Classes went okay, for the most part. I introduced Argentian as my bodyguard to the teachers and left my classmates wondering. And Argentian behaved himself for the most part, standing in the back of the class room. You'd have to have pretty high Perception, or be watching him like me, to notice the occasional drink he took from his flask. Too bad most of the class was watching him then, huh.
I met up with Sinia and Suine for lunch and invited them along to train against wolves sometime, though they quite reasonably turned me down. After lunch we parted ways and I found myself back in the evocation tower. I found my seat and Argentian stood in the back, still taking sips from his flask. I swear that thing has to be a magic item since it never seems to run out of booze.
As I was busy wondering about the mysterious flask Tina came up to me. “We'll probably be sent to fight wolves again, don't you think? Want to partner up again?” She asks. I look at her, about to agree, and notice that she seems nervous.
“Sure thing.” I say. “ It's probably better to partner up with people you're familiar with, don't you think?”
“Definitely.” She responds then asks, “Who's the Dragonborn in the back? He drinks like a Dwarf.”
“That would be my bodyguard, Argentian Frostbane. My Uncle hired him to watch my back on any further hunting missions. So good news, we'll have a front-liner to tank for us this time.”
“Wait, really?! That's awesome! Having him up front will make our lives a lot easier. Though he's wearing plate mail so sneaking is out of the question now.”
“Not necessarily. We can still try to sneak around and let him get targeted first, that way we squishy folk won't be targeted first. Honestly that's probably the best idea, his armor will keep him protected and we can sling spells from behind.” I say. Just then Mr. Thomson comes in and starts getting everyone's attention.
“All right everyone! It's time to sit down and shut up!” Tina goes back to her seat and we all start paying attention to Mr. Thomson. It's actually hard not to, he's really good at capturing people's attention and holding it. That's one of the reasons I like his classes so much. Or at least I did, until he started making us hunt wolves by ourselves. At least now I've got Argentian watching my back.
“Alright. Yesterday didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Only one group managed to take down any wolves while the rest of you immediately fell apart as soon as you got ambushed. Honestly you can't expect to sneak up on a wolf in the forest when you're just level one wizards, it's obvious they're gonna find you first. It's how you react to that that's important. We're gonna go out and fight some more wolves again, but this time an instructor will be with each group. We'll be there to give advice and prevent major injuries. Be glad, alright?” He gives a little speech and manages to rile up almost everyone, except for my little group who managed to kill two wolves on our last outing.
Oh, I have a question for teacher. “Mr. Thomson, in the event of injury will you be handing out potions again?”
“Yes, I will, but only once everyone is back or in the case someone is in danger of dying. So watch yourselves.”
Good to know we don't have to worry about dying for real. If this world works on D&D logic, which so far it has, dropping to zero hp doesn't mean you're dead unless in extreme cases. Such as Disintegration or a Vorpal blade. Basically even at zero hp you have the chance of coming back, though it will still majorly suck. And at higher levels, assuming you know a cleric, resurrection is also possible. Expensive, but possible.
“Alright you lot, time to head out! You're going in the same groups as last time, get used to it! The other instructors are waiting by the forest so let's not keep them waiting any longer. Also you there! Yes you Mr. Dragonborn. Who are you?”
Oh, I was wondering when he'd bring it up. I kindly explain Argentian's purpose for being here to him. He just shrugs and ushers everyone out. Talk about adaptable. Soon we reach the forest's edge and I spy two more adults. I recognize them as researchers more than teachers, though I've never directly interacted with them. They partner off with the other two groups and we get Mr. Thomson. Not that I'm complaining or anything but this is how things should have been done from the beginning, sending three groups off into the forest with only one person as backup in case of emergency is stupid. Of course I won't say any of that out loud though. We quickly organize ourselves with Argentian up front and the rest behind and trek into the forest, trailed by Mr. Thomson at a respectable distance.
We keep our eyes peeled for tracks as we march into the forest and after some time Tina spots some. I check it out with Tina and we determine that at least four wolves have come this way and are headed deeper into the forest. The tracks are only a couple hours old so there's a chance we could catch up to them. We start following the tracks but I quickly lose track of them while everyone else seems to see them just fine. Feeling slightly put out I follow along meekly. We also start trying to be quiet, well all of us except for Argentian. We do better than normal, but still make plenty of noise.
We hike for around an hour before we see two wolves headed our way, coming straight for Argentian. Suddenly I hear Allgran calling out and turn to see a wolf jumping from the brush. Tina immediately fires off a Chromatic Orb and burns the wolf to death. At the same time Veynestin shot a Fire Bolt at one of the wolves coming from the front, but he misses badly and accidentally hits Argentian, who shrugs off the damage like it's nothing.
Argentian backed up till he was next to me, I assume to make sure he could protect me since that's his main job. He made sure he was between me and the incoming wolves. Just then one of the incoming wolves lunges at him but its attack just slides off his armor, accomplishing nothing. Suddenly another wolf lunges out of the brush to my left and it's coming right for me. I was terrified, I'm not ashamed to admit it; scary things are scary. But Argentian leaned over with perfect timing and put his shield between me and the wolf. The wolf bounced off the shield and snarled before argentian stabbed forth with his rapier, nailing the wolf in the shoulder.
Another wolf, thinking Argentian to be distracted, jumps at him, but once again its teeth slide off his armor. Allgran then finishes his chant and motions to cast Chromatic Orb at the wolf that just landed. The wolf has no chance to dodge and ends up fried by lightning. Seeing my chance I draw my dagger and stab at the wolf who had tried to attack me. It's injured shoulder slows its reaction just enough for me to pierce it's brain, killing it uneventfully. At the same time a volley of Fire Bolts comes from both Tina and Veynestin burning the last wolf alive and ending the battle.
We wait around for a few minutes to make sure there aren't any more, but there are none forthcoming. Then I notice my character sheet trying to get my attention and open it up. Apparently I leveled up. Wait, what? I check my exp and see I only have 231, a good 69 short of the level two threshold, but the level up is right there waiting for my input. What the fuck? No, I can think about this later. Right now we're in the middle of the forest where wolves could jump out at any time. No time to be messing around.
I make sure everyone's okay, and no one took any damage besides Argentian who just shrugs it off. The thing that hurts us most is the two spell slots used up in that battle. That's a quarter of our total. We take a vote among us five and decide to take a short rest nearby and then continue on. Looks like everyone is getting used to the feeling battle, even me. Despite my fear in the moment I think I handled myself okay. I could have been better, faster, for sure, but it's nothing to worry about for now.
We move over to a small clearing nearby and settle in to rest. We're not sleeping so we remain alert, but for the next thirty minutes nothing comes out and we recover our hp and spell slots. Something a lot of people don't know is that wizards can recover a few spell slots on a short rest. It's only a fraction of the maximum, only lower level slots, and only once per day, but it's possible. Fully recovered we set out into the forest again.
