Alan, Sir Notsurewhathesdoinginparticularatthecurrentmomentforlackofaspecificobjectivetoaccomplishbuthappytotagalongandengageinsillinessandoccasionalcatastrophicmishapsforthesakeofcomedyandinfuriatingthemorestickinthebuttpeopleinafivemileradius
Interview Rickman and discover more about his alien culture and people. Also keep fussing over Bill And Ted in the meantime - make an unnecessarily big deal about getting him the best of treatment, up to and including taking water from recruits to give to Bill And Ted instead of them. Call it motivational training or whatever.
Rickman has a peculiar way of speaking and Alan has a peculiar way of speaking and understanding things. Do you actually want something reliable out of this or just general knowledge?
You're next to a well. You literally have enough water to drown the plant. It has kept on growing during the last couple of days, a bit faster than you would expect a normal plant to grow but nothing supernatural.
Ike, General of the People
"Water Monks! What an interesting concept."
Quiz time! Recruits, what do you know about the Water Monastery of Chizra? Do they let people in? And how accessible are these Nomad Traders?
EDIT: oh, and most importantly do they teach water-based martial arts?
They inform you that they usually do let people in their first circle, where people can drink their sacred water, talk to initiates and trade. They are generally kind but reclusive. They say that this well is actually maintained by the monastery as a kindness to travelers. Rumors say the monks of the inner circles cannot speak at all, instead focusing all their will on meditating the nature of water. All of that is speculation, however. It takes years for an initiate to reach the inner circles and by that time they're probably completely indoctrinated, because they've never heard of anyone leaving the monastery. They don't even know what the inner circle looks like, for it is always obscured by fog, even with the strongest of winds. Very few people go to join them and even fewer stay, for life is not easy there, especially for the initiates. Most of them are either water magic users looking for an alternative to the Tower, people in trouble looking for a place they could disappear in or people that are searching for something to devote themselves on.
As for martial arts, they are certain they can defend themselves. They've heard stories of the rare occasions where a particularly dangerous criminal or troublemaker was trapped in ice. An isolated place like that is probably also on the receiving end of the rare raid of bandits too foolish or desperate to attack anyplace else, although they don't know any reliable stories about how they deal with those. They reason that any small group could be easily dealt with, as they could just close the gates and watch them helplessly try to scale the walls. The stories say that about a hundred years ago the dragon Grazisti attacked the monastery and entered the inner circle. After three days filled with deafening roars, the dragon run away from the fog severely wounded and missing its tail. So any large group attacking them would have to believe themselves stronger and more cunning than a dragon.
The monastery is the first stop of the Nomad Traders in this kingdom before they head further in. And their village, Road's End is usually the second. It's always a big deal when a caravan passes through the village, so they know a thing or two about them. They usually sell them food for gold or other precious materials and goods they might be carrying that they could later resell at a higher value, maybe even spend their savings on some fancy new tool, although the best goods like magical items are kept for the capital. They say it's been a while since a caravan has passed through the village, so if you're lucky you might find them camping near Chizra. Even if they are not there, if you've got something the monks would want and they end up liking you, you could trade with them for some kind of water enchantment or magical item.
<You mentioned 'his kind' in reference to River, what are his kind? From your perspective and all.>
<Bond formers. We can feel it. It is like a smell. Very distinctive to those who have been touched by it, or so they say. They are symbiotes. Or parasites, depending on your perspective. They unnaturally empower people and in turn feed on their power. Their bond complements their power and help the pair survive. They come at all shapes and sizes, although they tend to choose a form that better suits the one they have bonded with. This usually translates to a great desire to protect and serve the one they have bonded with, even if it is to their detriment. But they also use their bond to try to form strong emotional connections and make the one they have bonded with feel like they need them, so the relationship is less one-sided than one might think. Those that come into being without bonding with someone while they were still forming usually don't bond until they reach adulthood, at which point they either choose to bond with someone out of respect or as part of an arrangement or are beaten into submission and forced into a bond. The three reasons are usually hard to tell apart. They tend to be solitary creatures. When two meet it is usually either to mate or to fight, the former aided by them usually being genderless. They can also spread their influence by warping beings of other species. Few of them exist at one time and even fewer of them are actually known to exist. They are even rarer than dragons in that way. Their connection to the dark is usually made apparent by their ability to empower themselves through the consumption of the soul of other living things.><From your perspective, what kind am I?>
<We do not know. We have knowledge of many magical beings, but certainly not all of them. What we know comes from our studies and experiences. And we have not come into contact with any creature resembling you. We can feel that you have been influenced by a bond former and that you appear to have a very unorthodox flow in your magic, but that is as much as we can tell. Magical analysis is not a primary ability of ours.><What do you think of Zechariah and Theri?>
<Not much. We have not seen them act enough to form an opinion. They are your companions and we will treat them as such. Unless you wanted us to estimate what kind of a threat they could pose to you or how much they could help you, but we believe that you know them better than we do and can better answer those questions. Or unless you think they are hiding something that we can sense, in which case we would need some time to study their magical flow, preferably with their consent.>Help train our recruits.
Get some of them manufacturing slings and collecting rocks. Enough for everyone without a better ranged option. Including two for myself.
((Sorry for lack of activity))
I'll keep the training in mind as a long term goal.
Your performance during today's trip is excellent. Not only you manage to create two perfect slings, not only you help the recruits craft some pretty sweet slings of their own using spare supplies, you also help them gather ammunition and help them train, setting up targets on the road and then shooting them as you drive by, significantly improving their accuracy and speed. Their coordination is still a bit lacking though and more than once you have to dodge out of the way of a clumsy swing or help them disentangle their slings. But considering this is not the best of training environments, you'd say you did pretty well.
((Yay thanks a ton for taking care of Theri! 
I like how I've gotten San and carried him along the way))
Approach Ike, inquire about the status of his 'soldiers', inquire if I can train them in unarmed combat instead--suggest to them, then to him, if those who do not wish to fight can focus as gatherers instead; supply is just as important as those who fight.
Approach Ike, inquire about the status of his 'soldiers', inquire if I can train them in unarmed combat instead--suggest to them, then to him, if those who do not wish to fight can focus as gatherers instead; supply is just as important as those who fight.
They're just the way I like them - charmingly peculiar! And sure, go ahead and teach them kung fu and wilderness survival skills, should prepare them adequately for the Water Monastery!
I'll keep the training in mind as a long term goal.
You spend most of today's wagon ride trying to teach the men a thing or two about basic first aid and survival. You also demonstrate and explain some simple fighting techniques and have them practice the moves, punching the air or deflecting non-existent blows. You think it went pretty well for a first lesson. Although they were reluctant at first, most of them end up appreciating what you teach them and appear eager for more.
However, not everything is rosy. It becomes apparent during the course of the lesson that a couple of them severely dislike you for some reason. Not only do they refuse to participate (you have no problem with that, you're not forcing them to learn) they also try to do anything they can to disrupt your lesson, claiming that you are not fit to teach others about anything. You try to confront them about the matter to try to understand why they are doing this and try to make the situation better but that only makes things worse. The two of them make some rude comments about you and your mother then walk away from the group. San is pretty upset by this outburst and it affects the concentration of your other students for a while later. Well, at least they're not bothering you anymore.
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