The crowd of people that mill about in the town square are of a different sort than what was seen in the market and harbour. From their clothes to their bearing, you could tell that these men and women saw that time meant money and depending on which of them it might mean their time or others. There weren’t as many people walking the paths as in the market. Most of the people were either walking by themselves or in pairs between various buildings in the square. There were a few groups of people having cheery, impromptu conversations around the small patch of tended grass and gardens that surrounded the statue of the founder of Port Freeman.
Marin and Harland didn’t have the luxury anymore to simply blend in with the rabble. Harland's shabby garb and unshaven look was the most aggressively at odds with the people in the square which were all wearing bright colours with crisp white accents on their clothes. They got the odd look now and then followed by a muttered statement. It made Harland feel even further away from home and uncomfortable in his own skin. While Harland shifted uncomfortably Marin would often return the gazes of the well off individuals with a glare with varying levels of effectiveness.
“You alright? Really didn’t take you for the sort to get nervous with crowds.” Marin looks back over at Harland after she was done glaring at the most recent noble.
“I’m not.” Harland says trying to get comfortable between shifting his hands between his various pockets, “I’m just a little bit off is all. I haven't really had my back against the wall like this in a real long time. I guess I might be a bit nervous since there is a pretty good amount of pressure on me to make this work. I mean, if I don’t make this work stuff gets a bit more difficult and I'd prefer to not have to go to plan B or C.”
“Yeah, that would be nice. I mean, I am kinda just a one plan sort of person also. I don't know if you've noticed.” Marin’s joking smile has Harland ease up a bit. Harland uncertainty was growing in his mind as he went over the various stumbling blocks. Eventually he just shrugged, sighed, and tried to focus on not letting this creeping discomfort get to him.
The discomfort doubled once they both got in front of the charter building. Everything about this building seemed like it was trying to force you to deal with it. The red brick contrasting the painted white beams made it stand out among the buildings of the square. There was a plaque talking about a great fire in the port and this building being one of the few that remained standing. Harland frowned at the building and began wishing that it did burn down. The discomfort that he was feeling was at its highest as he stood in front of that building. Harland could feel a cold sweats start up on his forehead and his back. Marin looked at the building and then looked over at Harland.
“You sure you want to do this?” Marin had been noticing Harland’s growing anxiety towards this moment as they walked through town, “There are bound to be other ways to get to Plexia.”
“This should be easy. I am just going to go in there and have them verify the adventuring charter I was a part of. I mean, I entered into the jungle with a chartered party because that is the only way you are able to actually take anything out of there legally. If I can get that then we can just join up with a group, make a chunk of change, and then pay for a boat. Honestly, they are probably still going to have me on record.” Harland nods to himself as his eyes stay locked on the building. Despite his words his hand was shaking and his breathing had quickened. Marin looks concerned and doubtful at him.
“You’re an adventurer, you’ve done worst then this. What gives?” Marin raises an eyebrow as she looks over Harland, who is just nodding and bouncing on the back of his heels, “You are just walking in and asking them if they still have your name on file, right?”
“Yeah, this isn’t hard. I don’t know what’s happening.” Harland’s brow furrows in confusion. He holds on to his chin as he thinks, his foot tapping in frustration as he fumbles for words to explain the scenario that he is in.
“It feels like I am tied to some wild animal that is scared or angry about that building.” Harland frowns and seems confused by his own words, “That doesn’t make any sense. I’m just going to go and do this, enough of... whatever this.”
Harland takes a step forward towards the charter building. The bold surge of emotions that prompted him to move quickly falters as well as his body. His balance disappears as well as the colour in his face. It takes everything for him to keep the surge of nausea down. Marin, jolted into action, quickly grabs Harland before he could entirely fall to the ground. She is able to get herself under his arm and prop him up. Marin looks around the square and locates a bench across the road and begins to guide Harland’s half-limp form over to it. Harland simply groans out half statements as he is walked across the road. With some minor words of comfort from Marin she is able to deposit Harland on the bench. She takes a moment to stare at him with both hands on her hips with a raised eyebrow.
“I... I can do it... I just... the sun...” Harland stammers out those small statements as an attempt to cover his own inexplicable failure as he slowly slides down on the bench. Marin sits beside him to stop this sliding with a mixture of disappointment and compassion on her face.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. You have other plans right? We can just do one of them.” Marin tries to comfort Harland who is only just starting to come to his senses fully. He groans as he rights himself on the bench. Leaning forward and covering his face with both hands he settles his breathing. His arms fall to his side as he leans back on to the bench and closes his eyes tightly for a moment before letting out a single, long breath.
“I’m good, I’m good.” The colour in Harland’s face start to return. Marin, feeling comforted at her friends recovery now feels that she can properly converse with him.
“Well that is good. So, any idea of what happened there. You were good one second and then you looked like you got punched in the gut? What gives Harland?” As Marin asks these questions there is this sense of concern that comes over Harland that he pushes from his mind with a shake of his head.
“Give me a moment... let me check something.” Harland puts his hands together in front of him and lets out a small breath. He focuses intently on his hands and begins to mutter an incantation to himself. Marin is in wide eyed excitement with the possibility of seeing this man that she has attached herself too show his capacity for magic in front of her. Harland’s focus is fixed on the line between his hands until the incantation come to an end. “...pull back the curtain and let me see.” With that Harland pulls his hands apart as he lets out a deep breath. He stares out into the world in front of him for a moment as Marin stares at him with wonder and anticipation. Harland looks down at his hands for a moment and then quickly around him. Marin’s face goes from excitement to concern as the realization that something is wrong starts to settle into her mind.
Harland shoots up from the bench, slightly startling Marin. He begins to pace in front of her with his face in his hands. His frustrated mutterings are muffled by his hands and essentially turn into an unintelligible strings of noises. He seems entirely distraught with whatever realization that he made. Various people that are walking in the town square look over at Harland, who is having a small breakdown, and opt to avoid his path. Marin watches him for a bit before deciding that she should probably intervene.
“So, what’s wrong? Did the spell tell you something?” Marin asks Harland hoping that there was something that she could do to help and that they didn’t have some new stumbling block to over come.
“Marin, there wasn’t a spell...” Harland takes the hands away from his face. His face is red from his hands being pressed against his face which makes the downtrodden look he gave Marin all the more poignant. Marin can’t, or refuses, to understand what she has just been told.
“What do you mean? Like the spell just didn’t happen?” Marin raises a single eyebrow.
“It just didn’t happen.” Harland shrugs and shakes his head, “I know what to do, I did everything I was meant to. You don’t forget these sort of spells, it is muscle memory at this point. There are no special materials or other factors. I was just trying to see magic was all.”
“Well, just do the spell again? Maybe you just weren’t in the right frame of mind or something?” Marin is trying to find some solution for a sort of magic that is entirely foreign to her.
“It is not like that. I was calm, I was centered, I did the motions. It felt like the spell that I had cast thousands of times but it just... didn’t work.” Harland is beginning to flat hand tap the side of his leg as his frustration of the scenario grows.
“Does that happen with magic? So what’s wrong?” Marin asks trying to wrap her head around this scenario that is entirely alien to her.
“I DON’T KNOW MARIN!” Harland shouts as his hands that are kept at his side balls into fists, “I have never had magic fail me and never in this way. Usually there is a ward or someone messing with the magic or something disrupting my concentration or something like that. We are just sitting in a nice town square... like... if there is one place I should be able to do magic it should be right here.”
“Alright, just calm down.” Marin gets up off of the bench to lightly grab Harland’s shoulder to be to look him in the eye, “Let’s just go and find somewhere to stay. We can figure all of this out tomorrow.”
“No.” Harland brushes Marin’s hand off of his shoulder, “I am going to do this. I can do this. If I just make this happen is makes everything easy. The room, the boat, everything! Whatever that is happening to me can screw itself.”
Harland looks over at the charter building with a frustration that has concentrated into a single minded determination.
“I’m in control of my life, not whatever weird shit is happening to me.” Harland says that and starts going into a full sprint towards the charter building before Marin could even react. He can feel his bodies muscles pumping as the adrenaline of the moment starts to flood his head. As he approaches the charter building he can feel the same nausea start welling up but he grits his teeth and keeps going. He takes a single step on to the path to the charter building and he is fighting back every instinct in his body to stop.
By the second step Harland’s vision goes dark and he can feel himself falling. As he fades into that darkness he has this familiar feeling come over him. He swears he can smell the disturbed dirt. He swears he can feel the still air being pulled into his lungs. He swears he can hear the echoes of his own pleas for help.