Vittorio had also chosen his major Talent: Enduring Pact, granting him a boon from the entity he was in a pact with that grew stronger the longer the pact remained. He'd mulled it over for days but ultimately decided that it synergized the best with his plan to mainly work with {The Still Wind}. The flexibility of [Pactmaker] was great and he would make use of it, but in a combat situation, he wanted to be skilled at what he did. If that meant possibly limiting him somewhat he could live with it. He'd have to wait to see what boon he was granted though, as the Talent did not work retroactively.
He also had a minor and standard Talent to pick, and his options were somewhat expanded:
He had chosen to ignore a number of Generic Talents that were of no interest, including Threat Assessment which Gloria had. For his minor Talent he'd settled on Occult Initiate II. His hexes had proved their worth again and again, and even if he would never be able to match a dedicated Occult class he did not doubt it would add considerably to his arsenal. Hopefully, he'd be able to find a tutor, but if not Master Kahe had told him - and he'd confirmed by testing with his current Occult Initiate rank - that occult spells can slowly be discovered on one's own through trial and error. He did consider Transformation Initiate as that worked the same way but left it for the future.
As for his major Talent, he immediately crossed out Dreams from Beyond. He did not want a life of nightmares. Aberrant Senses was also skipped as they all seemed underwhelming. Lingering Hex was undoubtedly the way to go for pure combat effectiveness, but both Distant Sight and Enchantment: Altered Deal offered interesting options: Being able to look around corners or spying on a place were interesting, and maybe being able to move things with Suspend could be incredibly useful. Break Pact also seemed like something he should have but may not be needed just yet.
Ultimately, he picked Lingering Hex. He knew he was going to take it eventually, and if the [Recruiter] did have him join this team they were setting up others in the group may already be able to do what Distant Sight and Altered Deal did.
It took another day and a half before Avourel returned.
"I've received approval", he said shortly after they sat down in a meeting room. "The group will be expanded to include you, Gloria, should you both agree to join."
"We said we would", Gloria said. Vittorio nodded.
"You haven't been told of the practical aspects. If you agree, we will be leaving Pogna, and it is possible you will not return so long as you remain with us. If you have friends or family you want to say goodbye to we can."
"Where will we be going?", Gloria asked.
"Kara."
Vittorio immediately felt Fervent buff switch to Happy. "The Free City!?", Gloria asked. Vittorio couldn't help but share her excitement.
"Yes. I will go with you to the coast and possibly further to help arrange transport. It will be a long journey by ship so make sure you have ways to occupy yourselves. Once in Kara you will meet with an associate of mine - who is not involved in all this, mind you - who will help outfit you with some basic magical equipment. Then you need to register at the Free Company and wait to be contacted.
"As for what's expected of you: You will have a contact. Do what they say, when they say, how they say. It won't always be pleasant, you won't always like it, and you often won't be told why. Don't try to gather information on the organization. If our enemies find out about your group and capture you, you need to know as little as possible to keep the rest of us safe. You will be in great danger, but the organization will do everything it can to keep you safe. We need you, and we're investing a lot of money in you.
"Speaking of which: While I do not expect this to happen, I need to warn you to not take the journey and the equipment and leave. There would be... consequences."
Silence. "Good thing we won't be doing that then", Vittorio said after a few moments.
"Yes. That's not to say this must be for life, but this is expensive and we'll expect something in return."
Vittorio and Gloria looked at each other. "We understand", Gloria said. "It's just the sudden threat, you know?"
"I do, and like I said I don't expect that to happen but it needed to be said."
They spoke some more, agreeing to leave Pogna the next day. Avourel would hire a coach to take them past the village so they could tell Celeste, and then on to Aninosi where they'd take a riverboat down to the coast and look for a ship headed for Kara. They'd spend weeks traveling up the coast before making the dangerous crossing north of the Shallows and finally reaching the greatest city in the world.