The pitter patter of the rain was enough distraction from the events that had just unfolded. The party had decided to just skip reporting to the town, hoping to dodge any potential blame that could be thrown their way. The group was silent the entire journey back, the only sound was the constant rainfall and the sound of their footsteps walking through the muddy earth below. They didn’t stop once the entire one and a half day journey back, which caused wear and tear on their bodies; as the sun sat and the two moons revealed themselves the gates of Evyyss came into view.
The group made their way into the guard station that allowed people in and out of the city, the guard there made a face of pity as he saw them walk in,
“You folks look like you’ve been out in the rain for weeks.”
He looked through the group's identification cards that they silently handed him. He looked up and handed them back,
“Not much for talking eh?”
The group pushed their way past him, and they silently agreed to go through the schools main entrance; when walking in they saw Claukwith in the main hall speaking with, and reprimanding a student. He quickly took notice of the group and walked over to them,
“You all have already returned?”
He spoke in a slightly pissed off tone. Frey gave a nod, and Claukwith seemed to ignore the group's pitiful mood,
“I apologize for the tone, we’ve had a major issue on campus.”
Boot walked up, and attempted her best to shift her mood,
“What's the issue Claukwith?”
He began to rub his eyes, and then looked at the group,
“Keep this quiet, but one of the instructors on campus has been found dead; we believe murder to be involved.”
The group was now interested and Frey raised his head,
“The hell, do you have a suspect?”
Claukwith reverted his attention to Frey and then gave a slight nod,
“We do, and sadly I believe it to be this young man.”
He dragged Saat out from behind him. The satyr appeared to be injured with bruises that were all across his arms and most shocking of all, a giant lash mark across his face. He was out of breath, gasping for air. EJ crouched down to check on the boy they had just seen days ago and objected to Claukwiths accusation,
“We just saw Saat a couple of days ago, and what the hell did you do to him?”
Claukwith glared down at the boys and then turned on a dime to walk away,
“That boy is guilty, I’ll be taking him with me for further questioning.”
With that the two of them walked through the door that Claukwith had summoned, before disappearing into the etherealness.
The party stood there in a dumbfounded silence, thinking to themselves that there was no way the boy they saw just a few days ago had committed a murder. EJ narrowed his eyes and began his descent to Oltroxs’ library. Frey attempted to talk sense into him as he continued down. It was no use, as they drew nearer and nearer to the large door that would lead them to their instructor. EJ slung the door open, like that of a mad toddler. The aura of Oltrox’s library did nothing to change the mood. Everyone rather quickly made their way to their rooms. Frey walked directly into his room, the need for him to sneak in was no longer needed, as Frey was left alone he began to break down: the makeup on his face running down his cheeks. He threw his equipment at the wall and sat down next to his bed, grabbing at his face and whispering to himself,
“Why did this have to happen? We’ve barely even started. Why did one of us have to die damnit?”
The tears rolled down his face, and he went to sleep for the night. EJ stood in opposition on the stance, in his room he stood in anger, he was speaking to his channel, one of the beings that him and S’kelt could summon,
“Well Last Surprise, it seems that Leo simply wasn’t strong enough to stay with our entourage.”
He laughed to himself, staring at the black and red, slim being in front of him. His channel, Last Surprise, was a black and red slim being, it was humanoid and looked like a mannequin in its build, its eyes were covered by a red blindfold, and while it had an incredibly slim upper body it had massive legs that supported its ability to kick.
Boot sat on her carpet with her vase of herbs in front of her; she was burning it with some kind of magic, making the room more and more like a hotbox by the second. She took a piece of rolled up cloth to it and began to smoke the forbidden kush that she had created in her room,
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help save you Leo. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuRiF9XPvf
She muttered this to herself for the rest of the night. Skelt stood in his room facing the wall, tapping his foot, unsure of what to do, but an answer finally reached him. He went into a drawer where he had stored some of his most prized wine; he took out two golden wine cups along with it, and poured a sizable portion in each. He handed one glass to his Channel, Stone Age; it was a hulking obsidian colored brute, its head was akin to a lizard skull with fiery red eyes to accompany it, and his arms were like molten lava. Both held a glass of wine and S’kelt raised it into the air,
“To you Leo, I hope you find your way to Arcadia…”
Frey awoke to a change in mood, exiting his room revealed the library was at a nice warm temperature and the aroma of a freshly baked chocolate dish filled the air. Oltrox turned around with a warm face,
“Listen Frey, I’m sorry for your all’s loss, but nonetheless we must move forward, there is bread that's been freshly baked by your newest teammate.”
The rest of the team, minus Blut, exited their rooms, and the sound of heels on mahogany invaded their ears. Walking up the staircase on the right was revealed to be a female, with red colored skin, like that of a succubus from children's fairy tales, she wore a leather jacket that didn’t even attempt to hide any skin except for her chest and stomach, leaving her arms totally exposed. She was adorned with a mixture of cloth and leather pants that looked rather uncomfortable to say the least, and she wore those strange leather boots that for some reason had heels on them, a horrid choice of footwear for a fight. Her black lipstick and eyeliner pronunciated her facial movements, and she had strange books equipped to her side, each bearing its own strange marking. The girl gave a warm smile and softly spoke at the party,
“I was sitting at the table downstairs, and I couldn’t help to overhear what happened. I’m sorry for the loss you all experienced.”
She was trying her best to be as polite as possible, but it was obvious that she felt extremely uncomfortable talking about someone that she knew nothing about in such a sorrowful voice. Nevertheless Frey walked forward and outstretched a hand,
“Thanks for the sympathy, he was a good friend, the name is Frey.”
Frey reached a hand out for a handshake, but the she-devil responded with something he wasn’t quite expecting, she pulled him in and gave him a tight hug.
“Sorry, I’m a hugger. Akara is my name, for the record.”
She released her python-like grasp from Frey, and then gave a sly giggle. The others walked forward in an attempt to ease the awkwardness. Akara’s second victim was EJ who she ran up an attempted to hug as well, yet he jumped back like a ninja.
“I’m gonna pass on that one, thank you.”
He said.
She turned her attention to the Tabaxi that was standing to EJ’s right. However the reaction Boot had was a complete opposite to that of EJ. She opened her arms and accepted the embrace, as Akara ran into her arms. Akara screamed out144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEM1lZrcW5T
“Yay! Another hugger!”
Boot pulled back, and introduced herself, before Akara finally laid her eyes upon S’kelt. As she looked over at him S’kelt raised his hand up, like a stop sign.
“Don’t even try it you horrendous minx.”
Akara gave a groan and slumped over,
“Awe what a grouch.”
The rest of the group laughed, the moment seemed to be going well for the time being; however all of this was put to rest as Oltrox gave a forced cough in an obvious attempt to get the group's attention.
“Sorry to interrupt you all, but Akara and myself made some food to congratulate you all. Please make your way to the table downstairs and have a seat while we get it ready.”
The party all collectively smiled and agreed as they walked down. As they did so Oltrox coughed yet again,
“Kraexon, could we please talk for a moment?”
Frey rolled his eyes and turned around, the others walked down to the table as the father and son duo stood next to each other in an uncomfortable, no unbearable silence. Oltrox bit the bullet and ended the silence,
“So Kraexo-”
He wasn’t even able to get the sentence finished before Frey retaliated with a flurry of yelling.
“If you want even a chance to mend this relationship then at least have the decency to call me Frey!”
Oltrox floated in silence, a dejected look in his eyes,
“So Frey, I apologize for what happened. I just put your safety as the top priority, but if you believe that it’s best for you to continue adventuring, despite the danger, then I will allow you to continue to do so.”
Frey smiled and nodded his head at Oltrox. Their finally happy understanding was interrupted by what sounded like yelling from downstairs. Not angry yelling, but that of happiness, fused with laughter.
Frey turned to walk downstairs and Oltrox followed where they were both met with quite the sight. Cards were strewn across the table, Akara sat at the head of the table and was standing up in her seat, screaming victoriously with her hands raised in the air; Boot was sitting across from her, with her head on the table, sobbing. EJ was staring at his cards and quickly tapping on the table, continuously averting his gaze from the cards and to the now standing Akara; finally S’kelt was glaring at Akara with a scowl, he was gripping his cards incredibly tightly, almost crushing them. Akara noticed this and began to taunt the group,
“Haha I win, you lose. Sorry S’kelty boy guess you’re just gonna have to get good!”
S’kelt gripped the cards harder and looked up,
“You’re a damned cheater!”
Akara stood and began to dance on the chair, sticking her tongue out at S’kelt. He began to squeeze the cards, causing the mana to start pouring out of each one.
“What the hell! No!”
Akara screamed out and attempted to lean down and grab the cards from S’kelt. The two began wrestling for them, putting on a large display for the entire group. S’kelt without the use of his strange power was actually not too formidable of a foe, Akara was able to successfully get hold of the cards; S’kelt wasn’t willing to let go though, and continued to hold a strong grip over these cheating tools. Akara let out a shriek as the cards began to tear,
“S’kelt please don't rip them!”
He quickly let go of the cards, causing her to fall forward and hitting her head against the hardwood floor. The entire room went silent as she laid there; she quickly stood back up, her head now bleeding. She began letting out screams of obscenities at S’kelt.
“S’kelt! What the hell was that? You just ruined my favorite deck of playing cards; like was there a damn need for that? You giant dickhead!”
S’kelt sat in his chair, entirely unaffected by what he considered to be rather drabish insults.
“Your so-called playing cards were mere tools for conning money out of people, I did the world of gambling a favor.”
Akara was fuming, and at this point she was close to unleashing the full force of whatever power she had hidden within herself upon S’kelt, however, a greater foe, chocolate bread, had entered the ring.
“Oh by the grace of Bael, the bread is done!” 144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPq4WeamgFk
Akara seemed like a totally different person; she was ecstatic and filled with childish joy, she rushed over to Oltroxs’ conventional wood oven and fished out more of the chocolate bread that had been baking. She quickly threw it down on the table and began to cut through it with a knife that was laying on the table; the bread was cut quickly and swiftly it was soft and sponge-like. She quickly shoved a large piece of bread into her mouth, causing her to grab at her face.
“This bread is so good!”
Everyone else walked over and began to take a bite into it. Boot quickly clapped her hands together
“Oh Sunne, that was amazing!”
Frey quickly nodded his head as he tapped his foot on the ground,
“Yeah, that's really good, Akara.”
S’kelt made his way over, like the judge about to hammer down the final verdict to a known murderer. He picked a small piece of the chocolate bread up, he eye’d the entirety of it and then plunged the piece of cocoa into his mouth, it was like barrage of flavors on his tongue; his eyes both widened and he grabbed for another piece, shoving it down his gullet as well. S’kelt went to speak, with no filter for his words, but quickly caught himself. He let out a small cough and raised his hand,
“That was actually, quite remarkable, Akara.”
She smiled and gave a fist pump in the air.
“Thanks! The old man helped me make it, but it's a recipe that I learned back home.”
The party congratulated them together as the night moved on, and the memories of the previous night became all but a distant memory.
The door to Blut’s room swung open, he walked out with his rifle slung over his shoulder; for the first time in what felt like ages he had dawned his helmet. He glared over at the others, who were sitting at the table, and their talking fell silent. Oltrox shouted out at him, in a harsh, cold tone.
“Where do you think you’re going son?”
Blut turned away from them, facing the large metal door,
“I’m going out for the night.”
His words rang harsh and he walked towards the metal door, heaving it open; the cave's interior was cold and damp, more than likely a result of the rain that had been heavily falling. The otyugh that rested there was fast asleep as Blut walked by. As he entered the sewerway from before he noticed its flooding, water was swaying back and forth, sometimes it almost overcame the poorly constructed barriers. As Blut walked he felt the presence of someone watching him creep over his shoulder, after walking a good ten minutes he reached his limit.
“I am not one to be followed, show yourself.”
He cocked his gun, readying a bullet at what seemed to be a non existent enemy. He stood in the darkness for what felt like hours on end, waiting for whatever stood there to reveal itself.
“I will not warn you again, show yourself!”
Blut drew his revolver and pointed it at the darkness. He had lost all regard for safety as the night progressed. He turned around and began to walk towards the ladder a good thirty feet away from him; water poured down from the manhole above, dowsing him in the sickly water, surely filled with some plague. He reached the top, and looked around, the alleyway was as lonely as it was the last time he had visited. He walked through the street, it was empty, and lifeless; a group of thugs eyed him up and down as he walked into the oh so familiar bar.
The small bell rang above him as he entered, the rain from the outside being drowned out by the patrons drinking and eating. Blut drew the ire of the people sitting at the bar as he took a seat amongst them. He wreaked of a sewer that he had just climbed his way out of, like a wet rat. The two seated next to him at the bar both moved away, and soon after the kalashtar bartender walked over.
“Why hel- Blut!?”
She gasped out as she saw how he looked, rushing over and leaning down.
“Blut what happened to you?” 144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaevU5wr9t2
He looked up and took his mask off, causing water to pour over the floor.
“Just get me a damn drink…”
He drank for a little under an hour before trouble began to brew, the gang that had harassed the barwoman last time entered, this time only five of them. As they entered the kalashtar sighed. The grizzly, hairy man that was likely their leader spoke.
“Y’know it's funny little lady, it seems that we sent someone to collect money from you three days ago. But the funny thing is they didn’t return!”
The kalashtar rolled her eyes and leaned down to grab a pouch of gold. Blut stood up drunkenly, and turned around.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxFbF8b3RJ
“You dumbasses, aren’t burp getting anything!”
He turned around and haphazardly pulled out his rifle, he was unable to lock on to any one person, the gun swerving around.
The thugs began to laugh at the drunk lizard, and began to slowly arm themselves with their weapons, swords, crossbows and the like; the barmaid slowly reached below the bar that she had situated herself behind, before quickly drawing up a small leather fashioned pistol.
“You all are done taking from me!”
She screamed out and then shot, it was rather apparent that she had never used a firearm before. Her hand was poorly positioned, and upon firing it the gun propelled upwards, almost snapping her wrist in the process; the bullet whizzed past Bluts head, almost ending him in the process. The bullet hit its mark, landing itself a spot straight in one of the bandits' leather armor, and causing him to fall into a table.
“Hell yea! Who else wants some of this?”144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOaXrqCHMV
She mocked the bandits and began aiming the gun around at them, the threat worked for a moment, until the thugs leader walked forward,
“Go ahead, pull the damn trigger love”144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8PuT01l1r
The thugs' taunt caused the Kalashtar to pull the trigger, however nothing was heard but a slight click. She pressed it again, and again, but the gun still refused to fire.
“You usually need to reload those darlin”
The thug began to laugh, and slowly approach, brandishing a large scimitar.
He walked forward, arrogantly swinging his sword around and then raising it, preparing to swing at the barmaid. Blut turned around and smacked the thug in the back of the head,
“You aren't getting past me.”
Blut said in a drunken voice, unable to successfully articulate his words. He turned around facing the thugs that remained, they were more pissed than before, and began to surround him. Blut was sweating, be it from his inebriation or from nervousness, and lifted his revolver and shot thrice. The sound of bullets flying rang throughout the tavern and the streets directly adjacent to it; only two of his shots actually hit anybody, causing one of them to fall to the ground, the third shot went directly through a window, never to be seen again. The remaining two thugs growled a slight amount, and then turned to leave, dragging out their comrades.
Blut paid his dues, and left the tavern. Slowly walking towards the alleyway, where the now commonly used sewer entrance laid. The streets were filled with nothing but dirty air, allowing the shadows of the street corner to envelop him. He could see no further than ten feet ahead of him, he walked until a blunt object struck the back of his skull, causing him to fall towards the ground.
“Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in!”
The sound of a brash voiced woman rang throughout his head, a ringing piercing his ears.
“Wha-t. . .?”
Blut grasped at his head; attempting to stand back up in his drunken state only allowed for another hit to the head from the same object, which he could now identify as a wooden beam of some sort.
He groaned as he fell back to the ground, blood beginning to leak from his nostrils, and snout.
“You’re in for a world of pain lil lizard.”
Two more sets of arms wrapped around his shoulders and pinned him to the wall, restraining him. His vision was still rather blurry, a direct result of both the large amounts of alcohol he had consumed, as well as the lack of light in the alleyway.
“What the hell did I do?”
Blut was able to cough out the question as he began to feel the sharp blade of a knife run down his face, causing his blood to be hit by the cold air of the night.
“I’ve always wondered what your kind bled like…”
The woman said in a greedy, disgusting tone. Blut was left with no time to respond and was quickly bashed in the head with the wooden beam, the sound of it cracking in half as it made contact with his scaly head creating a loud bang throughout the entire street. Blut spat a tooth out on the ground, and looked up at the woman, there were three people that had a way to kill him; two were holding his arms and this woman was standing right in front of him, with a knife planted to his neck, surely the slightest of movements would result in her ending his life.
Blut thought carefully, and analyzed the situation. The two that were holding him against the wall didn’t have that great of a grip over him and could probably be overpowered quite easily. The woman was the real problem, he could probably take a couple of knife gashes across his face, and maybe one or two stabs with it, but any more than that would be fatal. His guns were out of the question for now, neither had been reloaded since his engagement in the tavern. He took a deep sigh, and made his move. Blut spat blood in the womans face causing her to turn her head and slightly pull away, this was his chance; Blut shoved his knee into the gut of the man on the right causing him to let go, he then grabbed a loose brick from the building behind him and slammed it into the man's skull making a sandwich out of the brick, him, and the wall. Blut had begun to sober up, more than likely as a result of the adrenaline that was rushing throughout his body. The other thug was subdued by a quick strike to the head with the Big Iron.
“You, damn lizards are tough.” 144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IXhQlOrxR
The woman was breathing incredibly heavily and wiped the blood off of herself, and rushed at Blut with her knife. He swiftly moved to the left, dodging the stabbing. He grabbed the woman's arm and used it, and the momentum she had used as a pulley; Blut slammed her up against the wall once, then twice, then a third time. The knife fell from her grasp and into Bluts hand, finally pulling her off of the wall and slamming the knife into her thyroid, ripping it across and causing the cartilage to fall out. She fell limp in his arms, the now revealed insides that now laid upon the dirty ground steaming like a fresh bowl of steamed vegetables. Blut limped away from the aftermath of what appeared to be a murder scene and back towards his home.
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wT24HxuWz
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