Chapter Text
Dear Diary.
What a corny way to start! Still, it's tradition, y'know? I'm setting out to the Far East today—to Etria! It's my first night on the boat over from Runeen. I'm not exactly a stranger to boats, but it seems a lot of the others on here might be. This voyage isn't just for adventurers to be, but some of them have all the usual apparel and are dribbling all over themselves from a bit of sea kick.
They won't last long.
Hah, maybe. Granny's ring is in my pouch right now. It's gonna be really handy once I get to Etria, but an extra mouth to feed just doesn't make sense on a multi week voyage. I'd need an extra ticket too! I'll try to keep this as up to date as I can. A record of my adventure!
The food is dryer than the ocean is wet.
Man cannot live on grain alone, but this captain seems convinced that fish and fruit can be a once-every-three-days thing without things going very wrong.
Still alive. Apparently.
I'm at an Inn. A far eastern inn! There's definitely some stuff that's different here compared to home, but more is the same than isn't. There's a caravan in a few days, fifty day shot to Etria. Mostly a goods thing? The cost in coin covers your meals, they expect some level of hands on work at each stop to make it square. Which is fine.
I have enough coin for the road but I'm dying for better food. I managed to get an agreement with the innkeeper to help out at the desk while the sun is up. Speaking many tongues has its boons! I've already looked around the town and it's nice. A fishing village mostly, but there are some interesting places to poke your head into. I've sworn off the bar though. Can't handle that kind of place.
The inn is busier than I expected. Even saw some westerners. All the men are pigs. But the boss tells me to laugh it off! Haha!
Did I get this job because I'm cute?
I definitely brought more ink than this.
My feet strike the Etrian cobbles! And I'm glad to have ink once more!
The travel was amazing! Fifty days can make a lot mundane but I still remember the feeling in my chest when I first got a good look at these Far Eastern roads! I've never seen material like it! I'm definitely going to go join a guild tomorrow. But right now I'm exhausted...
Dear Diary
I accidentally started a guild.
Okay, that's not quite right, but the man at the Explorer's Guild was so pushy! The moment I answered that I can read and write he launched into what sounded like a rehearsed speech about how many adventurers arrive in Etria each day and- So I ended up signing the papers. I don't want to run a large organization though...
I think I have my guildmates! I set up at a table in the main hall of the Explorer's Guild and took the first three half-competent people who showed up.
First was a boy named Pitch. Dressed head to toe in dark blues with a long scarf and a black mat of hair on top. He introduced himself as a Master Alchemist (his words) and was sure to highlight how good he was at killing monsters. I was ready to turn him away, but the impressive and ornate gauntlet he pulled out while explaining his exploits kept the conversation going. Upon learning it can shoot fire I let him on board then and there.
The next two applicants were sword and board types, like me. Pitch seemed enthusiastic, but their arms were like noodles. After two disappointments in a row Pitch seemed ready to dismiss the girl who came along next, but she was practically as toned as me once I got a closer look. A local game hunter who wanted to live it big rather than scraping by. Pretty cool! I'm embellishing somewhat though, she's a woman of very few words. I only got a name out of her when the paperwork demanded it—Taut. As in a pulled back bowstring?
Pitch was worthless for medical knowledge, and while Taut had some experience dressing wounds, she didn't know anything more than that. I adjusted our applicant requirements to make clear we were seeking those with advanced medical knowledge, and the day dragged on. A few hours later someone finally approached our table, wrapped in a white cloak of a style I can't say I've seen before. I asked if she had medical knowledge, and she sort of... giggled back? She then pulled a vial out of her shoulder bag in a blur. "I know some tricks," was how she put it.
We wrapped for the day, after that, which prompted some confusion from Taut and Pitch both, them under the impression that adventurers usually set out in parties of five. I was at a slight loss for words, but my mind soon changed gears.
We won't be going too far from the entrance, and we need to assess how well we work together.
Not a bad excuse, right?
Pitchest Black pushed his fringe aside as he trailed a little behind his party. Their guild didn't have a name yet, and only 4 members, but they were dipping their toe in the labyrinth now to see if there were any fatal problems. His guildmaster, one Churi Neverre, seemed wise enough so he didn't raise any objections. Lucia Gout, the medic, was humming away to herself on the walk over. He couldn't imagine he'd get along with her. The hunter among their number, Taut, seemed much more his preference. Her eyes were just as focused as his.
The group soon descended into a crevasse, a small stream tickling their ears. The entrance to the labyrinth wasn't precisely defined, but by the time the path had leveled out and the rock faces on either side of them had given way to similarly placed barriers of trees he supposed that they were there.
"Alright everyone, stop stop! Stop stop and halt!" Churi called out. A briefing?
The three other members of the guild fanned out in front of Churi ready to hear her speak. "There's something I should mention before we go into the Labyrinth," she started, pulling a ring out of her pocket as she did. "I actually had something in mind for member number 5."
"What relevance could that have at this stage?" Taut asked. Pitch and Lucia both nodded.
"That's hard to... look... um..." The guildmaster tripped over a few throat noises. "Just don't scream?"
And then she pushed the ring onto a finger.
And despite there being no place to hide, despite it being the middle of the day, despite the group assembled definitely numbering only four, a fifth person stood among them. As if he'd always been there. Because he'd always been there. Because to at least one of them he was undeniably present. To Guildmaster Churi Neverre his presence was such a given that he'd barely needed mentioning in her journal up to this point.
A boy stood next to Churi. Red hair rather than brown and male rather than female but otherwise clearly her. Holding what looked to be the exact same shield as her. Holding the exact same sword. Dressed in the same attire. "I would say it's nice to meet you, but we've already spoken. Only dipping our toes into the labyrinth on account of only numbering four was my idea. You can call me Churi too, but maybe intone it a little differently for clarity's sake."
They didn't run away screaming after I put my ring on. Which is good. That's really good. The next thing Taut said was even about how questions can come later.
Our teamwork today was good? The monsters were probably equivalent to one of us, a one for one kind of thing. So the main worry was when there was a lot of them, and our main teamwork was controlling threats, focusing them down so there were less teeth chomping at us, things like that. Me and my other self covered the map and pathfinding, Taut was our field monitor, and Lucia and Pitch were on "relaxing between encounters" duty. We confirmed that Pitch could incinerate most threats in here in one shot, but he left himself relatively open while doing it, and it was pretty taxing. Lucia patched up whoever got hit after we'd finished off the monsters, we worked together quite well.
Lucia was ultimately our limiting factor today. I was the one to notice her fatigue, when her showiness slowed down and found itself replaced by a knitted brow. We opted to return to town, unable to finish mapping the first floor in a day, but close. I stood outside the inn we were checking into as a group while the others paid their coin. In the blink of an eye I was at the desk, finishing booking a room. No. Watching someone else finishing up a booking, from behind their very eyes... A familiar feeling.
We had quite a lot to talk about once we got into our room. Plenty of time too with our early retirement. Things got a little embarrassing though... When I found out that my naval expedition hadn't been entirely necessary... Pitch impressed me though! He sure knows a lot when he isn't being sorta overconfident.
Pitchest Black continued to rotate the ring between his fingers, frowning slightly. "I think I agree with the conclusions of your research too. The carvings on this are definitely beyond what any Arcanist or Runemaster of our era could manage. Probably pre-calamity..."
"It draws out her inner shadow then? Or divides her body into two natures?" Taut guessed, also intrigued.
"No," Pitch replied "I wouldn't say so. I'm no expert in this area, but none of these tiny carvings have the old world characters for shadow, or even for division..."
"Oh! I can answer that!" his guildmaster chirped in. "It probably doesn't do any of that kind of thing."
"But we all saw it with our own two eyes..." Taut muttered.
"Nonono, that's real easy to answer! Pitch, gimme my ring back," Churi said, while beginning to take her shirt off. Pitch wordlessly handed it back, not reacting too much to her undressing. Taut was similarly unfazed, leaving Lucia alone in letting out a mock shriek of embarrassment. Holding the ring in her hand Churi, clad in only undergarments, poked her chest once or twice. "See? I'm about this big."
Pitch sighed to hide his slowly mounting embarrassment. "I am familiar with female anatomy, yes."
"But when I put it on," and she did, her other self appearing cross legged on the bed behind her, "I get bigger! And my face is more symmetrical." She poked her chest a few more times. "See?"
"Yes, I see that." Taut interjected. "Pitch is likely still unsure, but us women know these things." Churi happily giggled at that.
"Alright," Pitch began, dragging things back on track, "what's that supposed to mean?"
"It changed us more when we were younger," the other Churi said from his position on the bed, similarly undressed. "And our grandmother, who entrusted this ring to us, changed even more when wearing it. To herself at middle age."
"In one body?" Pitch confirmed.
"In one body."
Silence filled the room, mental cogs turning.
"So it's a beauty ring?" Lucia inquired from across the room, having not spoken too much thus far. Pitch was skeptical its effect was that simpl-
"Something like that is our theory, yes," the male Churi responded. "The wearer gains their ideal form, but remains limited to their natural abilities."
"It could have been made just to turn heads at pre-calamity parties," his feminine counterpart continued.
"Or to grant a deeply held wish," the boy said.
"The ring might have been common," the girl put forward.
"Or one of a kind," the boy suggested.
"It might have served a totally different purpose."
"It could have been made by one like us."
Both together: ""And the labyrinth is our best bet for finding out.""
The boy nodded. The girl pulled the ring off her finger. Then she turned to her new comrades, her smile eager and playful, carrying characteristics of both herself and him. "Pretty cool reason to delve into the labyrinth, right?"
The others are sleeping now. I told them my story, our story. I think I made a good impression.