Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello once again Scienteers! I hope that the past week has brought you serious breakthroughs in your studies and research. I can say with certainty that I've made a lot of progress with a certain subject of mine, although to call that progress good would be...well, let's just say as scientists I think it's best we don't deal with "good" or "bad", and instead focus on the progress that has been made! So, although that particular experiment isn't making the progress I had hoped, it is definitely making progress. Speaking of progress, though, I'm delighted to see that you've all come to a conclusion regarding what to do next with that AEI friend of ours! For those of you that didn't catch last week's development, here's what you missed!

Hero's Journey:

Realizing that the situation was dire and he needed to act as quickly and effectively as he could, Vander headed toward the nearby town to get some help taking down the beast that had captured Aidah. However, as soon as he got into town and started searching through the people in town for someone to help him, he felt his pocket grow inexplicably lighter.

A quick blur of a woman darted past him, and in her hand he spotted a very familiar bit of leather—his wallet, which held all of his worldly wealth that remained after the fire. Vander chased after her and grabbed her arm, trying to hold the woman back before she could make a break for it. "Hey, that's my wallet, you thief! You give that back!"

"Leave me alone, you creep!" she shouted, pulling her arm away. A murmur of disapproval swept through the marketplace as Vander seemingly accosted this poor girl. If only they knew! She stared him down with a devilish grin, then in a singsong voice she added, "And you will never find me~!"

"Hey, wait!" he started, but before Vander could process what was going on, she'd turned and ran through the crowd. A hearty chuckle alerted Vander to a brawny armored man resting on the edge of the beaten path nearby. "I saw that scene, kid. I'd give you a hand for some coin, y'know." He gestured to his own satchel of money. "Assuming there's any left once you catch her of course." It was shaping up to be the worst day in Vander's life, but he once again had to figure out what to do. Should he take the thief on by himself, or should he ask the mercenary to help him take her on, knowing he'd have to pay the mercenary back once he'd recovered his wallet?

Now, last week I asked you all to decide whether Vander ought to try to apprehend the thief on his own, or if he should bring the mercenary along to help. You all cast your votes, and a decision has been reached! With a resounding 63% of the overall vote, Vander will bring the mercenary along! Now that the decision has been made, I can go forward with my totally safe, 100% ethical, and not remotely harmful experimenting. I'll be back next week with a fuller report of what's changed with our unfortunate adventurer. Until then, happy sciencing!