The word of recall transported the group back to the familiar library. Oltrox sat at his chair, nervously looking around until the group came into view,
“Oh I’m glad that you all are safe.”
Oltrox floated over. He looked in yearning,
“So what did you all discover?”
The party all looked and one another and Blut began to speak in a matter of fact sort of way, “Well sir the miners appeared to have stumbled upon some kind of archaeological site.” Oltrox smiled and gave a sigh of relief,
“So those miners just ended up getting lost down there?”
Krimson walked forward and attempted to speak but he was interrupted by EJ,
“Sir there was a group of evangelists down there, Kobolds to be specific.”
Oltrox waited a moment pondering on the best thing to say,
“Well if you all could please stay here for a moment and give me a recount-”
Oltrox stopped talking as he saw Boot hold up a small leather worn leather notebook. “Oltrox I wrote down just about everything right here!”
He smiled and took the book from her,
“Thank you, Boot. You all will receive your points, Claukwith will be here to talk to me in just a moment, but Kraexon I need to speak with you first.”
Frey walked forward and rolled his eyes,
“How many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me that name father.”
Oltrox gave a piqued look and then averted his attention to the others,
“You all can go on and head to your rooms for now, this is a family matter.”
Boot quickly impugned the order,
“He’s a member of our team so it's a team matter Oltrox!”
He looked over at her and then narrowed his gaze,
“Boot, that's an order as your instructor, please go to your room now!”
His last word was spoken with a considerable amount of anger that had never been present before. Frey continued to keep a strong glare on Oltrox. He eventually caved in,
“Alright fine, you all can stay here…”
He continued on,
“Kraexon, I’ve come to the conclusion that adventuring for you is far too dangerous right now, you will be contained to the library once again. However I will not discipline you this time.”
Frey attempted to give an argument but Oltrox quickly shut down any hope of this. Krimson quickly perked up,
“Oltrox you aren’t being very fair here.”
Oltrox snapped back,
“He’s my son so this is my choice!”
Freys dejection was only strengthened by this statement; he began to feel like he would permanently be a prisoner inside of this library, never allowed to leave.
Frey shuddered as he felt a cold reptilian hand on his right shoulder. Looking over revealed S’kelt gripping his shoulder, he looked to be taking Oltroxs’ words rather seriously and spoke up,
“Sir I believe that the most important part of a young adult's life is going out on their own to find themselves. You sheltering your son will not complete anything but your own selfish desires.”
The group went silent, and Oltrox didn’t know how to respond. The silence was interrupted by walking down the staircase.
“What is it I hear about forcing a student to unenroll in my academy?”
Oltrox looked genuinely fearful as he turned around, Claukwith was standing behind him and began lightly tapping his foot on the ground. Oltrox turned around,
“Sir, my son here illegally entered the school, without my permission!”
Claukwith raised his brow,
“Oltrox the point of this academy is to encourage young people to get out there and find themselves! Now that your son is here, there is no going back.”
Freys eyes lit up,
“Yeah see dad you can’t force me to unenroll!”
Oltrox was filled with sadness and it was obvious as he spoke,
“Kraexon… I’m just trying to keep you safe…”
Frey spoke up in a more aggressive voice,
“I DON'T NEED YOU TO KEEP ME SAFE!”
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Claukwith gave a smile,
“Now that that matter is settled, I appreciate you all for your previous mission; however I will require you all to head back out in a moment to deal with another problem.”
Oltrox gave a look of both anger and worry at Claukwith for this suggestion,
“Sir they just got back! They need time to rest.”
Claukwith waved his hand as if to say
“Nonsense.”
Frey gave a weak smile and nodded. EJ looked over at Claukwith,
“Well sir where do we need to go?”
Claukwith explained that there was a town not too far north of the capital that was having an issue with their farms being completely destroyed by something.
Boot raised her hand, just like that of a student seeking the answer to an impossible problem,
“Does that mean we’ll have to walk there?”
Claukwith nodded. Boot quickly responded in an excited voice,
“Hell yeah, I haven’t been able to go camping in a long time!”
The group turned to leave. Krimson being the last to exit, Oltrox spoke out to him,
“Leo, please keep my son safe…”
Krimson turned around and gave a smile,
“Don’t worry sir I’ll make sure that everyone comes back, I swear my life on it!”
Oltrox nodded as Krimson turned around. Krimsons face changed from that of a smile to a scowl. With this the group walked out of the academy and along the roads to the city's northern gate. The outer districts were rampant with crime with different races getting harassed by humans and elves, yet there was nothing the party could do about it, they had no jurisdiction. As they walked Frey looked over at S’kelt,
“Thanks for what you said back there.”
S’kelt turned to face him and shook his head,
“No problem, you’d be no use to the group locked in that room anyway.”
Frey laughed and nodded.
Within no time the group reached the northern gates they were met by a large line of people attempting to leave the city, however it became clear how underprepared they were; everyone else was leaving in larger wagons and carriages, yet their group was just walking. EJ received a tap on the shoulder and he turned around, revealing the pale draconic changeling. Uvy gave a smile,
“Why hello there EJ!”
She then jumped and confined him within a large embrace. The rest of her party arrived behind her shortly after, with Elryn walking up to Frey,
“I apologize for her behavior.”
She sounded crestfallen, and placed a hand on her large crow like mask. The groups got well intertwined with each other, EJ had his arm wrapped around Uvy, like a dragon guarding its hoard of gold.
“So what’re you all doing here?”
Saat quickly spoke up, not allowing Uvy any form of commitment to a subject,
“Oh we got assigned up er’”
Blut looked over tilting his head at the comment, 221Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ld9JpyZq4
“Are you all assigned to the same town as us?”
Saat shook his head at the question, and Uvy took the initiative to answer this question,
“No, I don't think so. We were assigned just a little northwest of here. Apparently some storm is predicted to hit the coast.”
Theta gave a robotic nod,
“Indeed, in just one month's time an incredibly large tropical storm will hit the coastline of Nyxis.”
Frey perked up, with a sense of worry washing over him,
“Will it hit the capital?”
Elryn shook her head in a gentle way, obviously eager to answer his question.
“No need to worry, the capital has a special barrier placed around it that protects it and some of the surrounding region from any serious winds, however the rainfall will still occur.”
Frey nodded as the relief washed over his face.
The now group of ten sat through the line, until they eventually reached some kind of security gate. A group of guards stood there, each wielding a katana and having straw hats, they wore incredibly flimsy robes that were only protected by rather thin pieces of wood. Each of the five guards wore the same bland expression, they were bored, and not wanting to deal with this line. One waved the group forward,
“What makes such a large group want to leave the city?”
Uvy showed the same guard a piece of paper that was more than likely a form of identification; the guard's eyes widened and he moved to the side, allowing the group to exit the city.
The Capitals outside are surrounded by fields that looked to go on for miles, Krimson eyed Uvy’s group,
“Will you all be accompanying us?”
She immediately gave a nod. Blut walked over to Krimson and whispered,
“We need to talk soon”
Krimson just smiled and nodded. Their trek northwards wasn’t very arduous with the majority of the region being land that they were accustomed to. The fields stretched on and their pace only quickened as night slowly sat in on them. They decided to set up a camp within the outskirts of a forest that they had just entered; Boot had been leading them throughout the entire journey and she was especially delighted to be making the group a fire, which Elryn helped with. Blut and Krimson both offered to go deeper into the forest and collect any firewood that would be necessary to make sure that it lasted throughout the night.
The both of them walked about three minutes into the forest, before Blut stopped him,
“Alright, here will do.”
Krimson turned to face Blut who opened up with a direct question,
“What was it that Oltrox said to you?”
Krimson stood in silence for a moment, contemplating the best way to approach the situation, he finally decided on the best response,
“He asked me to keep the group safe.”
Blut burst out into a laughter that was not just uncommon from him, but completely alien, “He wants you to protect them!? While I understand the fact that they’re useful as a party, they’re nothing more than that.”
Krimson looked up at the tree line, reflecting on the situation,
“They certainly have their quirks. But they aren’t necessarily worthless people.”
Blut took a deep inhale like one that someone would take when stabbed in the back,
“You haven’t been getting attached have you?”
Krimson looked up towards the canopy that loomed above him,
“They’re good people, Blut.”
Blut looked and snarled,
“They’re just tools for now.”
Krimson looked back down, a look of defeat was present on his face,
“Tools or not they’re our team and we need to protect one another.”
Blut looked at him in confusion,
“Whatever, just don’t do anything stupid.”
Both of them arrived back at the camp, carrying branches and dry leaves. Frey and Elryn both stood next to the fire, it was now reaching peaks of four feet high. EJ and S’kelt were both leaning against trees. Uvy and Boot were getting food ready, they looked to be preparing some kind of mushroom and boar meat. Blut and Krimson both walked over and dumped the branches on the ground.
“Thank you both, this should keep the fire going throughout the rest of the night.”
Elryn said with thankfulness in her voice. Boot and Uvy both walked over and began to cook. The parties sat together around the fire for a couple of hours, both were enjoying the food, Saat took a large bite out of a piece of boar meat,
“Wow guys this ish really ghood!”
S’kelt nodded,
“I agree, well done both of you.”
Everyone finished eating in a rather reasonable time, and each headed to their respective tent, Elryn looked back at the others and said,
“I ask that no one enter my tent without asking first.”
Frey exited his tent, it was late at night, the moon's blue light beaming down onto the fire, he walked out and sat down.
“I really am free… Huh?”
He laid down on his back, crossing his legs and looking up into the sky. He closed his eyes and muttered,
“You can’t control me anymore..”
Frey laid in silence, soaking up the moonlight that was glowing down on his skin. He listened intently to the fire's destruction, how it broke the branches that were inside its walls of heat. A Crunch was heard by Frey who immediately jumped up and grabbed the bat that was laid next to him,
“Who’s there?”
Uvy walked out of the darkness with her hands raised lackadaisical in the air,
“Woah buster you caught me.”
Frey lowered his guard at the sight of her, and put his hefty club back down on the ground, “You can’t just go around scaring people like that.”
Frey said in a relaxed tone. Uvy grinned and jokingly pushed him,
“I wasn’t aware the team leader of your great group was such a scaredy cat!”
Frey laughed and sat down, looking back at the fire in front of him,
“What brings you out here in the middle of the night?”
Uvy sat next to him, letting the question sink in. The silence was filled with the sound of crackling ashes and sparks from the fire, which felt like it lasted eons until Uvy eventually responded,
“I could ask you the same question.”
Frey sneered and turned to look at her,
“Dodging the question, are you?”
Uvy turned to face him with a look of seriousness on her face. Frey looked over, and squinted his eyes as he looked at her,
“Your little masquerade is holding up quite well.”
She was taken aback by this statement, and began to blush furiously,
“Wha- What the hell are you talking about?”
Frey gave a sly smile and faced back towards the fire,
“I know that this is just a persona that you’re putting on Uvy, or should I say, Uvy daughter of Nyx and Vara?”
Uvy was now completely flushed with red in her face and she pulled out one of her blades, pointing it at Freys neck,
“Just who the hell are you?”
She muttered out, barely able to speak coherently due to the shock. Frey looked up, still as relaxed as he had been throughout the entire conversation,
“Oh shit, I forgot you haven’t seen me like this.”
Frey stood up, he turned looking intently at Uvy, and then pulled his ring off; he transformed into his Beholder state, causing a gush of wind that knocked the fire down to just a fraction of its former glory.
Uvy took a step away from Frey, holding both of her hands over where her mouth would be.
“K- Kraexon?”
She could barely get the question out of her mouth, and tears began to roll down her face, like a stream flowing throughout a mountainside. Frey placed the ring back on one of his eyestalks, causing him to return to his humanoid form. Uvy ran over and jumped at Frey, knocking him to the ground, trapping him within a large bear hug.
“My father said that you had gone missing! I was so worried.”
Frey attempted to pry her off of him, but his attempts were in vein as she had tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. He gave in and returned the hug,
“Don’t worry I just prefer this form, it gets rid of all of the attention on me.”
Frey let out a poorly disguised fake laugh as he slowly pulled Uvy out of the hug. Uvy looked at Frey,
“What did you mean by me masquerading?”
Frey pointed at the tent EJ was in and then back at her,
“You're acting like you’re interested in EJ.”
She responded with an angered expression and poking Frey at the chest,
“You seriously don’t think I like EJ?”
Her tone had grown sour and her eyes arched like when an angry parent berated their kid. She then stood up,
“We should rest for the night, I’m glad I was able to reconnect with you Kraexon, or should I say Frey?”
The groups woke up the next morning to the sound of rain dripping down from the canopies above. Boot was the last to wake up, leaving her tent showed everyone outside, already packed up and ready to go.
“We din’t wanna wake ya Boot, hurry and get yer stuff packed.”
Saat said. They quickly helped her pack up and began walking northward through the woods, EJ stood next to Uvy walking directly next to her; S’kelt looked at them and asked, “How much longer do we’ll be going our separate ways?”
Uvy turned around and placed her hands on her hips,
“I’m not entirely sure!”
Elryn turned as well and spoke in a matter of seconds,
“Approximately another hour long walk or so and we’ll be saying our farewells once again.” The walk through the muggy forest led out into a field after another half hour of walking which eventually led to a forked dirt road,
“Our destination is west of here.”
Theta said. Frey looked up, and walked over towards Uvy, and gave her a hug
“I’ll see you all later.”
EJ glared as they all walked away.
The town they were assigned to wasn’t very far from their current location. They walked with an increased amount of vigor, Frey had a large smile on his face; EJ looked over at him and gave a cold stare,
“Wasn’t aware that you were stealing my girl!”
Frey immediately cocked his head over in EJ’s direction, attempting to hold back a laugh. “What? Dude we were childhood friends.”
EJ gave a stare like that of a Beholder using its deathray, “Bullshit, you’re just trying to go behind my back like a snake!”
Krimson stepped forward and rested his hand on EJ’s shoulder,
“Calm down man-”
Krimson looked as if he had been hit full force in the stomach with a kick from a professional boxer, flying back almost ten feet, before digging his feet into the ground. Blut pulled his revolver out in reaction and immediately locked onto EJ’s head with it. S’kelt took a place next to EJ in response, and placed a hand on his shoulder,
“What’re you doing?”
EJ turned to him and let out his attempt at a deep voiced threat,
“Stay out of this old man..”
Krimson grabbed his stomach as he attempted to balance himself after the kick,
“By the love of the gods that was a damn kick!”
Blut still had an intense gaze locked onto EJ’s head as his revolver was cocked back,
“The others may disagree, but I certainly won’t stand for this insolence.”
EJ raised his eyebrow,
“You all think I’m scared of you? I could take you all on!” 221Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6cIB5xQmb
He pointed his finger over towards Blut, who in response aimed his gun at his leg, shooting him. EJ jolted down to the floor, and grabbed at his leg,
“What the hell!? You just shot me!”
Blut pulled the revolver up to his mouth, and blew the smoke away from the barrel. Boot ran over to EJ,
“Was that really necessary Blut?”
Blut looked at her with a raised brow,
“The damned scoundrel just tried to attack a teammate.”
EJ continued to hold at his freshly created leg wound as blood seeped out of it, leaving the earth with a crimson stain. Boot held some herbs over his legs, they turned to light, and healed his leg.
The group continued forward, EJ limping his way along the path, trailing about ten feet behind the rest of the group. The rain continued to fall down, due to the climate of Nyxis the rain was warm, it felt disgusting as it dripped onto the skin. The town was visible on the horizon, it was small, the outskirts of the town were filled with farms, ravaged beyond repair. A nearby hill was visible to them, it looked to be mostly abandoned; as they entered the town people were nowhere to be seen, more than likely due to the rainfall. There was a family of halflings, short humanoid people. They were shopping for some kind of farm equipment. Boot walked over,
“Heya folks, do you mind if I ask where the town's mayor is?”
A halfling turned around to look at her, he had stubble covering his face,
“Ya wanna know where the Mayor is, ya?”
He took a swig out of what appeared to be a canteen that was tied around his neck via a string, he let out a loud belch and picked up a trowel that was laying on the stand that he was sitting near.
“She’s, uh, in the small shack over that way.”
He pointed over with the trowel.
Boot relayed the information to the rest of her group, and they in unison walked towards the small shack, S’kelt gave a loud imposing knock on the door.
“Yes, yes, come in.”
An elderly voice relayed from the other side. S’kelt pushed the door open, revealing a small shack, it was filled with plants, and revealed an elderly Genasi; a race of people directly related to specific elementals and genies, this one appeared to be related to earth ones. She had a walking cane and had just forced a small potted plant to grow with some kind of magic,
“Oh deary me, there are quite a lot of you. What do you fine young people need?”
Krimson smiled and walked forward,
“We were sent from Claukwiths. We require some information on the issues here.”
The Elder Mayor gave a weak smile and walked forwards,
“Well honey, this town is an incredibly large producer of vegetables and the like through our farms, but recently we’ve been under constant attack by a large group of aggressive griffins.”
EJ gave a cough, and then walked forward,
“Excuse me but were we seriously just sent here to deal with griffins?”
Frey elbowed him in the side in an attempt to shut his arrogance up,
“From what I've read in the library, griffins can be pretty dangerous.”
The elder gave another light nod of the head and continued to say
“I’m surprised they sent such a young inexperienced group, no offense of course.”
S’kelt held his head in the air, and gave a slight growl,
“Damned hag, just tell us what needs to be done so that we can do it.”
Everyone else nodded in agreement, the elder gave a gaze of sadness and looked downward towards the ground.
“I apologize, I didn’t mean to cause offense.”
She grabbed some plants and began to restructure their very shape, before continuing her story,
“Those beasts are nested on the hill just a little south of here, most of our town's troops have been destroyed attempting to defeat them.”
She then looked back towards the ground,
“I can pay you all now for the service, fifty silver pieces each!”
The party looked at one another, nodded, and Frey walked forward reaching his hand, “We’ll accept that.”
They each grabbed their fifty silver, before exiting the building.
The rain was coming down harder than ever, clouds swirled amongst the sky; thunder roared in the distance,
“It should be easier to take them out of the air now, eh?”
Krimson said to the party. Blut gave a quick response with the nod of his head,
“It’ll make aiming rather difficult though, I hate the rain.”
They began making their way towards the hillside, it was more of a cliff than anything; it was a hill that went rather steeply up before plateauing and then there was nothing but a straight vertical drop. The rain made it an arduous task to even climb the hill, Blut went ahead and scouted out for the rest of the party. He returned and said,
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before we can safely squash their presence.”
Boot responded with a quick jab back,
“There is a cold layer of hell…”
Blut rolled his eyes,
“We need to make our way up, but be very cautious. It could be incredibly easy to lose any one of us.”
The party got in a circle and nodded with one another before making their way up the hill, and upon reaching the top it became increasingly more obvious what Blut was referring to; there were a group of about 8 griffins laying about a large nest that was filled with no less than ten griffin younglings. EJ stood up, popping his neck,
“A few birds are no problem.”
He began walking forward but Krimson grabbed his collar and pulled him back to where they were hiding amongst the soaked bushes.
“What are you suicidal or something?”
Krimson said, berating EJ with the fury of a disappointed father. S’kelt rose his voice as he questioned the rest of the party,
“Well, what’s the plan?”
Blut poked his upper body out of the shrubbery and looked around, attempting to remain unseen by these voracious birds; he pulled out his musket and began scanning the target, like a predator marking its prey before it decided to pounce upon it. Blut looked at the others before speaking in a calculated, yet nervous tone,
“Alright here’s the plan, Boot and myself will stay back and hit them from afar. Everyone else needs to get in there and fight, stay with one another and if there is any sign of danger retreat immediately.”
His words rang loudly amongst the party and with the sound of his gun being readied it began.
Boot popped out of the bushes and honed her small hand crossbow with some form of light magic before hitting the griffin that seemed most injured. Blut had snuck about thirty feet around the plateau and popped out of a bush to fire into the same griffin, causing it to fall;
“That's one down! Seven to go!”
Blut shouted out. Frey, Krimson, EJ, and S’kelt ran into the heat of the battle; the shrieking coming from the frightened beasts made it difficult to hear. Nevertheless Frey readied some kind of chain bola, before quickly hurling it at one of the birds. It collided directly with its wing knocking the griffin to the ground, Frey let out a cry,
“Only six left standing!”
S’kelt stood in front of a duo of the griffins, his arms crossed, with no real care for any danger he was potentially in,
“Alright you horrid birds, time to send you back to the stone age!”
He yelled out, and the birds began to have a flurry of punches thrown into them from nothingness. The griffins retreated quickly before flying back for a counter attack.
Both of the griffins that were previously under threat from S’kelt were now actively pecking and clawing at his sides, S’kelt stepped back, holding his arms in an X formation in front of him, attempting to block the strikes.
“These damned birds are gonna knock me down? I’m pulling back guys.”
S’kelt retreated out of battle. Potshots were being rung out by Boot and Blut, with only a few connecting due to the massive amounts of wind and rain. The rain itself came crashing down, it was pouring, everyone was soaked and the blood from the griffins trailed down the hill. Ej wasn’t doing much better, he stood there as griffins were pelted with kicks, he attempted to weave in and out of the attack range of the griffins sharp claws, but he couldn’t keep up the momentum.
Krimson and Frey were now fighting back to back, Krimson had slain another griffin, leaving only five adults ready to fend for their younglings, which were becoming more and more restless. Frey was running out of stamina, and quickly; his swings with his club were becoming more and more sluggish, and the tiredness in his voice became more apparent. EJ was now bleeding, and pulled out as well, leaving just Frey and Krimson. Blut shouted out at them,
“Leo, get the hell out of there!”
Krimson looked back at Blut, him and Frey were now surrounded by the five griffins.
The rain was berating down, Krimson looked around and thought to himself the best way out, he took a deep breath.
“Frey, you need to get out of here.”
Frey turned to look at him,
“What the hell are you talking about Leo?”
He smiled, and then placed his hand on Frey’s shoulder,
“I’ve got to protect you guys.”
Frey attempted to argue but Krimson just shook his head, Frey nodded and ran past the griffins. Krimson raised his sword, pointing it at them.
“By the oath and decree of Bhaal, god of blood and death. I WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR PASSAGE!”
Krimson raised his sword, and dashed into the griffins, he stabbed one directly through the chest causing himself to heal as his skin was being eviscerated by the claws. Krimson coughed out blood as another griffin sank it’s claws directly through his back, causing him to kneel to the ground. He cocked his head before letting out what was akin to a battle cry, “How dare you force me to kneel!?”
He turned and swung his greatsword with one hand, ripping through the beast's chest, causing blood to spray all over his face. The other griffins began to peck and claw at him, pushing him closer and closer to the nest filled with ravenous griffin younglings. He fought back, and slammed his fist directly through one of the adult griffins chests,
“What the hell are you guys doing? Get out of here!”
Blut walked forward and shouted through the pouring rain,
“I c-can't just leave you to die brother!”
The younglings had latched their beaks onto his left arm, he attempted to pull away but as he did the arm itself began to rip off; this was only being worsened as an adult griffin slammed its massive claw directly into the arm, breaking his bone clean in two.
“Get stronger Blut, avenge me! And make sure that the world can see the light of Bhaal!”
A lone tear fell down Bluts face as he heard this. He turned to the rest of the party,
“Let’s get out of here, now!”
Blut ran down the hill with the others not turning back for a moment; the rain worsened, pouring harder than it ever did before, as they made their way down the hill in a sprint Krimsons screams were drowned out as more griffins flew in overhead; The rain flowing down the hill morphed into a crimson like stain on the world, and the party escaped making their way back to the capitol Evyyss as the rain continued to fall.
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