Update 1.5 — the companions update: foraging, errands, and the Bond

[Claudio Castellani]

Last time I promised the quiet stretches of the early game were next. There are two of them: the wait before your first familiar, and the lull after your last summon, and this update is aimed at both.

**Foraging — gathered by your own hand.** The Laboratory now has foraging spots: the Garden, the Rain Barrel, the Salt Cellar. No mana, no familiar required: you pick a reagent yourself, wait a short while, pick again. They appear one by one as your practice grows, so the road to your first summon has something to do with your hands besides channeling. And when a familiar eventually takes over the gathering, the spot stays yours. It will tell you so itself.

**Errands.** Familiars can now run short trips, fifteen minutes to three quarters of an hour: combing the hedgerows, crying the night market, tending the charcoal kiln. They bring back base reagents only; the rare ones still live at the far ends of the long roads, as they always have. Each errand suits a different temperament: send the right creature and it comes home with a little extra.

**The Bond.** Every journey (errand or expedition) deepens a familiar's bond with you: one step per quarter-hour of road, ten levels in all, and every third level sharpens its aptitude. A well-traveled Imp is simply better at being an Imp. The Bond belongs to this life; reincarnate, and you greet a stranger. Whether that makes the crossing heavier or lighter is between you and your Homunculus.

**Companion Pages.** The Grimoire has grown by five pages, each discoverable only with a particular familiar at your side, the lesson only its presence teaches. Once learned, learned forever, as always. What they brew is comfort, not power: a lighter summoning bill, a longer stretch of the night, that sort of thing. Each hint names the teacher; the rest is between you and the bench.

Saves carry over, as always. One note for the sworn: the Hearth vow means exactly what it says: *no familiar leaves your side*. Errands included. The hearth is warm; the hedgerows can wait.