They exited Claukwiths office, Akara tightly gripping the paper that he had given them; the hallways were now bustling with students, Frey placed a hand on Akaras shoulder in reassurance.
“Akara, we’re going to support you through this.”
Both of them smiled and Akara nodded in a sign of thanks. S’kelt spoke up in an attempt to regain everyone’s attention.
“I hate to ruin this wholesome moment, but we should inform Oltrox of our sudden departure.”
Everyone nodded in agreement as they began walking towards the library, with Boot quickly responding,
“We also need to tell Saat that he’s safe to leave.”
Akara smiled and placed a hand on her head, as if she was petting her old housecat; Boot responded with a soft purring.
Standing outside the library revealed loud talking from within,
“Who the hell could that be?”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k8k5jI4d6
Frey asked the party. S’kelt gave a plausible answer,
“Perhaps it's his party.”
Blut continued off of what he said
“Indeed, it was strange that he was alone without them.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVG36WJMoQW
Akara quickly grew impatient and pushed past the party to open the door,
“Well there’s no use in standing around like this, let's go inside.”
Upon opening the door they were hit with a barrage of yelling from Saat’s group; Uvy was standing on one side berating the rest of her group that was standing defenselessly just taking it while Oltrox floated watching helplessly.
“Saat what were you thinking? You didn’t even try to talk to us! You just ran here without telling anyone. We were so worried about you, we thought you had run away or something, or worse, I thought that those racist pieces of shit in the gutter part of town had gotten to you.” 142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7uliM5tDw
She turned to face everyone who had just entered, only further exacerbating her rage.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEipZzT5gi
“Frey, pardon my language, but what the hell were you thinking!?”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YHqbXMhTQ
Frey didn’t even attempt to respond to Uvy’s obviously rhetorical question and she in no time responded.
“He’s my team member and you didn’t even think about telling me the situation he was in, or that he was even okay?”
Frey was finally given the opportunity to speak,
“I’m sorry Uvy but we just didn’t think it was important at the time to tell you about it.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KIkEFRQML
Uvy responded harshly,
“You didn’t think it was important? Are you dense!? He’s my teammate.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dWIUweHqc
Akara stepped forward speaking in defense of Frey and the rest of the party,
“Listen, we just thought it was more important to keep your friend safe rather than get more people involved.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWjuUAzumr
Uvy stood with a dumbfounded look, and thought to herself, what was this dumb bimbo thinking? She didn’t actually speak these thoughts out loud, but instead pushed past Frey and the others.
“Come on guys, we’re leaving; oh and Frey, we aren’t going easy on you, we’re gonna beat your asses.”
The door slammed with the fury of a dragon.
Everyone stood in shock, holding their words back as Oltrox floated over with a similar stunned expression on his face,
“What was that?”
S’kelt talked while walking forward,
“We’re not entirely sure, but that’s unimportant, we’ve received an order from Claukwith himself.”
He stepped out of the way, motioning Akara to show the rushed looking letter that Claukwith had written.
He observed it and then smiled,
“I wish you all the best on your journey; do you need any rest before you head out?”
Everyone looked at one another shaking their heads, Blut had a lightbulb moment and raised his hand, pointing a finger in the air.
“Actually sir we need transportation and a boat would be rather beneficial to us.”
Oltrox pointed an eye stock at a nearby bookshelf that had a ship in a bottle sitting on it,
“That there is a magic item, please feel free to use that for your trial that you’re on.”
Frey eagerly ran over and snatched the bottle off of the shelf,
“Ooh I’ve been eyeing this baby up for a while now.”
He held it up to the light fixture above, admiring the ship inside of it.
Akara snickered at him, he was like a child that was playing with a new toy he had just received.
“Frey, can you stop slobbering over that trinket so we can head out?”
He turned and rolled his eyes, tossing the bottle up and down.
“Yeah we can head out.”
The party decided this time to go through the main entrance of the school, they pushed through the crowded groups of students and exited the building.
The city’s air smelled Mediterranean, it was obvious that a storm was coming soon. Blut took in a deep breath,
“Oh, how I’ve missed the smell of the ocean.”
Boot looked at him with awe in her eyes and smiled, she was happy to see that Blut was no longer moping around, and depressed. She was happy to have her friend back. EJ turned to Akara and pondered a question,
“Well Akara, lead the way.”
He motioned to Akara, everyone turned expectantly yet she was confused, and asked,
“What are you looking at me for?”
S’kelt crossed his arms and spoke in a condescending yet confused tone,
“Are you not the one who knows the way there?”
Akara giggled and placed a hand to her temples, rubbing them,
“You all do know that this is my first trip to the material plane, right?”
Hearing this Frey turned around, and began walking towards the dock on the city’s northwestern beachfront, raising surprise from the rest, S’kelt turned towards him and shouted,
“Wait, do you know where you’re going?”
He turned around and exclaimed,
“I’ve been around the city, we just need to find a damn port.”
The party began following him, and traveled to a never explored section of the capital; the streets had been filled with the smell of freshly baked bread, food merchants were selling skewers of smoked meat and vegetables; they had been walking for almost an hour and the sun was beating down on them, Boot was drooling,
“That smells so good! Please, guys can we get some?”
Akara shook her head, 142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDY3tm1kBd
“We really should be moving-”
“Oh c’monnnnn”
Akara was unable to finish her sentence as Boot interrupted with another plea; she gave puppy dog eyes and kept looking over towards the stands of food. Blut coughed in order to get the attention of the two arguing girls,
“We aren’t very stressed for time Akara; we should be able to make a quick pit stop for food.”
Boot pumped her fist and turned on a dime, running on all fours towards the ever enticing food. S’kelt reached out his hand,
“Don’t act like an animal Boot!”
The rest of them laughed and made their way to the tables, and stands of many foods.
It was midday as the party sat down at a long picnic table, Boot, Blut, and EJ all went to grab food; they returned swiftly with piles of filling foods. The previously seen skewers of meat, smoked vegetables, and Blut had a large plate of sweets. They could hear yelling from behind them near the carts.
“You disgusting lizards need to get out of here.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXZEwuwqxk
Another woman spoke up,
“Yeah, you’re probably from that Draconic Empire east of here spying on us.”
The poor cart owner stood taking the brunt of their verbal attack; he attempted to repudiate their claims but more harassment came in and they began shaking his cart.
Blut attempted to stand up to intervene but was pushed back down by the invisible force S’kelt controlled, his Channel.
“Not now, Blut, we really can’t be drawing attention to ourselves.”
Blut looked around for support from the others but they nodded at what S’kelt argued, with Frey speaking up,
“They’ll go away soon, just ignore them.”
He sighed, and began lightly scratching at the worn wooden table with his claw. It was as if Frey had a magic genie owing him a wish, the group of hicks grew tired with their harassment of the shop owner and made their way towards a table nearby the party.
There was a woman sitting their alone, she slowly and gently twirled a parasol, the bigots arrived and spoke to her,
“Now what the hell is your kind doing here?”
The party's interest was now piqued, they turned to eavesdrop on the group's conversation.
The woman picked up a fancy looking napkin and wiped her face off, before promptly standing up and turning towards the party; they were incredibly surprised as the woman revealed herself as Vara, the changeling politician.
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She walked towards the party and began a conversation with them, completely ignoring the dogmatists that had been bothering her.
EJ had a shocked look plastered on his face, bowing to her,
“M’lady madam representative! I apologize for not aiding you sooner.”
Her eyes grinned and she reached down for EJ’s hand, grabbing it.
“There’s no need for that EJ. Please stand up and speak to me like an equal.”
He grabbed his own hand after she let go, and questioned her.
“Y-you remember me?”
Vara yet again laughed with her eyes alone,
“I remember all of you, except-”
She walked over towards Akara and Blut, still twirling her parasol.
“I don’t believe the three of us have met, my name is Vara.”
They both shook her hand, Akara trying extra hard to not allow her devilish origins to be revealed.
Frey took a meat skewer from the plate and began chewing on it as he spoke to Vara,
“So, why’re you out in public like this Vara?”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAINwjIbrXq
She narrowed her eyes as if she were upset and twirled her umbrella with increased vigor,
“Just because of my ranking as a high ranking official doesn’t mean I can’t go out on my own.”
S’kelt growled at Frey and walked next to him, his arms crossed,
“Do you have no self decency, Frey? Finish chewing your food before speaking to one greater than yourself.”
Frey rolled his eyes as the 2 rubes walked behind Vara, tapping on her back.
“You don’t just turn your back to someone who’s speaking to you!”
Vara sighed, gripping her sunshade tightly.
“I apologize for the rude interruption, please give me a moment.”
She turned around and flipped her parasol horizontally, and began to unsheathe the long hande, her parasol seemed to be a half shortsword, and upon removing it from its scabbard a small gust of wind shot outwards. The two lowlifes stepped back, obviously intimidated now that she had a sword.
“You all are being given one final chance to walk away, please do so, I don’t wish to harm either of you.”
The two of them immediately turned and ran away. Vara immediately turned, sighing, It’s so hard dealing with people like that. S’kelt placed a hand on her shoulder,
“Personally I would’ve just executed them for such insolence.”
Vara faced towards him and began to reconstruct her parasol,
“I can’t do that S’kelt, I’m sure you all wouldn’t understand, but I can’t just murder anyone who disagrees with me. It doesn’t look good as a ruler.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JZXtRYi2e
S’kelt seemed to be in deep thought as she said this, and responded after thinking of a thoughtful response,
“Oh no, I completely understand what you’re saying ma’am.”
She turned around looking towards the castle,
“I really should be on my way.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSH8YI1VhI
She gasped, turning around and looking at all of the students,
“Listen you all, I’ll be leaving the Nyxiss for a little bit of time for a meeting with Orc chiefdom and the Dregaraiath for a small bit of time, however my husband, Nix isn’t going to be here either, he’s busy in the feywild for now, and can’t exactly leave. However, there are rumors of an insurrection, the ill informed farmers have been preaching for the return of the royal family. I fear with my exit from the nation that their plans will go into effect; I plead that you all stay safe.”
She finished her plea, and turned around walking away. S’kelt spoke, breaking the awkward silence
“Well that was damned cryptic.”
Akara respired and nodded,
“I disagree, it sounds like we need to get the hell out of here.”
Frey had a despondent look on his face and took the lead again, taking their food with them to the docks.
They arrived around six in the afternoon, and the cool, salty ocean breeze spread through the beachfront. New travelers from different regions of the continent were arriving at the port through large wooden transport vessels; a majority of the docks were filled with their respective boats, making it difficult for the party to find a place to try out their strange fangled item. Frey was tossing the ship in a bottle up in the air, before allowing it to quickly descend to his hand; each time it went into the air and fell it came closer and closer to shattering on the wooden deck below. EJ cringed with each passing toss, on the sixth toss in the air he ordered Last Surprise to swiftly grab it out of the air and place it in EJ’s hand, which tightly gripped it.
“Frey, are you trying to break this?”
He boasted the glass bottle outwards: confusion swelled within Frey.
“How the hell?- Dude, give it back!”
Frey shouted like a child whose toy was stolen by another. He went to grab it but EJ tossed it in the air, where it laid motionless, Last Surprise holding it a good ten feet in the air,
“No way Frey, we can’t risk the ship breaking.”
Frey walked closer to EJ, seemingly ready to start a confrontation with him, Blut however had different plans.
“You all are such children sometimes.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECNcOTrZC3
Blut sighed and walked forward,
“Give the bottle to me, we could already have set sail if you two hadn’t gotten into such an illogical argument.”
EJ rolled his eyes, once again stepping away from the group
“Nah, you shot me, you’re crazy if you think I’m giving it to you!”
Blut tightened his gaze at what he saw to be utter foolishness.
These three had been too caught up in their argument that Boot was able to grab the bottle with a magical hand she had summoned; she walked forward, with S’kelt and Akara in toe.
“You all need to stop with the meandering so we can get a move on.”142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7CCE2ApIy
This resonated anger within EJ, the others followed them, as EJ followed distantly behind, cursing under his breath.
After a short time of walking they were able to find an empty dock, Boot held the item and looked at the bottle with a perplexed expression. Frey walked up beside her and snatched it from her hand. He popped the cork out of the bottle, and did a pouring motion; a magical fog began to engulf the bottle and the area right in front of it. Out of the spillage of the bottle came a ship, the fog dispersed and in its place was the boat that once sat within the now empty bottle.
The crew of the ship was interesting to say the least; walking around the boat were suits of armor, they were empty, controlled by spectral entities. Frey shouted across the way to one of the crew members,
“Hey! Could one of you throw a plank down so we could get on!?”
In a robotic fashion one of the spectral armors turned towards him, walking over to the boat's edge and throwing down a sturdy plank of wood. Everyone carefully crossed to the boat. Once S’kelt was on he looked around, his hands on his hips,
“These are very interesting.”
He said this to himself and then shouted out to one that was walking around with a crate full of supplies.
“You! Point me towards the captain's quarters.”
The phantom armor placed the box on the middle of the deck and began walking towards the quarters. Frey pulled his bat out and held it out, in one swift motion blocking S’kelt from walking forward anymore.
“S’kelt, all things considered I believe I should hold the position of captain of the ship.”
S’kelt glowered at Frey and asked,
“And why is that Frey?”
Frey smiled and raised the bat back up to its resting spot on his shoulder, slightly tapping it up and down.
“Well I’ll have you all know that I took a quick peek at your all’s rooms, and whenever the ship was created each room below deck is based on each of your tastes. Even yours Akara, I really like your style by the way.”
Everyone but EJ was caught smiling at Freys reveal, even S’kelt was at a loss for words.
“Well Frey, you’ve once again surprised me, I appreciate the thought.”
He walked past his strange blue rival, and down to his room. Almost everyone in tow followed. EJ stood standing, his arms crossed,
“Why the hell did you go into my room Frey?”
Frey looked on in confusion, 142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYoorWOI4J
“I already told you all why. To get your rooms here decorated by the ship's magic; don’t worry none of your items were actually moved; these are all just one to one replicas.”
EJ rolled his eyes and took a step towards him,
“Wow thanks, that's not my damn problem Frey. Don’t, touch, my shit.”
He pushed past him and went to his room.
142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6n0J5Y9hVU
