[/googlefont] "Oh just that we snuck past the perimeter, launched ourselves directly into enemy territory, then brought the house down on 'em!" Charlie said, banging his knuckles together for effect. The word 'we' was doing a truly herculean amount of lifting there, but at least wasn't en...

[/googlefont] "Some secrets, sure!" Charlie enthusiastically agreed. "Not these ones though. This is the sort of opportunity you don't pass up unless you want to be kicking yourself the rest of your life, and I won't let you live like that." He laughed. "I'm glad we're in a...

[/googlefont] The stories never made such a big deal out of being shot, and Charlie was cursing them now as he stared down at the blood sluicing out from between his fingers as he clutched his thigh. Even his mind, so overextended on aether, could only focus on that all-encompassing agony for a tim...

[/googlefont] "That's way better than what I got!" Charlie concluded about Avamande's own first time aboard the ship. He looked almost disappointed that being called the captain of the ship itself had been so easily outdone. It didn't last long, though. Charlie didn't have the time for gr...

[/googlefont] Those that remained with Avamande's physical form were left to respond to respond to every broken branch and maddened shout with an overwhelming paranoia. With so many eyes drinking in so much information, the group became the warden of their own panopticon. Anything out of place, rea...

[/googlefont] "We should investigate!" Charlie said then. "The- The ship! You're the smartest person I know, and you've spent a heap of time around magical artifacts, yeah?" Charlie didn't understand the difference between runeforging, scrivening, and alchemy. He knew they were ...

[/googlefont] We've got you covered. Charlie thought, coalescing the general feeling of agreement to Avamande's request into a complete thought. Once Avamande was down, the remaining four mages positioned themselves naturally around them, looking out at the woods. With four sets of eyes, they had a...

[/googlefont] It wasn't that Charlie didn't plan on restoring the ruined psyches of the soldiers. That would imply a level of malice that Charlie wasn't especially capable of. No, the truth was far more alarming. Charlie had given no thought as to how he might resolve the situation at all . Obliter...

[/googlefont] Charlie did note Avamande's swift rebuke of the attempt at embrace, and filed that away. For all Charlie's faults, he still preferred avoiding things that his friends found unwelcome. Such was why he didn't look into Avamande's symphony, and now why he would no longer try and hug them...

[/googlefont] Charlie's calm washed through the collective. Calm was an easy emotion to override though, as its most notable feature was the absence of others. Charlie's heart didn't race, he wasn't formulating contingencies for contingencies, and in fact the most pressing thought in his mind was s...