[NeoRealm] Chapter 28 - Wasting Time on Paperwork (Patreon)

Once in the room they meet the person they need to deliver the letter to. Though ‘person’ is more accurate than they expected. They can’t tell the race or gender as there seem to be some sort of magic blocking such identification. Expecting their reactions the being explains, “All those who belong to my Department are veiled by our God from other’s eyes. This is to preserve our neutral stance for all we care about is the truth. How can we do our job if we have to worry about a disgruntled criminal attacking us or our loved ones? Anyway, I am told you have a note for me? Here is my identification.”, and he shows an Id screen similar to the guard captains though this one has only the position on it.

After confirming the being is head of the Magical Truth Department James steps forward and exchanges the note for a few more copper. Though even the simple action of being handed, a note creeps the party out. The godly enchantment causes them to even be able to tell how the being is grabbing it. Temporary flashes of all kinds of possibilities flash through their minds. How could they even guess? It might be with a hand, a tentacle, maybe even its mouth, or potentially something beyond their wildest imaginations. Luckily the feeling passes as the being places the note on the table. Their minds no longer having to guess what is happening.

A brief pause happens while the being is likely examining the note. Finally it speaks up, “The captain wants to break protocol and get your statements taken now. In a normal case I would deny such a request. However this time the situation involves that wolf pup. Not only has he wilfully twisted the truth in a court of law. There is even the suspicion of silencing of the truth for him by the father. Even then we might have denied this request. However you three are travellers and it is a long standing tradition of our church to expedite all matters involving such things. Your kind has an almost supernatural ability to twist the truth even with your presence.”

The group can’t help but look sheepish at that. Eventually Jason steps forward, “So what do we need to do for this? Does the statement just work at the court or do we still need to be there as well? We suspect that on the day of we will face the fathers resources instead of just the pup’s”

The being does something in agreement that everyone’s mind recoils from trying to figure out. Then it speaks up, “Sadly you will have to show up even if it is just to confirm that is your statement. A stupid part of my groups neutrality is that we cannot personally vouch for previously said things. I can understand why. Time can change even truth. The day before someone saying they are 17 could be false the day of. What my group is willing to offer however is a safe haven. The System however decided we could only protect you on the day of the trial. This of course means you need to survive tomorrow on your own. We will pick you up right at midnight if you haven’t been caught or killed. All I can suggest is hiding in the forest so it costs more to try and catch you. Oh and because of our ‘position’ in the court we have the exclusive right to run a blink formation. You can use it to leave and your group will be placed randomly within the city.”

Rosha blinks a few times. That was unexpected as they had assumed the System wouldn’t allow any help. Not much else to really say so she brings up the next matter, “How do we give our statements? As I understand it, there will be some paperwork involved as well.”

The being takes a moment to think before answering, “Why yes there is paperwork. Though I will warn you, all papers must be submitted before the front desk closes tonight. While the church will still be open for the taking of statements, we won’t be able to do so without the paperwork and the System won’t allow us to let you back in tomorrow. So no matter how long you take to sign the agreement make sure it is done before then. As for the statement that is simple. In the presence of one the clerics in my Department while they channel our God’s power, tell us what happened. We will use a cheap magic quartz to record what you say and later on tomorrow we will have a scribe transcribe it. Oh and we need each of you to be in a separate room so your statements will not be affected by the others. Anyway you can leave the way you came in and the angel at the front will give you the paperwork. I would show you out but we need you sane for the trial.”

The group can only agree with that last bit and hurry out of the room and back to the entrance hall. The angel has a small knowing smile as it watches them rush back into the room. However it keeps things professional and just hands them the paperwork that was needed. Then we wait, or more specifically the team reads through the paperwork, signs it, and then waits till just before the desk closes to hand it in. They would be blind to miss what the Head of the Magical Truth Department was trying to tell them. The church can’t protect them but no one was likely to make a mess in the actual temple grounds.

Now with the paperwork filed each person is guided to a different room. Mostly the statements they give are the same but for a few key differences. Jason who had snuck up and observed the Amber Fox brought up that it had many mostly healed scratch marks all over its flanks. Rosha noted that on the way to the clearing there was only one other set of tracks going to and from it. James however had an important if speculative point. The big wound on the shoulder of the Fox seemed to matched one of the weapons a wolfkin in the opposing group had strapped to their back. Also the weapon wasn’t being used and seemed much to unwieldy for normal use. He would have gone into his theory for why that was so but the priest stopped him as they only allowed direct truths or the statement would be thrown out.

With all of their statements taken they are ushered through the building. In the very middle of the temple was a fortified room with a very complex formation. Runes glowed on all surfaces and even in the air. Everyone whether they used Mana, Qi, or even Jason’s Energy felt as if the air was charged. If the group had check their status, they would have noticed that any energy generation was doubled, even stamina. They don’t get long to appreciate this feeling as the angel who guided shoves them in. A flash of light and their stomachs trying to invert before they appear in an alley. Rosha takes a peak out and finds they ended up a few streets from the gate to the forest.

 

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

There are a few forms of magical instant movement. The most common methods are blink, teleportation, and gate.

Blink is most common for mages as an emergency escape. Any form of blink generally is seen as a random placement. However that isn’t true. While the range is generally quite limited the placement is based on your control of Mana. More control means the better you can choose where you end up. Actually quite rare to be used in a formation like we see at the Church of Truth. The fact that the formation places them somewhere within a city (not exactly a perfect circle) and out of sight (not that they were told that) means whoever set it up was a true master.

Teleportation takes a lot more Mana then blink. That is because instead of depending on the users control for placement the Mana does the work. It also allows a greater range and you can go places you haven’t actually been or seen before if someone describes it well enough. If blink can put you anywhere in a town then teleportation can put you anywhere in a kingdom.

Gate takes all the mana to set up. This is not a spell Mana users can generally cast alone. Not only does it require you to have set up literal gate formations on each end but Mana needs to be input into both within a day. This does however create a permanent connection that allows people to traverse from one gate to the other for a relatively minor Mana cost. The limits on range are a soft cap. The Mana cost to set up a link scales exponentially. Multiple locations can not be linked to the same gate. Those two things mean that places tend not to be connected to more than just a handful of other locations.