Chapter 4: Fresh off the Farm



16th day of the 11th moon of 485​

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16th night of 11th moon of 485​

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Spoiler: Combat Rolls (spoilers for action) Turn 1:

Ursa Attacks with Karate. Rolls 15 (needs less than or equal to Karate skill (13) to hit) → miss

Delphia Attacks with Karate. Rolls 14 (needs less than 17 to hit) → hit

Ursa uses Judo to parry (needs less than or equal to 3 + Judo/2 (9) to parry) Rolls 9 → Defends successfully



Turn 2:

Ursa uses a judo throw (needs less than a 14 for a success): 8 → success

Delphia makes a karate parry defense (need less than or equal to a 12 for a success): 9 → Success (throw attempt thwarted)

Delphia Attacks with Karate (need less than a 17 for success) rolls 9 → success

Ursa: Parries with Karate (needs less than or equal to a 3 + Karate/2 (9) for success): 9 → success



Turn 3:

Ursa uses feint → opposed skill check, whatever amount Ursa wins by (if he wins) he can remove from Delphia’s active defense next turn. rolls 10 (success of 3)

Delphia responds to the feint. Rolls 14 (success of 5)

Delphia wins feint check: no bonus for Ursa next round

Delphia uses a Deceptive attack, taking a -4 to her hit skill for a -2 to Ursa’s active defense. Needs less than a 16 for a hit: rolls 7 = success

Ursa: Parries with Karate (needs lower than a 7 (9 parry skill - 2 deceptive attack)) rolls 11 → failure

Delphia Damage Roll: 1d6 - 3 (ST) + 2 (karate) = 5 - 3 + 2 = 4 damage

Ursa takes 4 damage

Ursa HP = 10/14

Ursa is shocked: -4 penalty to DX and INT based skills (but not defenses) for the next turn



Turn 4:

Ursa takes all out defense (add +4 to next defensive action)

Delphia uses a deceptive attack -- takes -4 to hit for -2 to Ursa’s active defense: rolls 10 → success (needed less than a 16)

Ursa parries (needs less than or equal to parry (9) + 4 (all out defense) - 2 (deceptive attack) = 11) rolls 14 → failure

Delphia damage roll: 1 - 3 + 2 = 0 damage

Ursas is no longer shocked: penalty removed



Turn 5:

Ursa takes an attack = 13 → hit

Delphia takes a step back and parries with Karate (parry skill = 12 + 3 (retreating)) = 14 → success

Delphia: deceptive attack -- takes - 4 for - 2 to Ursa’s active defense = 14 → success

Ursa Parries (-2 from deceptive attack) = 10 → fail

Ursa damage = 2 - 3 + 2 = 1

Ursa HP = 9/14

Ursa is shocked: -1 penalty to DX and INT based skills (but not defenses)



Turn 6:

Ursa takes an attack (needs 12 or lower to hit): 8 → hit

Delphia makes a Judo defense while stepping back (needs 15 or lower to defend) → 14 success

Delphia makes a Jutsu throw (needs less than 17 to succeed): 7 → success

Ursa: Karate defense: 12 → failure

Ursa thrown to the ground

Ursa makes a HT roll against stun (needs less than or equal HT (11) to avoid stun): 16 → failure

Ursa is stunned



Turn 7:

Ursa does nothing (stunned) HT roll to recover: 8 = recovered

Delphia All Out attacks (two attacks in one turn, but not active defense): feint = 10 (success by 9)

Ursa counter feint = 14 (failure)

Ursa’s next defense has +9 to the roll

Delphia grapples (skill = 19) roll: 16 (success by 3)

Ursa makes a grapple defense (needs < 13): 12 + 9 → failure

Delphia puts Ursa into a choke hold



Turn 8:

Ursa Break Grapple Strength check (+5 from choke hold): 12 = Failure by 3

Delphia Grapple check (stop the escape) = 13 = Success by 4

Delphia begins squeezing

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 13/14



Turn 9:

Ursa break Grapple Strength check (+5 from choke hold): 12 = Failure by 3

Delphia Grapple check = 12 = success by 5

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 12/14



Turn 10:

Ursa break Grapple Strength check (+5 from choke hold): 13 = Failure by 4

Delphia Grapple check = 13 = Success by 4

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 11/14



Turn 11:

Ursa break Grapple Strength check (+5 from choke hold): 11 = Failure by 2

Delphia Grapple check = 16 = Success by 1

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 10/14



Turn 12:

Ursa break Grapple Strength check (+5 from choke hold): 9 = Success by 0

Delphia Grapple check = 6 = Success by 11

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 9/14



Turn 13:

Ursa makes a wild swing (-5 to hit, skill cannot exceed 9): 10 = failure by 2

Ursa loses one FP

Ursa FP = 8/14



Turn 14:

Ursa makes a wild swing (-5 to hit, cannot exceed 9): 8 = success

Delphia cannot take an active defense (hand are occupied grappling)

Ursa damage roll 1d6 - 1 = 2

Delphia takes 2 damage

Delphia is shocked: -2 penalty to all DX related skills (but not defenses)

Delphia HP = 7/9

Delphia releases grapple hold and retreats



End Combat: combat lasted more than 10 turns, both Delphia and Ursa take 1 point of FP damage:

Delphia FP = 11/12

Ursa FP = 7/14

Spoiler: Combat Rolls (spoilers for action) Turn 1:

Ursa makes an attack (needs less than 15 to hit): 15 → miss

Delphia attacks (untrained: DX - 4 → needs lower than a 6 to hit): 15 → miss



Turn 2:

Ursa makes an attack (needs less than 15 to hit): 13 → hit

Delphia attempts to dodge (needs less than 9 to dodge): 10 → failure

Damage roll: 2d6 + 2 = 7 + 2 = 9

Delphia takes 9 damage

Delphia HP = -2/9

Delphia is shocked: -4 to all Dexterity and Intelligence based skills next turn (except defense)

Delphia is at less than ⅓ HP: Basic Speed, move, and Dodge all at half normal value

Delphia receives a major wound: HT roll to avoid being knocked down and knocked out (less than 13 avoids knocked down, less than 18 avoids knocked out): 14 → knocked down but not out

Delphia is at or below zero HP: HT roll to stay conscious. Lower than 13 remains conscious: 9 → remains conscious



Turn 3:

Delphia tries to stand up.

Any action aside from “do nothing” triggers another HT save to avoid unconsciousness (needs below a 13 to remain conscious): 12 (success)

Delphia stands up

Spoiler: Bandaging recover 1 HP or stop bleeding

Delphia HP = -1/9

Spoiler: Recovery Roll First Aid roll (< 13 needed for success): 4 → critical success, maximum health recovered

Shock Treatment: TL 3 = 1d6 - 3 → 3 HP recovered

Delphia HP = 2/9

Spoiler: Pole Weapons: Spear (DX/Average) Pole weapons are long (usually wooden) shafts, often adorned with striking heads. All require two hands.

Polearm (DX/Average): Any very long (at least 2 yards), unbalanced pole weapon with a heavy striking head, including the glaive, halberd, poleaxe, and countless others. Polearms become unready after an attack, butnot after a parry. Defaults: Spear-4, Staff-4 or Two-Handed Axe/Mace-4

Spear (DX/Average): Any long, balanced pole weapon with a thrusting point, including spears, javelins, tridents, and fixed bayonets. Defaults: Polearm -4 or Staff-2

Staff (DX/Average): Any long, balanced pole without a striking head. This skill makes good use of the staff’s extensive parrying surface when defending, giving +2 to your Parry score. Defaults: Polearm-4 or Spear-2

The claw counts as a spear. This changes Pandora’s damage from 1d6 -3 to 1d6, and gives her an additional yard of reach. Requires 9 strength to wield well.

Spoiler: First Aid/TL3 (IQ/Easy) This is the ability to patch up an injury in the field (see Recovery, p. 423). Make a skill roll to halt bleeding, suck out poison, give artificial respiration to a drowning victim, etc. Unusual problems must be identified using Diagnosis skill first

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Spoiler: Hiking (HT/Average) This skill represents training for endurance walking, hiking, and marching. It includes knowledge of how to pace yourself in different conditions, and how best to carry a pack. Make a Hiking roll before each day’s march; on a success, increase the distance traveled by 20%. The GM may allow bonuses for good maps and good walking shoes, but not for terrain. If a party is traveling together; all must make the Hiking roll in order to get the increased distance. See Hiking.

Spoiler: Survival (Per/Average) This is the ability to “live off the land,” find safe food and water; avoid hazards, build shelter, etc. You may look after up to 10 other people. To live safely in a wilderness situation, you must make a successful Survival roll once per day. Failure inflicts 2d-4 injury on you and anyone in your care; roll separately for each victim.

This skill also gives an “eye for country.” A successful roll shows you the best direction of travel to find flowing water, a mountain pass, or whatever other terrain feature you desire - assuming that it exists.

Finally, you can use this skill to trap wild animals (A city-bred thief could use Traps skill, but he’s used to different game … so the roll would be at a -5.) Make one roll per trap. It takes about 30 minutes to improvise a trap from ordinary materials, or 10 minutes to set and hide a commercial steel trap. Pit traps for large game take several hours to dig.

Survival often requires skill rolls based on scores other than Perception. The GM might ask for a ST-based roll to dig a pit trap or erect a log shelter; a DX-based roll to start a fire using primitive techniques (flint sparking, bow and palette, etc.), or even a HT-based roll to avoid nutritional deficiencies from an improvised diet.

You must specialize by terrain type. Land-dwellers may choose from Arctic, Desert, Island/Beach, Jungle, Mountain, Plains, Swampland, and Woodlands. Aquatic beings may take any of Bank, Deep Ocean Vent, Fresh-Water Lake, Open Ocean, Reef, River/Stream, Salt-Water Sea, and Tropical Lagoon. Amphibious individuals can pick from either list!

Land specialties default to one another at -3.

Modifiers: Up to -5 for extreme weather conditions. Equipment modifiers.

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4th day of the 5th moon of 486​

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[ ] Train while Traveling

[ ] Hang out with Delphia and Leo

[ ] Pester Milo and Althea with questions about the world

[ ] Get to know people in the caravan

[ ] Train while staying

[ ] Explore with Leo

[ ] Follow Milo and Althea around

Pandora awoke in her bed at home, mindful of the previous day’s adventure to the barrier. It had been so exciting, and the world had looked so pretty! She knew without a doubt that she wanted to go beyond the barrier. She would see what was outside, and she would extend the Xeraxian regime outside the barrier. If that meant following Perseus to Pylos, so be it. But that was for later. Now, she had to prepare, after all, everyone knew outside the barrier was dangerous. But first, she had to get her parents and friends on board. Sighing, she got up and left her bed to see her mother making bread in the kitchen.“Mama, can I go harvest the bird with Dad?” Pandora asked.Juno paused her kneading and looked down at Pandora, “I know you’re curious about it, but it’ll be at least a two day expedition, and you’d need to make it yourself without help. Remember how tired you got last time we walked there?”“I know,” Pandora’s gaze hardened, “but I want to know more about what’s outside. I’ve decided I want to go outside the barrier. I need to get stronger and know what’s out there. This will help”Juno smiled, “Well, if you want to venture outside the barrier, you should know more about it.” her smile soured slightly, “There are plenty of dangers after all, and you should be prepared for them. Regardless, you’ll need your father’s approval to go on this expedition. No holding him back.”Pandora beamed. “Yay!”Pandora found her father outside the house picking up a pack and filling it with odds and ends.“Hey Dada?” Pandora began.“Hm?” he responded, as he placed a second hard loaf of bread into his pack.“Can I come with you to harvest the monster? I promise I won’t be a burden.”Pluto stopped packing his bag and looked at Pandora seriously, “You know that I won’t be able to carry you back.” she nodded, “And you’d need to carry your own food.” Pandora hesitantly nodded, “and Leo and Delphia won’t be going.”Pandora cocked her head to the side, “why not?”“Because they won’t be helping harvest it.” Pluto responded with a self evident nod.Pandora frowned, “What if... I convince them to go?” Pandora asked.Pluto laughed, “If you convince them and their parents to let them go, then they can go.” He paused, “What’s with the sudden interest in work though? You’ve always found the fields to be boring.”Pandora brightened, “I’m gonna go outside the barrier! So I need to know more about it.”Pluto frowned. “Uh, you do know that’s dangerous right? Your mother and I will support you in whatever you want to do, but we can’t help you out there.”Pandora nodded, “I know. And I just need to practice outside things so I’m extra safe!”Pluto chuckled, “Tell you what. Go see if you can get Leo and Delphia to come, I’ll see if Ursa will come and chat your ear off on the way.”“Yay!” Pandora skipped over to Leo’s house first.Leo chewed a bite of his cornmeal, “‘s you wan’a go see the ‘dults harvest the ‘ird?” Leo asked, then swallowed and followed up, “Why?”Pandora nodded, “Because I’m going to go outside the barrier! And you’re going to come with me.”Leo laughed, “Sure. Why not. I’ll go along if my parents say it’s ok. I’m following Perseus regardless, so if this’ll help me get to Pylos, so much the better. Wait here a minute,” he started walking towards his parents.Pandora waited until he came back. He took a while, only arriving back outside his house after five or so minutes, but he had a pack on. It was constructed primarily of woven straw with leather straps attaching it to his body. “Ready!”Pandora nodded “Great! Also, what’s that?”Leo stood up straight,”This is my pack! I made it myself when Perseus left.”“Cool!” Pandora exclaimed, “Let’s go get Delphia.”Pandora and Leo found Delphia running laps around her house when she came there.“Uh, whatcha doing Delphia?” Pandora asked. She didn’t seem to notice. “Delphia?”The girl stopped running, “Need to be stronger. Walk longer. Don’t have farming form to rely on.”Pandora shrugged, “Hey, neither do Leo or I.”Delphia gave a crooked smile, “True. But you should get it. It’s good.”Pandora shrugged again, “It’s kinda boring. Anyways, want to come with us to watch the adults harvest the monster?”Delphia looked up. “You’re going to walk out there again?” she pointed at Leo’s pack, “Carrying things? Bet I can go farther.”Delphia turned and walked to her house, “let me grab my pack.”“We should ask your mom too.” Pandora said.“Why?” Delphia asked, “She doesn’t care. She’ll be busy with Ajax.”Pandora shrugged, “Ok.”The trio of children returned to find Pluto out front with a pack and Ursa. Pluto was in his scaled farming form, while Ursa towered over him in scarred and muscular native form. Pluto nodded towards the children, “Good. You’re all coming then? Do as Ursa tells you to. And Pandora, you can use this pack. It was Ursa’s son’s before he left.” Pluto glanced at the sun, “I really should get going though, time waits for no one.” He started hobbling off into the distance.“Wait!” Pandora shouted, “Aren’t we coming with you?”Pluto paused, turned and spoke to them, “You’re walking with Ursa. If you do well, you’ll catch up to us before we finish harvesting the wyvern.” He gave Ursa a measured gaze, “And you’ll look out for them.”Ursa raised his fist to his heart, “Aye.”Pluto turned and walked off. Pandora walked over to the pack set aside for her and started to pick it up. “Hold a moment.” Ursa called out. “Don’t just take your pack with you. You’ve gotta make sure it’s got all the right gear.”Pandora paused, “And what gear is that.” she asked eventually.Ursa nodded a bit, then turned to Leo, “Well boy, what gear do you need to go out on yer own?”Leo looked confused, “Uh, food? I packed a bunch of bread so I don’t get hungry.”Ursa spat on the ground, “Anything else?”“Uh… no? Should I have packed something else? I think that’s everything we need right?”Ursa turned to Delphia, “what ‘bout you? Wha’d you pack?”Delphia began to tick things off on her fingers, “Hard-bread so I don’t starve. Some Xerleaves for scrapes. Flint for fire or cutting things.”Ursa nodded, “Better. Ok, let me see all of your packs.”Delphia shrugged and took hers off. Leo pouted as he took his off, “Why? We’ll be fine in the woods. There aren’t any monsters inside the barrier.”Ursa looked at Leo, “There’s a world of difference between ‘not get eaten by monsters’ and ‘be fine.’ It’s my job to teach the difference to you kids. Now, when you go out, there’s a few things you can’t go without. For starters, which of you know the farming form?”The three children just looked at each other.“None of you? And you want to go off on your own?” Ursa spat again to the side, “Well how do you plan on being warm if it gets cold? Or starts to rain? Do any of you know how to make a fire?”Delphia tentatively held up her flint.“And I suppose you know how to use that?”She shook her head.Ursa spat on the ground. “So none of you was prepared.” He shook his head, “Alright. Basics of sleeping in the woods. So, when going out, you need to bring food, extra clothing, some rope, a flask, herbs, and flint.” He paused, “If’n you’ve got a bunch of forms, you can forget the herbs in a pinch. If’n you’ve got the farming form, you can forget the flint. Survival form lets you forget the extra clothing. If you’re only out for a day, you can forget the rope. As it stands, your more likely to die of exposure and dehydration than from any monsters.”Pandora nodded. “Yes sir. Anything else?”Ursa looked pleased to have an audience, “Well yes. As a matter of fact. How many of your know how to knot a rope...”It was well into the afternoon before Ursa deemed the trio ready to go walking into the woods. He had repacked all of their bags, and lectured up a storm in his drawl. The children were worn out before taking their first step into the woods.Finally, they began to hike, with Ursa walking behind them. A few minutes into the hike, Pandora began to skip.“No skipping!” Pandora jumped at the sudden shout.“Why not?” She asked.“You’ll wear yourself out.” Ursa explained in a more gentle tone, “Especially without the farming form, you’ve got to conserve your energy. Pick a pace and stick to it.”“M’kay.” Pandora resumed walking at a more sedate pace, “but what if I get bored?”Ursa responded with a glare.Pandora found it difficult to pay attention to what she was doing, and her gaze wandered throughout the hike, earning a few stubbed toes in response. Fortunately, soon after they entered the forest, Ursa talked with her and the others. He seemed to know a little about everything that could possibly be relevant to walking through the woods. He had advice on how to address the aches caused by their packs, how to step lightly to avoid hurting their feet, and how to adjust their packs when the weight became unbearable.It was a chilly and cloudy night in the woods. More than once, Pandora missed the lights of any farming forms, conceding that it would have definitely been useful to have. Fortunately, Ursa made a fire pretty quickly in the dark, and the rest of the camp chores were fairly simple. Ursa explained the best properties of a sleeping spot inside the barrier: near water, with plenty of flat areas for fire and sleeping.The night felt far too short, as Ursa woke the children up in the morning and they finished their hike to the wyvern corpse.It was a weary group of children who summited Giona. Delphia came first, followed quickly by Leo, indignant that Delphia managed to beat him up despite his age advantage. Finally, in the rear came Pandora, proud to have made it up the mountain on her own this time without needing to be carried.Over the next two days, Delphia, Leo, and Pandora ‘helped’ harvest the wyvren. They watched as the adults peeled off scales, plucked teeth, and skinned the leather below the scales. Glands from the claws were drained, and the claws themselves were removed. Eventually, all that was left of the great bird was a skeleton and quickly festering meat. Deciding they'd taken all they could, the group left to go. While packing up to go home, Pandora, Leo, and Delphia got to carry some extra baggage from the monster.After their adventure into the woods, Pandora began to focus her time more intentionally on preparing to go outside the barrier. She begged to go on expeditions like the one she had gone on earlier, and to go outside the barrier. While her parents were happy to go on expeditions like the last one, they were firm about not allowing Pandora to go outside the barrier in general. They did offer to go near the edge of the barrier and let her send her scout form outside at times.Pluto spent time with her in their scout forms, practicing repositioning their avatars, walking while projecting, practicing lip reading,and extending their avatars as far away from themselves as they could. He also talked to her more about the durability of the farming form, and how tasks which seemed arduous in the native or other forms were easier in the farming form. Energy spent in the farming form seemed to go farther than that spent in other forms. You could walk for a whole day while never stopping in the farming form if you wanted. She decided to try meditating with him to try to discover it, but was unsure on if she would prefer that or the martial form next.Pandora learns about the Farming Form:The farm form confers +2 ST, +2 HT, -2 DEX, and +2 Natural Armor to users. With additional practice, the left forearm can be blown off the reveal a spark which can be manipulated by the user to various effects.Juno helped Pandora with her empathic form as they looked at Pandora’s little sister, deciphering the small bundle of emotions and thoughts. Eventually, Pandora was able to determine roughly what Phoebe was feeling. Then, she shifted her attention to her parents.“Mom?” Juno looked at Pandora, “I see you!” Pandora shouted. Pandora watched as Juno’s initial yellow shock turned to red pride.“That’s great dear!” Juno’s pride beamed brighter, “You’re even younger than I was when I started to understand.” A more serious green faded in around Juno, “Now we need to talk about something.”Pandora came to attention, “Yes?”Juno’s aura resumed a senseless swirl, “Can you read me now?”Pandora shook her head, “It doesn’t make any sense again.”Juno nodded, as red pride crept back into her aura, “Right. There are a couple things we should talk about. First, reading people’s emotions can be considered rude.” Pandora frowned, and Juno’s aura turned to a comforting blue, “Yes, they should know that you can do it, but it’s rare to have an empath, especially one so young.” The serious green was back, “so you should ask their permission before you read them. It’s rude to do so otherwise. Second, your emotion reading can be unreliable. Sometimes, people suppress their emotions so much, or mix them up enough that they’re unreadable. Don’t worry about that, it is natural. As you grow in ability and wisdom, you’ll refine your reading, and be able to determine emotions from smaller and smaller hints, or decipher larger clues.”Pandora watched as white anger seeped into Juno’s aura, despite Juno’s smiling face. She got nervous. Was there something she did wrong?“Also,” Juno continued as the white began to retreat, “People can make themselves project emotions which don’t actually mean anything. I’m not angry with you.” The white was replaced with red, “I’m very proud of you. And, as you grow, I’m sure you’ll get better at discovering what people are feeling.”Pandora, Leo, and Delphia took regular lessons from Ursa after their initial expedition. He taught them how to identify edible plants, how to build basic shelters out of materials in the woods, where to find good water, and most importantly, how to determine how they were feeling and accurately assess their stamina and energy expenditure levels while walking.They learned through trial and error when they needed to eat, or to break, and for how long. They also grew more and more in their own ability to move and observe the world around them.He told them stories of his time outside the barrier, how martial forms had protected caravans from roaming beasts, and how farming form users kept up brutal marches across multiple days. He told them of his own role as scout and fighter, and about fighting with weapons.“Now. As you all know, martial forms are great at fighting.” Ursa lectured, “and if I go against little Delphy here” he pointed at Delphia, “I’ll probably lose bad, right?” The children nodded. “Why don’t we have a demonstration.”Ursa and Delphia squared off, slowly approaching each other, Ursa towering over the girl, scarred hide glinting in the light.Ursa and Delphia took up ready positions near each other. The more experienced Ursa opened with a swing at Delphia, blow going over her head. Delphia stepped in and threw a right hook at Ursa. He sidestepped, guiding Delphia’s body past his, reaching to throw her behind him. She quickly twisted away, avoiding his grab and spinning into a kick, which Ursa blocked with his right arm. Regaining some distance, Ursa began rocking back and forth lightly on his feet, and lunged forward -- only to back off at the last second. Delphia was unphased by his fake out and appeared to adapt the same strategy, bouncing back and forth before lunging forward. She followed through. Ursa fail to bring up his block in time, and he took a solid fist to the solar plexus, winding him and knocking him back. Pandora winced at the sharp sound of Delphia’s fist impacting on Ursa’s chest made.Regaining his breath, Ursa took a defensive stance, readying against Delphia. Nonplussed, Delphia strode forward, hooked right, then swung left to avoid Ursa’s ready fist. Her left hand flew into Ursa’s side, though her slight frame failed to provide much force behind the strike. Ursa pressed forward with a flurry of blows, forcing Delphia back one step, then another, as she barely parried and dodged the attacks. It looked like she was going to fail any moment to one of his blows, when suddenly she struck out, ducking under his blows and socking his arm. Ursa smiled and just shock it off again.Taking advantage of Delphia’s lack of damaging blows, Ursa barreled forward with a heavy swing. Delphia calmly sidestepped, and gave a push to Ursa’s back, toppling the large man. Delphia immediately yelled, causing Ursa to twist violently to dodge the coming attack, but Delphia lunged right after his twist, wrapping one arm around his neck, with her other pulling it back as her legs pinned him down.Ursa struggled to remove Pandora’s arms from around his neck, failing to break the hold. As he slowly started to lose breath. He continued struggling, but clearly was getting nowhere. Pandora and Leo glanced at each other as they watched, was Ursa going to be ok? Surely he'd have said something if he wasn't. They watched as Ursa continued to fail to escape, twisting around violently as Delphia continued her chokehold.Eventually, Ursa gave up on any attempt to directly escape, and began to swing behind his neck at Delphia. His first swing went wild, aim failing him as Delphia’s presence behind his back prevented him from connecting. However, his second swing connected hard in Delphia’s side, as Delphia was too focused on throttling him to defend herself. She gasped, let grapple hold and retreated, with her fists up ready to defend herself.“Hold.” Ursa said as he stood up. “Well done, though you shouldn’t have gone for the grapple. The martial form’s strength is in it’s skill. Not brute force.” He massaged his bruised neck, “Not that it wasn’t effective, but you really need at least one other person to pin an opponent down if you’re going to choke them out. Better to stay on your feet and beat them into submission with hits.” He nodded, “Unless, of course, you think you’re stronger. Then you can snap their neck, which normally does the trick. Also, if you're trying to kill your opponent, go for their eyes.”“But,” Ursa continued, “Of course, if we fought with weapons, then the outcome would differ wildly.” He produced two sticks, and gave one to Delphia.“This time, first contact wins. Don’t hold back.” Ursa explained. Delphia nodded.Ursa and Delphia once again circled, this time with staves held towards each other. Ursa swept his staff right by Delphia’s ear. In response, Delphia made an uncoordinated shuffling attack with her pole, hitting the ground a foot away from Ursa. Ursa’s second strike's aim was true, and Delphia failed to scramble away in time. This time, his staff slammed into her side with strength born of lifetime soldier. Delphia flew a yard and fell to the ground, gasping, hanging onto consciousness by a thread. Ursa dropped his staff and rushed over to Delphia.“Sorry. Never was very good at holding back..” he said awkwardly as Delphia coughed up blood on the ground.Delphia began to stand up. “It’s nothing.”Ursa eyed Delphia with respect in his eyes, “You’ll make a great soldier one day. But for now let’s get you patched up.” He ran over and began investigating Delphia’s side, beginning to bandage it.As Ursa’s neck began to turn purple from Delphia’s earlier chokehold, he began a longer process of treating Delphia. “Pandora and Leo, come here. You’ll need to know this if you wanna go outside.” Ursa began showing Pandora and Leo how to dress Delphia’s wound and treat her shock.A half hour later, Delphia was moving slowly, but no longer looked to be on the verge of passing out.“Now, as you saw,” Ursa explained, “the Martial form gives little advantage with any sort of weapon. If you have a weapon in your martial form, you’d better know how to use it, or else you’re better off without one. This is why lots of people don’t use weapons, just use their martial forms. Unfortunately, outside, you might fight something with armor that hurts to punch, or that you can’t choke into submission, or that you can’t parry. Of course, with training, martial forms can just gouge the eyes of of those things. I’ll thank Delphia for not doing that to me. Conversely, if you attempt to fight hand-to-hand without the martial form, you’re not going to get far, especially against the beasts outside the barrier. A weapon will help you surmount that gap.” Ursa paused “Or the farming form. But that’s neither here nor there.”He brightened, “Anyways, I’ve got a surprise for you all.” He reached into a nearby bush, “Three wyvren claws!” He handed Pandora, Leo, and Delphia three claws from the bird monster that they had helped harvest earlier. “You can use these spears to learn to fight.” He glanced at the kids, “No stabbing each other though.”Pandora gazed at the claw Ursa handed her in awe. It was as long as she was tall, with a thick base narrowing to a point at the top. The cutting edge had been dulled, but it still gleamed white in the light.“Cool! Can we practice?” Pandora asked.Ursa laughed, “Did you have something else you wanted to do today?” He glanced at Delphia, “Though you might be better off just sticking to punching.”“No.” She gasped and tightened her grip on the polearm, “I’ll learn.”Pandora learns skills:“Ursa did what now?” Pluto asked when Pandora came home.“He gave us wyvren claws and taught us how to fight! Oh, he also taught us first aid after he beat up Delphia! It was really cool!”Pluto frowned, “I’m not sure you should keep hanging out with him. Are you sure you want to keep going?”“C’mon Dad! Delphia didn’t seem to complain too much. She’s fine. Ursa’s teaching us to grow really strong too! He gave me a dragon claw!”Pandora proudly showed Pluto her spear.Over the next year, Pandora and her friends prepared to go to Pylos to learn about the outside world and eventually travel outside of it. Pandora spent countless hours training with Leo, Delphia, and Ursa, as Ursa taught them how to fight, camp, gather materials and supplies, and live outside.Learned skillsThe setting sun marked to end of the day’s travels as a band of Xeraxian farmers finished pulling their load into the city of Delos. They unloaded the cart with the joyous thoughts of those who haven’t slept in a proper bed for a couple days. Pandora ran off with Delphia and Leo.“What are you most excited for Leo?” Pandora asked.“Oh, all sorts of things. I’m excited to see Persius again. I thought I’d have heard from him by now. But there’s probably so many other people there!” Leo glanced around, “I mean, look at Delos, they say Pylos is bigger than Delos, yet there’s so many more people here than at home! Anyways, what about you Delphia? Are you just gonna train all day and never do anything fun there too?”“...yes.”“Weirdo.” Leo stuck out his tongue at Delphia.“I’m excited to go outside!” Pandora interjected, “It looked so pretty, and there’s so much we don’t know about it!”Pluto came up into the room where Leo, Delphia, and Pandora were talking, “Well kids, looks like we just made it. The caravan we trade with which goes to Pylos is leaving tomorrow morning. You’ll leave with them in the morning. You’ll want to be well rested tonight: it’s a hard journey there.”“Aww! But we just got here!” “Yay!” “...”When the children came into the dining area of the inn the next day, they saw Pluto eating with a pair they hadn’t seen before, all in the blue of their native forms.“Ah, here they are now.” Pluto gestured to the children when he saw them. The children scampered over to the trio.“This is Leo.” Pluto indicated the boy, “he’s Perseus’s brother, who I believe you’ve met.”“Yep yep.” Milo smiled, “Hopefully this one doesn’t try so hard to get left behind at stops.”Althea leaned into Milo, “Hey now, it’s fine, he was just practicing. Besides, we don’t even know if Leo knows the survivalist form. Not all siblings are the-”“Of course I know the survivalist form! I’m going to get even better than Perseus at hiding!” Leo announced causing Milo and Althea to groan.“Moving on, this is Delphia.” Pluto pointed, “She’s quiet, but a great listener and a hard worker. I’m sure she’ll be no trouble at all.”Delphia just nodded as Milo and Althea glanced over her.“And finally, this is my daughter Pandora. She’s learned the Survivalist, Empath, and Scouting forms already, and is sure to do her parents proud.” He smiled, “She’s also fairly curious, so please humor any questions she has. She’s mature for her age, but can be a handful.”“I’m sure we’ll get along fabulously with the kids Pluto” Milo said, “Now how much have you told them about us?”“Nothing at all.” Pluto announced, “Figured I’d let you guys do the honors.”Milo nodded, then turned to Pandora, Delphia, and Leo. “We’re traveling merchants. We buy and sell with people from across the whole of Xeraxia. This include people like your parents, and the academy at Pylos. As this sort of travel is more easily done in groups, we cooperate with other merchants, travelers, and a couple guards in a caravan.”“We get to meet all sorts of interesting people!” Althea added, “We also help shuttle people from place to place occasionally, and can take messages between cities. Though we normally don’t make separate trips just to send messages. We do tend to see your village once a year, and stop at Pylos with some regularity, so could give messages if you’d like.”Leo looked excited, “Do you have any message from Perseus?”“Nope. Haven’t seen him since we left him at the Pylos Academy two years ago.” Althea looked at Leo’s crestfallen face, “But, hey, I’m sure you’ll get to see him yourself soon anyways. He’s probably just really busy.”“He’s always too busy.” Leo pouted.“Well, I’m sure he’ll have time for a classmate.” Milo said decisively. “Now we’ll be leaving in about half an hour. So make sure you eat up.”Pandora is leaving for a two month long journey to Pylos. What does Pandora do while travelling?-[ ] Training whatAdditionally, about half of the time the caravan spends will be at various stops, ranging from Asine (city of art) and Pella (city of war) to random farm villages. What does Pandora do during those stops?-[ ] Training what