The town was busier than it had ever been before, new people were coming in to offer their help for the upcoming siege. Some were fighters, some were folks who could act as support in various ways, repairing weapons and other items, making bandages and other supplies. There were even folks who were making large amounts of simple foods that would last for quite a while, ensuring that everyone would eat.

Twist was sitting at a table in the dimmer back area of the tavern located on the ground floor of the Journeyman's Inn. A very large man was sitting not far from the hearth, and he would occasionally get up to shift the heavy pot or other items for Madame Benrime, the innkeeper.

Twist had been introduced to him last night and learned his name, Jarg, when she told her tale of how she came to Fiddler's Vale.

Everyone in the town knew that there would soon be a siege, an attack on everyone there as revenge from an evil sorcerer who had kidnapped the friend of two of the folks in the town. Many had heard the story that an all female adventuring group was rescuing that friend.

Well, this evening had been rather interesting, Twist thought to herself as she relaxed in her chair, sipping from a fresh mug of ale. There had been stories from several different people about how they came to be there, but then the woman named Emmy told her tale to the large crowd filling the tavern from one end to the other, many of them simply sitting on the floor or squatting near tables that held their drinks.

When Emmy finished, having included the half-orc named Goruza and the catfolk ranger Milah who were sitting near her in the tale, she smiled and executed a partial bow, then grinned and raised her mug to salute the folks of the town. The tavern erupted in raucous cheers.

Twist smiled and raised her own mug in a salute to Emmy, then sat back and thought for a short while before rising to her feet to face the crowd. "Good folks, we all know the danger that is coming. Some of us will fight as we are able, some will help behind the lines.

" I promised the following tale to several folks here when I related my story last night of how I arrived here. And so we go...

"I'd been here for a bit more than a week, perhaps ten days, when I was asked if I would help on a small mission to rescue a child who had fallen into an old well on his family's property a mile or two outside of the town. I doubted that I would be of use, but I did go along with them.

"We reached the property not quite an hour after we had left the town and the owner of the place led us down to the old well.

"It didn't take long for me to notice that the well was rather damaged, definitely due for either repairs or complete replacement. A quick scan of the walls of the well showed me that the whole well would collapse with just the slightest nudge of my powers as an earth mage.

"I used my abilities to pinpoint the precise location of the child, then waited as they lowered a rather interesting looking arrangement of a seat fastened between two long ropes. It took three tries before the child was able to grab onto the seat, then lever himself into place.

"Once the child was safely above ground, I asked the owner what he intended to do regarding the condition of the old well. His reply was that they had a newer well with a deeper access to good, clean water closer to the house, so they no longer needed this one.

"With a little further discussion, I was given permission to close the old well in a permanent fashion.

"That turned out to be rather easy, I simply used short nudges of my tremor ability to shift the upper portions of the well and make them fall into the well hole itself. A few further nudges and the remains of the well were covered by dirt pulled from the area around me.

"The property owner was quite impressed with what I had done, and we spent some time talking after I had finished my work.

"That led to further visits with him, which led to him coming to visit me in town, then I met his second cousin Vansel and lost my heart.

"I had no idea that the two men were related to each other, even though I had seen the big smith in the distance a few times.

"Well, I had decided to stay, and within a few days of the rescue of the young lad, I was helping the town with various earth problems. Problems like making sure that a ditch just outside the town could be properly arranged, including some spikes set as traps for horsemen.

"There were other 'problems' such as needing dirt to be placed so that the ends of a bridge could be properly set and the bridge built.

"As time passed, Vansel and I spent more time together, often relaxing at a table here after the days work was done.

"I still didn't realize just how important Vansel was to the town, at least not until he obtained a contract to make two hundred longswords. That was when I learned that he was not just a smith, but an actual weaponsmith, with a reputation for making excellent pieces.

"His size didn't bother me at all, he never tried to intimidate me or anyone else. He just did whatever work was needed, and did it well.

"I suppose it was almost a year after I arrived her before he asked me formally to be his wife, and I soon agreed.

"We had a quiet wedding service here in town at the temple of Mitra, and I was quickly moved into his apartments behind the smithy.

"We had been married for not quite two years when I was asked to join a group doing another rescue mission. I quickly learned that this one was to help free the folks caught in the collapse of an old mine. I worked along with many others for just over a day to clear an entry path.

"Once the hole we had made was big enough for people to get through, I stayed out of the way, only occasionally nudging the piles of rock and dirt to one side or the other to make the hole a bit bigger and thus easier for the folks trapped inside to make their way out to us.

"Even with my powers, it had been very difficult to get the huge pile of collapsed rock and dirt to shift and form a hole within that mess. I ended up staying there for another three days once everyone had been rescued, moving the rest of the collapsed rock and dirt out of the way.

"I heard afterward that they had people go into the tunnels to check them, and reinforce walls with heavy beams where they were needed. If doing things like that would help to ensure the safety of the people working in those tunnels, then I would be there to help them.

"To be honest, most of the abilities that I've found that I can use seem to need to be done in an open area somewhere outdoors. I've actually tried a couple of them indoors, and let's just say that I won't do that again. Poor Argen, I didn't mean for those spikes to pierce his leg!

As time passed, I learned other spells that could be useful, like Shillelagh which turns a staff into a stronger weapon and Flaming Sphere, that's a rolling ball of fire that does a fair amount of damage to anyone that gets in the way. Hurricane Blast is pretty obvious, I'd think.

Thorny Entanglement is like the usual entanglement, but with the added bonus that the plants can make ranged attacks. Ice Storm is another one that I like, that throws out hail in a cylinder/circle forty feet wide and can do significant damage in a very brief time span.

"I suppose that I would be a druid, but if so, I am an unusual one, as I did not learn these spells through a teacher in the usual way. No, I was definitely unusual in that respect; I literally had my first spells implanted in my mind the day I killed the orcs in my old village.

"That's right, it wasn't until my deity, Njord, gave me those spells to use that I was able to do anything like that. I'm still learning, and I believe that I will be able to study further in the various elemental aspects. I am surprised, though, that I have no spells for the healing arts.

"If that means I must depend on a healer being nearby while I do my work, then I will do my best in the hopes that they will not be needed.

When Twist finished speaking, she sat down again and found that a fresh mug of ale was sitting on the table for her. She raised her nearly empty mug to the crowd around her, getting some cheers from them for the tale she told, then settled down to listen to other folks' tales.

That was when she noticed Jarg nodding to her from across the room. What was that about?