Downtime 5 - Wujen

It was a rough couple of days, but Wujen managed to make it back home alive and significantly richer. His wife gave him a bit of grief on the way home, but in the end he understood it was out of love and the couple spent the night playing doctor. Because Wujen was still quite injured and he certainly needed all the doctoring he could get.

WuJen lay down in his bed, not anxious to visit his wife's cantankerous family but still excited to go.  Leaving his body and floating out into astral space, he embraced Tatsuo and together they moved in the direction of the metaplane she called home.

"You are growing, already you are equal to most mages.  How much more of you is there?" he said with a mischevious tone.  Blushing with a mixture of embarasment and annoyance she says "Are you saying you can't handle me?  There is more than most of you mortals can even comprehend, your view of reality is so very restricted and narrow.  It's a wonder any of us make it through at all."  With a suggestive arch of her brow as she looks him over "Still, some of the sights are pretty enough to be worth the effort.  Now behave yourself, we dont need a repeat of your performance for Mother and Father like last time."

As they approached the passage to Pandamonium, a massive figure, cloaked in flame and weilding a great sword, blocked their path.  "Mage, we must have words, you and I.  None pass from this plane without *my* permission, yet this is the first we have met and not your first journey hence"

WuJen felt his connection to Tatsuo fading, even his sense of mana diminishing, as the world was drowned in the angry gaze of the Dweller On The Threshold.  WuJen had known this was coming, his first trip to Tatsuo's home had been through an Astral Gate created by an extremely powerful entity, apparently a past suitor of Tatsuo's, and not subject to the Dweller's oversight.  A point seemingly not appreciated by it now.  "Always a shortcut with you, the aid of spirits, allies in battle.  Never doing the work to accomplish your goals.  Even this journey is intended as a quick fix to your own lack of skill.  Can you do nothing for yourself?!"  The Dweller's firey presence drowned out everything, Wujen found himself without Magic, without Knowledge, and finally even without Memory.  Then the world shattered and he was elsewhere.

Masaru played on the beach, piling sand.  He was perhaps 2 years old, no real concerns to trouble him.  He wanted a house, and so he piled sand.  There was a problem though, the sea kept washing his house of sand flat.  Each time he would shape the wet sand into walls and start on a roof the waves would come and wash over the beach, leaving nothing by a formless lump where his house was supposed to be.
At first he called for his mother, thinking in the way that children do that perhaps she could stop the sea and let him build his house.  Time passed, and she chould not.  He could not even remember her until his house was built, only that he had a Mother, who had protected him and his friends.  Until Father...  "That is another trial, Mage." rumbled voice of thunder through his conciousness.  Masaru forgot about Mother and Father.
Time went on, and Masaru learned.  He hauled flat rock to where his house of sand was to be, it was heavy but he needed a more solid foundation.  Masaru grew, older now and with more understanding.  More stones followed, making a wider base, piling into firmer walls.  The more he worked the older he became.  But piling stones was not enough.  Not much different from piling sand, really... and eventually a greater wave came and knocked his house down.

Masaru learned.  He cut wood, made beams and braces to form his walls and build upon his foundation.  His body grew strong from long hours of labor.  Day and night he worked, building an ever more elaborate house.  A castle.  Its spires reaching to the clouds, its dungeons deep and unknowable.
Years went by.  Decades even.  Finally Masaru stood outside his great castle gates, the threshold of his house.  No, for within was Tatsuo, and together they would make it a home.
The Dweller diminished, and Masaru became WuJen, the Castle Gate a portal to Pandemonium that he had built through his own labors.  "Pass freely, Mage" said the Dweller as it moved on to elsewhere in the astral plane.

WuJen took Tatsuo's hand, and led her to her families house, where he could learn more about her and so bring her home.

In no particular order of time:

Looking to make contact with semi-reputable Talismonger to help get higher level foci and such.

Maintain close contact with the Jingai concerning the fate of the Cobras

Maintain close contact with the Cobra's children, will go so far as to pay for lifestyle and such.  We knocked down their house, we can be responsible for making sure they still have one.

Take a Cobra motorcycle, and figure out how to make it go.

Get the bounty hunter's license from the Cowboys.

Call the Cowboy I promised a favor to, see how he would like to collect.

Being respectful as possible of the survivors of the fight and their children, arrange for as many of the bodies as possible to be delivered to the Zombies, because goodwill from them can come in handy at odd times.

???

Profit...

WuJen shudders at the price, but nods. "I have the funds, but I sincerely hope he's worth it. Thats asking for alot of trust in my part. I'll send the funds wh n you are ready."

Wujen makes the transfer.

"Elven is fine. Thank you for the introduction."

I trust all is going well for you? This is a new look.

"There have. I've married Tatsuo, and she has grown considerably. My business of helping people is doing well, though is sometimes more dangerous than I'd like."

WuJen talks to the thing for a short time, making polite conversation, and then says "Thank you again for the introduction. I've got to be going now, but don't hesitate to consider me if more good paying job opportunities come along."

Wujen tries to think of where he's heard the name before then realizes that he's one of the members of the Elder Council of Llayath. It consists of 13 elves who are old as dirt who essentially are considered the rulers of the elven race. Not all elves necessarily recognize their authority, but they are quite influential among the elven community, never the less. Each of the Elder Council elves is an incredible wealth of information on a particular aspect of elven life. Meraotar Sillonael is the elder of artifice, the leading authority on elven magical items.

WuJen shakes his head and wonders if he should buy a new suit before making that call.
Mikuzume doesn't always understand people and how they relate to eachother, but it rarely disappoints.

Deciding to at least wash his face and brush his hair, he sends the comcode through and waits to see who answers.

WuJen nods "Yes sir, though I didn't expect that I would be meeting with a luminary of your caliber, nor anywhere near. My needs at present are barely above what one might find in a local shop."

"What I hoped to find is a connection that can handle some quality spellcraft tools, such as higher end sustaining foci, or perhaps even a good strong power focus. Obviously this is well within your capabilities, though perhaps not really worth your time. I am, of course, willing to do whatever would be in my power to sweeten that deal for you."

WuJen frowns. "I am mostly self taught, though I awakened as a toddler. I have initiated, but only once. Most of my time and energy has been devoted to my Ally. My lifestyle hasn't afforded me as much opportunity for academic study as I'd like. I'd make the tools myself, however enchanting is an area of magic that I am deficient in."

"That does not mean I'm a fool, however. I could possibly get the cash to pay for the wand, but if it's worth the price I'd not want to bind such a thing. I'm stronger than most, even without the initiation, but it would b beyond me."

"The wand is definitely the sort of thing I'll want in the future. I don't have the cash on hand for the seed, but I'm very interested. If you don't have too many interested parties I will certainly get back to you on that."

"To be honest, I may have wasted your time, for the moment. When I asked about making contact with someone who could provide quality foci I never thought it would be someone like you. I occasionally come across items I cannot use and that I consider too dangerous to leave in circulation on the street, and lately I've been getting into situations where tools stronger than the toys available in talis shops are needed."

"When I have more cash, or something worth trading, I hope you will accept my call."

Over the next couple of weeks, you keep in touch with the Jingai, as much to see how they are doing as the Cobras whom you displaced. None of the Cobras have real access to proper medical care and the Jingai have no medical training, just the aid of medkit autodocs, which is better than nothing, but only just. Some of the wounded develop infections that would normally not be an issue in a hospital setting, but their conditions aren't the most sanitary. One of the less injured Cobras has apparently been working on prosthesis for the wounded, but he is only really able to build the hardware. Attaching it to human nerves is beyond his skillset and would require the hands of a properly trained surgeon.

The children are basically fine for now. Despite the two new doors added by Sun, their school is still in adequate shape and there is enough food stashed away in the base to keep everyone from starving, even if the food isn't exactly the most nutritious. The damaged walls are eventually repaired by the Jingai though, as buildings tend to function better when the wind doesn't blow through them.

WuJen will ask around about finding a reputable streetdoc to help out with the care of the Jingai and Cobras. While he can't offer much in paymemt, he can offer favors and possibly a place in the Jingai compound if they can get along with the bikers. While he has little influence and no connections he will do whatever he can to help them.

The most reputable street doc that Wujen knows is Ichigo. After his last run, he's actually looking to lay low for a while anyway while the heat dies down. When Wujen gives the suggestion to move in with the Jingai, he packs up his clinic from the community center and moves it over to the Jingai base so he can work on the wounded.

While helping Ichigo move, Wujen picks up one of the Cobras' old motorcycles. It's a little hard to operate, particularly since it's meant to be rigged, but he gets the general gist of it, or at least how to get the autopilot to function.

He then rides down to the Cowboy HQ to apply for a bounty hunter's licence. There is an extensive written test involved, though it is just general knowledge. Anyone with basic education should be able to pass it. ((intuition + logic test please))

WuJen tells the officer 'Not really how magic works. Especially with spirits. They don't have alot of volition on their own, and you have to be careful how you order them as they don't really understand the world the way we do."

" I could summon a Spirit and tell it to obey you, but after your first order it would consider it's services done, regardless of your opinion on how it carried out that order. If it did something you didn't expect you would have no way to correct the situation."

"That's not even considering the liability situation. That spirit can be traced back to me. If it does something damaging I can be charged with it's actions. Especially with a strong spirit that might be worse than the possession charge, which I now have a permit for, and attempted bribery, which would land in your lap at this point as well."

"However, fill me in on what you need done. I keep my word. In addition, problem solving is sort of my profession. The situation will get resolved."