Wish upon the Stars chapter 73

Sarah was in fact able to arrange a meeting with Saint Aiden, though  it took a few days. I spent that time working on wishes at the crafting  hall, managing a full twenty four points, having to spare two from each  wishing session to erase the memories and set up my geas. Still, twenty  four was pretty damn good for only three days, even if I wished they had  been a bit more concentrated. Six Vitality, eight Creation, seven  Fantasy, and three Focus gave me a solid all around boost but aside from  putting Creation firmly on top of my stats it was nothing special.

Wishmaster  candidate status. G-rank. Ability: Beginner Wish- Five times a day  grant a Beginner wish in return for proper  compensation. Wish must be  feasibly   achievable by the candidate's own  efforts within a three day  period  with  current statistics.

Might-22

Impact-12

Fantasy-21

Vitality-18

Focus-20

Perception-25

Creation-29

Skills:Beginner  Doom Sovereign Mastery,Lesser Enchanting Mastery, Lesser Cooking  Mastery, Minor Piano Mastery, , Minor Gymnastics Mastery, Minor Swimming  Mastery, Minor Guitar Mastery, Minor Singing Mastery, Minor Inventing  Mastery, Minor Poker Mastery, Minor Archery Mastery, Minor Boxing  Mastery

I couldn't complain about my stats  with those kinds of numbers, not when I had been so weak only a few  weeks before. It felt good to see myself improving. I was still under  one fifty total, so I wasn't anywhere close to the point where I would  need to slow down, though once I hit five hundred I planned to fill out  and upgrade some of my skills. I didn't plan to do anything too crazy,  but if I could get a few to Lesser or Beginner I would be able to  synergize them into some unique skills that might give me some  flexibility other than relying on DS mastery all the time.

One  big change was that we had managed to find and purchase a skyride. A  very nice mid range G rank model that we were able to purchase after  converting our chits at an eleven to one ratio at the local bank. It was  faster than the models we'd been using from the tower and gave us some  much needed mobility independent of any outside forces. We took it today  to the station, leaving it in the long term parking area and taking a  canister back down to G district to meet up with Saint Aiden for our  inquiry about the Heartripper symbols around the district.

Finding  the place wasn't much of an issue, Sarah had given us excellent  directions, but we stuck together just in case the Flame Riot Militia  were lurking around waiting to jump some unwary travelers. Despite the  similarity of the streets, the well lit roadways were easy enough to  keep track of as long as you had a few landmarks to navigate by. Though  Benny was definitely easily distracted. "Can we stop by that sausage  cart on the way out? The food there was delicious and I bet that guy has  some more information about the symbols."

Callie looked  dubious at the idea, yet open to being convinced. "Maybe, depends what  we hear from Saint Aiden. We're stronger than before but I don't know if  it'll be enough. Despite the improvement we should stay vigilant and  try not to jump headfirst into trouble we might not be able to get out  of. This should be a recon mission only. Right?" Her eyes pinned me with  the question and she looked relieved when I agreed. "Well, in that case  a bit of food isn't the worst idea, provided we get done early enough."

I  wasn't sure the guy even closed but I was open to the idea either way,  and Jessie seconded the sentiment, so we decided to try the place again  when we were done looking around. "So Benny, did you end up making any  more plans with Celine?" I didn't bother to hide the teasing tone, and  he didn't seem to care either way, because his face took on a pleased  expression at my comment.

He suppressed a smirk and just  shook his head. "A gentleman never tells." Which basically meant yes.  Seeing my eye roll he chuffed out a laugh. "Fine, yes, I offered to meet  her for dinner to exchange our views on the city as outsiders. As  someone from off world she knows what its like to be new here just like  we do, and she's willing to share her insights. Beauty aside that seemed  like a pretty solid idea considering all the shit we've been dealing  with since we got here. Plus new friends are always welcome."

That  was a decent enough reason that I decided not to harass him about it.  He would have bugged me, but I could just keep this in my back pocket to  use as leverage when I finally got another date with Callie. That  pleasant thought was cut short however, when we finally came around a  corner to find the Church we had been looking for. It was exactly where  Sarah had said it would be, and it was impossible to mistake for  anything else.

The place was so stereotypically a church,  that it might as well have had the word painted across the front. A tiny  stone building with a small bell tower and tall stained glass windows  depicting a cloaked knight in red plate armor, with a smiling red mask  set in a crimson hood. Beneath the windows depicting the Red Revenant  himself were several neat rows of gravestones, cast in eerie read light  that flickered from what must have been candles through the stained  glass. It was...ominous, but kind of pretty, in a strange way.

Finding  the door was simple, at was down a short cobblestone path that wound  between the graves from the street, and the pair of wooden barriers were  open a few inches, letting out that same flickering firelight from  inside and welcoming in any travelers who may have happened upon them.  Despite the semi creepy vibe, the place was clearly meant to be open to  all, with the doors only being mostly closed to keep the chill out of  the warm building.

We didn't bother  to knock, since the things were open, just pushing inside and taking a  look around, enjoying the warmth. It was a bit chilly outside, probably a  factor of being so deep underground, and stepping into the cozy little  church was a welcome relief to the bite of the air. I half expected to  be greeted at the door or something, but the place was just full of  hunched figures in red robes praying.

At  the end of the long red carpet knelt a young man with bone white hair,  bent over an alter depicting the image of that same red armored knight  in the crimson cloak. The Red Revenant was obviously the patron deity of  the Church. He was considered a warrior god with a code of honor and a  particular fondness for monster killing. He traveled around, helping  others and hunting down the wicked, creatures and criminals alike,  though that was basically all I knew about him. Very into punishing the  guilty.

I  hadn't met many of his clergy members, pretty much just Sarah and now  this Aiden guy, but they mostly came across as sympathetic people, if a  bit judgemental from what I'd been told. Compared to the cultists  already trying to murder me they were definitely a step up, and I saw  nothing but benefits in getting to know them, given our shared enemy. So  I waited patiently with the other while Saint Aiden completed his  prayers, standing there for easily twenty minutes before the man slowly  stood, brushing off his knees.

He  had a warm smile on his fine featured face when he turned around, his  pale blue eyes kind and welcoming as he took us in. "My apologies for  the wait. I sensed your entry, but I'm afraid my devotions take  precedence over my need to be a proper host." He gestured for us to  approach. "Please, come have a seat, I'm happy to try to aid you in  whatever you seek." He gave us a once over with a rueful chuckle. "You  don't strike me as supplicants coming to pay your respects to the Red  Lord." He didn't sound upset about that at all, just matter of fact.

I  was a bit embarrassed, but I didn't bother pretending. "Yeah, we're the  group Sarah set up a meeting for." His eyes flashed with recognition.  "We're here to ask you some questions about the local environment and  just generally make some connections. We've heard good things about you  from the locals. We have a bit of a...project, we've been working on and  we were hoping you could be of some help with it." I wasn't entirely  sure how this would go. The Heartrippers weren't exactly common  knowledge obviously, but they were a counter force against the Church.

It  was a toss up whether someone at Aiden's level would even have access  to the information that there was a secret cabal of hypnotized sleepers.  I didn't want to tip my hand this early that I was dealing with the  Cult. Tipping off the Church would most likely result in a ton of  support, but it would also result in a ton of attention. If they moved  out resources to a middle of nowhere planet like this it could easily  provoke a response from the Cult, who were keeping things measured so  far, and any escalation could draw attention from the other candidates  way too early.

No,  I wanted backing from the Church if possible, but not right away. I  needed to feel out the situation and find what the Heartrippers wanted  before I brought them in, as long as we knew what we were facing the  Church would respond with appropriate levels of force hopefully and not  escalate things beyond my control. I reached into my pocket and passed  the card to him. "We're trying to find somewhere around G district where  this symbol might be hidden. It belongs to a group we're doing some  research on."

We  had that map from the old man, but given his resources Aiden was more  likely to have up to date information, and this was a good excuse to  feel out what the Church knew anyway, as well as giving us an in with an  influential local figure. I watched his face for signs of recognition,  but thankfully got none. His only expression was one of confusion. He  handed it back. "I don't recognize the image, but I can ask my faithful  if they've seen it around. I'm sure we can help you locate some of the  symbols."

I  relaxed. Hopefully he could find us some more aside from the ones on the  map. Having a larger variety of locations to check wouldn't be a bad  thing by any means, even if it was just a bonus. Now that I confirmed  that he knew nothing it was onto my second reason. I gave him a grateful  smile, offering my hand. "We appreciate that, I'm Solomon by the way,  and this is Clockwork, Nightstrike, and Agria. We appreciate the  assistance. Maybe we could sit down and talk while your people ask  around, we've heard great things and we'd love to learn more about your  role around here."

His  face lit up. "Of course! Please, right this way, we can have some tea  and I can tell you all about how I spread the word of the Red Lord in  this place." He turned and waved us after him as he strode toward a side  room, gesturing to one of his faithful to follow, presumably to prepare  the tea. As we walked he chattered on about his charitable interests  and projects helping the needy, and I had to admit they sounded  impressive. This would be a good start to friendly relations, and after  our little talk we could check out one of the locations from either his  people or the map before heading to the sausage cart. Just a nice  relaxing day.