal bullet in its casing just like what she usually used in her pistol, although both the bullet and casing looked to be made of brass.
“Oh, wow, that is awesome!” she exclaimed. “I did magic, real honest to goodness magic!”
“We’re not done, that bullet you made won't work yet, as the magic that powers it hasn’t been created.” He said, “from what I understand, you need to nowcast the spell on the page marked with the red-colored leaf to make it work. the reproduction is always slightly flawed, in this case, the ammunition is made up of only one magical metal, so the chemical reaction that empowers the projectile portion won't happen without special magic.”
She turned to the page he marked for her and cast the spell that he indicated. The spell also cost one gold coin, but the case had a slight reddish tone to it that it didn’t have before.
“May I try it” she asked.
“Yes, I insist actually.” He pointed to human-shaped dummies on the opposite side of the courtyard. Clearly, they were used for martial training.
“Cool,” she grabbed two pairs of ear protectors and two pairs of cheap shooting glasses. She put on one set of each and handed the elder the other. “You should wear these.”
She walked up to a mark on the ground which looked to be about ten yards from the dummies, loaded the magic bullet as the second round in the magazine. She then loaded the pistol and took a standing two-handed shooting stance. Relaxed her breathing and squeezed off a perfect headshot. In the mind's eye, she made a slight prayer and squeezed off the second shot. She noticed no difference, she took the third shot to be sure there were no complications.
While holding her stance she cleared the weapon, checked the chamber, and then bent over picking up her brass. She noticed the magical one was fading into smoke. “Well that’s convenient, don’t have to pick up my brass afterward.” She holstered the weapon, and walked back to the bench between the safe, her DD was still sitting there from yesterday. “Time for cleaning and inspections, and then I’ll load my weapons and ammo into the bag. I’m gonna need a chair.” She looked to the furniture, although she had chairs there, not one of them was in a condition to be used. The elder, pulled out a wand from his cloak and with a word and a flick of his wrist a broken chair flew next to them and magically healed the damage.
“Neat trick, I guess that’s a special item or something?” She asked.
“Naw, the instructions to make a wand and to use that spell are in your book, it’s just a pure wizard spell, unlike the bard stuff I had marked.” He replied.
“I figured bard spells were songs” she commented.
“You did sing them, you just didn’t notice it.” He chuckled.
“Oh, great, I’m the singing Marine now.” She joked.
